• Boston's Charles Street jail used to be home to the city's most notorious characters. Among its former inmates was Frank Abagnale, Jr., the con artist portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the feature film "Catch Me If You Can" (Steven Spielberg, 2002). Once the paragon of prison architecture, the facility fell into disrepair by the 1960s, when it became overcrowded, riotous, and filthy with pigeon droppings. The building was condemned in 1973, and the last inmates transferred in 1990.
• Seventeen years and $150 million dollars later, the Charles Street jail is now Liberty Hotel, which boasts luxury accommodations that cost from $319 to $5,500 per night. With restaurants named Clink and Scampo (Italian for "escape") and a bar named Alibi, designers celebrate the building's past.
• Former inmate Bill Baird visited the hotel on the 40th anniversary of his arrest and was amazed at the renovation. "How you could take something that was so horrible," he observed, "and turn it into something of tremendous beauty, I don't know."
• Regardless of your ISSUES, Jesus wants to make something beautiful out of your life.
• This story is well known, but in it are some precious truths that we should consider today.
• Jesus returned to the West side of the Sea of Galilee. There, a throng of people met Him.
• Hoping that Jesus would somehow notice him in the crowd, was a ruler of the Temple in Galilee.
• His daughter was dying, “Jesus, if you could just come and lay your hands on her, she would be healed.”
• Jesus agreed to go and they began their journey. However, there is an interuption.
Mar 5:24-26 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.
• A hemorrhage, issue of blood, a discharge that wold not stop. We need to understand her plight.
• Her situation was far worse than her physical condition indicated.
• First, Jesus was going to a 12 year old who was dying because she had contracted some kind of illness.
• This woman had been sick for as long as the little girl was alive. 12 years.
• Lev 15:25-27 "If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
• For 12 years, this woman had to live without human touch, in isolation.
• She had to live in shame for something she could not help.
• Most people would prefer health to wealth.
• This woman had both 13 years earlier, but she spent all of her wealth and was still unhealthy.
• Now she was sick, rejected and lived in poverty.
• She probably lived in much physical pain, not just due to the illness, but some of the treatments.
• The Talmud (ancient Jewish writings) gave 11 different cures for bleeding. Beside tonics and other remedies, one cure was for the inflicted to carry the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen bag in the summer, and in a cotton bag in the winter. Another cure was to carry around a barley corn that was found in the dung of a white female donkey. One scholar lists common remedies of that day to include eating grasshopper eggs, carrying around the tooth of a fox, and carrying around the fingernail of a person who has been hanged! Common remedies also included cutting and burning of the infected area.
• The physical pain, even from the the treatments, paled in comparison to the emotional pain she bore.
• Rejected, shunned, despised even by her own family, she must have been seriously depressed.
• Then she heard of some hope.....
Mar 5:27-29 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I will be made well." 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
• Risking further ridicule and disobedience to the law, she went to touch Jesus' garment.
• She risked defiling Him and anyone who happened to bump into her in the throng of people.
• Some teach she hoped of not defiling Him. I believe there is more to this.
• Malachi 4:1-2 "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
• The Jews recognized this passage as being about the Messiah.
• The phrase “healing in its wing” has another meaning.
• It can be interpreted from the Hebrew as “Healing in its tassels”.
• How do we know that Jesus wore tassels?
• Num 15:38-39 "Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after.
• Occasionally, surprisingly, Laura and I will get a Thankyou card with a gift certificate, check, or cash.
• We don't ask for these. In our line of work, sometimes people are blessed through us.
• Sometimes people want to express their love by giving us gifts.
• It has been most difficult for me to learn to love people by accepting these gifts.
• At one time, I would refuse them and send them back.
• “You don't have to do this, you shouldn't have. I am paid by God for my work for Him.”
• “Let me love you by rejecting your gift.” Or so I thought.
• I later found that a big part of loving people is to allow them to express their love to me.
• For me, it is still one of the most humbling things I am called to do; to receive graciously.
• Particularly when the gift represent some sort of sacrifice.
• If you have ever thought of refusing a love gift because you just don't want to see the person sacrifice, you understand the conflict.
• If you have offered a love gift to someone and they refused it, you also understand that this feels like they are rejecting your love.
• That's the conflict I have in receiving a sacrificial gift.
• I confess, I stink at it.
• We know that people gave Jesus gifts.
• In those days, it was a lot of work to make clothes. Wal-Mart had not been invented yet.
• Somebody gave Jesus an inner garment without a seam, and that was gambled for before Jesus' death by the soldiers (John 19:24).
• I suspect someone gave Jesus a tasseled prayer shawl they had labored to make for Him.
• I am sure He received it with humility and thankfulness, and wore it as a reminder of the person's sacrificial love for him.
• Now, when this woman heard of Jesus, her thoughts were, “This is the Messiah.
• “If I can just touch a tassel on his prayer shawl or outer garment, I will be healed.”
• Let me point out, there was no magic in Jesus' shawl.
• A loving Father in heaven honored this woman's faith in the Messiah.
• That is why she was healed. Jesus would tell her so.
Mar 5:30-32 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" 31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'" 32 And he looked around to see who had done it.
• There is much discussion concerning this verse.
• For some of us with our understanding of who Jesus is, this verse doesn't make complete sense.
• John 2:23-25 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
• And yet, here is Jesus asking about who touched His clothes.
• He could see in hearts but He didn't know who touched Him?
• A complete understanding of Jesus on earth will clear that up for you if that is what has you stuck.
• Jesus gave up His glory to be born of man and enjoined with mankind.
• He live fully dependent upon the Father for all of His information.
• In John 2, God revealed to Him what was in these people's hearts. We understand that.
• But in our story today, the Father had another purpose and withheld specific knowledge of the woman.
• That is verified in verse 32. The Greek says He looked deeply and intently into the people to see who was cleansed.
Mar 5:33-34 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
• Wanting to slip away, this woman chose to come forward.
• Some of you are going to want to just slip away after this service.
• She knew He was talking about her. You will know Jesus is calling for you today.
• This was the Messiah, she thought. Now he wants to talk to me.
• With great reverence, fear and trembling, she comes forward.
• She fell at His feet and told Him her story.
• We are not given her words, but no doubt, Jesus needed to correct some misunderstanding.
• He did not say, “Woman, my tassel healed you. Good thing you touched it.”
• He said, “Your faith has made you well. Go enjoy your wholeness.”
Some brief thoughts and you will have this message.
I. Our Suffering.
• It's not about health, wealth and happiness. Or live, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
• Wouldn't it be sad if the eternal testimony of this woman would be, “She may spend eternity in Hell, but at least she stopped suffering for a few years.”
• If I understand Hell just a little bit, I would find that testimony very disappointing.
• There are many preachers today that are focusing too much on this life.
• They teach you that God doesn't want you to suffer here at all.
• They say that it is God's plan to make your life on earth happy, prosperous and healthy.
• I don't want to sound negative, but I have a larger vision of God than that.
• Listen to Jesus' words:
• Mat 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
• In those verses, God gives us His value system.
• If I could take away your pain and suffering, I would, but not at cost to your eternity.
• If I could heal your diseases, I would, but not at loss of the glory God wants to share with you eternally because of your suffering.
• I am in no position to tell you exactly what God is trying to accomplish in your life, but this I know:
• Rom 8:16-18 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
• I know that our suffering here will increase our glory up there.
• 2Co 4:16-17 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
• And I know that anything I go through in my life will ultimate give God glory and be for my good. The two concepts are inseparable when you are a child of God.
• Rom 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
• Ill. Bobby's Bike. Mother takes it a way, eventually sells it because he won't stay out of the busy street. “I hate you! If you loved me, you wouldn't take my bike away.”
• Love always protects.
• Love always restricts.
• Love often hurts.
• Love suffers misunderstandings and doesn't change.
• God loves you so much, He must allow your suffering for your best, although it hurts him.
• Heb 4:14-16 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
• Someday, you will see the pain you have today as evidence of His great love for you.
• No, I don't expect we will fully understand it now, but we will then.
• For now, just draw near to the throne of grace. God's mercy will find you.
• It might not relieve the suffering on earth, but His grace will sustain you.
II. Our Struggle.
• The difficulty is worth it.
• The difficulty this woman had was not all because of her disease.
• Everybody knew she had this issue of blood.
• She was required to yell or cry, “Unclean” every where she went.
• The public perception of this woman made it difficult for her to seek Jesus.
• Not only that, but the Law of Moses stood against her.
• She was commanded not to touch anyone, especially a Rabbi.
• She could be condemned to death for touching a Rabbi or holy man.
• Some would have considered what she did very selfish.
• Jesus set off on a mission to heal a 12 year old dying girl.
• If He was made unclean by the touch of an unclean person, He would have been done for the day.
• He could not have gone inside the house to heal or raise the little girl.
• BTW, Jesus could not be made unclean.
• Even when He carried our sins on the cross, He was the spotless sacrifice. (I Peter 1:19).
• Perhaps this was a concern in the woman's mind as she struggled in the crowd to get close enough to touch Jesus.
• Maybe that is why she tried to fade away in the crowd after she had been healed.
• Just another obstacle she had to face in coming to Jesus.
• You have your difficulties in surrendering to Christ.
• Most of them, from an eternal perspective, are just clouds of vapor created by Satan.
• Many of them are figments of our own defiled imaginations.
• All of them are meaningless compared to the worth of your soul in surrender to God.
• Wouldn't it just be easier to surrender to God and let Him worry about the obstacles?
III. Our Savior
• This woman had tried everything, then she heard about Jesus.
• Her problem started well before Jesus started His public ministry.
• She then heard about Jesus. What had she heard? He healed others?
• Only God could heal, so surely He was the sun of righteousness.
• Surely He had healing in His tassels.
• This woman had a broken heart. The law condemned her, in her condition, to a broken life.
• The only way she could be healed in her heart was to not be under condemnation of the Law.
• Jesus, in His mercy, by the Power of God, healed her body.
• The Law no longer separated her from her friends and loved ones.
• Her forgiveness and faith no longer separated her from God.
• Oh, what a wonderful picture of the lost sinner.
• Eph 2:12-16 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
• Oh, come to the Savior today. He wants to heal your broken heart.
• He wants to heal your broken life.
• He wants you to surrender to His loving hand, though it may hurt, to draw you nearer to His heart.
• He loves you.
People try all sorts of “cures” today for their SPIRITUAL ailments.
• Dr. Morality – They try to get on God’s good side by living a moral, upright life.
• Dr. Feeling – They try to stay on a spiritual “high” by attending seminars, reading books, Christian concerts, listening to preachers that make them “feel good” about themselves.
• Dr. Legality – They try to live righteously by obeying all the rules set up by the church, other Christians, and even rules they have set up for themselves.
• Dr. Church – They try to impress God with their church attendance, and even their participation in church activities … “Look at me, God … aren’t you impressed!”
• Come to Jesus. Come back to Jesus. Drop the barriers.
• Be warmed by the fire of His grace and love.
• You cannot heal yourself. You cannot fix it with a better attitude, turn over a new leaf.
• You can come to Jesus, by faith, and be made eternally whole.
Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. "A pardon is a slip of paper," wrote Marshall, "the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged."
2,000 years ago God the Son – Jesus the Christ issues a pardon….
BUT just like in the case of George Wilson – the value of the pardon is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned… If it is refused, it is no pardon….
