Deliverance To The Captives Series

THE UNEXPECTED JESUS

"Healing the Brokenhearted"

Mark 5:21-34

INTRODUCTION: On Easter Sunday, April 16, 1865, after having been stabbed repeatedly by a man

named Lewis Paine, Secretary of State William Seward, lay in a hospital bed physically crippled

and emotionally drained. And to top it all off, he had not yet been told that his close friend,

President Abraham Lincoln was dead. So, wanting a better view of the trees that were just

beginning to bloom outside, he asked to have his bed moved closer to the window. As he gazed out

upon the beautiful new life in the outside world, he spotted the flag atop the War Department

building. It was flying at half-staff. He knew immediately what it meant, but it took a few

minutes to sink in. When it did he began to weep and to cry out loud, "The President it dead."

His nurse tried to deny it, but he knew his friend was gone. Overwhelmed by his own situation

and his grief for President Lincoln, he began to cry uncontrollably, shaking and weeping until

the bandages that held his wounds together were soaked with his tears and his blood. Jesus met

many who were brokenhearted, but one that stands out in my mind is a solitary figure whose

faith was greater than her affliction. READ TEXT Jesus had been given the power to heal the

brokenhearted, and this dear lady’s life was is shambles by her physical affliction. Jesus

brought her healing in more ways than one.

I. LIFE IN DESPAIR

A. It is hard to imagine just how miserable this woman’s life had become. I doubt seriously is

any of us could even remotely identify with her physical struggles and shame.

1. She was deathly ill and had been that way for 12 years. 12 years. This was probably a third

of her life, and it had been spent battling an embarrassing affliction that had ostracized her

from everyone she knew.

2. She could not be with her family and friends because she was unclean. No one was allowed to

touch her, keep company with her, even speak to her because of her illness. The Law called for

her to be cast out of the city until she was healed, and she might very well have been cast out

at one time.

3. The only ones who might even dare associate with her were the lepers. They had nothing to

lose. She could not bring them any greater harm that the plague of leprosy had already brought. But they had enough problems of their own.

4. Even the Temple was off-limits to her. If she entered it, she would defile it, and that simply

would not do. So, even God’s house was beyond her reach. Imagine how great her sorrow must have

been.

5. She was an outcast in the middle of outcasts with no one to turn to, no one to share her

sorrow with, and no one to help her in any way. She was all alone in her misery and her

affliction.

B. I can see some of us in her story. No, not everyone has such a burdensome physical illness,

but some of us do. Others carry spiritual illnesses that keep us brokenhearted and separated

from family, friends and more importantly, God. At times her shoes fit us quite easily and

there seems no way to find relief.

C. King David wrote in Psalm 34:18, "The Lord is near those who have a broken heart and saves

such as are crushed in spirit." This lady fits both of these categories, brokenhearted and

crushed in spirit, so Jesus through His power set out to...

II. HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED

A. You have got to admire this lady’s gut and her faith. She had gone out into the crowd knowing

that she did not belong there, knowing that she would have to face more public humiliation as

the crowd would shout, "Unclean! Unclean!" But she went anyway, she needed help.

1. Oh, yes, she had sought help. She had been every where to see every doctor she could find,

but not a one was able to bring her any measure of relief. In fact she was worse and all her

money had gone to pay the medical bills. All she got in return was more pain and increased

sorrow.

2. The Bible tells us that she is in the middle of the crowd and that she pushes her way to the

front to get to this man. A man who it is said can perform miracles, and a miracle is just what

she needs.

3. So pushing and straining through the press of humanity around Jesus, she reached for Him. She

knew in her heart that if she could only touch the hem of His garment, the miracle would be