Mark 5:25-34
Jesus: Master Over Disease
Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea... So [Jesus] went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.
Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind [Him] in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in [her] body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?" But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ’Who touched Me?’" And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."
Introduction – Life’s Circumstances
When it comes to life’s circumstances and what goes on each day, how do you respond with gratitude, grit, or grouch? And is your response determined by your circumstance or by your character?
There is a quiz to assess your response.
Let’s start with question 1: You are in the 10 item, cash only line at Vons with your 2 cans of green beans and 1 can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup with a fresh $20 bill from your ATM machine in your hand. The person in front of you has 15 items and a checkbook in their back pocket. How do you respond?
A. Gratitude for the Green Bean Bake your family will enjoy.
B. Grit your teeth and wonder if the guy ahead of you failed math or reading.
C. Yell at the cashier, “Checkout Line Violation -- 15 items! 15 items!”
Question 2: You receive a letter from the IRS, stating you will soon be receiving a $1,000 refund on your tax return, how do you respond?
A. Gratitude to live in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.
B. Grit your teeth about the other $10,000 you paid in taxes last year.
C. Rip the letter to shreds while demanding more.
Question 3: You receive a letter from the IRS, stating you will be audited. How do you respond?
A. Gratitude to live in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.
B. Clench the phone and call your accountant.
C. Write the Union Tribune an angry letter about tax oppression in the USA.
Question 4: You are driving your daughter to school, and as you drop her off, the car in front of you decides to just park there, trapping you in the school parking lot. How do you respond?
A. You look out the window and give thanks for this time to stop and smell the roses and car fumes.
B. Grab the steering wheel tighter as steam comes out of your ears.
C. Honk your horn continuously until you sound out “move your car” in Morse code.
Question 5: You are watching your football team play on Sunday, and they win by a field goal in a close game. How do you respond?
A. Stand up and start shouting “how ‘bout them Cowboys”!
B. Wring your hands over the game next week.
C. Call a sports radio station and complain how we should have won by 3 touchdowns.
If you had all B’s for your answers, you need to take a breath, chill out and relax. If you had all C’s for your answers, you may need therapy. If you had all A’s, you need to teach this message. If you had a mixture of A’s, B’s, and C’s, welcome to the club. I am not surprised when people are grateful when life goes right. I am surprised and a bit envious when life goes wrong, and people respond with a grateful heart. I want to be able to respond to all of life with gratitude, not grit, and not grouch, but a grateful heart to God. What I have observed in such people and in rare moments for myself is that the gratitude God gives changes my perspective about life.
We really don’t know what brought about the circumstances of this woman’s life. What we do know is that Jesus was able to meet her need when no one else could. But her perspective was if only she could touch His garment that she could be healed…
HER CIRCUMSTANCE 25-26
Let’s examine her circumstances. She is like many in the hospital today seeking for an answer and a cure. She desperately neede help!
She was diseased
She knew she had a problem. Life was slowly oozing from her. She sought all the answers that the world had to offer. She had tried it all with no satisfaction. No physician could help her. No hope was offered by the religious leaders. She was incurable by man’s standards.
She was distanced
She was an outcast. Because of her blood issue, according to Leviticus 15 and 25, she was alienated from her family and community. There was to be no contact with those who were clean. She would defile them by simply touching them.
She was destitute
Because she had spent all in seeking a cure, we now find her broke, penniless and living in poverty. She had nothing to offer. It is only when we have nothing to offer that we find that…
She was desperate
Now that she was without hope, she sought the only One who could heal her. It had become a matter of faith. It would be faith in the Rabbi from Nazareth. He was the one many called the Messiah. Perhaps He could heal her.
Every man has a blood disease that is fatal… it’s called sin. When the health of a loved one fails or we find our own life slipping away, we will try all methods for a cure. Desperate means require desperate measures. In our desperation we must turn to Jesus! Often, it is only when we are desperate that we will seek Him!
Illustration – Woman Taken Out w Trash
The following story from FoxNews.com 7-6-04:
A Mississippi woman is lucky to be alive after being picked up and nearly crushed by a garbage truck. The unnamed woman was looking for her keys Wednesday morning in a dumpster behind her Ridgeland, Miss., apartment complex, reports the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson. As tends to happen, the dumpster was picked up by a garbage truck, turned over and emptied into the truck’s waste compactor. The truck put the dumpster down and kept going on its rounds. A couple of miles later, someone heard screams and told the driver, who was about to start crushing the load of garbage. The woman, who complained of joint pain after climbing out of the back of the truck, was treated at a local hospital and released, according to Waste Management District Manager David Myhan. Myhan advised people who think they’ve lost something in the trash to call his company instead of diving into dumpsters. "We take this real seriously," he said. "We do not want people getting in our containers."
We will search desperately for something that is valuable to us. Whether it’s a set of keys, a lost billfold or an answer for a cure, we will seek when we need an answer.
Dr Adrian Rogers, the late pastor of Bellview Baptist Church in TN, used to have a saying that stuck with me. He stated, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you’re willing to pay."
HER CURE 27-30
We find in this passage there was hope! His name is Jesus!
She touched Jesus
Mark 3.10 states that she touched Him! In a crowd of people stirring around Him, she was able to touch His garments
She trusted Jesus
Because she placed her faith in Him there was an instant cure. It was something gradual but instantaneous. He has the transforming power to change our lives.
She troubled Jesus
When she touched Him, Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” The disciples were incredulous! They couldn’t believe Jesus would ask that! Why, there were hundreds of people surrounding Him and touching Him. But there was only one who was desperate!
Jesus is the object of our faith. Not His clothes, the tassels, the cross, or the grave. They simply reveal who He is...the Great I Am. He cures because He is the rightful Creator of His creation. From the lowest to the highest, the richest to the poorest, and the oldest to the youngest... Jesus still saves. Isaiah 53:5
HER CONFESSION 30-34
Caught by His gaze for the one healed, she confesses her need and faith in Him.
His requirement
Jesus could have continued on to the little girls home. But Jesus requires a public profession from us. It is not enough to be a secret agent believer. We must proclaim Him.
His relationship
It took a powerful faith to seek him. She simply trusted and was given a new identity. She was now a sister in Christ.
His reward
His reward was a permanent cure. She would no longer be alienated from her family, friends or future! She was free to serve the One who had healed her.
Jesus delights in you telling others what He has done. Children love bragging on their parents. Confession is a necessary part of acknowledging Jesus as Savior. There are no secret disciples of Jesus. MT 10:32-33 requires a confession of Him. It is a faith in Jesus as our object and trust.
Ill – Hot Water Bottle Prayer
This beautiful story was written by a doctor who worked in South Africa. I’m not sure of it’s origin or veracity.
One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities.
Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.
Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates).
"And it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.
"All right," I said, "put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."
The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.
During prayer time, one ten -year old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God" she prayed, "Send us a hot water bottle today. It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon."
While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, "And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she’ll know You really love her?"
As often with children’s prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen"? I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything, the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren’t there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!
Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses’ training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the verandah, was a large twenty-two pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes.
I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.
From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - we would use them to make a batch of buns for the weekend. Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the - could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber, hot water bottle. I cried.
I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He would.
Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, if God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly too!"
Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!
Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves her?"
Of course, I replied!
That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "that afternoon."
"Before they call, I will answer" (Isaiah 65:24)
There is no such thing as a coincidence. Life is lived in the sovereignty of God. He knows us like no one else. To repent of our sins and turn to Him in faith is to respond to the life changing power of Jesus.
