OPEN: The Bible tells us many stories about people who suffered. The most famous is the story of Job and pain and heartache he endured for a period of his life. In addition to the sufferings of Job there are the hardships men like Joseph and Jeremiah and others experienced.
And down thru the ages some of the greatest leaders and artists overcame terrible tragedies:
· Florence Nightingale reorganized England’s hospitals while too ill to move from her bed.
· Great books like Pilgrim’s Progress and Robinson Crusoe were written while their authors were in prison.
· Renoir painted some of his most moving artwork while nearly crippled by arthritis.
· Beethoven was deaf and depressed when he wrote some of his greatest works.
· Milton was blind when he dictated his great book “Paradise Lost”.
In fact Milton once observed:
“Who best can suffer, best can do”.
Some of the greatest people of the ages have attained their greatness thru suffering.
In our text today we read about a woman who suffered greatly. And it’s hard to imagine what she endured until you understand what she faced in her day.
The Bible tells us that for 12 years this woman had suffered from “an issue of blood”.
You women will have some understanding of what this lady endured. Women of child bearing age go thru a menstrual cycle during which the womb builds up a lining filled with blood to nourish a any child that might be conceived. And if the woman does not conceive her body passes the blood from the body. In Scripture, this is called “an issue of blood”.
It’s a difficult time for a woman.
It’s uncomfortable.
It can be embarrassing.
It can often cause a woman to become extremely tired, because in the loss of blood from the body, she also experiences the loss of iron from the body.
And, of course, as many men can tell you, women at this time of the month can be (pause) very moody.
Yes, this can be a very hard time for women.
But imagine having that “issue of blood” every day of your life… for 12 years.
That’s 4,383 days.
144 months.
624 weeks.
105,192 hours.
For most women, the loss of blood is an uncomfortable inconvenience they endure, but the woman in our story is far more than uncomfortable, or inconvenienced, or moody, or even tired.
You see, in the days of the Old Testament, a woman who had an “issue of blood” was unclean. Anything she touched during that time was unclean.
She wasn’t allowed to touch or be touched, nor was she allowed to be “intimate” with her husband during that time. If her husband even touched her during her uncleanness, he himself would become unclean and unacceptable before God - unable to offer sacrifices or enter the temple area.
Some scholars believe that this requirement by God was meant to protect the woman during this time of her period from her husband forcing himself upon her… because her female organs would be most vulnerable to damage at this point.
So she was not allowed to be touched or to become intimate. But even more than that, she wasn’t allowed near the Temple, or in the synagogue.
Effectively, for 12 years, this woman was cut off from getting to God.
ILLUS: Jason Frazier put it this way: “for 12 years, she was considered unclean and could not be touched by a clean person. She could not go to the assemblies, synagogues, or ceremonies.
It has been 12 years since she had enjoyed Passover or Sabbath services.
It had been 12 years since she had been able to stand before the High Priest to have her sins forgiven on Yom Kippur.
For 12 years, she bore the emotional and psychological baggage of
· being unclean and untouchable
· no hugs, kisses, or any type of intimacy with a husband (if she had one)
· She could not prepare her family’s food (if she even had one)
· she could not do housework;
· she couldn’t be a wife;
· she couldn’t be a mommy;
· She had sat in an isolated house for 12 years staring at the walls.
For all intents and purpose, she was as good as dead.
She’s a desperate woman. And she’s tried everything she can think of to deal with her heartache. The Bible tells us that she’d spent all her living on physicians (Luke 8:43 KJV)… but no one could help her.
The Talmud (which is the written record of Jewish oral traditions) tells us that there were 11 different “medical” treatments for an issue of blood. For example:
· "Take of the gum of Alexandria the weight of a small silver coin; of alum the same; of crocus the same. Let them be bruised together, and given in wine to the woman that has the issue of blood."
· "If this does not benefit take three pints of Persian onions; boil them in wine, and give her to drink, and say, ’Arise from thy flux.’”
· "If this does not cure her, set her in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a cup of wine in her right hand, and let some one come behind and frighten her, and say, ’Arise from thy flux.’”
(I suspect that would cure her of hiccups… but not of an issue of blood)
Additional “cures” included carrying the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen bag in summer and in a cotton bag in winter. Or to carry around a barley corn that was found in dung of white female donkey. One scholar lists common remedies of that day to include eating grasshopper eggs, carrying around the tooth of a fox, or the fingernail of a person who has been hanged!
Common remedies included cutting and burning of the infected area.
It gives a whole new appreciation for spending a couple of hours in a doctor’s office.
(pause)
The Bible doesn’t tell us much about this woman, but I’ve got a picture of her in mind. I can visualize her as a decent woman. A woman of kindness and gentleness. I sense that she would have spent a great deal of time in prayer pleading with God for healing. If she didn’t start out poor… she is now - after spending what money she had on doctors.
By now, she’s depressed, desolate and desperate… resigned to living the rest of her days with this terrible affliction.
But then she hears about Jesus.
He’s come to her town.
He’s healed others.
HE CAN HEAL HER!!!
She rushes to the center of town breathlessly hoping she can still catch Him. But then she stops short when she sees that Jesus is surrounded by a crowd of people making their way away from her and toward the center of town.
The throng of people around Jesus would be bad enough… in order to get close to Him, she’d have to touch them forcing her uncleanness on them. But frankly, at this point, she’s beyond caring about that. She’s lived too long this way. And she senses this may be her ONE chance to be healed… if only she can get to Him.
But as she makes she’s overhears the people talking about Jesus’ mission. Jairus’s daughter is near death and Jesus is making His way to his home to deal with her illness. In dismay, she realizes Jairus is of this ruler of the synagogue, a man of great importance.
He’s SOMEBODY… she’s not.
She’ll never get Jesus’ attention now.
But she’s desperate.
She must get to Jesus.
And in a moment of inspiration it occurs to her: this man, this Jesus, is a great healer.
Maybe if she could just TOUCH HIM
Maybe if she could quietly make her way through the crowd and touch (pause…) yes if she could just touch the hem of his garment then she might be healed.
You see, in those days, Jews wore cloaks with tassels on their four corners. The tassels had a blue cord woven into it which reminded them of God’s law and their duty to keep the law.
Many people had an almost superstitious belief that these tassels as sacred objects. It’s the only thing that seems explain the fact that she sought to touch the “hem” of His garment.
So she slowly and methodically makes her way thru the crowd. Nobody pays much attention to her. Perhaps her shawl pulled down close to her face to avoid being recognized as the "unclean woman". Some are probably annoyed by being pushed aside by one more woman in the crowd.
And at last, she’s close.
She hears Jesus and Jairus talking.
Quickly she kneels down and brushes her hand against the tassel and immediately she feels the change in her body. It’s like a tingling sensation… a warmth that courses thru her body.
And she knows she’s been healed.
But now she moves away before anyone recognizes her and condemns her for having touched them and making them unclean. She must not be discovered.
Then - to her horror - Jesus stops and turns… practically looking at her.
“Who touched me?” He demands.
Everyone thinks that Jesus is asking who “shoved” Him or “pushed” or “bumped into Him” and no one wants to have been guilty of jostling this great teacher. Even Peter responds that everybody was pressing and crowding Him. Of course, somebody bumped into Him.
But she knows what He means.
She knows that He means her.
And she knows there is no escape.
In fear and trembling she falls on her knees before Him. Perhaps she’s afraid she’ll be punished. Maybe she even fears that the healing she’s received will be taken away.
We don’t know… but we do know she pleads her case to Jesus. She explains what drove her to touch Him with her unclean hands. And then, almost cautiously, she smiles as she tells of how she had been healed.
And I can see Jesus reach down and pull her to her feet as He says: "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace." Luke 8:48
Now, what can we learn from all this?
Some people have read this passage and come to false conclusion that Doctors are a bad idea.
ILLUS: Years ago, in Northern IN there was a persuasive and charismatic teacher named Hobart Freeman. He taught his people that – if they had enough faith – they didn’t need Doctors. He would even use this passage to say “look at this woman who spent all her money on Doctors. They didn’t do her any good.” And he convinced many of them to give up their medicines
Before his ministry was done over 90 people died. Many of them were children… and one of them was my friend.
Freeman himself died of pneumonia and heart failure complicated by an ulcerated leg.
His heretical faith healing doctrines did him no good.
There’s not a thing wrong with Doctors. Scripture NEVER condemns them.
And only a fool or a heretic would say that our present day medicines and hospitals and Drs. and nurses don’t bring healing for many diseases and physical problems.
But most Doctors will tell you that – as advanced as our medicine today is – their practice is more an art than a science. The body is a complicated creation. Even our most advanced medicines can have uncomfortable and unforeseen consequences. No Doctor or nurse is comfortable with someone who they can’t heal. They take that failure personally because they really want to do good for their patients. But they know, even their best prescriptions can be made on percentages and possibilities.
ILLUS: According to one recent survey 74 percent of U.S. doctors believe divine miracles of healing have occurred, and 73% believe they can still occur today. Amazingly, 55% say they had personally seen medical results in patients that they could describe only as miracles. (survey conducted by HCD Research and the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City)
But I think there’s a couple of even deeper lessons to be learned here.
1st – I believe this woman’s suffering profoundly effected her. I believe that because suffering often does do that to people.
ILLUS: A man named Terry Anderson had been held in by Lebanese rebels for several years. In all that time, he lived in isolation, never able to see his wife and children, being constantly threatened and deprived of some of the most basic needs of life. He noted:
“We come closest to God at our lowest moments. It’s easiest to hear God when you are stripped of pride and arrogance, when you have nothing to rely on except God. It’s pretty painful to get to that point, but when you do, God’s there.”
ILLUS: A preacher named Bob Sorge’s had had surgery to remove an ulcer next to his vocal chord they permanently damaged his throat, leaving him with a remnant of a voice that hurt if he tries to "whisper" more than an hour a day. It would have been a terrible tragedy for anyone, but the suffering was multiplied for Sorge. How can a preacher preach without a voice?
In the years that followed, Bob Sorge learned first hand about suffering. He noted:
"(God) has unfolded purpose to me. He’s transformed the way I think, feel, everything about me. The crucible of suffering causes you to be desperate for God and to press into Him."
Suffering had a profound effect on that woman Jesus healed.
And suffering can have a profound effect on us as well.
It can change us.
It can strip away all the dross of life and cause us to realize what’s really important in our lives.
And it can draw us to a closer more personal walk with Christ.
The 2nd thing to be learned here, is that Jesus gave this woman exactly what she needed.
You see, Jesus had already healed this woman.
He’d been on His way to heal a little girl who’s dying
He was walking along with a prominent religious leader and she was just a common woman that nobody wanted to be around. Why stop now and make a spectacle when there were so many more important things to do?
Jesus could have done and said anything He wanted to at this point, but HE CHOSE to turn the spotlight on a woman who wanted nothing more than to slip away into the crowd and make her way home.
She didn’t want the attention.
She didn’t want to make a public speech.
She just wants to get out of there, go home, and get on with her life.
But Jesus obviously has something else in mind.
You see, He’d already healed her of her physical problem. But that wasn’t what had driven her to press her way thru the crowd and touch Him. Something other than her physical condition had driven her, pushed her to the edge, and drug her to His feet. It was her “uncleanness”.
The blood - she could have lived with that. But it was the isolation and spiritual death she experienced day after day that had ruined her life.
And when Jesus stopped and publicly exposing her healing He gave her what she needed most.
Everybody knew now she had been healed.
They didn’t need to hear it 2nd hand
They didn’t need to buy a newspaper, turn on the radio or TV
THEY KNEW she was healed
They knew it was safe to touch her now.
CLOSE: The value of coming to Jesus is that He changes us on the inside.
He takes our damaged lives and remakes them in His image.
And then He heals in us in a way that makes other realize that we’re safer to be around now.
In 1 Corinthians Paul tells us about the church in Corinth
He writes: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
These are not “safe” people. They hurt others, they take advantage of others, they live only for themselves..
But then Paul tells the Corinthians: “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Once these people believed in Jesus, repented of their sins, confessed Jesus as their Lord and Master and were buried in the waters of baptism and risen up to a new life… then Jesus took people who were damaged inside and healed their souls. He started to make them “safe” to touch again. And He can do the same for you.
(I want to acknowledge the wonderful research others on Sermoncentral have done on this topic, and from which I benefited greatly, both in sermons on this text and the parallel one in Mark)
