Luke 8:40-48

Luke 8:47-48

47 When the woman realized that she couldn’t remain hidden, she knelt trembling before him. In front of all the people, she blurted out her story—why she touched him and how at that same moment she was healed.

48 Jesus said, “Daughter, you took a risk trusting me, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed!”

The further I move through my life I recognise that I have been hankering after one thing for most of my life.

When I was growing up in a large, loving and Durrell like family I didn’t need it so much. I went on to study at bible college where I lived with a large group of people, all different, all living side by side; Literally. I then got married and moved away from those people who had cracked me open and showed such love, compassion and authenticity. We moved to a small damp flat- it was then that I began to feel it. Loneliness. The hankering for community set in. We thought that people would want the same real, honest and messy relationships with us that we wanted with them. But, we were soon reminded that once you have lived with people in community it is very hard to find out here. We tried hard, but being intentional seems to be harder than we think.



I sit writing this in a coffee shop where everyone: literally everyone has their heads down, glaring at a screen, everyone here is sat alone. Myself included. Sat here writing about that fact. If you have had the opportunity to live in community then you will know that it is messy, frustrating and absolutely wonderful at the same time. I arrived at college really broken, scared of showing who I was, and fraying at the edges. Yet, over the days and weeks, people slowly demonstrated the grace and acceptance of Jesus and they didn’t let me slip through the net. So much intentionality, so much listening, so much laughter and the tears. Over the course of my 26 years I have spent time at 35 different churches. I grew up church hopping. I was so used to slipping through the net. Yet, here in my college community, as frustrating as it was at times, was a place of inclusion, refuge and acceptance. My faith was slowly restored and I even showed people my tattoo and opened up about my parent's divorce ( just two of the many things I was scared of showing the Christian world). Yet-I was welcomed with open arms. I understand community living is not all roses and I’m sure there are many who have had negative experiences it is this kind of microcosm, and it isn’t neat and tidy. I strongly feel that community is an incarnational gift from God. It is what we were made for. I don’t think we have to live together to experience authentic community but it needs to be intentional.



I think the challenge is making that the priority alongside the busy lives we all lead. I want to add here that one key element of community that was very present was the space for suffering in conversations, and room for lament in people’s lives. Most people didn’t shy away from the pain and terror we all experience at some point throughout life. This recognition of real life pain was sewn into the tapestry of the community. Hard things inevitably happen so let’s talk and pray about it rather than putting on a smile and saying ‘i’m fine’...to be honest no one would believe you if you said that anyway! They would sit and talk it through until you were ready to limp on again. 



How do you live out authentic community in an age where we try our hardest to make things look better than they are? In an age where people turn to technology instead of people?

Where do we find the time to lament? And we definitely should be...how do we even lament? Do we know where to start? Lament makes up nearly a third of the Psalms and the Bible does not shy away from pain, suffering and it clearly shows us every side of the human being. If community is to be real and incarnational then it needs to mirror the human soul -  there needs to be a recognition that we need to be able to come to God tell him our deepest troubles and disappointments. Therefore in a godly community that must also be something we feel we CAN do...be angry, upset, disappointed, and honest till it hurts. It is in these safe places we can also heal, talk things through and see the faithfulness of Jesus.



As this blog is ultimately about women in Luke. I want to draw attention to one of my heroines. The woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8:40-48. A story which has captivated me since I was a little girl. This lady would have been living in isolation for 12 years. In a culture where anything out of place (like blood outside of your body) was considered impure, she was an outcast of her own community. A time when community was your lifeblood. She was bound by her illness, she could not carry out any of her ‘female’ roles as she was ritually impure. Can you imagine how lonely her existence must have been. What would she have spent her days doing? 



The story starts with Jesus heading to the house of the pious Synagogue leader Jairus to heal his daughter…this man represented the laws of the temple. The climax of the story...the lady moves through the crowd….imagine the fear… she reaches out to Jesus’ tassels on his robe which were an outward sign of his association with the laws, and she is healed. The story zooms down to this woman and she becomes the centre of the story! Jesus talks to HER not the men, she SPEAKS to the crowd. Jesus demonstrates so much here. He is not made unclean by her, he brings justice to her situation and sets her free from the laws that had bound her due to the patriarchal application of them. Although they were designed to protect the weak.



Jesus gives this woman a package of freedom; freedom in all its fullness. He demonstrates holistic mission perfectly. The fact that this woman speaks of what Jesus has done and he encourages her to speak shows that he is establishing her back into her community. This had to happen out there- surrounded by the flock to which she used to belong. She is restored back into that community. What an incredible example she would have been to her community! The stories she would have told of the grace that Jesus had shown to her! Jesus first shows her dignity, he gives her an identity by calling her daughter, he restores her in her community and he heals her! BUT she is also used as an example of faith in direct contrast against the man in the story. A woman- a sick woman at that- one that was cast out- was used as an example. 



In hindsight, my beautiful communal experience was like living in a bubble. I needed it at the time, but I think we need to know how to build community without walls. Ultimately, we are called to bring the outsiders back in. We are to live out the grace of Jesus in our communities, showing those around us everyday the realness of our lives, the pains and the joys. The honesty brings restoration. The woman could have hidden, and stayed out of sight, stayed where she ‘belonged’ according to the laws, yet she had the courage to show her community who she was. Jesus- what a beautiful name!