Really it all starts with a seed. In this case the seed was a beautiful, well-
thought out commercial for a church conference.
The promised speakers were three powerful men and two virtuous
women. There were POWERFUL MEN and virtuous women?
I couldn’t pinpoint why the terminology nagged at me but it did for a
period of time. Was there a dormant
feminist within me that had suddenly awakened to cry out, “Are not these women
of God as powerful as their male counterparts?
Must the church acknowledge women in the same manner as the world– the
need for them to be Puritanical and dainty because to declare them powerful would
stir up negative connotations?” Ah,
virtuous women thou art acceptable to be heard!
No. That wasn’t it. I quietly
tucked away that word virtuous along with a host of other nuggets for their purpose
to be determined at another time.
A few weeks passed by and yesterday, while driving to a
worship conference, I decided to be a step ahead and worship as I drove. Holy Spirit broke in to my singing reverie
with a vision of Jesus turning about and asking, “who touched me?’ Said I to myself, ‘Oh, yeah, VIRTUE, went out
from Him.”(Hint; in case you missed it Jesus was a virtuous man) Luke 8:43-44 And a woman having an issue of
blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither
could be healed of any, came behind Him, and touched the border of His garment
and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
Issue of blood… I thought if, while chopping vegetables, I
accidently cut my finger and it began to bleed profusely, my issue wouldn’t be
of blood, per se, but an issue of the cut.
Jesus said, somebody has touched me: for I perceive that virtue has gone
out of me. (Luke 8:46) I’m thinking this woman’s spiritual life had a physical
manifestation. It’s not an unheard of
concept. After all, Jesus was in such an
emotional turmoil over His pending separation from the Father that He began to
sweat blood as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. A
Dictionary of the Bible Comprising its Antiquity, Biography, Geography and
Natural History (1897) Edited by William Smith says this about bloody
sweat: One of the physical phenomena
attending our Lord’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is described by St. Luke
xxii.44 “His sweat was as it were great drops (lit. clots) of blood falling
down to the ground… of this malady, known in medical science as diapedesis,
there have been examples recorded both in ancient and modern times. Aristotle was aware of it. The cause assigned is generally violent
mental emotion. Issue of blood as defined
in the same book- the menstruous discharge or the fluxu uteri (Lev. 15:19-30,
Matt 9:20, Mark 5:25, Luke 8:43) the latter caused a permanent legal
uncleanness, the former a temporary one, mostly for seven days; after which was
to be purified by their customary offering.
Now then, what is virtue?
Webster’s 1913 Dictionary defines it as 1. Manly strength or courage,
bravery, daring, spirit, valor. (Yes, I was surprised) 2. Active quality or
power; capacity or power adequate to the production of a given effect; energy,
strength, potency efficacy as the virtue of a medicine. Incidentally it is under this description
where it states “Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out
of him, turned him about. Mark v.30 (Jesus is medicine!) Let’s skip to 4.
Excellence; value; merit; meritoriousness; worth 5. Specifically, moral
excellence; integrity of character; purity of soul; performance of duty. (I hear You, Holy Spirit!) Skip to 7.
Specifically: chastity; purity, especially, the chastity of women (was her
issue a means to deal with a lack of chastity and to separate her from unchaste
activity?) OK, the next definition surprised
me: 8. one of the orders of celestial hierarchy, thrones, dominations,
princedoms, virtues, powers. Say what now, celestial hierarchy? Does this
bring Ephesians 6:12 to mind or is it just me?
Oh, that word again but this time in the midst of celestial
hierarchy. My God, my God!
And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9a) The woman that
touched the border of Jesus’ garment had a weakness in virtue. The power of Christ perceived gone out from
Him, the grace gone out from Him, was virtue and His strength was such that
stanched her physical and spiritual condition.
His strength, virtue, was made perfect in her weakness, lack of
virtue. If I were to equate these
findings with today’s believer, one who lacked virtue is one that lacks
boldness (Ephesians3:12, 6:19-20; Hebrews 13:6), does not operate in power
(Luke 10:19, Romans 1:16), doesn’t not move in the spirit of excellence (1
Corinthians 12:31), or moral excellence (Ephesians 2), neither does such a one exercise authority
over celestial hierarchy (Ephesians 6:10-17) and could likely be dealing with issues of chastity or carnality.
As an aside we should be wary of who is around us. It is possible to keep company with certain
persons and not perceive that virtue goes out from you when you do. We should, as virtuous people, perceive even
in the midst of a crowd, when virtue goes out from us.
Father God I praise You and bless Your holy name. I thank you for the time we spend together
and you download your love, ideas and revelation. Thank You for Your Son, Jesus, whose strength
is made perfect in our weakness.
Whatever our weakness is be it virtue, sickness, or indifference to Your word, by Your stripes we
are healed and by your grace we are saved.
I thank you Holy Spirit that You can plant the seed of one word and
allow time for it to grow and develop within me that I may seek you for clarity
and insight. As Jesus was a virtuous man
I cannot help but aspire to his model of virtue that I may perceive when virtue
goes out from me. I pray that I and those who
constantly seek You will be conduits through which your love, grace and healing
flows. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
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