Week 4: Jesus Heals the Wounded

Rewind and Reflect
What would it have been like to be waiting on Jesus to heal your friend or loved one? Have you ever been in that position? 

What parts of this story can you hold onto the next time God does not answer your prayers the way you thought he would? 

In session three, we are going to look at multiple stories throughout Scripture where Jesus healed women and discover what we can learn from the way he interacted with them.

Watch “Jesus Heals the Wounded” with Jennie Allen, Bianca Juárez Olthoff, Jada Edwards, and Sadie Robertson Huff (8 minutes).

Review
In the opening scene, Jennie, Jada, Sadie, and Bianca marveled over the breadth of Jesus’s compassion—he healed the young and the old, men and women, insider and outsider. Which characters in Luke 8:40–56 were recipients of Jesus’s care? In what ways were the people alike, and how did their stories differ? 

Jada emphasized how this passage teaches women that they are valued. In what ways do you see your church valuing the voice of women? How do you, personally, advocate for other women, whether relationally, professionally, or socially? 

Jairus and the woman with the discharge of blood both exhibited hope—a conviction that Jesus could help them followed by action to seek that help. They didn’t give up. When have you shown hope in a difficult time? What or who helped you endure well? 

Dig In
Read Luke 8:40–56. Discuss the ways in which Jesus broke cultural boundaries. What caused the woman with the discharge of blood to ignore lifelong “rules of engagement” when Jesus came to town? 

What parallels do you see in this passage? What do you learn about Jesus through his interactions with the woman, with Jairus, and with Jairus’s daughter? 

Make It Matter
Consider Jesus’s care for the sick woman and Jairus’s daughter. Neither of these people were prominent in that culture, yet he took time out of his schedule to meet their needs. Where in your church, or in your community, do you see needs? What sorts of needs? 

Together, list five tangible ways you can express Jesus’s love to your hurting, lonely, sick, needy neighbors. What steps could you and your group take to meet those needs this week? 

This session encouraged us to stay hopeful no matter how long we’ve suffered. It reminded us to know our value to God. What does it look like to remember these truths through hard times?

Reflect
Jada encouraged us not to give up hope: “That moment with Jesus is coming.” Do a search in your Bible (or app) on the word hope. Write out several encouraging Scriptures and memorize them.

Sometimes our experience in the church doesn’t match up to Jesus’s ideal. Women have not always been valued the way he values us. Pray for your church leadership, for their hearts to be soft and ears open to God’s view of women rather than the culture’s or their tradition’s. Be specific as you pray.