In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on January 22, 2022, Kyle Kettering discussed an incident recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels, where a woman with an abnormal flow of blood (Heb zavah, as described in Lev 15:25-30), touches the fringes of Jesus' garment and is instantly healed.
Popular accounts often give misleading impressions about the woman. In particular, her state of ritual impurity would not have made her a community outcast. Hers was a private, self-diagnosed kind of ritual impurity and wasn't necessarily known to everyone. Also, ritual impurity was not a day-to-day worry for people in Galilee, who were far from the Temple not in danger of polluting it.
The woman certainly did have a difficult medical situation to deal with. Her loss of blood would have caused weakness, and she would have been unable to have children, have sex, or make a pilgrimage to the Temple during the twelve years of her condition.
The symbolism of the woman touching the fringe of Jesus' garment (Matt 9:20) is significant. Many Christians see this as a fulfillment of Mal 4:2: "But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings." The Hebrew word for "wings" in this verse is the same as the word for "corners" of a garment in Num 15:38.
Whether the woman was thinking of this prophecy or not, she showed great faith in coming to Jesus for healing, and he praised her for her faith, calling her "daughter," the only time Jesus is recorded addressing someone as daughter (Mark 5:34).
In this account we also see Jesus as a powerful source of purity, removing the source of the woman's ritual impurity.
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