Just a Touch Will Do | I’m Looking for a Miracle, Pt. 3
…I want to urge you to take some action: the action of faith. - Pastor Charlie Dates
Mark 5:21-34 NASB
21 When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and He stayed by the seashore. 22 And one of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came, and upon seeing Him, fell at His feet 23 and pleaded with Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.” 24 And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.
25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse— 27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. 28 For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” 29 And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power from Him had gone out, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” 31 And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” 32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be cured of your disease.”
In verses 21-43, Jesus’s intention to heal a 12-year-old girl is interrupted by a woman with a 12-year blood issue.
The intersection of these two female persons shows that women matter to Jesus.
Where would we be without the witness of women, like Rahab who hung a red rope outside her window to signal her faithfulness to God (Joshua 2).
Men don’t lose anything by affirming the value God has placed on women.
A Father’s Love
Jesus has just healed the demoniac on the other side of the Galilee. Jairus meets Him and does something that someone in his position wouldn’t do...
He throws himself at Jesus’s feet.
As a leader of the synagogue, he would have been one of Jesus’s enemies. The synagogue was the setting for people to plot to kill Jesus in Mark 3.
We learn from Jairus that money, social status, and connections don’t keep you from problems where the only solution is Jesus.
Life has a way of telling you that you’re just like everybody else.
What would make a leader such as Jairus put his dignity aside to fall at Jesus’s feet? His child.
His 12-year-old daughter has a life-threatening sickness. He’s out there where his daughter is dying looking for the only solution. Since she can’t get to Jesus, he’s bringing Jesus to her.
A good father will bring Jesus to his kids.
Jesus agrees to go with Jairus, and the crowds follow closely as they walk. The people want to see a miracle.
Desperate Faith
Then, there’s the woman. She makes her way through the crowd, not because she wants to see a miracle, but because she needs a miracle.
She didn’t let anyone get between her and the Savior.
She didn’t let the crowd stop her. And she didn’t let her debilitating disease stop her either.
She tried everything but couldn’t find a cure for her disease.
But she had faith...
She knew the moment she touched the fabric touching Jesus, she would get better.
She was contagious... people became unclean by touching her. But what she didn’t know is that Jesus is contagious too.
She touched people and made them unclean. He touched people and made them clean.
Jesus came to touch our dirt, disease, and what’s broken. If you let Him touch you, He will fix you.
The gravity of her condition drove her to seek a cure. She was aware of her condition. So she was desperate.
One Touch Can Change Everything
You and I are as bad off as this woman. The problem is we aren’t even aware of it.
We have to know what’s wrong with us before we can find a cure.
The problem with us is sin.
Sin is the condition of fallen humanity. Everything about us is bent towards hell. Even the good we do is tainted by it.
There’s only one cure for sin...
If you’re a sinner, you need a Savior.
Self-sufficiency will never deliver you from the real problems you have.
All you need is one touch from Jesus. But sometimes you have to take the initiative like this woman did.
Because human initiative can ignite divine capacity.
So she reaches out and touches Jesus.
She was going to touch and go, but He stopped and offered her salvation.
What happened in her body was an indication of what happened in her soul.
Jesus is so much a God that He will not only give you a good life after you die but also while you live.
He is the cure for sin and for life’s common problems.
All you have to do is reach out and touch Him.
Reflection Questions:
What are the crowds in your life keeping you from reaching out to Jesus?
In what ways do you see Jesus touching the "unclean" areas of your life to bring healing and restoration?
What step of faith can you take this week to reach out and touch Jesus, trusting Him with your struggles?