Luke 8:19-56 part 2: Four soils of the sower and the Shema; four real-life examples

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Other texts: Luke 8:40-46; Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:25-43; Mal. 4:1-4; Haggai 2:10-14; Is. 53:4-5

The story of the woman who had suffered with a hemorrhage for 12 years is woven beautifully into the story of the suffering, death and resurrection of the 12 year old girl.

The deepest core of the Torah is the commandment to Love God. Another core tenet of the Torah is the dichotomy of clean v. unclean. God elevates one over the other. For example, God chose the children of Israel above all the other nations, not because they were inherently good and holy but because God called them to be good and holy. God lifted them up and cleaned them and made them holy. They did not do that themselves. God’s purpose is to clean everyone and bring them up not to do away with the distinction between clean and unclean and bring everyone down into a common place.

The woman in the state of hemorrhage was in a state of uncleanliness for 12 years. The girl who died, was also unclean. Even touching a dead body makes one unclean. Both stories have uncleanness touching Yeshua and Yeshua touching uncleanness.

Healing came to the woman from the kraspedon (Strong’s G2899, κράσπεδον) of Yeshua’s garment. The Hebrew for this same word is kanaf (Strong’s H3671), the corner of Yeshua’s garment, where Yeshua’s tzitzit would have attached to the garment. 

How can Yeshua be the “anointed one” if he was in contact with uncleanness? The uncleanness of touching a dead body was resolved with the ashes of a red heifer. The difference is that Yeshua is the true High Priest.

Many people of that time period considered it a great burden to deal with ceremonial uncleanliness. For example, in the story of the Good Samaritan, one of the reasons the Levite and the Priest did not help him is because they did not want to take the remote chance of having to touch a dead body. And in that concern about not becoming unclean, they refused to show mercy to someone who needed their help and mercy.

The woman with the hemorrhage understood that what she was doing—reaching out to touch the famous Rabbi—was wrong but she was very desperate and Yeshua voluntarily took her uncleanliness on.

Some may think that God was cruel to keep the woman hemorrhaging for 12 years but He taught her that we are to reach out in our uncleanness and that He will take that uncleanness away. Just as Yeshua took all our uncleanness outside the walls of Jerusalem and dealt with it once and for all.

We should clearly see ourselves in the Passover story. As a grafted-in part of Israel, we are being lifted up, not because of our great we are, but because Yeshua took on our iniquities so we can come out of the other side as clean before God.

 Luke 8 study notes

Speaker: Jeff Quackenbush. Reader: Bill Kastrinos. Summary: Tammy Quackenbush.