1212squared

Three women who encountered Jesus

Jesus changed the lives of so many He encountered while walking on earth. He healed, He fed, He even raised the dead. Right now I want to focus on three women Jesus changed forever — three women with whom I can identify. I’ll make this disclaimer: I’ll be personalizing a bit.

The Woman Seeking Quiet Healing

In Mark chapter 5, a woman in a crowd begins following Jesus. She’s been ill for years, suffering from continual bleeding, and no physician had been able to help. Simply put, she felt hopeless, frustrated, and out of options.

However, she’d heard about Jesus. She knew He healed others; she had seen it. So she followed Him, desperate to be healed. Verse 28 says:

“If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” (ESV)

I’ve wondered before, why didn’t she just ask Him to heal her? Many people did, and He obliged. I thought for a long time that maybe she was ashamed. We don’t know if the issue of blood was something “feminine?” But the passage says that many physicians had failed to cure her. So she was willing to tell at least some people.

Then I read more of the Old Testament, and I realized that certain types of bleeding, including feminine bleeding, were considered unclean. In fact, during their periods, women typically isolated themselves. And that was just for a week? Imagine bleeding for twelve years. I have to wonder how isolated this woman had become. And Jesus was Jewish. Would He consider her unclean? Did she wonder that? So instead of asking, she just moved through the crowd and touched his clothing.

There were benefits to this. First, she didn’t have to request healing, so she could avoid specifying her problem. Second, she could avoid becoming the center of attention. And third, if for some reason He didn’t heal her, there was no blowback. No one would know. Finally, there was no overt risk of rejection.

I’ve felt those things before. I’ve felt hopeless, ashamed, and even dirty. And I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. And I worried a bit because what if Jesus didn’t help? What if He didn’t fix it? I mean, I knew He could…but what if He didn’t? So I just wanted to slip in and touch Him. No shame, no talking, no risk.

And just like He did with the woman, He turned around and looked at me. And He didn’t shame me or withhold His help. And just like she went away changed and whole, so did I.

The Woman Whose Sin Was On Display

Even people who don’t know anything about the Bible or believe in God at all know this story. The phrase “he who is without sin, cast the first stone” is regularly bandied about, even on Medium. Of course, they skip the “go and sin no more” part, but that’s a whole other article.

The religious leaders of her day — the wise ones everyone revered as being representatives of God — pulled her out of the bed with someone, walked her forcefully to where Jesus was, and dumped her at His feet.

“Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”
~ John 8:4–5, ESV

I could talk about their jacked-up motives, but I’ll save that, except to say this wasn’t really about adultery. It was about bating Jesus. It was about a vendetta. And it’s important to note that the actual Law says that both parties should be stoned. Yet we don’t see the partner in this adultery anywhere.

At any rate, this woman’s most shameful behavior was now public fodder. Everyone within earshot knew, and you can bet that the Pharisees probably made sure there were plenty of people around. She had nowhere to hide. So she didn’t. She just stayed on the ground where they threw her.

According to the Law, they were right. It was clearly written that stoning was the course of action. And because the passage describes all those stones dropping, the crowd was ready for some blood. We’re still like that, aren’t we? Holding that rock, ready to judge, to gossip, to cancel, or to at least feel better that we didn’t do X.

What a shock it must have been when Jesus didn’t just answer the question. He just knelt and wrote on the ground. We don’t know what He wrote, and I’m not sure it matters. But when He stood, He looked at all of them and said that famous line:

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

~ John 8:8, ESV

And after those whose true motive was anything but redemption left, Jesus knelt. He lifted the woman up. And He told her, “go and sin no more.” Because only a change in direction completes repentance.

I’ve been her, and like those shouting men in Jesus’ presence, shaking the stones, my darkness was laid bare for all to see. But just like Jesus did that day, HE cleared the room…and He lifted up and redeemed me. And He told me, “go and sin no more.”

The Woman Who Loved with Abandon

In Luke 7:36–50, we see something beautiful. A woman who is overcome with her love for Jesus comes into a house, uses a jar of expensive oil to anoint Jesus’s feet, and wept in gratitude for His forgiveness. Her act is recorded in verses 36–39, but I think it’s important to read to the end of the chapter because of the lesson Jesus teaches.

Scholars are divided about who this woman was. Whoever she was, she valued Jesus above everything. We know this because the oil she used was a very expensive oil people often saved for their whole lives to be used at a burial. She poured it all out at Jesus’s feet. Then, she used her tears to wash His feet and her hair to dry them.

We see a similar story in Matthew. Again, a woman pours expensive perfume on Jesus’s feet. Depending on which scholar you consult, it might be the same woman. It might be a different woman. I’m not sure it matters. The sacrifice and demonstration are similar and significant.

During this time, hair was very significant to a woman. There is even a verse in Proverbs that says a woman’s hair is her glory. I kind of get this because my hair has always been the one physical feature I was proud of. The one part of my appearance I thought might be beautiful. In Mary’s act of pouring oil, weeping, and using her hair, we see her literally and figuratively giving everything she had, felt, and believed herself to be to Jesus. It was complete surrender.

And, of course, the Pharisees puffed themselves up and scolded her. They scolded Jesus. “Just think how many poor people she could have helped with that oil!” “If he knew who this woman was, He wouldn’t even let her touch Him!”

Jesus asks them a question:

“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

~ verses 41, 42, ESV

Simon answers that it is the one who is forgiven more. Then Jesus makes His point clear:

“Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
~ verses 44–48, ESV

For a long time in my life, I was “forgiven little.” Oh, I knew I was a sinner. I had confessed and become a Christian. I was not perfect by any means. But there was still a part of me that felt good about how good I actually was.

Then came the dark period, where my anger at God and resentment over a life that wasn’t what I expected meant some very bad choices. Pain for me and others. Consequences. And I came face to face with how utterly in need of mercy and grace I was. When Jesus forgive me much — and it was much — my view of just how valuable that forgiveness was changed dramatically. And I understood exactly what would motivate someone to pour their life savings, their tears, and their very selves at His feet.

Three women. Three stories. Three reminders of myself. One incredible Savior.

This devotional is part of a weekly series leading up to the release of Run to the City: Abundant Living After the Well, on August 1, 2022