An Ordinary Woman

This post is written to link with Five Minute Friday: write for five minutes on a one-word prompt.  The prompt today is “woman.”

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

If you could meet one person from the Bible and have a conversation with them, who would it be?

Apart from Jesus.  We’ll assume that he would be most people’s first answer.

There are lots of people I’d love to meet- heroes of the faith with exciting stories to tell of the great ways God used them: Abraham, Moses, David, Paul… the list goes on…

But if I could only meet one person, I know who it would be.

It would be a woman.

She’s not remembered for her powerful acts or amazing abilities.  She’s not rich or famous.  Her appearance in the Bible is brief- a few fleeting moments and she disappears into obscurity once more.  We don’t even know her name.

But I would love to meet her because she was a woman of faith and courage, a woman who knew suffering and shame, who was full of fear, but who didn’t let that hold her back.  When she encountered Jesus and witnessed his power, she dared to believe that healing could be hers, and despite the stigma of twelve long years of bleeding, and the shame of being regarded as unclean, she saw her opportunity and she took a chance.

She dared to draw close, to reach out and touch his cloak, and she instantly received the healing she had longed for.

She would have been content at this point to go on her way rejoicing, but Jesus had more in mind.  Calling her forward out of the crowd, he honoured her publicly for her faith.  He took the time to do that when he didn’t have to, when he really didn’t have time, while the crowd around him grew impatient as he was meant to be on his way to heal a dying girl.

Still he took the time to stop for this woman because to him she wasn’t just an ordinary woman- she was “daughter.”  And he wanted her to be sure of that identity.  He desired not only her physical healing, but her emotional wholeness.

I’d love to talk to this woman to hear the story from her perspective, and to thank her for her courage and her faith, to thank her for the hope her story gives to me.

It reminds me that no matter how we feel about ourselves- whether we feel ashamed and unclean, or whether we just feel insignificant and ordinary- we are deeply loved by Jesus.  He sees us, he cares, and he always has time for us, and when we follow this woman’s example and draw close, we will be blessed in ways we could never have imagined.

I’d love to know your answer: If you could meet one person from the Bible and have a conversation with them, who would it be?