Matthew 9:18-26
The Daily Office
In one case, a grown woman is healed from incessant bleeding. In another case, a young girl is resuscitated. Different ages, different maladies. But both live in the world of “The Unclean,” which wasn’t a matter of morality as we understand it today.
In the woman’s case, she was “unclean” because of her blood, which contained the life-giving power of God himself. Under Jewish law, this bleeding woman could not worship in the synagogue, and anyone who came into contact with her fell under the same prohibition. So, for 12 years this woman had limped along, alone. Touching Jesus’s cloak, she is healed. But as Jesus says, it was her faith, and her courage to break the boundaries of “uncleanness” that healed her. Now, she has been restored to relationship, with her family and community.
As for the girl, to touch the dead also rendered one “unclean,” which a faithful teacher of Israel would certainly want to avoid. So, again, Jesus must make the point that he has the power to decide what is “clean” or “unclean.” And so he does by taking this dead girl by the hand. And she who was “unclean,” is now “clean,” restored to relationship, with her parents, her future husband and children, and her whole community.
You're not going to persuade anyone to repent, of injustice or immorality, if you are not first in relationship with that fellow human being. Of course you're risking something too. Maybe you'll discover that you're the one who needs to repent. Yes, there is risk in relationship. But the clean women and the clean girl can tell you truly that loneliness is worse.
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