Luke
8:43-48
The mission of Messiah, 1:5-9:50
5. The words of Messiah, 8:1-56
v] A woman's haemorrhage healed
SynopsisOn returning, presumably to the western shore of lake Galilee (Mark, "crossed over to the other side", to Luke's "returned"), Jesus meets Jairus, an official of the local synagogue. Jairus wants Jesus to come and heal his daughter who is dying. Along with a large crowd, Jesus sets off for the home of Jairus. On the way, a woman suffering from an ongoing haemorrhage touches Jesus' robe for healing, and is healed. Jesus feels the touch, and asks who touched him. The woman presents herself and Jesus declares "your faith has healed you."
Teaching
In the dawning age of the messianic kingdom, it is faith that saves.
Issues
i] Context: See 8:1-18. A woman's haemorrhage healed is the fifth episode of The dawning of the kingdom in the words of Messiah, 8:1-56, and serves as an inclusion in the raising of the elder's daughter, 8:40-56, a tradition that furthers the theme of the authoritative word of the messiah. As Ellis puts it, "the new creation, like the old, comes into being by a word. Jesus speaks to the wind, the demons, the dead - and they obey!"
ii] Structure: Healing a woman's haemorrhage:
A woman is healed, v43-44;
Jesus recognises the healing, v45-46;
The woman's confession, v47;
Jesus' commendation, v48.
iii] Interpretation:
With a nod to the chronology of Jesus' early Galilean ministry, Luke again confronts us with "Jesus' ability to overcome all that can erase human existence - disease and death", Bock. In this two-part healing we are confronted with a woman who evidences the touch of death, certainly as far as her participation in the religious life of Israel is concerned, and a girl who is actually dead. For Luke, the episode further demonstrates Christ's victory over the powers that possess and enslave humanity, here both the unclean state of death, and a state as good as dead. In both situations, we see again the general response of fear and amazement, which, for some, moves to faith,
The combined healings draw out the two crucial elements for overcoming the powers that are hostile to mankind. First, the power and authority of messiah's word - "She is not dead but asleep ...... My child, get up!", and the human response of faith - "Daughter, your faith has healed / saved you." "Jesus is Lord over sickness and death", Fitzmyer.
The healing of the woman would have remained at the level of magic had Jesus not drawn the woman's actions out into the open. She would be healed, and grateful for the blessing, but Jesus is not Israel's answer for disease. "He wishes for her wholeness in a more comprehensive sense than simply healing", Nolland. Jesus draws her out in public confession to reinforce on her that "wholeness" is gifted by Christ through faith.
iv] Synoptics :
See 3:1-20. Mark and Luke continue to recount the same sequence of events, while Matthew inserts between the the healing of the Gedarene demoniac and the episode covering the healing of the woman with a flow of blood plus the raising of Jairus' daughter, the healing of the paralytic, the call of Matthew, Jesus' eating with tax collectors and sinners, and the question on fasting. Mark's account is usually regarded as the closest to the original eye witness account. Matthew's account is somewhat truncated, Matt.9:18-26, in comparison to Mark's account, Mk.5:21-43. Luke's account is very close to Mark, so most commentators think that Luke has used Mark, eg., Marshall, "his alterations are almost entirely abbreviations and stylistic improvements." Fitzmyer, who also thinks that Luke has used Mark, notes some eight modifications to the Markan text, eg., Luke omits the disciples' criticism of Jesus' question "who touched me." The modifications are nicely listed for us by Bock, or see Fitzmyer p.743. Most scholars assume a degree of editorial license on the part of the authors of the gospels.
We are best to follow Creed who sees this double healing episode as historical, although most commentators see it as a creation by Mark to account for the delay between Jesus' meeting with Jairus and the healing of Jairus' daughter. It may even be a pre-Markan development of the oral tradition (the woman was afflicted for 12 years, the girl was twelve years old - links often used in oral transmission), but at the same time, there is no reason why the events didn't occur as recorded - the story-line would be easily remembered. So, this double healing is likely to be a set-piece element of the oral tradition of early church available to Luke at the time of writing. The syntax of all three accounts evidences an independent recording of the extant oral tradition rather than a mere copying of a Markan original. As already argued, this doesn't mean that Luke didn't have access to Mark's gospel, just that it wasn't essential for the creation of his gospel.
Text - 8:43
A woman's haemorrhage healed, v43-48. i] A woman is healed, v43-44. Luke describes the helpless state of the woman - inflicted for twelve years with no one able to help. The actual condition is unclear, but probably uterine, in which case she would be viewed as unclean and therefore unable to participate in the religious life of Israel.
ou\sa (eimi) pres. part. "who" - [and a woman] being. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "woman". The resulting relative clause describes the woman's condition; "A woman who had suffered from continual bleeding for twelve years", Cassirer.
en + dat. "had been subject to" - in = had had. Here the use is adverbial, attendant circumstance, or context: "in connection with", or "in the context of", cf., Zerwick #116.
aiJmatoV (a atoV) gen. "bleeding" - [a flow] of blood. The genitive is adjectival, usually treated as verbal, subjective.
apo + gen. "for" - from [twelve years]. Temporal use of the preposition, here actual time, "since twelve years" = "for twelve years."
prosanalwsasa (prosanalow) aor. part. "-" - [who] having spent all the property to healers. The participle is adverbial, probably concessive, "though she had spent all her living on physicians", ESV. The dative "healers" is probably adverbial, reference / respect. The NIV leaves the clause out since is not found in some early manuscripts and so may well be carried over from Mark. Marshal and Fitzmyer are unsure of its status, but given its negative view of the medical profession at the time, it may well not be part of Luke's text, so Nolland.
ap (apo) + gen. "-" - [was not able] from = by [anyone]. Here used instead of uJpo to express agency. A rare usage. "Who had derived no benefit from anybody's treatment", Phillips.
qerapeuqhnai (qeraperw) aor. pas. inf. "heal" - to be healed. The infinitive is complementary, completing the sense of the verb "to be able."
v44
Unlike Mark, who has the woman considering her action, Luke just has the woman acting. The seriousness of the condition does not limit Jesus' authority and power, for the woman is "immediately" healed.
proselqousa (prosercomai) aor. part. "she came up [behind]" - having approached [from behind she touched]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to touch."
tou kraspedou (on) gen. "the edge" - the border, fringe, edge, tassel. Genitive of direct object after the verb "to touch, take hold of."
tou iJatou (on) gen. "of [his] cloak" - of the garment [of him]. The genitive is adjectival, partitive.
paracrhma adv. "immediately" - [and] immediately [the flow of the blood came to an end]. Temporal adverb.
v45
Unlike Mark, who has Jesus wondering who had touched him and then asking "Who touched me", Luke has the question, followed by Jesus verbalising his thoughts about who touched him. It is usually argued that Mark's account is closer to the original eyewitness account and that Luke is editing Mark to produce a more orderly account. Of course, Luke may just be reflecting the received tradition available to him at the time. Mark has the disciples pointing out to Jesus that he is in the middle of a jostling crowd, whereas Luke has Peter making this point. Peter's response in Luke is more respectful than Mark's record of the disciples' response.
oJ aJyamenoV (aJptomai) aor. mid. part. "touched" - [and jesus said, who is] the one having touched. The participle serves as a substantive.
mou gen. pro. "me" - me. Genitive of direct object after the participle "having touched".
arnoumenwn (arneomai) pres. mid. part. "when they [all] denied it" - [but/and, everyone] denying it. The genitive participle and its genitive subject, "all" = "everyone", forms a genitive absolute construction, temporal, as NIV.
sunecousin (sunecw) pres. "crowding" - [peter said, master, the crowds] surround [you and are pressing against you]. "The crowds are all around you", Phillips, "hem you in", Cassirer.
v46
In scaling down this episode, Matthew leaves aside the magical elements of the story, elements easily misunderstood by those with a primitive superstitious bent. So, Matthew brings together the woman's touch and healing, and Jesus' word, "your faith has made you whole." Luke, given his understanding of divine power operative in the first-century apostolic church, has no qualms with God's power operative through Jesus - expressed by the use of the perfect tense, "has gone out from me."
mou gen. pro. "me" - [but/and, jesus said, certain = someone touched] me. Genitive of direct object after the verb "to touch."
gar "-" - because. Introducing a causal clause explaining why Jesus knew that someone had touched him.
exelhluquian (ercercomai) perf. part. "has gone out" - [i know power] having gone out. A participle is sometimes used with a cognitive verb to introduce a dependent statement of perception, expressing what Jesus knew, namely, that someone had touched him. Technically, we may also classify it as the accusative complement of the direct object "power", standing in a double accusative construction and expressing a fact about the object. "I felt power discharging from me", Peterson.
apo "from" - from [me]. Expressing separation; "away from."
v47
The woman realises that she can't remain hidden, although we are not told why, and so she presents herself to Jesus. She comes trembling, and again, we are not told why she is so afraid (it is usually assumed she knows she has made Jesus ritually unclean by touching him). She then explains the reason why (dia h}n aitian) she touched Jesus, although again we are not told the reason (but we can assume), and she explains what happened (she was immediately healed). Luke's focus is on the punch-line, v48, and not the details surrounding the healing.
idousa (oJraw) aor. part. "seeing" - [but/and, the woman] having seen = realised. The participle is adverbial, best treated as temporal; "when the woman saw that she was not hidden", ESV.
oJti "that" - that [not to be hidden]. Introducing an object clause / dependant statement of perception expressing what she has become aware of, namely, "that there was no hope of concealment", Barclay.
tremousa (tremw) pres. part. "trembling" - [she came] trembling. The participle is adverbial, modal, expressing the manner of her approach to Jesus.
prospesousa (prospiptw) aor. part. "fell at [his] feet" - [and] having fallen before [him]. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "to come"; "she came ...... and flung herself at Jesus' feet." The dative pronoun autw/ serves as a dative of direct object after the proV prefix participle "having fallen before."
di h}n aitian "why" - [she announced before all the people] for which reason, cause = why [she touched him]. Culy thinks that this causal construction is used to convey an intensive sense, "the precise reason why."
wJV "how" - [and] how [she was healed immediately]. This conjunction can be used to introduce a dependent statement of indirect speech, which here would express what the woman "declared in the presence of all the people", ESV, namely, that she had been immediately healed. None-the-less, in association with di h}n aitian, "why", it is likely that she goes on to explain the manner of her instantaneous healing, "how".
v48
if this woman had viewed Jesus as just another healer, and the touch as little more than positive thinking, he could well have ignored the healing, as he did on other occasions of mass healings, cf., Matt.14:36. Yet, something more than a healing by a mere touch is at play here. This woman has put her faith in Jesus, and Jesus is determined to reinforce this fact, making sure that she knows what seswken, "healed / saved" her. Faith has secured her physical healing, and faith will secure here spiritual healing if she so wills.
auth/ dat. pro. "to her" - [and he said] to her. Dative of indirect object.
sou gen. pro. "your" - [daughter, the faith] of you [has saved you]. The genitive is adjectival, possessive, "your faith", or verbal, subjective, "the faith exercised by you."
eiV + acc. "in" - [go] into [peace]. Adverbial use of the preposition, modal, expressing manner, "peacefully", in a state of peace. This is a common formula for dismissal, cf., 1Sam.1:17. As with most greetings and dismissals, they originate as a blessing, but are compressed over time, eg., "good morning" = "God be with you this morning". So, it is likely that for Jesus, the words carry a blessing, that God's peace will be upon her as she goes forward in life.
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