Today, we are in part 2 of a 3 part series called Bloodwork.
RECAP:
A couple of weeks ago, we examined Mark 5:25-34.
I explained that after I read this passage, I had 3 questions:
The first question was: Why was this story so important that God authored it and included it in His Word?
After all, when we read the last chapter and last verse in John, we are told “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” John 21:25.
So, as a quick recap:
The answer to this question for me is: God wants us to understand the sanctity of blood as described in Leviticus 17:11.
We also examined:
Genesis 4:10 where the word blood was first mentioned. We’ll cover another first mention today.
Exodus 12:1-14, specifically pulling verse 13 out where we learn 3 things:
Blood was proof of distinction for the Israelites as the separated people of God (Exodus 11:6,7)
It was a pledge of mercy-Israelites firstborn would be spared-they would be Passed Over.
The blood was protection from judgement.
We also identified 10 verses that explains the bloodwork Jesus did for you and for me.
Today we will examine the 2nd question I had:
Why did Jesus ask, “Who Touched Me?”
Omniscient: having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight. Possessed of universal and complete knowledge.
Omnipresent: present everywhere at the same time. He is every when!
So obviously, He didn’t ask that question because He needed an answer.
Let’s dig a little and see if we can discover why He asked this question.
Title of todays message is “Touchy Questions”
So, the first question is:
During the meet and greet, do you shake someone’s hand or hug someone for the first time?
How about this week, did you shake a strangers hand or hug a friend you haven’t seen in a while?
Psychologists tell us that we have several emotional responses from a human touch, which include:
A touch signals safety and trust, it soothes.
A touch can calm cardiovascular stress.
It activates the body’s vagus nerve, which is involved with our compassionate response.
Think about this woman, although she did not touch His skin, she touched His garment, which in this circumstance, it was essentially the same.
How many times have you heard pastor Jeff say “if you need a touch from Jesus”, or “if you just need to touch His robe”.
I was just thinking about meet and greet this past week and it made me think of how powerful a touch can be, just among us mere mortals!
Let’s go to Luke chapter 8. We will begin in verse 40.
Stand with me while we read Gods Word. Luke 8:40-48- (read from my bible)
Set a visual for the crowd:
They were pressing in. The bible describes it as “throngs of people”. Everybody wanted to get a selfie with Jesus!
Have you ever been in a massive crowd of people? For instance; when leaving a Cowboys game? Everybody in a crowd of 70,000 people wants to get out of the stadium at the same time. It can be a bit overwhelming.
These people are pressing in on Jesus as He is trying to make His way to this 12 year old girl.
Then suddenly, uninvited, this desperate woman touches Jesus’ robe!
Let’s look at who made us this crowd:
Some were undoubtably strict religious leaders. They were avid practitioners of Mosaic Law.
We know this because several verses tell us this about the crowds He drew. John 7:32
Luke 5:17
Luke 23:35
And as we see in these verses, they had their own agenda.
There were also needy people, you know; people like you and me, needing a miracle or blessing from Jesus.
There were also the socially neglected, such as the woman with the blood issue.
Jairus-synagogue leader. Very influential person. He was also a desperate person.
Re-read verse 41 “And behold, there came a man named Jairus and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house”.
The disciples- We’ll get to them in a bit.
So, all these people are pressing in, and the woman touches His robe, and He immediately asked “Who touched me?”
Parents, have you ever asked your child a question that you knew the answer to?
When our oldest son Brig was about 3-4 years old, I was walking into the kitchen as he was walking out of the kitchen. On the corner of his mouth was a smeared piece of chocolate chip. I asked him “Did you get into the chocolate chip cookies?” He shook his head as to say no, and sort of mumbled with a half mouth of cookies “NO”.
Obviously, I knew the answer, and so did Jesus!
This isn’t the first time Jesus asked a question.
From the research I’ve done, there are over 300 questions Jesus asked that are recorded in the gospels.
However, probably the first recorded question He asked during His ministry, is found in John 1:37 where Jesus asked of what were to become His first two disciples, “What do you seek?”
The Greek transliteration is Tis Zeteo.
Tis= who, what, which
Zeteo(zAy-tA-oh)= to seek in order to find, an inquire into, to crave or demand.
One definition of crave- to have a powerful desire for.
Jesus knows the answer to this question, but is leaving it up to them to answer, “what do you crave?” or “what do you have a powerful desire for?”
You know, asking questions is an incredible learning tool.
I once read of a Pulitzer Prize winning scientist who told the story of when he was a kid, that he would come home from school and instead of asking “what did you learn today”? His mom would say “what good question did you ask today?”
As I read this I was reminded that in another life as a sales trainer, one aspect of a successful sales career is learning:
What questions to ask
When to ask questions
How to ask questions
What questions to ask?
Ask questions that get the desired answer, or the ones you already know the answer to.
When to ask questions?
Just like with comedy, timing is everything.
How to ask questions?
There are two types of questions: open ended and closed ended.
Tone or voice inflexion
Types of questions:
The open ended question cannot be answered simply with a yes or no answer.
The closed ended question can pretty much only be answered with a yes or no answer.
We always learn more when asking questions than when answering questions. I once had a sales trainer who taught me, God gave you one mouth and two ears for a reason: So you could listen at least twice as much as you talk!
Jesus asked a whole lot more questions than He answered.
In fact, the best I can tell, He only answered 3 questions of the 183 that were asked of Him.
When He asked the question “who touched me”, all three principles of asking questions are applied here.
What questions to ask: He already knew the answer.
When to ask questions: If He had asked the question before she touched His garment, that would have sort of defeated the purpose of asking the question.
How to ask questions: If He would have turned to the woman and asked “Did you touch me?” (Emphasis on each word),
I suspect He would have received an entirely different response.
Back to the audience- the crowd
The woman who touched His robe:
By asking “who touched me”, He was giving this woman the opportunity to come out of the shadows, confess that she was the one, and tell the whole truth”!
v 33. “But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth”.
He was allowing her to give testimony to the whole world, that our loving Savior is never too busy to meet us where we are!
She was just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, all about somebody, who saved her soul.
Here's another first and only mention:
Jesus calls her daughter.
V. 34: “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” This is the only time in scripture that Jesus is directly addressing a woman, and calling her “daughter”.
He is welcoming her into His kingdom.
It doesn’t get much more personal than that!
The needy people- These people were shown that her faith has made her well, and they probably realized that their faith in Jesus could do the same for them, and it can do the same for you and me!
The strict religious leaders:
There were there trying to trap Jesus, with His own words, His own actions.
They were also there watching the response of the crowd.
The crazy thing is they were witnessing a transition from the Old Testament world to the New Testament World and didn’t even know it. They were watching the Messiah in full blown Grace and Mercy mode!
Jairus- Remember this is an influential man!
Jesus stops in the middle of going to see Jairus’ daughter and stops for this nobody.
He was probably thinking “are you kidding me right now?”
In fact, while Jesus is still speaking to the woman, some people came from Jairus’ house and said “your daughter is dead”.
Can you imagine the emotions racing through Jairus’ mind?
As we soon find out, Jesus wanted Jairus to see that He wasn’t out of the miracle business just yet!
The disciples-aka the knuckleheads.
They are perplexed at Jesus’ question.
They respond “you see the multitude thronging you and you say “who touched me?”
Maybe Jesus asked “Who touched me”, so the disciples could just get over themselves.
Maybe it was to demonstrate that life has its’ interruptions, and how we respond to these interruptions is critical:
to our growth,
to our walk,
and to helping others in their walk.
If Jesus were to ask you one piercing question today, would it be about:
Your marriage?
An addiction?
An abuse you suffered, or are now suffering?
Family relationships?
Or A tempting sin you can’t bust away from?
How would you respond?
Would you be like the religious leaders in the crowd, stiff necked and unwilling to see/acknowledge/trust who Jesus is?
Would you be like Jairus and be sort of put-out that He hasn’t already addressed and solved your issue?
Or maybe you would be like the knuckleheads and act indignantly with His question?
Hopefully, you would be like the woman who touched His garment out of sheer desperation, and faith that He will make you well, as He responds “who touched me?”
