Power to Cleanse and Resurrect
Mark 5:21-43
CHCC: February 13, 2011
INTRODUCTION:
This message focuses on two significant miracles – Matthew, Mark, and Luke all three tell about these two miracles. Both are healings of women … Both involve the number 12 - a 12-year-old girl and a woman who had suffered from a bleeding disorder for 12 years.
This was at the height of Jesus’ popularity. He had just come across the lake, and as soon as he put his feet on dry ground, he was immediately swamped with a mob of people. All of them wanted to see him. Some of them wanted to touch him. Some wanted to hear him. And some wanted to harm him.
Just before this Jesus had a run in with the Gerasene community after healing a demon-possessed man and sending a legion of demons into a herd of 2000 pigs. Do the math. A legion of demons (6,000 is equal to a Roman Legion) divided by 2,000 pigs = 3 demons per pig. We have here the first recorded instance of deviled ham.
This account seems to be especially meaningful because it is found three times in the gospels, in Matthew 9:18-26, here in Mark 5, and also in Luke 8:41-56. Each time the healing of the woman with the issue of blood is paired with the account of raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead.
Some of the crowd included religious leaders, looking for a way to stop Jesus. But one of those religious leaders had a different motivation. (22) Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. (23) He 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.”
It took a combination of courage and of desperation for Jairus to throw himself at Jesus’ feet and plead for help. Just the day before, Jesus and the Pharisees had a blowout. He healed a blind man who was possessed of a demon. The Pharisees accused Jesus of doing it by the power of the Devil. Jesus lashed back by accusing them of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
Application – maybe you can relate. Many people resist God until that time in their life when they are faced with something beyond their power to control. What could be more heart-rending than for a daddy to see his beautiful little girl suffering and on the brink of death. No wonder he cast aside all other considerations and cried out for help.
Jesus went with him immediately … leading a parade of people toward the religious leader’s house. And that’s when an unexpected miracle occurred.
1. The Woman’s Cleansing
While Jesus was rushing to heal a sick 12 year old girl, a woman who had been sick as long as that little girl had been alive was creeping up behind him, silently pushing her way through the crowd, trying to get closer.
The disease this woman had caused her to bleed for the last 12 years. Her bleeding disease is mentioned in Leviticus 15:25-30 where it says that a woman with this condition is unclean for the whole time she is bleeding and even 7 days after her bleeding stops. This woman had 12 years of continuous non-stop bleeding! No doubt, along with her physical weakness from blood loss and likely anemia, this woman was also forced to stay in the shadows and away from the community. This kind of a disease would have put her in the same kind of position as a leper, because she would continually be considered “unclean.” It was a disease that separated her from her family and friends … AND it had ruined her finances. She’d spent everything she had, going to doctor after doctor … and instead of making her better, their treatment actually made her get worse and worse.
I have heard of women in Africa who have this same bleeding condition and have been abandoned by their husbands and families. They would die if it weren’t for the kindness of a Christian organization that has provided a home and medical help for these abandoned women. One example of these homes is the Umoja Uaso Women’s Village, a village in Samburu district of Kenya, created by and for women who were fleeing domestic violence, forced marriages, as well as widows and teen mothers who had been abandoned by their families for various reasons including incurable illness like the lady in our story today.
But this woman believed that she would be cleansed of this terrible bleeding if she could just touch Jesus’ robe. So that’s what she did. And the minute she touched the hem of his cloak, she felt the bleeding stop. She knew immediately that she had been completely healed.
There’s a reason she might have thought healing could come by touching Jesus’ cloak. Every Jewish male wore a prayer shawl with tassels tied along the hem. The tassels had specific knots tied along their length, and the knots represented prayers. (kind of like rosary beads) The rabbi ran his fingers down the trail of knots on the tassel as he prayed specific prayers. The talk of the day was that the more powerful the rabbi, the more powerful his prayers … and many believed that a “residue” of that prayer power remained in those tassels that he had touched.
The woman may have been motivated by this superstition, but the result was so immediate and powerful that she had no doubt at all. She had been instantaneously and completely healed. She probably stopped right there, expecting Jesus and the crowd to leave her behind. But Jesus stopped almost immediately and asked, “Who touched me?”
His disciples asked, “What are you talking about? Everyone is bumping into everyone in this crowd.” But in His Spirit, Jesus had felt the healing power leave his body. And when he looked around, the woman wasn’t hard to spot. She came up to him, fell at his feet trembling, and told what she had done. Jesus replied, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Jesus was on his way to heal Jairus’ daughter … but he stopped and called this older woman by that same affectionate name: daughter. Jesus had never met this woman, but he loved her with the same powerful love that Jairus had for his little girl. This is the kind of love God has for all his children.
But Jairus probably saw this woman as no more than an interruption to the one thing he really cared about. He wanted Jesus to keep moving toward his home. But just at that moment, a servant arrived and blurted out, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use in bringing this teacher to your house.”
The way this was phrased in the original language was even more abrupt. They literally said to this worried daddy, “DEAD, your daughter is.” (probably an ancestor to Yoda) It must have been like a knife in his heart to hear that word, “dead.” It’s the most absolutely harsh and hopeless word in any language.
When I lived in Albuquerque I was trained by the Albuquerque Police Department to deliver death notifications to people in town. The Police Department used local preachers wearing suits with Police Chaplain badges instead of sending uniformed officers because it was shocking enough to hear such sad news without the extra strain of a uniformed officer delivering it. The other reason for using preachers is that we could stay after delivering the notice and offer words of comfort to the family. It wasn’t the most pleasant thing I ever did (delivering death notices), but it was helpful pastoral training for a young minister right out of college. It was difficult to look people in the eye and tell them a family member has died.
2. The Girl’s Resurrection
There’s a saying “where there’s life there’s hope.” But with death, all hope is gone. Or at least that’s how it was UNTIL JESUS.
Verse 36 says, Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” The word translated “overhearing” could also be translated “IGNORING” what they said. Jesus told the suffering daddy to focus on his FAITH, not his FEAR.
That’s the same thing the Holy Spirit will tell you when you get the kind of bad news that you dread to hear. After all, the Holy Spirit is our counselor. He comes beside us and speaks comfort to our hearts. Many have testified of what the Bible calls a “peace that passes all understanding” when tragedy strikes. Those who have the line of communication open with the Spirit can sense God’s nearness when circumstances turn unbearable.
Jairus expressed his FAITH the same way we show our FAITH in times of tragedy and trouble. He simply kept walking with Jesus.
They arrived to find the funeral already in progress. The whole entourage is there --- mourners, musicians, pall bearers. And Jesus told them all to go home because the little girl was just sleeping. The mourners switched from mourning to mocking. They laughed at Jesus. But once again he ignored the cynics and went in with the girls parents, along with Peter, James and John. Jesus sent everyone else away.
(41) He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). (42) Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. Now that has to be the understatement of the year! Jesus raised this little girl from the dead with two little Aramaic words, “Talitha koum!”
This is a picture of what will happen for every believer on that DAY when Jesus returns. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." Perhaps the words of that loud command will be similar to what Jesus spoke to the little girl: “my children, get up!”
3. The Savior’s Cleansing Blood and Resurrection
These miracles are another picture of who Jesus is and why He came. We see an older woman who is cleansed from a BLOOD disorder. We see a young girl whose problem is RESURRECTED from death. Where else do we see both Cleansing Blood and Resurrection but at the Cross of Christ.
These women foreshadowed the work of Christ on the Cross. They are mirrors of our own predicament – our weakness, defilement, hopelessness, and shame. Jesus reached out to both of them with the same love he shows to all of us. To the old woman, he said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” To the child, he said, “Little girl, get up!”
It’s one thing to speak those words, but it’s another to have the POWER to make them come true. When Jesus gave His life on the Cross, he made it possible for all of us to have PEACE, to be freed from suffering, and to one day be RESURRECTED to eternal life.
CONCLUSION:
Will you have the courage and determination of these two people who threw themselves at Jesus’ feet?
Will you be like the woman? Will you do whatever it takes to come close to Jesus? Will you reach out toward him, even if only to touch the hem of his garment? Do you believe that He can and will cleanse you from defilement and shame? If you reach out to Jesus, he will give you healing and peace, and free you from your suffering.
Will you be like Jairus? Do you understand that your situation is desperate --- that you can’t “fix” things for yourself and your family without help from God? Will you forget about what other people might think of you and come to Jesus? If you ask Him, Jesus will do the same for you that he did for Jairus … he will come to your home. He will tell you, don’t be afraid; just believe. And He will bring his RESURRECTION power into your life.
