Congregation of the Lord,
Going to the airport is an interesting exercise … especially when you stand near the baggage counters.
Here you will see business people – focussed, efficient, having clear goals for the day. They have come from interstate for an important meeting. It is all obvious by the small amount of baggage they are carrying.
Here also you will see people who carry far too much baggage than is necessary. You see them check-in a couple of large suitcases, but the date of their return visit is only four days away. Why so much baggage for such a short trip?
Then there is the Dad who is obviously taking his family on a holiday. He has so much baggage that he needs two trolleys to carry it. The holiday is going to be fun – once they finally reach their destination.
So much baggage. Some is light, some is heavy. Some is unnecessary, some is overwhelming. All of it is a burden in some way. All of it weighs the passenger down. It happens at airports. It happens in our lives as well. In one way or another we all carry around our baggage.
• It could be the shame of a sin that can’t be conquered – baggage which comes because we feel defeated.
• It could be the feeling which comes with unconfessed sin, or unreconciled differences – that is the baggage of guilt.
• It could be baggage we have carried for many years as a result of a sin we committed years ago – we know the forgiveness of God but we carry the baggage of not being able to forgive ourselves.
All this baggage weights us down – some is heavy some is light – but it all stops us from having a fuller relationship with the Lord. When that is the case in our lives the important question becomes, “Is it possible to get rid of this baggage?”. The answer is “Yes” … and the reason why the answer is yes is found in Mark 5:24-34 which shows us how we can get rid of our spiritual baggage.
Let’s start by having a closer look at the circumstances of the women. Mark describes it in this way
A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she got worse.
These few words betray the magnitude of the suffering this woman has gone through.
The bleeding which this woman experienced was a bleeding that was unique to women. It caused constant distress. It meant constant mess and constant cleaning. On many occasions in the day she would be checking her clothes to make sure the blood wasn’t leaking through. Her doctors had no idea what to do about it. She had seen so many of them and each new doctor meant going through another shameful explanation and intrusive examination. With each doctor came a new set of instructions for healing … and many times the cure would be worse than the cause. No wonder she went from bad to worse.
But that is not where it stopped. Because this women is a Jewess she was also subject to many Levitical laws with dealt with this issue. We are going to read a portion of Scripture from Leviticus. Before we do so let me warn you that it touches on personal female issues. We are not reading this text to make all the woman here feel uncomfortable rather, we need to read this text to have a Biblical understanding of what this woman in out text is experiencing. The reading is from Leviticus 15:19-25.
When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening. If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean. When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period.
In the light of this information we gain a greater understanding of Mark’s description of the condition of the woman. She is not just a woman with a medical condition. She is a woman who has a medical condition which puts her in a continual state of ritual uncleanness.
• Her physical life was empty. The ritual uncleanness meant she couldn’t be touched by her husband. It also meant she couldn’t have children. And this is in a culture where not having children was seen as a curse.
• Her social life was empty. Why would you want to be near her if it meant becoming unclean until the next evening? Few people, if any, would visit her house
• Her spiritual life was empty. Ritual uncleanness meant she could not enter the temple grounds to worship or bring sacrifices. As the years wore on her spiritual life would dwindle into nothingness because there would be no encouragement or
To put it in a nutshell we are looking at a lady who is … a bruised reed – fragile, bent, almost broken … and a smouldering wick – barely able to glow. She awoke daily in a body that no one wanted – not even herself. She is a physical, emotional and spiritual wreak. And, after 12 years, she is overloaded with baggage and she is down to her last prayer.
Can we relate? I wonder how many bruised reeds or smouldering wicks are here today? Maybe you have been one in the past. Maybe the time is just around the corner. Maybe you don’t even know what I am talking about. Maybe you don’t even know what a bruised reed or a smouldering wick looks like. So let me show you.
• You tell people you are fine – but you’re not.
• You’ve got your best clean cloths on and you look great – but it’s only a cover for a guilty heart that is full of dirt.
• You’re married and, in public, you seem to make a great couple – at home you tear one another apart.
• You get on well with your friends – but haven’t had a proper conversation with your Mum in 2 years.
• There is a large crowd here today – but you still feel desperately lonely.
• You’re young and pretend everything is going to be OK – but really you’re on the road to nowhere.
• You’ve been a Christian for years – and for years your faith has been on a steady decline.
• You’re searching for answers but all you end up with is more questions.
• Your face has a certain calmness about it – inside you’re hurt, confused, and close to breaking point.
You don’t have to be down to your last prayer to be a bruised reed. You just need to be at that point where you think you have nothing to give. You’re going backwards and you want to go forwards. But it can be different.
If we can relate to this woman then it is time to take a radical step of faith. Let’s see how we can take a radical step of faith by bringing our attention back to the women in our passage.
This woman has come to see Jesus. Jesus’ reputation goes before Him and she has heard about it. Mark 3:10 says Jesus healed many so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch Him. The message spreads quickly; one touch is all it takes. As she walks through the crowd she is sure that Jesus has the answer.
But the woman also has a problem – because she also has a reputation. She is the “women who is constantly unclean”. If someone in the crowd recognises her the mission is over – it will be “hello rebuke and goodbye cure”. Even the desire to touch Jesus is a deliberate attempt to break God’s law.
But this is a desperate woman who is out of alternatives. No money. No clout. No friends. No solution. All she has to offer Jesus is a truck load of hurts, a hunch that He has the answer, and high hopes that she will be cured. When you think about it, there is not much on offer is there. She comes to Jesus with a stack of baggage.
• Her understanding of Jesus didn’t go much beyond the fact that He is a miracle worker.
• There is a good chance that her desire to touch is based on superstition.
• It could even be that she is full of shame as she reaches out to Jesus – she is deliberately breaking the law by making Him unclean.
Yet, despite all these truths, she is healed.
Picture this touch of the women in your mind. A touch which immediately leads to a total transformation in her life. Picture it clearly because this is the reason we can take radical steps of faith. Here is the process we use to off-load our baggage. We take that step because we should not be hesitant to come to Jesus – no matter what state we find ourselves in.
So often we know that we are unworthy to come before Jesus – and we actually make that unworthiness stop us from coming. It shouldn’t be like that because Jesus doesn’t want it like that. We don’t have to be 100% secure in our trust before we dare seek to ask Jesus for help. Sometimes our faith doesn’t fit perfectly, and we do have confusion, and we are hurting. We have shame, and guilt, and anxiety and hurt. A mountain of unresolved conflict and unreconciled sin. We look at it all and let out a hopeless sigh, “What have we got to offer Jesus?” The fact is we have nothing … but it doesn’t matter because Jesus is still the One who has the answers.
We should never be hesitant to come to our Lord in faith – no matter what state we find ourselves. All we need to do is be like this woman … to come with the conviction that Jesus can, and a hope that Jesus will. Come, knowing that Jesus can and will take any baggage you are willing to let go of. That’s all it takes.
But that leaves us with an interesting question. If Jesus was willing for her to come why did He make such a fuss about someone touching Him? After all Jesus is the middle of a crowd where many people would be touching Him. Yet He keeps on asking, “Who touched Me? Who touched Me?”. In the parallel passage in Luke 8:45 Peter remind Jesus of what all the disciples thought was obvious, Master, the people are crowding and pressing against You. Peter doesn’t say it but you can imagine him thinking that maybe it was time for Jesus to have a little break – it seems that Jesus has all of the sudden gone skittish. But Jesus has His reasons, and soon they become clear.
Now just stop and image the woman at this point. She has just touched Jesus. She has been healed. She was hoping now to slip away into the crowd. Then Jesus starts saying, “Who touched Me? Who touched Me?”. No one was supposed to notice her. Now it seems the risk she took was just too great. Before she knows it she is the centre of attention before Jesus – and because of that she tells Jesus the whole truth.
• The shame of this 12 year disease.
• How she had reached desperation point.
• Her decision that Jesus was the last hope she had.
• Making the crowds unclean because she touched them in an effort to get to Jesus.
• How she had deliberately made Jesus unclean.
No wonder she trembled in fear.
Now imagine the crowd. You have been out with Jesus and you are wondering what He is going to do about the daughter of Jairus who is dying. Who knows? Maybe you will even get to see a miracle with your own eyes. Then all of the sudden Jesus stops and you discover that a ritually unclean woman has come through the crowd and touched Him. That is the crowd-perspective on this situation, and it will lead to quite a number of responses.
• Some would be thinking, “I wonder if she touched me”. It would be like the feeling you have when the hairs on the back of you neck stand on end.
• Those closest to Jesus and the woman probably took a step back.
• There would be a growing feeling of anger, “I’ve done my best never to enter her home now she comes out on the street. Who does she think she is?”.
• Some in the crowd would also have had a sense of frustration, “Now I have to go through the hassle of becoming clean”.
They are not really that happy are thy.
We imagine the woman … we imagine the crowd … and then we look to Jesus. Jesus had every right to rebuke her and her presumptions. He had every right to make her into a public spectacle.
• What made her think she had the right to make the whole crowd unclean?
• How could she be so brash to assume that she could steal some of His healing power?
• Didn’t she care about the fact that now He was unclean?
Jesus could have rebuked her – instead He expresses powerful acceptance – He calls her “daughter”.
Nowhere else, at any time, does Jesus call someone daughter. Imagine how that made her feel! She couldn’t even remember the last time she received a term of affection. This is the first time kind eyes had met her in more then a decade. This is why Jesus was so persistent. It’s not because He was angry; it’s because the job was not finished. Jesus was so persistent because physical healing had taken place, but spiritual healing was not there yet. She thought He was just a miracle worker. Jesus wants her to realise that He was more … so much more. For Jesus is the only One who can bring peace into our lives.
Jesus could not let her go until there was a comprehensive change in her life. He takes the physical baggage she is carrying. But, importantly, He takes the spiritual baggage as well. It all happens to teach us that nothing should keep us from coming to Jesus in faith.
• He wants to carry us.
• He wants to take the guilt and shame.
• He wants unreconciled differences to be healed.
Much blessing comes when we come in faith. But nothing comes from apathy.
My friends, you’ve got the baggage. But now it is time to put it down.
• It’s time to let go of the excuses. Even if you have nothing to offer come anyway.
• Its time to stop comparing yourselves to others and feeling that you don’t match up – it’s not a competition.
• It’s time to take that truckload of baggage and unload the burden for eternity.
• It’s time for a radical step of faith.
It’s time to have the faith which trusts that Jesus will take control of your life and act. Have the faith to bring all the shame and guilt and hurt to Jesus … and expect Him to do something.
That a radical faith. Faith which comes in response to what we have heard about Jesus. Faith which knows that we can stake our lives on Jesus and He will accept us. The main truth coming out of this text is that we can take a chance with on Jesus – and it will never be a gamble. That’s the message of the cross isn’t it?
We can take a chance with a Saviour who voluntarily gave up the wonders of heaven and the joy of being in the light of the Father so that He could be born a 7lb baby boy who relied totally on a first time mother who had the reputation of being unfaithful.
We can take a chance with the One who offers to become sin for us even though it was not His responsibility.
We can take a chance with Jesus who took on death, which is man’s greatest enemy, and not only defeated death but also transformed it. No longer is it an end to be feared but a door to be anticipated.
We can take a chance with our Lord who, even at this very moment, is preparing a place for us before His Father’s throne. A place we never earned, or deserved, or even desired, but a place which will have our name on it for eternity.
Let me give a challenge to all you bruised reeds or smouldering wicks – its time to take that step of faith.
• You’re not fine.
• You’re heart that is full of dirt.
• You’re marriage is in disarray.
• You’re not communicating with the ones who love you.
• You feel desperately lonely.
• You’re on the road to nowhere.
• You’re faith is on a steady decline.
• You’re on a search.
• You’re hurt, confused, and close to breaking point.
It doesn’t need to be like that when you take this radical step of faith. Come with all your baggage, no matter how light or heavy. Follow the hunch. Have the high hopes. And you can look into the eyes of Jesus. And you can hear Him say, “My Daughter. My Son. My child. The suffering is over. I’ve got your baggage. Now go in peace”.
Amen.
