Last week we discovered a man with such faith that it caused Jesus to turn his head to the crowd and proclaim “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel.”
If you remember this man was a Roman officer who understood the levels of authority. Just as Caesar had given him authority over his soldiers and slaves, he understood that God had given Jesus authority over illness. Just as all that was required from him was a spoken word to be obeyed, he understood that all Jesus had to do was speak healing into his young servant’s body and the healing would take place. Just as no soldier or slave had any right to make demands of him, he understood he had no right to make any demand of Jesus. The officer was humble and sought mercy for his young servant. Soon Jesus would meet someone else who would show great faith by risking everything.
When Jesus left Capernaum He traveled through the village of Nain. There He raised a widow’s son from the dead. John the Baptist was in prison. He sent some of his followers to discover if Jesus was the Messiah. Some say John had doubts but I believe that he wanted his followers to begin following the one he knew to be the true Messiah.
Jesus becomes more controversial. He began to denounce towns where He had done great miracles but they refused to repent. He is anointed by a sinful woman at a dinner party. He begins to embrace women followers which no respectable Rabbi would do. He was tracked down by Pharisees from Jerusalem and accused of getting his power from satan. They demand a sign but He leaves them with a riddle of Jonah and three days in the belly of the great fish. When his mother and brothers come to rescue him He brushes them away and declares that his followers are his true family.
Jesus returns to the seashore preaching again. He begins teaching them about the secrets to the Kingdom of God. He informs them that the Kingdom is like a farmer scattering seed. It is like a lamp. It is like a growing seed. It is like wheat and weeds growing together. It is like a mustard seed. It is like a little yeast. It is like a hidden treasure. It is like a choice pearl. It is like a fishing net.
That evening after teaching all day Jesus decided to go to the other side of the lake. He was very tired so He fell asleep on a cushion. A huge storm erupted causing those with him to panic. They finally became so troubled they woke Jesus. Jesus rebuked the storm and said “Silence. Be still” and the storm dissolved.
That morning they arrived in Gerasenes. A demon possessed man that lived in the graveyard fell at the feet of Jesus. The demons were pleading for their existence. Jesus commanded the evil spirits to leave the man and enter into a herd of swine. The pigs immediately ran over the cliffs and drowned in the sea. The man wanted to leave with Jesus but Jesus sent him to tell others of what He had done for him. The entire town came out to meet Jesus and to beg him to leave. So Jesus and those with him left and went back to side of the lake where they had been.
When they arrived a large crowd greeted them. In the midst of the crowd was the leader of the local synagogue, a man named Jairus. His twelve year old daughter was dying. He wanted Jesus to come to his house and heal her. Jesus agreed and began making his way through the crowd. It’s in this setting that we meet number ten of the dirty dozen.
Mark 5:25-26 “A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.”
So as this to insure no misunderstanding about this woman, she has been menstruating for twelve years. The ladies understand this bodily function very well. If any of you guys are confused about it, see me later and we will talk. The average menstrual discharge or bleeding lasts for three to five days monthly. The Jewish women were actually allowed a rest period from daily duties during this time due to being declared unclean by the Written Laws found in Leviticus. But this woman was in a constant state of bleeding.
She would have been anemic and physically weak. Unlike today there would have been no method of transfusion to replace loss blood supply. Do not be mistaken. She was dying.
She had endured unpleasant remedies from many doctors. She had probably drunk many herbal drinks. Perhaps she had undergone surgery which would have been without the aid of anesthesia. She found herself poor and destitute. And she was without hope because it was getting worse. However as bad as all of this was for her, the fact of being an outcast would finally cause her to become willing to break social taboos and put her life at risk.
According to the Jewish law she was not welcomed in society. She was unclean, defiled, and impure. And if she touched someone they also would become unclean, defiled, and impure. She has been unclean for twelve years. She has not been able to touch anyone for twelve years.
Any item that comes into contact with her is unclean. Her clothes are unclean. Her furniture is unclean. Sitting outside on her door step would have made the entrance into her home unclean. She would have had visitors.
She would not have been able to be intimate with her husband. The intimate act would have been unclean. Her husband would have been unclean. Her very bed that she slept would have been unclean. If she had been married her husband would probably have divorced her.
She would have been barred from worship in the synagogue along with anyone she had touched. For twelve years she had not been able to atone for her sins. Death was immanent, either from her illness or being stoned by causing so many others to become unclean because she was ready to lay it all on the line.
Mark 5:27-28 “She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”
I believe she probably disguised herself that day. She could not have been seen in a public place without being harassed and rejected. Perhaps she had dressed as a beggar so she would be unnoticed sitting beside the road. She had plans to ask for a healing. She was aware of where Jesus was headed, to the home of Jairus to heal his daughter. She knew she was of much less importance. But she felt that this was her last chance.
However the crowd was extremely large. Jesus was being crushed as people reached out to touch him. He was hemmed in being pressed to move forward. She soon realized she would never be able to ask him to heal her. But something inside told her just a touch of his robe would bring about the healing she so desperately needed. Soon she would miss her opportunity. So as He walked by her she lunged and caught the edge of his robe.
Mark 5:29 “Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.”
She felt the healing. Suddenly her anemia was gone. She felt more energetic then she had felt in twelve years. She felt the dampness on her legs disappear. There were no longer pains gripping her mid-section. The odor that followed everywhere was gone. She was healed. Now all she needed to do was fade back into the crowd and show herself clean to the priest. After twelve years she would have her life back. But she suddenly got stopped in her tracks.
Mark 5:30-32 “Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”
His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
But he kept on looking around to see who had done it.”
Imagine the woman’s fear. Jesus knew that He had been touched by someone unclean. The knowledge of this touch was so strong that Jesus stopped everyone who had been pressing him forward to look at the faces in the crowd.
The disciples were confused. They could not begin to list all the names of those who had touched him as He walked along. But Jesus had felt power go from him to another and this was a new experience for him. Never before had something declared unclean touched something declared clean without making the clean unclean. Today something declared unclean touched something clean and the unclean became clean. Sin had touched holiness and became holy. Darkness had touched light and became light.
The woman however felt doomed. She felt that she, being unclean, had just made Jesus unclean. Remember where He is headed. Now she has made him ineffectual in healing this little girl. Plus as a woman she was restricted from touching a man in public. Now his eyes were roaming about looking for her.
Should she run? If she did would she lose her healing? Or should she confess and face certain death for breaking the sacred laws? How ironic for her to be healed and then stoned to death. She decided to react in the way she felt best.
Mark 5:33 “Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done.”
Again imagine the crowd as this woman steps forward. Those who have been pressing against Jesus are probably backpedaling to get away from her before they become unclean. She is afraid. She’s not sure about fate. She tells him what she has done, all the little details. She falls at his feet asking for mercy yet she also worships him for what He has done. If she is to be put to death it will be as one who is healed. But death is not her future.
Mark 5:34 “And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”
Jesus left her with some very assuring words. First, He called her daughter. He was not referring to himself as her father but rather reminding her of the fact she was a “Daughter of Abraham.” He wanted her to realize that she was one of God’s chosen.
Secondly, He wanted her to know that it was her faith being put into action that made her well. Unlike others who cried out to Jesus or waited for him to come to them, she took a course of action that could have proved deadly for her. She believed enough to seek him and reach out knowing just a touch of his robe would heal her.
Thirdly, He told her to proceed through life with no more strife. She had suffered for twelve years. Now it was time to leave those bad years behind. She needed to release any grudges or harmful thoughts toward people for the way she was treated. She needed to look forward to the blessings that now lay ahead.
Lastly, He assured her it was over. She was healed. There would be no return of her illness. Her monthly cycle would return and He wanted her to have no fear that it would not leave as it did before.
Some of you may have felt that this sermon was inappropriate for a mixed congregation. Some may have felt that I could have been more delicate by referring to it as “an issue of blood.” Some of you may have been very uncomfortable. But my desire was to make you see how horrible this situation was for this unfortunate woman. Because we are or were in her situation ourselves.
Isaiah 64:6 “We are all infected and impure with sin.
When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”
The prophet Isaiah is making a declaration to God on behalf of the Jews. He confesses that sin permeates their very being. He points out how sin is causing the people to wither, fall, and be swept away. And in the midst of this statement he declares that God looks upon the righteousness of the Jews and sees menstrual cloths covered in unclean blood.
The woman we discussed today realized her problem. She knew she was infected and impure. She knew her life was being swept away. Too often we refuse to see the infection and impurity of sin in our own lives. We gloat of our righteousness in front of others while we know that we are indeed unclean. We ignore it in hopes that others will not discover our impurities.
We should become like this woman. We should grow tired of our constant state of being far from God’s righteousness. We should be tired of trying to find happiness in our possessions. We should realize that the longer we wait to seek the real cure for our situations in life, the worse it will get.
She had heard about Jesus. I think we all have. She knew that just a glancing touch as He passed by would heal her afflictions. And it did. Jesus still heals today but his greatest concern is for your spiritual healing.
This story that we looked at today is sandwiched the midst of a crisis that was taking place at the same time. Remember the synagogue leader’s daughter was dying. Jesus was on the way to heal her. The woman with the constant bleeding stopped his ministry in its tracks. Jesus took time to heal her. But in doing so a tragedy occurred.
Mark 5:35 “While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
Can you imagine the blow this was to Jairus? He had him. He had Jesus in tow to save his little girl. But a need arose and Jesus was side tracked. Now his daughter lay dead.
Mark 5:36 “But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”
Jesus saw the faith of Jairus waning. He had witnessed a great miracle but now feared that it was too late for his own. Jesus said “Have faith. Faith can change things.”
We serve a God who will never be too involved with other things to not assist you. Your needs are of great importance to him. And no one else’s needs are considered greater than yours. Just have faith.
