I am currently writing an article on the bleeding women story from Luke’s Gospel and it has got me thinking about whether a man can really preach this passage and do the story justice.

In the last two years I have lived the story of the bleeding woman – woman can probably imagine what that would be like – and I now have an immense empathy and intrigue in the women who dared to reach out to Jesus and seek help. For me, her story embodies a woman who reached across societal taboos and sought out help; but oh, how hard it must have been to have taken those steps toward Jesus.

The longer I have sat with that passage the more I have come to believe a man preaching the story cannot do the text justice. The story is more than a Christological point; it is about a woman who dared to believe the world could be different; it is about the journey of sickness where hope can be a distant friend; and, it is a very personal story which many women can identify with.

Can a man really get inside this story?

Can a man really preach this intensely personal story?

 A few things come to mind. First, women have fewer stories in the biblical text which are deeply connected to womanhood, not because the women were absent in society, but their lives were not often documented. So, I wonder why a man would even try to preach this passage. I know Jairus (a male) is involved in the surrounding story, but the raising of his daughter really serves as a narrative foil which points to the woman’s desperate condition; her twelve years of bleeding has left her as one who has little life left like the young girl. Remember, in ancient chiasm, it is what lies at the centre which is the most important!

Second, the woman is an extraordinary role model and the church need to hear of more women who we can be inspired by. In Luke’s account Jesus is largely a passive observer in the story; God is the prime mover and the divine is “everywhere present and no where mentioned;” the women in the active agent and Jesus simply (and eventually) calls her out of her hiddenness. What a remarkable women to cross societal taboos around menstrual blood – something the Jewish law valued but society shunned – and dare to hope once more that she might be healed. What a profoundly strong women; what a role model for other wo(men).

Finally, I wonder if the Scriptures invite us to be generous in our peaching schedules and invite other voices in to our public conversations. Maybe we should ask, am I the best person to speak to this passage? Is there someone else who needs to grow and find a voice, and who may not be a career preacher, but is already embodying the essence of the passage? I know we need solid and stable preaching in our churches, but we also need times when someone simply preaches the “big idea” from an authentically lived experience. Maybe, just maybe, they can connect with the congregation out of their vulnerability more effectively than our diligently worked sermon. I think some stories need to be told from the inside out; for me anyway, this is one of them.

 What do you think?