Women in the Bible: ‘Haemorrhoissa’
She doesn’t have a name, but this woman — generally referred to as the woman with the issue of blood — is one of the most famous characters in the Bible. Commonly referred to as the ‘Haemorrhoissa’ — the Greek term for ‘bleeding woman’ — her story is always presented in the middle of another larger healing story, but there is good reason to consider it the meat in the sandwich.
All three Gospels relate the story of Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, who brings the news of his dying daughter to Jesus. “But come and lay your hand on her and she will live”, he says. (Matthew 9:18) Jesus and his disciples proceed to follow Jairus home, but they are interrupted by a curious occurrence — Jesus suddenly stops, turns around and asks who has touched him.
His disciples are amazed, and as the crowd continues to press against them, they tell him that it could’ve been anyone — but Jesus is looking for someone in particular. It is here that the woman comes before Jesus, and falling at his feet, tells him what she had done and how she has been cured, as a result. This, effectively, becomes the testimony that Jesus may have been looking for when he raised the question — many are healed, but few have the courage to testify to others, at great personal expense.
And the stakes must have been great. The woman had been suffering from ‘haemorrhages’ for the past twelve years. We are not told about the nature of this bleeding, but since it is continuous, she would have been ritually “impure”. This is perhaps why she does not call out to Jesus, or ask him directly to heal her. Now, imagine yourself in the shoes of this desperate woman. You have to deal with an incessant bleeding, you have spent most of your money on trips to all kinds of physicians, but the problem only keeps worsening, which leaves you not only hopeless, but also ashamed. You are presumably alone because of your ritual uncleanness, but you hear of a man who can heal diseases. He is followed by vast crowds, and it is likely that you may be recognised, humiliated and asked to leave — but he is your last resort. So you bind cover yourself up well — no blood must seep through and show on your clothes — probably hiding even your face, and join the crowd, finding yourself directly behind this miracle-worker. “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”, you say. And you reach out and touch, very lightly, the fringe of the man’s cloak.
Wonder of wonders, you are healed “immediately”! But what happens next petrifies you to the core. The man turns around and asks who has touched him. You know that he is referring to you, because you feel the immediate change in your body in contrast to the continuous bleeding. But it is not Jesus who fills you with fear — it is those around him. What will they do when they discover that you, who were impure for years, have been in their midst, shielded by the anonymity of the crowd?
The woman in the Gospels, however, shows us an intriguing side effect of Jesus’ healing. When we reach out to Jesus and are healed, physically or spiritually, we are also delivered of shame. We are aware that condemnation may exist in the world, but an experience with the true healer is enough to give us the courage to face it. It is only then that we can be fully healed, as Jesus blesses the healed woman, “Go in peace and be healed of your disease.” (Mark 5:34) The woman had already been healed “immediately” upon touching the cloak, so the blessing for peace is the final remaining bit of healing that Jesus offers the woman…and us — should we be bold enough to claim it.
LESSONS TO LEARN:
The ‘Haemorrhoissa’ is emblematic of faith in action. Jesus had already healed a few people before the woman with the haemorrhages, but hers is the first instance of a faith great enough to give it agency — to allow her to take the matter of her healing into her own hands. She is the one to touch Jesus, not the other way around. No other patient before her had approached Jesus on their own — the paralytic had been brought to Jesus by his friends, the centurion had asked that his servant be healed, and Jairus for his dying daughter to be saved, Jesus himself saw that Peter’s mother-in-law was sick and healed her, and the man with the withered hand at the temple had to be asked by Jesus to “come forward” to be healed. It is the woman’s wilful act of drawing near to Jesus that is rewarded, in addition to her belief. We too are called to act in faith — to take the first step towards Jesus, knowing that our lives will be “made well”.
