Great article. I cannot help but seem connections between the Samaritan woman in John 4 and the woman with the hemorrhage in Mark 5. It appears that there is an intentional and gracious exposure of this woman after she had sought Jesus for healing. The note of grace is proclaimed when Jesus speaks "daughter, your faith has healed you." She is physically healed of course, but she is seen by Christ. Keep up the good work brother.
And Jesus proclaims her healing for others to hear. She is no longer the known unclean woman. He knew what she needed socially, physically, spiritually.
Thank you Alan, this is wonderful work. It got me thinking, there is so much going on in John's gospel with seeing/sight/eyes (spiritual and physical) as well as hearing/word/ears; it is such a beautiful and "eye opening" back and forth between being seen, seeing Him, and opening eyes (thinking of John 9 in comparison to this story). How wonderful we have a God who see's "El Roi."
On the personal note, I have been really leaning into my relationships with friends, other folks in ministry, and even the occasional stranger with deeper sight and hearing. I do whole heartedly agree that this is fully an out working of His grace; I would have stayed more in the shallows with all my relationships had I not know I am seen and loved by I Am.
Lynn Cohick's examination of this story (first published in the Oct. 2015 issue of CT magazine, then in Sandra Glahn's anthology "Vindicating the Vixens") broke open this story for me, by making a strong argument that the woman's life was one of protracted suffering through desperate circumstances, not willful sin. She functions as an NT archetype of Hagar - the first person in the Bible who names God out of her experience with Him - as the first evangelist. (The fact that they meet at a well and Jesus asks for a drink, is the opposite of Hagar's story where it's God who gives her one.) Long way of saying, the woman caught in adultery offers a closer example of what you're describing, but this is still a great story about the complexities of our desire to be seen and loved in all circumstances, our fears about why that's impossible, and how all of those fears are allayed through Christ.
Great article. I cannot help but seem connections between the Samaritan woman in John 4 and the woman with the hemorrhage in Mark 5. It appears that there is an intentional and gracious exposure of this woman after she had sought Jesus for healing. The note of grace is proclaimed when Jesus speaks "daughter, your faith has healed you." She is physically healed of course, but she is seen by Christ. Keep up the good work brother.
And Jesus proclaims her healing for others to hear. She is no longer the known unclean woman. He knew what she needed socially, physically, spiritually.
Love this. The God who sees me.
Thank you Alan, this is wonderful work. It got me thinking, there is so much going on in John's gospel with seeing/sight/eyes (spiritual and physical) as well as hearing/word/ears; it is such a beautiful and "eye opening" back and forth between being seen, seeing Him, and opening eyes (thinking of John 9 in comparison to this story). How wonderful we have a God who see's "El Roi."
On the personal note, I have been really leaning into my relationships with friends, other folks in ministry, and even the occasional stranger with deeper sight and hearing. I do whole heartedly agree that this is fully an out working of His grace; I would have stayed more in the shallows with all my relationships had I not know I am seen and loved by I Am.
Lynn Cohick's examination of this story (first published in the Oct. 2015 issue of CT magazine, then in Sandra Glahn's anthology "Vindicating the Vixens") broke open this story for me, by making a strong argument that the woman's life was one of protracted suffering through desperate circumstances, not willful sin. She functions as an NT archetype of Hagar - the first person in the Bible who names God out of her experience with Him - as the first evangelist. (The fact that they meet at a well and Jesus asks for a drink, is the opposite of Hagar's story where it's God who gives her one.) Long way of saying, the woman caught in adultery offers a closer example of what you're describing, but this is still a great story about the complexities of our desire to be seen and loved in all circumstances, our fears about why that's impossible, and how all of those fears are allayed through Christ.