Jesus Was a Terrible [1st Century] Jew

Now that I have your attention, let me explain. I know Jesus was a Jew, biologically, racially, and religiously. In fact, he was the perfect Jew, he says so himself: "I have not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them." (Matt. 5:17) However, as I read Leviticus 15 this morning I realized that by the standards of the 1st century Jewish Pharisees, Jesus was a terrible Jew. Instead, he was a great God!

Leviticus 15 deals with the Mosaic regulations concerning bodily discharges. Let me cut right to Leviticus 15:25, which connects directly to Jesus.

"When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge."

Furthermore, according to Mosaic Law, if one person was unclean, then anything they touched or anyone who touched them became automatically unclean (this has to do with God's holiness, but that's a whole series of posts).

So, we jump to 1st century Palestine, region of Galilee on the outskirts of the city Capernaum. Jesus is on his way to heal the synagogue director's (Jairus) daughter who is sick. As he is walking and being jostled about by the crowd, he suddenly stops and asks, "Who touched me?" Peter, his disciple, thinks this is an absolutely ridiculous question since they are in the midst of a crowd. But Jesus persists, "This was a different touch. Power flowed out of me into someone else."

Turns out slinking amongst the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding consistently (likely internal hemorrhaging) for twelve years--obviously far longer than the typical monthly period for menstrual discharge. She had heard about this Jesus character. So when he was in town "she came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak" (Luke 8:44a).

I want to pause here and give credit to Rob Bell (and through Rob Bell to Ray VanderLaan) for teaching me something about this story. Rob teaches that all good Jewish men (and Jesus was one) would have a prayer shawl (or cloak) underneath their garments on which tassels would hang from the edges to remind them of Torah (the first five books of the Bible). The edge of the shawl/cloak was known as the kanaph (said "khan-ahf"). The tassels were called tzitzit (said "tzeet-zeet"). In Malachi 4:2 the prophet declares God's word that "For those who revere [the Name of the Lord], the sun (or Son) of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings (literally kanaph).

So, back to the woman who has been bleeding for twelve years. She knows something about Jesus that others may or may not have figured out yet. She believes that this "man" is actually the Son of righteousness. So she sneaks up behind him and touches his kanaph. Now, since she (an unclean woman) has touched Jesus, Jesus should be technically unclean by Mosaic Law standards. Instead, "Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering." (Mark 5:29)

According to Leviticus 15:28-30, once the woman had been cleansed from her discharge, she was to bring two sacrifices (one a sin offering, the other a burnt offering) to the priest to "make atonement for her before the Lord". Jesus (being the perfect Jew) knew this law of Moses. But does he instruct the woman to go bring the sacrifices to the priests? Does he bother to cleanse himself and offer his own sacrifices like a good Jewish man was supposed to according to Mosaic Law?

To both questions I give a resounding "NO!"

Why not? Because the woman has already made atonement for herself before the Lord.

Check it out: in Psalm 51:16-17 David declares, "You do not delight in sacrifice [of animal].... The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." In Isaiah 1:13, 17-18 the prophet declares God's words: "Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow." So it is not the animal sacrifices that the Lord desires and through which atonement is made. It is the faith that God will forgive and heal us that brings atonement.

The woman who was bleeding for twelve years has faith in the words spoken by Malachi and she believes that those words speak about Jesus Christ. By having faith that even Jesus' cloak (or rather the edge of his cloak, kanaph) could heal her, she made atonement for herself before her Lord and Savior right on the spot.

And as for Jesus--well, not only did he not become unclean; his perfect cleanliness (hmm, what could we better call it--oh, wait, HOLINESS!) made the "unclean" woman clean.

I echo the sentiments of Rob Bell: "I love my rabbi!"

For those of you who thought the book of Leviticus was boring, you haven't read deep enough with a mind that was ready to learn.