Wholeness

I don’t know her name, but she’s pretty amazing to me. She was an outcast, a nobody, deemed hopeless by society. Suffering and loneliness were her only companions and she knew them well. Did anyone ever look into her eyes to see the pain of her soul? When she did come out of hiding, people most likely turned away because to be near her would be risking defilement for themselves.   

This nameless woman that hid in the shadows of shame is known as the woman with the issue of blood. I mentioned that she is amazing to me and I say that because after twelve long years of suffering, she still had hope. 

The Bible tells us that she had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all she had and only grew worse, but then she heard about Jesus. I can imagine hope along with faith suddenly stirring and rising up in her as she heard about this Man who walked in power and love. 

In Matthew 9:21-22 this woman received exactly what she had believed God for, wholeness. 

“For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” 

The word “well” in the Greek is the word “sozo” meaning wholeness. 

She was believing for more than physical healing. She was believing on Jesus to redeem and restore, to save, heal and deliver, to make her whole. 

Jesus saw her and said “be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” 

In one verse she believed and in the very next verse, she received. 

I love that this woman refused to be led by past disappointments because she believed Jesus was greater than all she had experienced. She took action, she didn’t just stand on the sidelines watching with hope as Jesus passed by. No, she realized Hope was a person, so she let go of despair and fear to reach for Jesus, the only One who could make her whole.

She grabbed the hem of His garment while her bold faith and beautiful desperation grabbed the full attention of Jesus. What joy must have stirred in His heart as He looked into her eyes. 

Although we don’t know her name, Jesus knew her name, yet He called her “daughter.”

Not only was she healed, restored and made whole, she also received her true identity as daughter. 

She was transformed into a new woman that day. No longer alone, no longer forgotten, no longer despised, no longer bound in shame and despair. She received a new identity and knew she was healed, loved, delivered, free and finally whole all because of Jesus.