The Chosen + BibleProject | Season 3 Reading PlanSample

None Above, None Below

Have you ever felt less than those around you? Maybe you admire others and think they are smarter or more capable than you? Or maybe you’ve experienced the opposite and considered another person, or a whole group, to be less than you? We are all formed in systems of evaluating and measuring that assign value and status to people. We rarely think about it because it’s the way things operate in our world.

The woman suffering from uncontrollable bleeding is made to feel low, dirty, and generally less than everyone. Because of religious laws and social customs, she can’t participate in regular worship practices. People are forbidden, by rules and regulations, from touching her. She can feel everyone’s eyes on her when she steps into the public square. But Jesus sees her as a friend. Though everyone around her calls her less-than, Jesus does not. He challenges human systems that elevate some over others, systems of power that devalue people. He loves her as though she is a miraculous creation of God.

We get to put our hope in this kind of loving God. We do not serve a God who wields his sovereign, infinite power to coerce, control, or dominate us. Instead, he uses his authority and power to love others. He does not exploit his divine images for his own advantage. Instead, he empties himself of status and power and becomes a servant, which we see clearly in Jesus’ ability to cleanse and heal us.

He does this to teach us about who we are and how we can live in peaceful freedom. May we live mutually with one another, like Jesus, the firstborn over all creation. May we see all people as wonderfully made in God’s image.

Reflection Questions

1. What human-made systems of power and evaluation do we live with today?
2. How can we embrace mutuality rather than evaluative hierarchies? How do we nurture cultures of love and respect toward one another, where no one is seen as less-than?
3. What would it have been like for the woman in the story to be an outcast for 12 years? How must she have felt when she was healed?
4. The woman pushes through the crowd to touch Jesus. She believes, deeply, that he will help her. She’s right, and Jesus offers a few words to her in parting. What do Jesus’ words (in Luke 8:48 and Mark 5:34) reveal to you about his character and his mission in the world?