You will remember last week that Jesus and his disciples had taken off from one shore of Lake Galilee and headed to the opposite side of the lake. While they were in the middle of the lake, a storm came up and Jesus calmed the sea. In today's story, we have Jesus and his disciples on the other side of Lake Galilee.
But before we go much further, I must make one slight correction to last weeks sermon. I mentioned that Mac and Margaret Borden visited the Sea of Galilee. Well, since then, I have been informed that they are not the only people in the congregation that have visited this famous biblical spot. Ernie Craven and his wife Margaret also visited the Sea of Galilee several years ago, and Ernie shared some of that visit with me this week.
This morning, we have a story within a story. Both of these are healing miracles, the healing of Jarius' daughter, which was really raising her from the dead, and the healing miracle of the woman with the hemorrhage. There is enough preaching material within these two stories to keep me going for several hours. But to get you home in time for your Fourth of July cookout on Tuesday, I will focus primarily on the healing miracle of the woman with the hemorrhage.
This mornings story opens with Jesus and the disciples on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. As they got out of their boat, Mark tells us that a large crowd gathered around them. No sooner had they stepped upon the shore, than Jesus was approached by Jarius who was a leader of the local synagogue. We will remember back several weeks ago when we heard of another Jewish leader who approached Jesus, Joseph of Arithemia.
We remember that Joseph came to Jesus in the night, but Jarius approached Jesus in broad daylight in the midst of a huge crowd. Jarius approach to Jesus was a little different too. Mark tells us that Jarius fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him about his daughter who was ill, saying, Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. Jairus came to Jesus in desperation. He didn't care about who saw him or what they thought about him. His daughter was dying and he would risk anything to save her life. Even if it meant associating with this controversial man that the Jewish rulers wanted removed.
Jesus agrees to go with Jairus, no questions asked. As they begin to make their way to Jairus house, the crowd presses in on them and follows along with them. Among the crowd is a woman who has suffered with bleeding for twelve years. She had been to many doctors and had spent everything she had in an attempt to be cured, but she was not getting any better, in fact she was getting worse.
This woman had heard about Jesus. She had heard how he had cast out demons from people who were possessed. She had heard how he had healed a crippled man and opened the eyes of a blind person. She had heard how he cleansed a leper. Maybe, she thought he could heal her. What did she have to loose ?
Mark tells us that this woman came up behind Jesus in the crowd. We can picture her sneaking into the crowd, and finding a crack here and an opening there, as she slowly makes her way towards Jesus. She thinks to herself, Oh, if I could only reach out and touch just the hem of his garment I will be healed.
Finally she is within arms reach of Jesus. She reaches out and touches the frayed hem of his robe. And suddenly, for the first time in twelve years she found herself freed from her illness. The condition that had dominated her very existence was miraculously gone. She was finally freed from her suffering. She had been healed.
But Jesus suddenly stops. Everything comes to a standstill. He turns around and asks his disciples, Who touched my clothes ? He had felt the power go out of him, the power that healed this woman. The disciples say to him, Are you crazy! Look at all these people around you ! How can we possibly tell who touched you ? Jesus ignores them. He looks around at all the faces in the crowd and wonders who it was that had enough confidence in him to touch his dusty and worn robe to be healed.
The woman thinks she is in trouble. Trembling, she falls at Jesus' feet and confesses that she is the one who touched him. She has no idea what is about to happen next. To approach an important rabbi and deliberately touch him could have resulted in censure and hostility. She could be brought before the rulers of the synagogue, especially since she was an unclean woman who dared to approach and touch a Jewish man.
She wonders, will the crowd chastise her ? Will Jesus berate her ? Will they drag her into court ? But none of these things happen. Jesus says to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.
The story then goes on to describe the healing of Jairus daughter. But as I said earlier, I will save that story for another Sunday, unless you really want to hear it now. I mean we could all stay and have our Fourth of July here in the clambake pavilion. What do you think ? Well, for now, lets just say that Jesus healed Jairus daughter and they all lived happily ever after. How's that ?
As we look back over this story, I think there are a couple of points that are of significance. First, it is significant that Jesus stopped his urgent errand. There was a little girl dying and an important man tugging at his sleeve, urging him to, "Come quickly!" The disciples ridiculed him when he stopped to find out who it was that touched him. But the Lord knew that somebody needed him. He felt power go out from himself, and he knew that this appeal for help was more important than everything else at that moment, so he stopped what he was doing to help someone in need. What grace, to be able to serve God rather than the agenda of the day.
The second thing of significance, was that Jesus did not care that the social status of Jairus was higher than this woman in need. They were both equal in Jesus eyes. This womans need was just as great as Jairus need and Jesus intended to fulfill that need even if it meant having Jairus and the disciples chastise him. Every honest cry for help is worthy of Jesus attention.
If we compare this story to last weeks story of Jesus calming the sea, we have a contrast of faith. And faith is what really lies at the heart of this story. We will remember in last weeks story that it was the disciple's lack of faith that was at the heart of the story. This week it is the woman's abundant faith that is at the heart of this story. Jesus said to the woman, My daughter, your faith is what has made you well. The woman believed that if she could just touch the hem of Jesus' garment, she would be healed. Her faith was the real source of her healing.
This woman's faith was not limited to her belief that Jesus would heal her infirmity, it went beyond that. This woman's faith can be seen in her willingness to come forward out of the crowd and tell her whole story to Jesus. It would have been so easy for her to just slip back into the crowd and walk away. Yet she comes forward and tells Jesus the story of her years of brokenness of heart and body.
This must have been a very difficult thing for her to do, in front of Jesus and the surrounding crowd, especially because, of the nature of her illness. Remember, she was thought of as unclean. The faith this woman possessed allowed her to say, I trust you enough, Jesus, that you're going to love me and not rebuke me for what I've done.
This story begs the question of us, Do we have the same faith that this woman had ? Do we have the faith to believe in miracles ? Do have the faith to believe that God will answer our prayers ? Are we willing to open our lives to an encounter with God and in so doing allow God's healing power to flow through us no matter where we journey in life ?
It's too bad that most of the time faith is our contingency plan. We first rely on ourselves, and when that doesn't work, as a last resort, we turn to our faith. I heard a story the other day about a person who had a lot of contingency plans for their job.
A signalman for the local railroad was asked to meet the inspector at the signal box. The inspector decided to give the signalman a test. He asked him, What would you do if you realized that two trains were heading towards each other on the same track?" The signalman said, "I would switch one train to another track." "What if the lever broke?" asked the inspector. "Then I'd run down to the tracks and use the manual lever down there", he answered.
"What if that had been struck by lightning?" challenged the inspector. "Then," he said, "I'd run back up here and use the phone to call the next signal box." "What if the phone was busy?" "In that case," said the signalman, "I'd run to the street level and use the public phone near the station". "What if that had been vandalized?" "Well," replied the signalman, "in that case I would run into town and get my Uncle Leo". This puzzled the inspector, so he asked, "Why would you go and get your Uncle Leo ?" "Well, because Uncle Leos never seen a train crash."
When we rely upon ourselves instead of God, we are liable to crash like the trains. Let us put our faith in God and allow the miracle working power of Jesus to take over in our lives today. What ever the problem is in your life today, whether it be physical pain or emotional suffering, emotional upheavals in your life, grief or worry, let God have it and let your faith cause a miracle to happen in your life.
God will meet your needs. God will heal your broken heart, mend your broken spirit when you place your trust and faith in Him. God will do this for you, and say to you as he said to the woman, Brother and sister, go in peace, your faith has healed you. Let us get up and go in peace knowing that we have been healed because of our faith in God's healing powers. AMEN.
