Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 8
Christy highlighted women as models that rebuked men’s unbelief or misjudgment (the woman with the issue of blood interrupting Jairus’s story; the alabaster flask rebuking the disciples)—what does God seem to delight in communicating through these narrative “interruptions,” and where might God be confronting your church’s reflexes about whose faith and discernment should be taken seriously?
Another way to ask: Why do you think God highlights stories where a woman’s faith “interrupts” and corrects others’ unbelief? Where might God be challenging your church about whose faith and judgment get taken seriously?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the speaker’s examples, God seems to delight in highlighting “no-name” women’s faith to instruct and even correct prominent men and the inner circle of disciples. These interruptions challenge churches to take women’s faith, discernment, and costly devotion seriously rather than dismissing them as secondary.
- Mark 5: the “woman with the issue of blood” is a “no-name woman,” yet her story is “interjected” into Jairus’s story.
- Christy says she becomes an “example of great faith to Jairus,” a synagogue ruler, and Jesus commends her and then tells Jairus to have faith.
- Matthew 26: disciples “criticize” the woman with the alabaster flask, but “Jesus rebukes them,” calling her act “extravagant love.”
- Jesus says “her story… will accompany the gospel wherever it goes.”
- Christy frames these women as those who “served as examples of great faith” and “put their faith into action.”