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Dr. Marty Baker / Mark 5:24-28 / October 30, 2005
www.stevenscreek.net
Do you like being in a crowd? Sometimes I do, especially on a Saturday afternoon in the fall. I love the excitement of eighty thousand people gathered to cheer on their team. I love sitting in Williams Brice Stadium watching the teams of the SEC battle it out. Not only that, but I love to go to Sanford Stadium or Death Valley or even Neyland Stadium.
This past Thursday I had dinner with our oldest son, Stuart in Tennessee. We started reminiscing about some of things that we had done together while he was at home. One of his highlights was going to a game at Neyland Stadium a few years back. He remembered the details of the game, the score, the time that was left on the clock when we left. He remembered it all. All I could remember was that it was a Saturday night game in Knoxville and I had to preach on Sunday morning in Augusta. I did remember the electricity in that crowd. We were in a sea of orange. It was like every deer hunter in America showed up for the game. It was exciting. As I watched the game last night I thought about being in that crowd. Stuart called us about midlight last night from Neyland Stadium, stuck in traffic, but having the time of his life.
Crowds have energy; some negative, some positive. A few weeks from now we will celebrate Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year. Patty loves being a crowd at the mall on the day after Thanksgiving. In the early days of our marriage, I would go with her. I ended up having to press through the crowd to get to the electronic section of the store so I could watch the ball game. Nowadays, I just give her my blessing and I stay at home.
In the New Testament section of the Bible in the book of Mark, there is a story about a large crowd that gathered to see Jesus. People came from all over to get a glimpse of this man. They had heard of his miracle working power. They had heard of the signs and wonders that flowed from his ministry and they wanted to see it first hand.
Thousands of people pressed in to see him. In that crowd was a woman who had been sick for twelve years. She wanted to be healed, so she pressed through the crowd. We pick up the story in Mark 5:24b-35.
Mark 5:24-28
24b A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.
26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."
What’s going on here? There are several things that important to the story. This no doubt is a Jewish woman. In those days, women were not given the respect that they deserved in society. Jesus gave his life to change that system, but at this particular time, women were considered secondary in the culture.
Not only that, but this woman was sick. She had a bleeding disease that continued for twelve long years. In those days, blood was a symbol for life and bleeding was a symbol for death. As a result anyone who had a flow of blood was considered unclean. To be unclean was to be cut off from the community. A person who was unclean had to announce their presence before entering a crowd by yelling "unclean."
For twelve years this woman has battled with a disease that caused her to be cut off from the world. She could not worship, she could not get married, she could not have children, she could not socialize and she could not do any of the things that make life worth living. She was diseased and because of that she lived her life in seclusion. Not only was this woman suffering physically, but she suffered financially.
Mark 5:26
She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
For twelve years she tried everything in her power to overcome her illness but nothing worked. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how many doctors she visited, no matter how much money she spent – nothing could take away the pain. Out of desperation, she turned to Jesus.
Maybe that’s where some of you are today. You’ve tried seemingly everything, but your life is not what you dreamed it would be. You are desperate and you need help. This woman was desperate and she needed help.
Mark 5:27-28
27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."
Why did she think this? Here’s where you need to go a little deeper and understand the Jewish tradition. In those days, a Jewish man wore two garments. He wore an under garment that would be similar to a man’s t-shirt except that it would extend below the knees half way to the ankles. This long sleeve t-shirt was called a tunic or in Hebrew a haluke. A Jewish man would wear this undergarment around the house or in the fields, but never to the Temple or Synagogue or generally out in public.
There was an outer garment that they wore called a cloak or in Hebrew it was called a tallit. The cloak was a long rectangular piece of cloth generally made of wool. It would lie over your shoulder and extend below the knees and would be fastened with a belt. This passage says that this sick woman pressed through the crowd and touched Jesus’ cloak or his tallit. Why would she do that?
The tallit was a rectangle so it had four corners. On each of the four corners, rabbis typically wore tassels called tsitsit. They did this to remind themselves to follow the commands of God.
Numbers 15:38-39
38 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ’Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.
39 You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them ...
As a Jewish rabbi, Jesus probably wore tassels (tsitsits) on the corners of his garment. Many Jews today still wear tassels on their outer garments. These tassels are knotted times to remind Jews of the five books of Moses. The four spaces between these knots represent the letters of God’s name, YHWH. The knots along the prayer shawl edges use exactly 613 knotted strings, representing the 613 laws of the Torah.
Okay, you have this outer garment with four corners and tassels hanging down. The Hebrew word for corner is the word kanaph. The word kanaph had several meanings. The kanaph was a corner, but it was also used to describe a wing. A bird with two wings would be plural version of kanaph which was kanapheem.
Where are we going with this vocabulary lesson? There is a prophecy about the coming Messiah in the Old Testament book of Malachi.
Malachi 4:2
But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.
Notice the phrase, "with healing in his kanaph ... wings or corner." When a Jewish person would read that verse, they would automatically think that the Messiah would come with healing in his tassels. That’s why this woman in the book of Mark pressed through the crowd.
Mark 5:27-28
27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."
Two Important Words
There are two important words in this passage.
1. The first is the word: crowd.
This woman pressed through the crowd. She did not let any nay Sayers keep her from getting to Jesus. So many times, we allow other people keep us away from a relationship with Jesus.
Sometimes it may be a close friend. We are afraid of what they may think. At others times, it may be a spouse or a relative. Some of you have relatives that are antagonistic against the church. You want a relationship with Christ, but you allow those closest to you to keep you away from Him. It’s time to press through the crowd.
2. The second important word is touched.
It might not seem like a big deal to you but what this woman just did is courageous. This is one of the single most courageous acts of faith in all of the New Testament. Think about what was going on in her mind. If she were found out, she would have been publically humiliated. She was not supposed to be out in a crowd. She pressed through the crowd and reached out to Jesus.
She had faith. That is all that it took. Someone told her about Jesus. Someone told her that Jesus could help and by faith she let go of her doubts and touched him.
Today I want you to let go of your doubts and reach out and touch Him. Some of you doubt that you are worthy to experience God’s power in your life. Let go of it. You may doubt you have what it takes to enjoy the fullness of his blessing in your life. Let go of it. You may doubt that he would ever be willing to heal you of whatever it is that afflicts you today. Let go of it.
Let go of your doubt, and reach out to him in faith. It doesn’t matter how far away he may seem to be, or how unimportant you may believe that you are, or what the rest of the crowd may say or think about you. Let go of your doubts and reach out to Jesus.
What happened when she reached out to Jesus?
Mark 5:29
Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
When she touched the Messiah’s tassels, the woman was healed. This verse tells us that she believed that Jesus was the Messiah. She believed that He was the "sun of righteousness with healing in his wings."
She reached out in faith believing that he was the long awaited Messiah and touched him. It was her faith in Jesus that healed her. Once she had let go of her efforts and once she had let go of her doubts, she reached and was healed.
That could have been the end of the story, but Jesus was not finished done with her. If she was going to experience lasting change she would need more than a healing, she had to come clean. She had to tell someone what happened. She had to let go of her shame.
Mark 5:30-33
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, ’Who touched me?’ "
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.
33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
This woman had to do what she feared the most: tell the truth.
For twelve years she has successfully hidden the secret, for twelve years she lived a life of deception. It was the only way she thought she could survive. She reasoned if anyone ever knew the whole story they could never accept her.
Jesus wanted her to be completely free. He knew that she needed to come clean. So many people go through life carrying a heavy load of shame. They have convinced themselves that because of their addiction or because of their past, they will never be accepted.
In Christ you can be free from your past. If you will be honest with yourself, with God and with others about who you really are, you can experience the healing power of God in your life.
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Look at this verse closely. This verse teaches us that forgiveness comes when we are honest before God but healing comes when we are honest with each other. That it is why it is so vital that we find a place where we can be transparent and open about our failures.
That’s why we need to be in a small group. We need a safe place where we can share what we are struggling with and ask people to pray for us. It was only after she revealed her secret and told the truth that he was healed.
Mark 5:33b-34
33b ...told him the whole truth.
34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
You can be free this morning. You have experience the miracle of life change. This series is about miracles. The greatest miracle of this story is not necessarily that this woman was healed from bleeding disease, but that this woman was free from her past and able to embrace a new future.
The greatest miracles today are not signs, wonders, and healing. The greatest miracles are not financial miracles. The greatest miracle today is the miracle of having you’re past sins forgiven and the miracle of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Today, it’s time for you to come out of the shadows and ask Jesus Christ to give you a new start. Trying harder is not the answer. Trying harder will never be enough. We need to learn to be honest before God and honest with each other.
We need to admit that we are powerless over our sin and that we need a power that is greater than ourselves. Jesus is that power. Will you invite Him into your life today?
Let’s stand for a time of reflection and prayer.
