September 04, 2011

Luke 8.40->

When Jesus returned, the people were expecting him, and welcomed him. Then a man appeared-- Jairus was his name; he was president of the synagogue. Throwing himself down at Jesus' feet he begged him to come to his house, because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, who was dying. And while Jesus was on his way, he could hardly breathe for the crowds.

Among them was a woman who had suffered from haemorrhages for twelve years; and nobody had been able to cure her. She came up from behind and touched the edge of his cloak; and at once her haemorrhage stopped.

Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?"

All disclaimed it; and Peter and his companions said, "Master, the crowds are hemming you in and pressing upon you."

But Jesus said, "Somebody did touch me, for I felt power go out from me."

Then the woman, seeing that she was detected, came trembling and fell at his feet. Before all the people she explained why she had touched him and how she had been cured.

He said to her, "My daughter, your faith has cured you. God in peace."

While he was speaking, a man came from the president's house with the message, "Your daughter has died; trouble the rabbi no further."

But Jesus heard, and interposed. "Do not be afraid," he said. "Only show faith, and she will be well again." On arrival at the house he allowed no one to go in with him except Peter, John, and James, and the child's father and mother. All were weeping and lamenting for her. He said, "Weep no more; she is not dead; she is asleep."

But they only laughed at him, knowing she was dead.

But Jesus took hold of her hand and called her, "Get up, child."

Her spirit returned; she stood up immediately; and he told them to get her something to eat. Her parents were astounded; but he forbade them to tell anyone what had happened.

5 comments:

JR said...

“But Jesus said, ‘Somebody did touch me, for I felt power go out from me.’"

Jesus felt.

Anonymous said...

What was her name? Is it better to be known for your father or your disease? (I think my problem here is with the recording/telling of the story rather than the story itself.)

What does it mean to have the Son of God call you 'my daughter'? What was its social meaning at the time?

forrest said...

She would certainly have been known for her disease (which would have rendered her permanently 'unclean', non-kosher.)

Note that she does not ask anyone for "permission"-- "Can I please put my unclean hands on the holy man? Would he touch me?" She just recognizes a powerful source of mana, and reaches.

Biblical women are often a whole lot more 'assertive' than their culture(s) permitted.

A 'son of God' would be: any particularly charismatic, spiritually-connected guy-- but specifically, the anointed King of Israel. Anointing being a process which (like coronation) could render someone the 'de jure' ruler without giving him significant 'de facto' authority.

I don't know what he actually said-- except that he attributed the results to her 'faith' (whatever that means) rather than to any power of his own. If he hadn't said this, the church would never have invented it!

Anonymous said...

Biblical women are often a whole lot more 'assertive' than their culture(s) permitted.

1) how do we know what their cultures 'permitted'? isn't our main source the Bible itself? 2) could it be that the assertive ones are the only ones who got recorded, given that many fewer women than men are mentioned?

Her faith seems to need him or his presence as well, or surely she could have been cured before.

forrest said...

We've got more sources from contemporary neighbors (with 'more durable' aka 'clay tablet' writing materials). & we've got what we can infer from the tone of the people who [much later!] wrote these stories down; they clearly expected men to be in charge. There was a clear trend of goddesses turning male or having their jurisdictions ripped off by male deities.

In the case of 1st Century Judea, we know quite a bit. [Bruce Malina is good on these matters!] Just the fact that Jesus is said to socialize with loose women... reflects the fact that any woman traveling about without a husband or father would be assumed to be 'running around loose', doing [wink, wink] who knows what with who knows!!!

People often do need an outside trigger/focus for their faith. But that isn't what does the job.