Faith In Need

Faith in Need

08/03/08 AM

Text – Mark 5:21-42

Our lesson today deals with two of the very best examples of faith to be found in all the scriptures. We will meet two very different people who have two things in common, both are suffering tragedy, in deep need of help and both look to Jesus to meet their need. Tragedy brings a great dose of reality into our lives. No family is immune to emergencies. We prefer that there be no surprises in life. We love it when the day is bright, beautiful and sunny. But please, no earthquakes. It is not uncommon for people to turn to Jesus when tragedy comes into their lives, what this passage shows it the Jesus in ready and available to meet our needs.

In the gospel of Mark, chapter five, we encounter two stories of faith in need.

I. THE PEOPLE IN OUR STORY (5:22-27)

There are two people we want to get to know in this passage.

A. Jairus the synagogue official

1.The synagogue official held a position of honor, responsibility and power in Israel during the time of Jesus. The ruler of the synagogue was a respected Jewish layman with responsibility for the physical upkeep of the synagogue and the worship services. He was most likely wealthy and a man of influence in the community.

2.This Jewish man came to Jesus out of desperation for his twelve-year-old daughter who was at the point of death. (v. 42)

3.The man was faced with a crisis in his home. It was out of his hands. Not all of his earthly possessions could change his daughter’s health. She lay dying when he left the house to look for his only hope for her.

4.Aware of Jesus’ miraculous powers, Jairus approached Jesus with perhaps the greatest need he had ever faced. He knew that Jesus could meet his need. He was sure that if Jesus would lay hands on his daughter, she would be healed. His faith was absolute.

Almost as soon as we meet Jairus in the crowd following Jesus we are introduced to a nameless woman.

B. An anonymous woman

1.She "had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse" (v. 26). Her illness has lasted the lifetime of Jairus’ daughter.

2.The woman had an incurable hemorrhage that has wasted away her body over the years. Her condition had steadily grown worse.

3.Moreover, according to the Jewish law she was ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:25–27). She was an outcast. Anyone who came in contact with here was considered "unclean." We see her slipping silently through the crowds trying to get to Jesus.

Both of these individuals need the urgent attention of Jesus.

II. THE PLEA OF FAITH (5:22-24, 27-29)

A. Jairus makes his verbal plea. 5:22-24

Observe the confidence of Jairus. It is the language of assurance. We don’t know when he first encountered Jesus. Perhaps it was in his synagogue. Not all of the religious leaders were hostile toward Jesus. Here is a man of faith coming to Jesus and humbling himself before Him and making his plea for help.

B. The woman’s plea is silent. 5:27-29

This unknown woman interrupted Jesus. Not intentionally, however. She tried her best to keep anonymous. The last thing she wanted to do was attract attention. She had heard about Jesus so she "came up in the crowd behind Him, and touched His cloak" (v. 27).

The Gospel writer lets us listen in on her faith (v. 28). She kept telling herself that if she could "just touch His garments," she would be healed and then she could slip away unobserved. No one would ever know! So she crept up in the crowd and touched his garment.

III. THE POWER OF FAITH (5:29-42)

A. The interruption by the woman

1.Life is full of interruptions. There are always people with needs who reach out and touch someone like Jesus. This woman slipped up behind Him because He was her last hope, Mark writes, (vv. 24-31.)

2.Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” It is almost comical. The question was absurd to the disciples of Jesus. (v. 31). A huge number of people gathered about Him and pressed together.

3.She had tried her best to keep her secret. But Jesus distinguished the touch of faith from the touch of the crowd, (vv. 32-33).

4.The question was asked, not to obtain information, for Jesus had healed her, and must have known to whom His power had gone; but he did it that the woman might herself make a confession of the whole matter, so that the power of her faith and the greatness of the miracle might be manifested to the praise of God.