Mark 5:25
Chronic
sickness can be one of the most difficult things to endure. If you have to
endure the day in, day out little hassles of having the same illness over a
long period of time, you know how it can wear on you. Each day follows the
similar routines, those that were developed in order to keep the symptoms at as
manageable level as possible. For some, every action of life is connected to
the illness. You can never get away from it.
It
really doesn’t matter whether the illness is AIDS or diabetes or heart failure,
they can each have a dampening effect on your activities and your mood.
I
think of those women who wear scarves on their heads to mask the hair loss
caused by their cancer treatments. They wear them with dignity and often a
sense of hope. They are in the battle to win! But as treatment progresses they
often show the strain the illness and treatment are taking on them. Whether it
is the scars from procedures or implanted medical devices, they all have a way
of intruding on life and signaling to others that they are ill.
The
unnamed woman in our text has been ill for twelve years. Twelve years! We know that
bleeding leads to anemia and the subsequent weakness. They didn’t have vitamin
supplements or home remedies for anemia. She was stuck. Physical activities
become increasingly difficult because of rapid heart rate and shortness of
breath that often accompanies anemia. She has lived with this for twelve years of
this!
One
of the causes of bleeding like this is a complication that can happen during
childbirth. Even today it happens, especially in third world countries and with
very young girls. During labor the baby sits too long in one place for hours or
days cutting off the blood supply causing a death of that tissue. Then either
urine or bowel matter can pass into the vagina causing infections and bleeding.
We
of course don’t know what caused this woman’s bleeding, but it was
debilitating. Twelve years of social isolation and shame. Few of us know what
this is like for such a prolonged period of time. I am sure she was used to the
stares and whispers, but I can’t imagine it got any better over time.
There
were also the religious implications. Because of her bleeding, she could not
have participated in any of the normal Jewish celebrations. When family got
together, she could not prepare the food or eat with the assembled group. She
would have had to eat by herself and have someone else be involved in the food
preparation. In a culture where women had most of the cooking duties, this
would have brought great restrictions to her life.
If
she was married, the intimacy would have suffered as well. Intimate relations
could not take place with a woman who was bleeding. And when intimacy suffers
it is hard to keep marital closeness. Even if she wasn’t married, she would not
have been able to socialize with other women without affecting their families.
Unclean people made everyone they were in contact with unclean.
Chronic
illness changes people’s lives. And not just their lives, the lives of everyone
around them. Remember this the next time you interact with someone with a
chronic illness.