JESUS AND THE LOSER Mark 5:25-34
BACKGROUND: Under Moses’ law, a woman was cultically unclean during her menstrual period. Nobody was allowed to touch her or even any object she had touched. If they did, they would also become unclean until the evening. A woman was not allowed in the temple during her menstrual period (Leviticus 15).
1.
• If the woman in this passage was 30 to 40 years old, she would have lost her health relatively young. How did her illness impact her life if she was married? How about if she was unmarried?
• How does constant bleeding affect a person’s health?
• What does this kind of disease do to a woman’s sense of self-worth?
2. What may this woman have thought about God after coming down with this kind of disease at a young age?
• How may the woman’s relationship to God have changed throughout the years of illness?
3. From verse 26 we can conclude that the woman had previously had some money. Think about different possibilities of how the woman could have come to own the money and the purpose for which the money had originally been intended.
4.
• We can assume that the “gynecologists” of the time were not highly qualified. Why did the woman keep going to the doctors if they were of no use to her (verse 26)?
• What had the woman possibly thought on the day she paid her last penny to a doctor and had nothing left?
• What had the woman perhaps thought of doctors and healers in general (verse 26)?
5.
• How could this woman, who had been disappointed by healers time and time again, be so sure that she would be healed by touching Jesus’ robe (verse 28)?
• What was the difference between Jesus and the other healers?
• Are you as confident as the woman in this passage that Jesus can just as easily solve your most difficult problems?
6.
• Why did the woman not ask Jesus for help, like the others who were ill?
• Why did the woman choose to be healed specifically by touch?
• How did the woman know that she had been healed from her disease?
7.
• Why did Jesus ask the question even though he was well aware who had touched the tassel of his robe?
• Why did Jesus not let the woman return to her home without speaking to her first?
8.
• What may the woman have thought when she heard Jesus asking, “who touched me” (verse 30)?
• What did the woman see in Jesus’ eyes when he turned around and looked at her (verse 32)?
9.
• Why was the woman trembling; what was she afraid of (verse 33)?
• The woman did not want to say a word to Jesus and yet, she ended up telling him “the whole truth” (verse 33). What was the whole truth?
• Have you ever told Jesus the whole truth about yourself and your problems? If you haven’t, why not?
10.
• Verse 34 can be translated in two ways: Your faith has saved you / made you well. What in the woman’s behavior was a sign of faith?
• Why did Jesus call her “daughter” even though he was approximately the same age as her?
GLAD TIDINGS: Jesus himself became unclean once, making whoever touched him unclean. This took place when his blood was shed in floggings and on the cross. This was the price that the Redeemer had to pay to save the woman – and you! What does this fact mean to you today?
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