#7 The “IF Series”
“IF ONLY I COULD TOUCH HIS
CLOAK!”
TEXT: Mark
5:22-43
INTRO: There are two interesting
stories of powerful fear, and powerful faith that occur on one single occasion
with Jesus, ironically both involved females, and both involved a period of time
that was equal; 12 years.
a. A
12 year old Jewish girl was dying – her father a synagogue
ruler
b. A
Jewish woman with an issue of blood for 12 years – which meant she was “unclean”
and not permitted to be in the Synagogue, alienated from her own kind for 12
years straight.
What makes these two incidents compelling is their same
time frame, but with different dynamics.
Yet they both were thinking, “WHAT IF” – they were
“hoping!”
ILLUS: My husband and
I like to play "what if?" We sit and toss out ideas: What if we moved out of
state? What if we enclosed our porch? What if we got a dog? Some of the what ifs
come to fruition; others don't. But we've found that the very process airs out
our marriage, opens doors and windows of possibility, draws us closer. It's not
an idle exercise; to dream, to crack open that door, starts things happening.
-- Elizabeth
Cody Newenhuyse, Marriage Partnership, Vol. 7, no.
3.
The 12 year old Jewish girl had a father who was a
synagogue ruler, someone who probably was supposed to avoid Jesus since the
Jewish leaders were largely opposed to Jesus – and a woman with an issue of
blood for 12 years which meant that she could never enter the synagogue, even if
Jairus was her priest, because as a woman with a bleeding issue she was
perpetually “unclean” and could not be in contact with her own kind. She would have been out of the synagogue
for the last 12 years!
However, both are desperate for Jesus; the ruler who
should not be coming to Jesus, and the woman who should not touch
Jesus!
PROP.
SENT: The Bible
teaches us that the heart of Jesus never turns away from someone who seeks
Him. And if we seek Him, we will
find Him, and He will touch us.
Never be afraid to ask Jesus; but come in
faith.
I. FAITH THAT PLEADS! Mark
5:22-24
A. Desperation!
Mark.9:22-23a
1.
This scene opens with Jesus near a seashore, and show a synagogue ruler
named Jairus pleading Jesus for help in healing his sick 12 year old
daughter!
a.
Although the Jewish leaders were suspicious of Jesus, this ruler was
willing to put his own status with the other Jewish leaders on the altar because
he was desperate for his daughter to be healed.
b. In
these moments, his concern for his daughter’s healing was greater than his own
need to be accepted by others.
c.
Jesus doesn’t hesitate to respond to this grieving and frightened father,
in spite of the position he held in the synagogue. The “hope of what If” was driving
him!
ILLUS:
An examination
was being held in little Emma's class at school and the question was asked:
"Upon what do hibernating animals subsist during the winter?" Emma thought for a
few minutes and then wrote: "All winter long, hibernating animals subsist on the
hope of a coming spring!" -- James S.
Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988)
p. 292.
2. Need was more important to Jairus
than protocol, even risking falling at Jesus’ feet, which to some indicated an
act of worship.
a.
Jairus was willing to risk that Jesus might actually be the savior, the
promised Messiah and could heal his daughter!
b.
This is all happening in the middle of a crowd, so there could be no
covering over the fact that a Jewish ruler was seeking Jesus’
help.
c. He
had faith to believe, the essential ingredient for Jesus to act
upon!
3.
This was an act of desperation, but with
faith.
B. Declaration! Mark
5:23b-24
1. To
Jairus’ utmost joy, Jesus agrees to go with him to heal his daughter!
a.
Jesus responds to faith, no matter who we
are.
b.
Jesus did not hesitate to respond, in spite of the crowd around Him. Hope was driving him
forward.
ILLUS: Hope is putting
faith to work when doubting would be easier. -- Vern
McLellan, The Complete Book of Practical Proverbs and Wacky Wit (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1996).
2.
Jairus’ daughter was about to be healed – and Jairus was at that moment
glad that Jesus was willing to respond.
a.
But as they were on the way, an interruption occurs that delays
Jesus!.
b. We
can only imagine what Jairus was feeling when Jesus stopped because someone else
had touched Him.
3. A
delay could ruin everything for this synagogue ruler, and ironically, it was
likely a delay from one of his parishioners who had not been in the synagogue
for that last 12 years since she was suffering with an issue of blood which left
her permanently “unclean” and unable to worship with her own
people.
II. FAITH THAT IS PRACTICAL! Mark
5:25-29
A. Desperation! Mark
5:25-28
1.
This woman too was desperate, just as Jairus
was!
a.
Unlike Jairus’ daughter who enjoyed being in the synagogue her entire 12
years of life, this woman had been out of the synagogue for the same period of
time with her “unclean” condition.
b.
Unlike the little girl, this woman had to live isolated, untouched by
others, and as an outcast among her own kind.
c.
The woman with the issue of blood and the little girl may not have even
known each other, they could not connect!
2.
This unnamed woman had sought help from many doctors over the years,
submitted to many different kinds of treatments, all to no
avail.
3. In
fact, the more treatments she got over the years, the worse her condition grew –
she was indeed desperate as much as Jairus was for his own
daughter.
ILLUS: Clare Booth
wrote, "There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown
hopeless about them." -- Robert C.
Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company,
1997).
4.
This woman is practical however, realizing that being in a crowd could
make other people unclean if she touched them, and made them aware of her she
was, so she decides to approach Jesus without identifying
herself.
5.
She simply wishes to touch Jesus’ garment and then sneak
away.
a.
She was confident that IF she could simply touch His garment she would be
healed, but practical in that she didn’t want to create uproar over her
uncleanliness and therefore contamination of
others.
b.
She wanted healing, but without confrontation
publically.
6.
She sneaks up behind Jesus through the crowd to simply touch His
garment!
a.
Her faith was at work!
b.
And her practical concern not to make anyone else
unclean.
B. Deliverance! Mark
5:29
1. As soon as she touches Jesus robe,
she is immediately healed!
a.
She was not only healed at this point, but make ceremonially clean by
Jesus at the same moment since her flow of blood stopped
instantly.
b. A
whole new future would open up to her now that she had been
healed!
c.
However, at the same time, Jesus realizes that some power has left Him,
and he stops his trip to Jairus’ house to deal with this woman - this delay cost
Jairus’ daughter her life, she dies with this delay before Jesus could get back
on the road to his house.
2. At
this point, this woman thinks no one knows she is healed – except
her!
a.
She is in for a surprise reaction by Jesus however, one that panics her,
and also panics Jairus.
b.
Both Jairus and this woman become fearful; the woman that she will be
found out in the midst of the crowd, and Jairus, that his daughter might die
with this delay.
c.
Yet, Jesus had plans for them both, plans to have them both receive
although very different people.
ILLUS:
On a cruise
from Mexico to Hawaii in 1979, Los Angeles lawyer John Peckham and his wife,
Dottie, put a note in a bottle and tossed it into the Pacific. Three years and
nine thousand miles later, Vietnamese refugee Nguyen Van Hoa leaned down from a
tiny, crowded boat and plucked the bottle from the
3.
Why does Jesus point out this woman in the crowd? And what about the delay which caused
the 12 year old girl to die in the meantime?
III. FEAR THAT PANICS! Mark
5:30-43
A. Discovered! Mark
5:30-33
1.
Jesus stops and asks who touched Him? A frightened woman who was just healed
is thinking to herself, “Why is Jesus pointing me out, I tried to hide doing
this so no one would panic over my “unclean”
status.”
a.
Why did Jesus point her out?
Probably to make her healing public, in order to allow her back into the
synagogue as one who is now clean!
If Jesus had not done this publically in the midst of the crowd and in
front of the synagogue ruler she may have been
doubted!
b.
Jesus wasn’t trying to embarrass her; in fact, He was trying to free her
from her “outcast” role.
!
c.
What a powerful witness of Christ’s great love for
her!
2.
Although this was a delay for Jairus, it meant an immediate approval for
this woman, she could attend synagogue again and literally rub shoulders with
her own Jewish family and friends again.
a.
Jesus was restoring not only her body, but her status in a public
acknowledgement of her healing! But
Jairus was no doubt getting puzzled by this delay in dealing with this woman, it
just wasn’t working for him!
ILLUS:
A woman in
b. He
was setting her free in spite of the fear she showed in revealing herself as the
one who had touched His robes.
3.
Her panic was unnecessary!
Jesus was being practical in healing her, by restoring her socially as
well.
a.
Her trembling and confessing truthfully that she was the one who touched
Jesus was being used by Jesus to fully restore
her.
b.
She no doubt left there rejoicing for both her physical healing and her
restored relationship in the community.
B. Delivered! Mark
5:34
1.
Jesus informs her that her faith had brought her
healing.
2. Jesus tells her to
“go in
peace” and
“be
healed”
a. “Go in peace” meant she
was now restored to family and friends.
b. “be healed” meant she
was restored in body.
3.
Jesus is concerned about the whole
person!
C. Death! Mark
5:35-40
1.
While still speaking to the woman and restoring her, messengers arrive
from Jairus’ home with bad news.
a.
While we all rejoice over the woman’s healing, the time it took for Jesus
to stop and deal with this woman had created a delay in going to Jairus’ home to
heal his daughter!
b.
The delay had been great enough that the little 12 year old girl had
passed away!
c.
You can only imagine what went through Jairus’ mind! How could this ever be a good
situation?
ILLUS:
In Enterprise,
Alabama, you will see one of the most unusual monuments ever built. It is a
monument to honor the boll weevil, the little insect that nearly destroyed the
cotton on which the town's economy depended. Why a monument to so destructive an
insect? Because before the boll weevil, every family depended on cotton for its
livelihood. When the boll weevil struck, they diversified and began to plant
peanuts with great success. The inscription reads: "In profound appreciation of
the boll weevil and of what it has done as the herald of prosperity, this
monument is erected by the citizens of
2.
Why did Jesus let my little girl die, this “unclean” woman sidetracked
Jesus long enough for my precious “clean” daughter to pass
away!
a. Notice the messenger’s attitude at
this point: “why trouble the
Teacher anymore?”
b. In other words, don’t bother with
Jesus – his delay cost you your daughter’s life.
c. Their view of Jesus was that he was
only a teacher anyway!
d. Jesus clearly understood how easily
Jairus’ faith could be shaken here, it was after all a long delay in order to
heal someone else.
3.
Jairus was stunned by the news of his daughter being declared
“death!”
a.
Jesus picks up on his panic and immediately addresses Jairus to “still
believe.”
b. Jesus says to him,
“Do not be afraid
any longer, only believe.”
c.
Delay is not a problem for Jesus; nothing is ever too late for Him! Not even
death!
D. Delivered! Mark
5:41-43
1.
Jesus immediately goes to Jairus’ house, and only allows Peter, James,
and John to go in with Him to the girl.
a. Of
course, when Jesus arrives there are the paid mourners already there to cry and
weep and carry on, all in the name of compassion toward the family for the girls
passing!
b.
This was a common practice in the first century when someone died, there
were people who were paid to come in and weep and carry on. They did this to bring some sense of
comfort to the family.
c.
But Jesus wasn’t interested in a ceremony of brokenness; He had a
father’s faith to respond to.
2. Jesus announces that the girl is
only “sleeping” and the
mourners begin to laugh at Jesus!
a. In
the presence of Jesus who is life no death can
be!
b. If
you look in the New Testament at every occurrence when Jesus came across a
funeral the person was always raised to life!
c. Because Jesus is the
“resurrection and
the life” He gives
life, even in the presence of death!
3. With only those inside the room who
had faith, Jesus simply takes the girl’s hand and says to her,
“little girl, I say
to you, get up!”
a.
Immediately, the little girl comes to
life!
b.
She arises and walks around the room, while they all stare and are
astounded!
c.
And as with the “unclean” woman, Jesus also becomes very practical, and
tells the parents and those in the room to give her something to eat! She had been sick for a while, and
likely had not eaten. Jesus not
only heals the sickness, but addresses the daily need of eating as
well.
** I wonder if the next Sabbath synagogue
service if the newly healed and restored woman sat next to the 12 year old
daughter who also was healed? They
could now be together in the worship service. Wouldn’t you have loved to have seen
them together in worship, and hear their shared conversation next
service?
CONCLUSION: “IF
ONLY” said both a
synagogue ruler and a women who was unclean by Jewish standards, a woman with a
12 year old bleeding problem? Their “IF
ONLY” was accompanied by faith however, and this moved the heart of Jesus
to act on their behalf. What “IF ONLY” are you facing today, do you have faith to
believe? Don’t be afraid to come in
faith, even with your fears – Jesus is listening, and willing to hear you and
respond!