Bible study group reflects an overcoming prejudice, taboo

By Monica Prandi

ROME — Members of the Vatican Ambassadorial Women’s Association (VAWA) gathered for their first Bible study of the year Jan. 11. They reflected on the stories of two women in the Gospel of Mark, guided by the theme “A Woman Restored to Life: Overcoming Prejudice and Taboo.”

In Mark 5:21-43, we read about two women who, while not knowing each other, both receive the gift of a new life through their encounter with Jesus. The passage begins with the dramatic news of the serious illness of a young girl. Jesus is moved by her father’s faith and determination in seeking him out and sets out to visit the dying young woman.

Along the way, in the midst of the crowd that forms around the now famous teacher, an anonymous woman approaches Jesus in silence and discreetly touches the hem of his cloak. The woman has been suffering from a serious hemorrhage for 12 years and, after having tried everything to get better and spent all her riches, she decides to play her last card and entrusts herself to the power of Jesus.

In touching his cloak, she goes against Jewish law; she should not have done this in public. Furthermore, her loss of blood is connected with the concept of a lack of purity. But the woman’s courage and faith push her to break “taboo” and the rules and to hope with all her might in the healing the Galilean preacher offers.

Not only is the woman healed, but she receives the attention of Jesus, who does not leave her in the shadows. He points to her as an example of true faith, declaring that her faith has given her salvation. Even if we do not know her name, we hear her called “daughter” by Jesus, who, with love and delicacy, gives her a healed life and a dignity as a loved person. With this healing, she can finally reintegrate fully into the community from which she was separated.

The story then turns back to the sick daughter who, in the meantime, has died. But death does not have the last word and Jesus revives her. She now has her full life ahead of her, a future, which death had almost stolen from her.

These two women offer witness to suffering and courage and to the barriers overcome by great faith and by placing oneself in the hands of Jesus of Nazareth who, today as then, can restore hope even when situations seem impossible.

VAWA will meet again next month for another Bible study. The theme for the program for the entire year is “Biblical Women Who Turned Their World Upside Down.”