28 June 2009
Fourth Sunday in June
U.S. Army Chaplain (MAJ) Ken Harris
Fortress Chapel
Contingency Operation Site (C.O.S.) Sykes
Tall-afar, Iraq
BIG IDEA: God through Christ honors our faith.
REFERENCES: Mark 5:25-34 (ESV); Leviticus 17:11b (ESV) … life of the flesh is in the blood … Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) … without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.; Mark 10:27b … “with man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God; Luke 8:43 (ESV) woman had a discharge of blood for 12 years … and though she had spent her living on physicians, she could NOT be healed by anyone; Leviticus 15:19 (ESV) When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening; Psalm 130 (ESV) Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to my pleas for mercy! If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities
; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 (ESV); Leviticus 15:19-27 ESV (Laws about a woman and bodily discharges of blood); 1 Samuel 1:16-17 (ESV) (Hannah struggling with her situation and misunderstanding) Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.”; Matthews 9:20-22 (ESV);
I. ANNOUNCE THE PERICOPE: Mark 5:25-34 (ESV)
II. READ THE PERICOPE: Mark 5:25-34 (ESV)
III. READ THE TEXT: Mark 5:34 (ESV) And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
IV. PURPOSE: To motivate the hearers to affirm to others that God through Christ honors our faith.
V. SERMONIC THEME: “STOLEN CURE”
VI. INTRODUCTION:
God through Christ honors our faith in the midst of our struggles and misunderstandings!
The Psalmist says in Psalm 130 (ESV):
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to my pleas for mercy! If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 1: God is a forgiving God who honors faith in the midst of struggles and misunderstandings! For who can ever forget the Story of Hannah, in 1 Samuel 1?
a. As you may recall, she struggled daily with her faith in God and misunderstandings from others.
b. The scripture even paint word pictures of her crying out to God for help in the midst of what must have been very painful circumstances.
c. Likewise, in our text today, we find a woman in the New Testament with Hannah-like Faith in action!
d. A woman of prayer and supplication. And like Hannah, she too had a medical situation.
e. But, I will not stand here and pretend to really know what an “Issue of Blood” is equivalent to in our day in time.
f. Because it is really NOT possible to know.
g. So, please excuse me from NOT pretending; and from NOT defining “new testament” diagnosis by modern day standards.
h. However, I can share with you that tradition believes that this woman suffered from abnormal bleeding from the womb.
i. And – as one might imagine - it was extremely important to STOP the bleeding.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 2: Everyone is aware that if you bleed continuously without an end in sight – you’re going to bleed to death.
a. A wounded Soldier becomes unconscious after having lost a certain amount of blood. And if the bleeding doesn’t stop – the Soldier will die.
b. The Good Book says in Leviticus 17:11b (ESV) … life of the flesh is in the blood … In other words, my brothers and sisters, without blood there is no life!
c. As one might imagine, a condition such as non-stop bleeding would have been physically and emotionally devastating to anyone.
d. Where can one go, and what can one do when she is constantly bleeding? You can’t cook – because you’re not clean.
e. You can’t leave the house, because you can’t stop bleeding.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 3: So, both church and work are out of the question.
a. If you have children, you can’t go near them for fear of defiling them for 7 days.
b. Visiting friends is a thing of the past.
c. And no one comes to see you, because of the fear of embarrassing you and getting infected themselves.
d. Every second, you feel weaker than the second before!
e. You’ve gone and suffered through the agony of X-Rays and Blood Testing, and waiting for medical results to only have the results reveal nothing of significance.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 4: In fact, the medical process now seems like a vicious, ridiculous cycle to you. You have gone from one doctor to another.
a. You have seen this blood specialist and that blood specialist; only for the results to remain the same.
b. You have even listened to the elderly and tried a mixture of home remedies and superstitions – but nothing WORKS!
c. Yet, others that you know have been healed. But, not you!
d. You have gone to your pastor – Nothing and No one has been able to help you.
e. Dr. Luke – a graduate of the New Testament School of Medicine – tells us, in Luke 8:43 (ESV) regarding this same patient, that she had a discharge of blood for 12 L-O-N-G years … and although she had spent her living on physicians, she could NOT be healed by anyone.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 5: Now, rumor has it that Jesus is coming to your community. But … in your mind’s eye … that’s not necessarily good news … because DENSE AND THICK CROWDS seem to follow Him whenever He goes.
a. But, the more you think about it … rather than hindering you from touching Jesus, this thick crowd could actually provides the cover you need … to do what has to be done illegally (and incognito).
c. For in your mind, the crowd will halt for a man with an ailing daughter; but who will STOP for a woman?
d. In other words, the CROWD will STOP for a man like Jarius – a church deacon or elder; but WHO will STOP for you?
e. NOBODY … even knows your name!
f. Your clock is ticking … and your time is running out …
g. This is your chance! This is the opportunity you’ve been praying to God for…
h. For don’t you remember, YOU’ve asked God if HE SAW WHAT YOU HAD BEEN GOING THROUGH? YOU ASKED IF HE WOULD HEAL YOU.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 6: The Good Book says, in Leviticus 15:19 (ESV), When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. Everything she lies on will be unclean … everywhere she sits will be unclean … and everything she touches … is unclean …
a. By touching Jesus’ clothes – if He’s just a normal man – He will be made unclean.
b. Still, her insurance was exhausted and her life savings was gone! She had no one else to turn to; and … no more money … to rely on!
c. All she had was FAITH to STEAL a HEALING!
d. Now, to steal is to break one of the Ten Commandments.
e. It’s a sign of “moral and spiritual decomposing or rotting”.
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 7: For the commandment says, “Thou shalt not steal”; and it’s immaterial whether one steals from an Israelite or from a Gentile;
a. It’s irrelevant whether one steals … from a Soldier or from a civilian; from God or from man.
b. It was forbidden to take anything without permission; to do so was stealing.
c. So, if she didn’t ask; she must have taken.
d. She touched without permission! One could even say that she disobeyed the Law of Moses and STOLE A CURE through her touch of faith!
e. In her Eastern Culture, she was risking everything … For it was almost irreligious for a woman to engage a man in open and outgoing conversation …
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
MOVE 8: But, this woman had faith that GOD through Christ would NOT ONLY HEAL HER …
a. But He would also forgive her for BREAKING CUSTOMS AND LAWS AND STEALING A CURE … with a touch!
b. The Good Book tells us that JESUS didn’t SCOLD or REPRIMAND the woman for disobeying the Law of Moses.
c. Instead, He blessed and confirmed the miracle in her life.
d. By saying: “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole”
e. In other words, Jesus called her daughter to let her know that “her touch of faith” was so huge that it changed both her physical and spiritual relationship with God the Father.
f. So much so, that that she was NOT ONLY HEALED PHYSICALLY, BUT SPIRITUAL TOO!
g. Just as Deacon Jarius had shown concern for his earthly daughter – God (the Father) through Jesus was demonstrating his concern for His Child and their RELATIONSHIP
h. “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole”
******* TAKE 5 BEATS *******
CELEBRATION:
The Good Book says in Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) … without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God … must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
God is the source of all faith.
For in our scripture, this morning, we discover that God through Christ honors our faith.
It may seem impossible to you.
But what seems impossible with man is possible with God. For the scripture says in Mark 10:27b (ESV) … “with man it is impossible, but not with God.
For all things are possible with God.
