Connection Restored

When I look at the unnamed women that I’ve shared with you over the past few weeks, I can’t help but marvel at God’s goodness. Even when I say goodness, it sounds so inadequate. These women had all experienced some form of rejection – morally, culturally, ethnically, religiously – but then they encountered Jesus. Being in His presence changed them… and their encounters are still making a difference today.

Two of these women sought Jesus out (Unnamed Woman and Supply Between Borders), one was brought to Him against her will (I’ve Stood There, Too), and the other seemed to be avoiding all people even to the point of discomfort (He Came to Her). Today, to wrap up this series, I want to shed some light on two other women, both who are unnamed. One who did not seek Jesus, and the other who did. Both forever changed.

Many things in life can dramatically change a person and relationships are said to be the biggest source of those significant changes. Our relationship with our Creator essentially delivers the biggest impact in our lives, but there are others. A spouse, our friendships, and having children are all relationships that forever change us. As a happily married woman who is a mother to 5 and a grandmother to 2, I can tell you that there is nothing in my day that is done without some type of influence from being married and being a mother. These connections to other people – family and friends – are necessary for us to thrive in life.

These connections can help give us hope and a future. But sometimes we lose the connections.

An account in Luke 7:11-15 depicts just that – please take a moment to read it. This is a lesser-known story of an unnamed woman – described only as the widow of Nain – and Jesus sees her walking in the funeral procession for her one and only son. As a mother, this tears me up. I’ve experienced loss of children in the womb, and those losses still ache, but I cannot imagine the depths of grief this woman was plumbing. Jesus saw her… and was moved with compassion.

This woman was facing a tremendous loss, but not just her only son. In being a widow and losing her only son, she was facing the loss of all financial security – inheritance and property, and even her name, reputation and community status. Her son being described as a man means she was probably no longer in her childbearing years, and that left her with no male to financially take care of her (the custom back then). Having children was the retirement plan of those times and she had just lost all she had.

Because of the curses spelled out in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, this woman faced social speculation as well. Her reputation would be called into question – for her to lose so much – first her husband and now her only son, there had to be something she had done against God. What immoral thing had she done? She was facing a future of no financial security, no social support, and leaving no legacy. Her connection was gone – what hope did she have?

But Jesus saw her and was moved with compassion. The Bible doesn’t go into much detail regarding the exchange, but Jesus told her not to weep and then gave her reason to rejoice! He gave her hope by restoring her future. Jesus touched the bier (like a stretcher) that the widow’s son was being carried on and told the man – the dead son – to get up. He sat up at Jesus’ word and was given back to his mother. Hello hope; hello future. Connection restored.

She didn’t come to Jesus, but Jesus saw her. She didn’t ask Jesus to restore her hope, but can you imagine the celebration that followed that encounter?

Her future was restored, but just a few pages later in Luke 8:43-48, there’s another unnamed woman whose future looked pretty bleak… and she sought the One who had the power to change it. Her story is also found in Matthew 9:20-22 and Mark 5:25-34. This unnamed woman is much more well-known – she’s widely known as the woman with the issue of blood. If you haven’t read her story, please take a moment to do so.

Women can certainly relate to this woman, but there’s not many who can fully grasp what she faced. We don’t usually have the stigmatism of being considered unclean. She not only wouldn’t be invited to a party, but she wouldn’t have any connections to people to go to a party with. She would have been avoided and only looked at in order to make sure there was no contact. For beings created for relationship, this was a hopeless situation. And as a woman who wouldn’t typically have any relationships because of her unclean status, there would be no future.

It might be a leap, but in her condition, I doubt she was growing a family. She was considered unclean and if anyone touched her – purposefully or not – they would be considered unclean for a period of time (not something anyone typically wanted or allowed). If someone were to dare touch her, the likelihood of her being able to get pregnant with the issue of blood is extremely rare. It’s not revealed whether or not she had children before she had the issue of blood for 12 years, but if she did, she was still considered an outcast and disconnected from society – maybe from her own family.

I can’t imagine not experiencing a hug from a family member or friend for more than a week much less a 12-year stretch. Chemical releases that happen in our brain as a result from a physical touch can calm nerves, relieve stress, offer assurance of being loved, and can communicate compassion just to name a few. Without touch, I would probably be an emotional mess!

Without a family, there was no hope and no future for this unnamed woman. But all of the lost connections might just be restored if she could just touch the edge of Jesus’ garment…

Something beautiful in these two passages jumped out at me while preparing this series. Of course, I find it beautiful that Jesus healed, the rebel in me absolutely loves that Jesus was tearing down the strongholds of pious religion in order to reveal the heart of God as Father, but He also showed through His encounters with these two unnamed women that no amount of impurity will triumph over His purity. In the Old Covenant, anything unclean made the clean unclean, but under the New Covenant, the clean makes the unclean clean (it’s a mouthful, but so very true).

No distance of disconnection is too great for Him to bring about restored connection.

The woman with the issue of blood not only received her physical healing, but she received a hope and a future. She would be able to experience a loving embrace, going to Temple, shopping in the market, being invited – and going to – a party, and Jesus enveloped her into His family when He called her daughter. The widow of Nain lost everything when her son died, but everything was restored to her – and more in the form of a future – when Jesus raised him from the dead.

The widow of Nain had experienced death and loss, but Jesus revealed life to her that produced new hope. The woman with the issue of blood had experienced ostracism and faced a bleak future, but Jesus publicly restored her, and she finally had a future to look forward to.

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’ Jeremiah 29:11 NASB 

We’ve all experienced loss – we live in a fallen world! It’s something we can’t avoid. But not all of us have experienced the restorative power that is found in Jesus. He’s ready and willing to get you reconnected. Whether you’re caught up in mourning what you’ve lost or if you’re stretching your arm out to be reconnected – it’s His will to restore.