Introduction
A. The Bible is filled with impossible, hopeless cases.
1. Situations and circumstances appear in the Word
of God, and many of them appear impossible.
a. There seems to be no solution.
b. Storms, needs, deaths, sicknesses, and many other situations appear impossible to the human mind, yet the power of God handles them with ease!
2. This section of Mark’s Gospel is filled with several of those impossible situations.
a. There is a storm, then a man filled with demons, and then a dead little girl.
b. Jesus steps into each of these unimaginable situations and proves that He is more than capable of handling whatever happens.
3. During the next several weeks we will be looking at these “hopeless” cases.
a. We will learn that there are no hopeless predicaments with the Lord!
1) No situation is hopeless!
2) No storm is hopeless!
3) No sinner is hopeless!
4) No sickness is hopeless!
5) None of our lost loved ones are hopeless!
b. Nothing is hopeless with the Lord!
B. Our text describes yet another hopeless situation.
1. Jesus is on His way to house of a man called Jairus.
a. On the way there, He is surrounded by a great crowd of people.
b. They throng Him and jostle against Him from every side.
c. From the crowd a poor, weak, timid, dying woman reached out and touched Jesus.
d. When she touched Him, her life was instantly, completely, and permanently transformed.
2. There are people here today who need life transformations.
a. They need someone to radically change the situations you face in your life.
b. Those transformations can happen.
c. One touch from the Lord can change everything!
D. Let’s take a few minutes to consider this poor woman and her situation.
1. I wish we had time to examine every hopeless situation in the word of God today.
2. That task will take a few weeks to accomplish.
3. Today, we will consider the hopeless situation mentioned in these verses.
4. The facts of this story can help us when we face the hopeless situations in our own lives.
I. Her Suffering (v. 24-26)
A. Her Affliction (v. 25)
1. We are told that she was a “hemorrhaging woman.”
a. She was bleeding from some place in her body.
b. It could have been internal or external.
2. At any rate, she was a very sick woman.
3. The verb tense indicates that it was a continual flow of blood.
B. Her Anguish (v. 26)
1. A constant flow of blood whether internal or external would have caused unbelievable suffering.
2. Let’s take a moment to examine some of the areas in which she suffered.
a. Her Physical Anguish.
1) From the constant blood loss, this woman would have been weak and anemic.
2) She would have been pale.
3) She would have had no energy at all.
4) The least of efforts would have worn her out.
b. Her Medical Anguish
1) We are told that she “endured much” under their care.
a) An example of their “medical” techniques can be found in the Talmud.
b) There are eleven remedies prescribed in the Talmud—some potions, most superstitious nonsense.
c) Most of them involved mixing wine with various substances.
2) One remedy even called for the woman to carry an ear of corn taken from the dung of a white donkey.
3) It is hard for us to imagine the kinds of indignities and embarrassments the doctors put her through.
c. Her Social Anguish
1) She was almost certainly not married, because through simple physical contact, she would have made her husband ceremonially unclean.
2) If she had ever been married, her husband would have been probably divorced her.
3) She could not work around others because of the danger of defilement.
4) This reduced her to a life of begging scraps of food from a distance.
5) Her condition left her on the fringes of society.
6) In the eyes of those around her, she was no better than a leper.
d. Her Emotional Anguish
1) She has lived her life moving from one rejection to another.
2) She is lonely, isolated and desperate!
e. Her Religious Anguish
1) Under the Law of Moses, Lev 15:19; 25-27, this poor woman was considered unclean.
2) Anything or anyone that she touched was also considered unclean.
3) As a result, she could not mingle with other people.
4) Anyone who came in contact with her would be considered ceremonially defiled.
5) She could not worship in the Women’s Court of the Temple, because she was unclean.
f. Her Financial Anguish
1) The Bible tells us that she “ spent all she had”.
2) The doctors and their useless remedies had not helped her.
3) All they had done was drain her bank account dry (sound familiar?).
4) She has been left penniless and destitute, with no husband or children to look after her.
C. Her Agony (v. 26)
1. After years of pain, worthless doctors, useless remedies, and shattered dreams, she has reached the place where she knows she will not get better.
a. She knows that she will die from this disease.
b. Her life is literally draining out of her body little by little, day by day.
2. I wonder how many people can identify with this poor woman.
a. Maybe you don’t have the same kind of illness, but like her, you are filled with suffering and sorrow.
b. This nameless, suffering woman pictures two types of people:
1) This woman pictures every person who does not know Jesus Christ as Savior.
a) The lost are defiled by a blood disease.
b) The lost have had this disease for a long time.
c) The lost can’t make it better or change it on their own.
d) Many lost people spend their entire lives searching for meaning and help for their condition, but instead of getting better, they only get worse.
e) All the efforts at self-improvement and religion do not improve their condition!
f) This poor woman was in a sad shape, but she wasn’t nearly as bad off as the person who is not saved.
g) She was merely headed to the grave; they are headed to an eternity in Hell!
2) She is also a picture of that believer who is laboring under a heavy burden.
a) Many of God’s children are discouraged and defeated today.
b) You have tried everything in your power to get better.
c) You have tried everything you know to fix your situation.
d) You’ve read all the books, listened to all the preachers, and gotten advice from the best of sources, but you are no better.
e) Your life is as messed up as it ever was.
f) If that describes you, keep on listening, it may just be that the Lord has some help for your heart today.
II. HER SCHEME (vv. 27-28)
A. Our text tells us about how this woman devised a plan to meet the Lord.
Her Reasons (v. 27).
1. Somewhere, this poor woman heard about Jesus.
2. Maybe she had heard about that wild man just across the lake that Jesus had delivered from a legion of demons.
3. Maybe some other poor soul, who lived on the fringes of society, had been healed by Jesus and came by and told her about Him.
4. Somewhere this woman heard that there was power in His touch.
B. Her Resolve (v. 28).
1. She heard about Jesus, and she knew she had to get to Him.
a. She realized that Jesus was her only hope!
b. She believed with all her heart that if she could just get to Him, she would be healed.
2. She displayed her determination to get to Jesus by approaching Him in that crowd.
a. As she elbowed her way through the people, she was causing ceremonial defilement for everyone she touched.
b. She was taking a great risk, for if she had been recognized, she would have been subjected to public humiliation and ridicule.
3. A crowd like that might have gotten worked up and beat her or stoned her to death.
a. For her, it was a risk worth taking.
b. She believed Jesus would heal her!
c. She had to be determined, because by the very nature of her disease, it would have taken all the energy she had to drag herself out of her bed to struggle through that crowd to get to Jesus.
4. Have you reached that place in your life yet?
a. Have you come to understand that Jesus is the only hope you have?
b. If you are lost today, you need to get to Jesus!
c. He is the only source of salvation for you, Acts 4:12.
d. If you have never trusted Him for salvation, then you need to come to Him.
e. Jesus is your only hope.
f. You need to touch Him by faith!
5. There are some who are saved, but like this woman are burdened and defeated, need to touch Him as well.
a. The sooner you come to realize that Jesus is the only person Who can help you, the sooner you can get the help you need!
III. HER SALVATION (vv. 29-34)
A. It Was Powerful (v. 29)
1. When she was near enough to Him, she reached out a trembling hand and touched His garment.
2. Matthew’s account says she touched one of the long tassels hanging from the corners of His outer garment.
3. In that moment she received what none of the doctors or their costly and painful remedies could give her; she was healed!
4. Instantly, she felt the change in her body.
5. She knew she was a different woman!
B. It Was Personal (vv. 30-33)
1. As soon as this woman touches Him, Jesus knows what has happened.
a. He knows that “power” has gone out of Him.
b. He asks, “Who touched My garments?”
2. There were dozens of people touching Him and bumping into Him that day.
3. The disciples mentioned this in v. 31.
a. Many touched Him, but only one touched Him with the fingers of faith!
b. Jesus could have let her walk away with physical healing, but He called her out because He wanted to give her more than physical healing.
c. He wanted to move her beyond her superstitious faith.
d. He wanted to save her soul.
4. When Jesus spoke to this woman, you will notice that she fell before Him shaking with fear.
a. This was the very reason she came silently from behind Him to touch Him.
b. This was why she did not come to Him openly.
c. She was afraid she would be rejected!
d. She probably expected Jesus to lash out at her for touching Him.
e. She thought He would treat her like everyone else would have treated her.
f. Just by touching Him, she would have defiled Him until sundown.
5. Her fear was unnecessary!
a. Jesus was not interested in humiliating her.
b. He was not interested in driving her away from His presence.
c. He was not interested in preaching her a sermon on uncleanness from the Law.
d. He was interested in helping her with her real problem!
e. He was interested in cleansing her soul.
6. Jesus got the response from her He had wanted and anticipated.
a. She bowed at His feet and confessed everything to Him.
b. This was a public, outward acknowledgment of what had happened in her heart.
7. Jesus wanted to move her past a small, superstitious faith to a greater, soul-converting faith.
a. At this moment, the crowd might as well not even be there.
b. Jairus’s daughter could wait.
c. The business of the universe was put on hold as Jesus turned His full attention on this poor, needy woman.
d. To Him, the woman and her need were more important than anything else.
8. She was the sole focus and center of His world and attention!
a. This woman, cast out, uncared for, and unwanted, had caught the eye of God because she exercised simple, childlike faith!
b. God, Who controls the path of every atom in every molecule in this universe, has time for you when you call on Him in faith.
c. Never fear that He doesn’t care about you.
d. Never fear that He won’t receive you.
9. Do you realize that this woman could have never touched Him had He not become flesh?
a. Jesus became a man, in the first place, so He could die on the cross.
b. He also became a man so that He could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
c. He also became flesh so that we could touch Him!
C. It Was Profound (v. 34)
1. His words confirmed what she already knew had happened!
a. Notice that He calls her “daughter.”
b. This is the only time Jesus ever calls a female by this name.
c. It is a word of tenderness; a word of peace; a word of acceptance.
d. She got more than physical healing that day.
e. All her adult life, she has been an outcast, a nobody, dwelling in isolation and loneliness, living in the shadows of society, but now, she hears that she has been taken in by God!
f. Her faith brought her into a soul saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
g. One minute she was an outcast, the next she was in the family of God!
2. The word “well” is the same word translated “saved” throughout the New Testament.
a. It means “to be rescued from all harm and danger. To be kept safe and sound.”
b. She got a whole lot more than she hoped for that day!
c. All those who come to Jesus get far more than they ever bargained for.
1) Many come to Him because they are afraid of Hell.
2) When we come to Him, our faith is so small.
3) We don’t understand the deep things of the Word of God.
4) We don’t understand the complexities and nuances of theology.
5) When our little faith reaches out to Him, He responds by giving us everything Heaven has.
6) Then, we begin the exciting journey of finding out about our riches in Jesus.
D. It Was Permanent (v. 34)
1. He tells her to “go in peace”.
a. His words let her know that she has done the right thing in coming to Him and touching Him.
b. Any other man in that crowd would have been offended and angered had this diseased woman intentionally touched him, but not Jesus!
c. He was not afraid of ceremonial defilement, it could not touch Him!
d. He was far too holy to become defiled by the mere touch of a sinner.
e. What He knew was that a woman in trouble had exercised a grain of faith, and He only cared for her healing!
2. She was well and she knew it, but these final words of Jesus, “Your faith has made you well,” drive home the fact that she was finally and fully free from her plague.
a. She was healed and life would never be the same again!
b. Her battle with this dread disease was forever finished!
c. She had received a brand new life from the hand of the Master.
Conclusion
A. During the Spanish-American War, Clara Barton was overseeing the work of the Red Cross in Cuba.
1. One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her, wanted to buy food for his sick and wounded Rough Riders.
2. But she refused to sell him any.
3. Roosevelt was perplexed.
a. His men needed the help and he was prepared to pay out of his own funds.
b. When he asked someone why he could not buy the supplies, he was told, "Colonel, just ask for it!"
4. A smile broke over Roosevelt's face. Now he understood--the provisions were not for sale.
5. All he had to do was simply ask and they would be given freely.
B. This woman experienced healing:
1. not because she touched His garment,
2. but because she exercised faith in Jesus and His power.
3. When her faith touched His power, His power changed her life.
