You’re a Healing Jesus
Mark 5:21-43
INTRODUCTION:
Joe, a hard working factory worker and father of a little girl became depressed. Things were not going well at work, and he was bringing his problems home with him every night. Every evening he would eat his dinner in silence, shutting out his wife Jane and five-year-old daughter, Suzy. Then he would go into the family room and read the paper and watch endless hours of Television, blocking out his family.
After several nights of this, one evening little Suzy took her little hand and pushed the newspaper down. She then jumped into her father's lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him strongly.
Joe said abruptly, "Honey, you are hugging me to death!" "No, Daddy," Suzy said, "I'm hugging you to life!"
This was the greatness of Jesus. He took people where they were and hugged them to life. That is precisely what we see Jesus doing here in this dramatic passage in Mark 5:21-43.
Mark includes two miracles that are intertwined. The story begins with a desperate father urging Jesus to come and heal his dying daughter. Sandwiched between Jairuses request and Jesus response, is a nameless women with an incurable disease; Equally desperate and needy as Jairus’s daughter.
Both of these accounts involve women. One is a young preteen twelve year old girl on the cusp of womanhood. The other a nameless adult woman who had endured twelve years excruciating pain and shame.
Jairus was a desperate father about to loose his daughter, the woman about to loose her life. Both desperate. Both in need.
Both of these cases remind us that,
When you feel you are on the verge of losing everything, the simply touch of Jesus gives you more than you could ask or imagine.
The story begins with a desperate father pressing to see Jesus for his dying daughter.
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 leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.
The story tells us that Jairus was one of the synagogue rulers. That is he held a place of prominence and prestige in the community. His walk, clothing and demeaner told the world, “I am somebody’
Jairus was one of the most important and most respected man in the community. But all of that prestige fell like ashes in the wind, when news came that his little girl was gravely ill. All of the sudden, the man who had everything rushed with abandon to Jesus as a man who was about to lose everything.
No matter how wealthy, powerful or popular a person is, desperation makes him forget.
Jairus forgot his PREDJUDICE. He was a person of importance, class, and prestige. Jesus was a simple teacher and carpenter from the back water town of Nazareth. But in the hour of need all that mattered was that he would see Jesus.
His DIGNITY was forgotten. Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue. You could have called him the reeve or mayor of the town, and yet in desperation and spiritual bankruptcy, he THREW himself at Jesus feet.
Jairus forgot his PRIDE. It is never easy to ask for help. Jairus may have wrestled with this but when it came to the life of his little daughter, he was going to move heaven and earth no matter how he looked to the outside world. He needed help. Jairus needed JESUS and he would do whatever it would take to get to Him.
It is note worthy that when a person is in great need how much of the tangible things of life we FORGET. When faced with desperate need, suddenly the intangible things of life begin to take on greater importance.
Jairus pleaded earnestly with Jesus “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.
Without fanfare or discussion, Jesus drops what he was doing and responds quickly .
So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
Expereince tells me that there could have been a stadium filled with people accompanying Jairus , but all that mattered was, He was with Jesus and Jesus was with him. All was perfect as it should be when the unthinkable happens
JESUS IS INTERUPTED!
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 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.
The woman had a hemorrhage that was apparently incurable and was slowly destroying her. One can only imagine the pain and emotional pressure that sapped her strength day after day.
When you consider her many disappointments with the doctors and the poverty it brought her, you wonder how she endured as long as she did. But there was one added burden: according to the Law, she was ceremonially unclean, which greatly restricted both her religious and her social life. In other words, according to popular belief, even GOD CONSIDERED HER FORGOTTEN AND FORSAKEN!
What a burden she carried!
However, she let nothing stand in her way as she pushed through the crowd and came to Jesus.
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."
She could have used any number of excuses to convince herself to stay away from Him.
She might have said:
• “I’m not important enough to ask Jesus for help!” or
• “Look, He’s going with Jairus, so I won’t bother Him now.”
• She could have argued that nothing else had helped her, so why try again?
• Or she might have concluded that it was not right to come to Jesus as a last resort, after visiting all those physicians.
Like this woman, if you wish to receive anything from the Lord you need to abandon your pride, and do whatever it takes , lay aside your fear and excuses and come by faith to Jesus..
After trying everything that was available to her both through medicine and altereor cures, and after spending everything she has, as almost a last resort …The woman says to herself, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
Why touch Jesus clothes?
Some commentators suggest it was out of superstition. The word that is used by Mark describes the outer cloak Jesus was wearing. At the hem of this garment were tied tassles. This was the prayer robe every Jewish man wore and still wears today.
Each of those tassles were reminders to the wearer of who God is. He is our provider, He is our banner, He is our shield, He is our righteousness, HE IS OUR HEALER!
As she was reaching for the tassles by faith she was reaching out to a God whose word proclaims “I AM THE LORD YOUR HEALER”
Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
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.”
What kind of faith did she have? It was weak, timid, and perhaps somewhat superstitious She had heard reports of others being healed by Jesus, so she made this one great attempt to get through to the Saviour. She was not disappointed: Jesus honored her faith, weak as it was, and healed her body.
There is a good lesson here for all of us. Not everybody has the same degree of faith, but Jesus responds to faith no matter how feeble it might be.
Another reason people miss out on Gods blessings, is because they have a twisted idea of what faith is. They mistakenly believe that if they have the right kind or right amount of faith then God will answer.
Listen to what Jesus has to say about faith,
Matt. 17:20
‘, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Jesus reminds us that every person has faith. Without faith we could not believe and be saved. God is not looking at size of faith.
“Faith as a grain of mustard seed” suggests not only size (God will honor even a little faith), but also life and growth. Faith like a mustard seed is living faith that is nurtured and caused to grow. Faith must be cultivated so that it grows and does even greater exploits for God.
When we believe, He shares His power with us and something happens in our lives. There were many others in that crowd who were close to Jesus and even pressing against Him, but they experienced no miracles. Why? Because they did not have faith.
It is not faith in faith that makes the difference in your life, it is faith in an Almighty, all loving, all Holy, All Merciful God who responds even to the weakest, smallest expression of help from anyone who would dare call upon Him.
When we believe, He shares His power with us and something happens in our lives. There were many others in that crowd who were close to Jesus and even pressing against Him, but they experienced no miracles. Why? Because they did not have faith.
It is one thing to throng Him and quite something else to trust Him.
Another reason people walk away from Jesus disappointed is because their motivation for receiving is more to do with changing their circumstances rather than changing their lives. It is more about making life more comfortable and less stressful than it is about loving, knowing and abiding in Jesus.
The woman planned to slip away and get lost in the crowd, but Jesus turned and stopped her. Tenderly, He elicited from her a wonderful testimony of what the Lord had done for her.
Why did Jesus deal with her publicly? Why did He not simply permit her to remain anonymous and go her way?
For one thing, He did it for her own sake. He wanted to be to her something more than a healer: He wanted to be her Saviour and Friend as well. He wanted her to look into His face, feel His tenderness, and hear His loving words of assurance. By the time He finished speaking to her, she experienced something more than physical healing. He called her “daughter” and sent her on her way with a blessing of peace .
To “be made whole” means much more than receiving mere physical healing. Jesus wants to give you spiritual, emotional healing as well!
He dealt with her publicly not only for her sake, but also for the sake of Jairus. Remember him? Jairus could not have been very happy at this interruption. Jairus’ daughter was close to death, and he needed all the encouragement he could get. It was bad enough that the crowd was impeding their progress, but now this woman had to interfere and stop Jesus! It could be understood if he were thinking,
“What gives? Doesn’t this lady know who I am? Why is Jesus wasting my time with her? Its getting late? Doesn’t Jesus care about me?
The answer is simple. Yes Jesus does know. He does care. Your situation is not less important than anyone elses. But as you wait on the Lord, realize that He is also doing a work in you, preparing you for His miracle.
The celebration was short lived as a number of servants make their way through the crowd with an ominous message for Jairus and Jesus.
While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader.“Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
Hope came crashing down on Jairus’ soul when those words pierced his heart.
Why bother the Lord anymore?
Hope is gone
The child is dead
Why bother Jesus
They might as well have said, forget God, He has forgotten you.’
Have you ever felt as if God has forsaken you? Does God really care.
One of the most ominous scenes in the Bible is when Jesus is hanging on the cross.
The sky is dark. Thunder can be heard in the distance. Crowds have gathered, jearing Jesus. Except for two women standing at the foot of the cross, Jesus is all alone. He lifts his voice to heaven and cries
MY GOD MY GOD WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?
Why did Jesus pray that? It is so that everyone from that moment on would know that the complete price for salvation has been paid. And it was at that moment that the prophecy was fulfilled which says,
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
It was at that moment, it was secured that whenever anyone felt as if God was far away and they were fordsaken, they would know that JESUS HAS DIED AND WAS FORSAKEN SO THAT YOU AND I WOULD NEVER HAVE TO BE FORSAKEN EVER AGAIN
It was because Jesus went through that vale of darkness, he could give this eternal promise
I will never leave you or forsake you, I am with you even to the end of the age.
It is beautiful to watch Jesus deal with Jairus and lead him to joyful victory. Throughout this entire event, it was our Lord’s words that made the difference. Consider the three statements that He made.
The word of faith (Mar_5:36).
36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
At this point, Jairus had to believe either his friends or the Lord Jesus. No doubt all of his being responded with convulsive sorrow when he heard that his beloved daughter was dead. But Jesus assured him, “Be not afraid, go on believing” (literal translation). In other words, “You had a certain amount of faith when you came to Me, and your faith was helped when you saw what I did for that woman. Don’t quit! Keep on believing!”
The word of hope (Mar_5:39).
He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”
When Jesus and Jairus arrived at the house, they saw and heard the professional Jewish mourners who were always summoned when a death occurred. It was traditional for them to wail loudly, to weep, and to lead the family and friends in lamentation.
The presence of the mourners in the home is proof that the girl was actually dead, for the family would not have called them if there had been even the slightest hope that the girl was still alive.
“The child is not dead but sleeps!” were our Lord’s words of hope to Jairus and his wife.
Was Jesus playing with Jairus’ emotions? Jesus was not denying the girls cpondition. IN fact he was magnifying the situation in order to point Jairus to two scriptural facts.
• Death is real and it hurts
• Death, for the believer has lost its POWER!
To the believer, death is only sleep; for the body rests until the moment of resurrection . The spirit does not sleep; for in death, the spirit of the believer leaves the body and goes to be with Christ .
Jesus word of hope is that This is not the end. There is more God is going to do. Keep trusting. Keep believing.
Just when it looks as if the end has come and all hope is lost, Jesus comes with His word that gives us hope to carry on.
The word of love and power (Mar_5:41).
But they laughed at him ( KJV Laughed him to scorn). 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. 41 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 began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
The KJV says that the crowd ‘Laughed Jesus to scorn” The world without Christ has little hope and therefore little understanding in the ways of faith. It is hard to stand when others are literally laughing at you. Remember this truth,
Unbelief laughs at God’s Word, but faith lays hold of it and experiences the power of God.
Jesus did not make a spectacle of this miracle. He was sensitive to the feelings of the parents and grieved by the scornful attitude of the mourners. Talitha cumi is Aramaic for “Little girl, get up!” Jesus added, “I say unto thee” (with the emphasis on the I), because it was by His authority that her spirit returned to her body (Luk_8:55). The words were not some magic formula that anybody might use to raise the dead.
It is Jesus word and by His authority that your situation is changed.
CONCLUSION
Both Jairus and the poor woman found the answers to their needs at the feet of Jesus
When you read Mark 4-5 you discover two thing about jesus.
First of all that Jesus is the CONQUORER. . Yes, Jesus is the conqueror over danger, demons, disease, and death.
Secondly, Jesus CARES for you no matter your situation, your station in life.
So, then how ought we to respond? Jesus gives an invitation to all who may be hurting, are deseperate, and in need today,
COME, all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The contrast between these two needy people is striking and reveals the wideness of Christ’s love and mercy. Jairus was an important synagogue officer, and the woman was an anonymous “nobody”; yet Jesus welcomed and helped both of them. Jairus was about to lose a daughter who had given him twelve years of happiness (Mar_5:42), and the woman was about to lose an affliction that had brought her twelve years of sorrow.
There is no such thing as a hopeless situation for the One that said, ““All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus has power even over sickness and death. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
