Women’s Issues (Mark 5:21-43)
William Alexander, in his book, The $64 Tomato, asks the question, “If you were doomed to live the same life over and over again for eternity, would you choose the life you are living now? The question is interesting enough,” he says, “but … the point of asking it is really the unspoken, potentially devastating follow-up question. That is, if the answer is no, then why are you living the life you are living now? Stop making excuses, and do something about it.” (William Alexander, The $64 Tomato, Algonquin Books, 2007, p. 245; www.PreachingToday.com)
I like the sentiment, but what do we do when there is nothing else to do? What do we do when there are no other alternatives? What do we do when life seems hopeless?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Mark 5, Mark 5, where a father finds himself in just such a predicament.
Mark 5:21-24 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. (NIV)
What do you do when life seems hopeless? You do what this father did. me to Jesus, and trust Him with your problems. BELIEVE IN HIM. DEPEND ON HIM, even if all your friends despise Him.
As one of the synagogue rulers, this man was responsible for the physical management of the synagogue building and the worship services. He was a respected leader in the community. But unlike the other religious leaders that wanted to kill Jesus (Mark 3:6), he looked to Jesus for help when he had a need. He didn’t care what his peers thought. His little girl was dying, and Jesus was his only hope.
His desperation led him to depend on Jesus, and that’s where our desperation needs to lead us, as well. We can’t worry about what our friends think. We just need to trust Jesus if we’re going to see our lives change.
Boyd Clarke and Ron Crossland, in their book, The Leader’s Voice, talk about the U.S. standard railroad gage. It is four feet, 8½ inches. That’s because that’s the width English railroad workers brought with them to America.
So why did the English build them this wide? Because the first British rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that’s the gauge they used. Why did they use that gauge? It’s because the same people who built the tramways also built wagons which used the standard wagon-wheel spacing, and wagon-wheel spacing was standardized due to a very practical, hard-to-change, and easy-to-match reality. When Britain was ruled by Imperial Rome, Roman war chariots, in true bureaucratic fashion, all used a standard spacing between their wheels.
Over time, this spacing left deep ruts along the extensive roads that the Romans built. If British wheel spacing didn’t match Roman ruts, the wheels would break. The Roman standard was derived after much trial-and-error to accommodate two horse butts, and that was four 4 feet, 8½ inches. Thus the United States standard railroad gauge is a hand-me-down standard based upon the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
But this doesn’t end at the railroads. There are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank that blasts the space shuttle into orbit. Thiokol makes these solid-fuel rocket boosters, SRBs, at its Utah factory. The engineers who design the SRBs ship them from factory to launch site by train. The railroad from the factory runs through a mountain tunnel only slightly wider than the railroad track. Even if Thiokol engineers wanted fatter SRBs, the railway gauge limits their design. So even Modern space shuttle design follows horses’ butts. (Boyd Clarke and Ron Crossland, The Leader’s Voice, Select Books, 2002; www.PreachingToday.com)
Conformity is the name of the game in our world, but if all we do is conform to what others think and do, then we’ll never see change in our own lives or in our world.
John Stott talks about a trip he made to India where he heard of a little Hindu girl brought up in a strict Hindu family. Then she met some Christians, and somebody asked her what she thought a Christian was. She thought for a few moments and replied, “Well as far as I can see, a Christian is somebody who is different from everybody else.” Stott comments, “Would that it was true.” (John Stott, “Christians: Salt and Light,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 109; www.PreachingToday.com)
You see, a real Christian believes in Jesus even when nobody else does. A real Christian doesn’t conform to this world’s attitudes, but rather lives to transform his world.
I like the way G. K. Chesterton once put it: “We do not want…a church that will move WITH the world. We want a church that will MOVE the world. (G.K. Chesterton, “The New Witness,” Christianity Today, Vol. 30 no. 8; www.PreachingToday.com)
Let these desperate times lead us to depend on Jesus even if it is politically incorrect to do so. Then and only then will we see change in our own lives. & Then and only then may we also change the world! When life seems hopeless, believe in Jesus even if none of your friends do.
More than that, BELIEVE IN JESUS EVEN IF HE DELAYS. TRUST CHRIST EVEN IF HE SEEMS SLOW IN COMING TO YOUR AID. DEPEND ON THE LORD EVEN IF HE SEEMS TO BE IN NO HURRY TO HELP.
That’s what this father had to do. Put yourself in his shoes. You’re in desperate need for Jesus. Your little girl is at the point of death. & You need Jesus to heal her right NOW before it is eternally too late. But there is a crowd pressing in on Jesus, slowing Him down.
Mark 5:25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. (NIV)
I.e., she had a chronic menstrual disorder which made her “unclean” and ostracized her from family and friends, lest they too become “unclean” (Leviticus 15:25-27).
From the father’s point of view, this woman’s issue wasn’t near as urgent as his daughter’s. She had had her condition for 12 years. She could certainly wait just a little while longer until AFTER Jesus took care of his daughter. But no…
Mark 5:26-28 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” (NIV)
Perhaps she thought there was some magical power in Jesus’ clothes.
Mark 5:29 "Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt" – literally, she KNEW – “in her body that she was freed" – or healed – "from her suffering.”
Mark 5:30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” (NIV)
“Aaaahhh! Jesus, don’t stop! My daughter needs you NOW!” Can’t you just imagine what’s going through that father’s head? Even Jesus’ disciples don’t understand him.
Mark 5:31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” (NIV)
Everybody is touching you. How can you ask a question like that?
Mark 5:32-34 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
There was no magic in Jesus’ clothes. It was her faith that had made her well. & Look at what Jesus calls her – “daughter” (vs.34).
The crowds thronged Him, but this woman trusted Him, and that made all the difference in the world. She found love – Jesus called her “daughter,” loving her as much as that father loved his own dying daughter. & She found healing – not just physical healing, but spiritual and emotional healing, as well.
Jesus told her, “Your faith has healed you” – literally, your faith has SAVED YOU. Her faith saved her not only from physical sickness, but also from the loneliness and bitterness that such sickness can bring. & Now, she is in a new relationship with Jesus. She is part of His spiritual family (cf. Mark 3:35).
Faith in Christ makes all the difference in the world. It doesn’t matter HOW MUCH faith you have. It only matters WHO you put your faith in.
So, if your situation seems hopeless, Believe in Jesus. Trust Him as this woman did, and as this father must do even though Jesus delays His help.
You see, Jesus stopped not only for the woman’s benefit, but for the father’s benefit, as well. This man was learning some very important lessons and having his own faith strengthened in the process.
1st, he learned that Jesus really does care for all kinds of people –
not only for a wealthy, respected man like himself, but also for a bankrupt, outcast like this woman. & 2nd, he learned that Jesus is never in a hurry, especially when it comes to caring for people. He is no slave to the urgent. Rather, He is Lord. He has all authority over demons, disease, and even death.
And we need to trust Him as such. We need to depend on Him even if He does delay his help. We need to believe in Him even if He is not on our time schedule.
Marcia Hornor, from Salt Lake City, Utah, writes in the Christian Reader about the day her 4-year-old daughter was scheduled for surgery at 11:30 a.m. She and her husband were becoming anxious as time passed and no one came to get her. Finally at 12:30, the surgeon arrived at her room. Knowing her husband was a minister, the doctor asked if many people were praying for this surgery.
Edgy from the delay, Marcia said, “They were praying for you an hour ago.”
With a smile, he shot back, “Thanks. That surgery went very well.” (Marcia Hornor, Salt Lake City, Utah, “Lite Fare,” Christian Reader)
As a rule, we don’t like to wait – not for doctors and certainly
not for our Lord. But our Lord’s delays are not denials. On the contrary, He delays only to delight us even more!
J. Hudson Taylor, a 19th century English missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission, once said, “If we are kept waiting, the spiritual blessing that is the outcome is far more precious than exemption from the trial.” (“Money II,” Christian History, Issue 19)
Henri Nouwen put it this way: “Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.”
And Eugene Peterson said it best in his paraphrase of Romans 8:22-25: “Waiting does not diminish us any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting” (The Message).
So trust Christ even if He does make you wait. When life SEEMS hopeless, believe in Jesus even if none of your friends do; believe in Jesus even if He delays His help.
And BELIEVE IN JESUS EVEN IF IT’S TOO LATE TO HOPE ANYMORE. TRUST IN THE LORD EVEN AFTER TIME HAS RUN OUT AND THERE IS NO PROSPECT OF HELP. DEPEND ON CHRIST EVEN WHEN A DEATH OCCURS, BECAUSE JESUS SPECIALIZES IN RESURRECTIONS.
That’s what this father has to do.
Mark 5:35-36 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (NIV)
Or better, “Stop fearing; keep on believing.” The man had already exercised faith in coming to Jesus. Now, he shouldn’t let even his daughter’s death stop him from believing anymore.
Mark 5:37-38 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly.
These were the paid mourners.
Mark 5:39-40a He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.
They didn’t believe Him. They didn’t believe that this child would get up again. Oh, she was certainly dead, but Jesus can raise the dead just as if they were only asleep. And so…
Mark 5:40b-42 After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. (NIV)
Literally, “they were out of their minds with great amazement.” It’s the same word used in Mark 3:21 where they accused Jesus of being “out of his mind.”
Mark 5:43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
The girl had been raised from the dead, but she still needed to eat. You see, Jesus not only takes care of the spectacular, He takes care of the mundane aspects of life as well.
So trust Him for everything. Depend on the Lord for the little issues
as well as the impossible ones. For even death is not the end for the believer in Christ.
In the midst of a storm, a little bird was clinging to the limb of a tree, seemingly calm and unafraid. As the wind tore at the limbs of the tree, the bird continued to look the storm in the face, as if to say, “Shake me off; I still have wings.”
So it is with every believer in Christ. We can look death in the face and confidently say, “Shake me off; I still have wings. I’ll live anyway.” (Wayne A. Lamb, “100 Meditations on Hope,” Christianity Today, Vol.40, no.4; www.PreachingToday.com)
Jesus told us, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies” (John 11:25).
So believe in Him even when there is no more hope. Believe in Him even if no one else does. Believe in Him even if he delays his help. & Believe in Him even in the face of death, because for the believer there is always hope!
Fred Smith was an influential businessman who was a mentor to many Christian leaders for the last several decades of his life. He went home to be with the Lord at the age of 91, on August 20, 2007, a little more than two years ago.
But a few years before that, in the summer of 2004, Fred was hospitalized in a semi-conscious condition and not expected to live. Family members heard him repeat, “I want to go home…I want to go home.” After an emotional family conference, they concluded that they should respect his wishes and allow him to die. They agreed to remove him from dialysis, knowing that his death would come in 3–5 days.
For the next 36 hours, they sang, read Scripture, prayed, and said their goodbyes. Unexpectedly, the promised peaceful decline turned into a pulmonary failure and choking aspiration. His daughter, Brenda, sat with him at midnight, begging for answers. The coughing, however, broke through Fred’s deep sleep, and he awoke. Brenda quietly told him of the family’s decision to follow his desire to “go home.” She explained that he would slip into unconsciousness and then step “from here to there.”
Suddenly, Fred’s eyes were wide open and he made the effort to speak: “Home? I didn’t mean heaven, I meant Parkchester” (speaking of his house on Parkchester Drive). Laughing through tears, Brenda quickly called the doctors to reschedule his dialysis, and Fred was returned to what he called “the washing machine.”
Several days later, Fred was still prepared to go to his heavenly home, but happy to home in Dallas. (Fred Smith, “Ask Fred,” Leadership Journal, Summer 2005, p. 40; www.PreachingToday.com)
As long as we live, we believe in Jesus. But even when death comes, we keep on believing, because Jesus is the resurrection.
