Sunday 16th August 2020

Call to Worship: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ Matthew 11:28.

Reading: Mark Chapter 5:21-35 ‘Who touched me?’

Picture the scene with me:

• It’s the second year of Jesus’ ministry.
• People are flocking to hear Him, to see Him, to see what’s going to happen next…
• On this day, Jesus has caused a sensation through healing a notorious demon-possessed man. He and His disciples now cross a lake but a large crowd has gathered…
• Now, imagine yourself in that crowd; what might you see and hear?

You’d see Jesus, His disciples, people from all over; then someone hurriedly arrives; someone you’re quite surprised to see in Jesus’ company…It’s Jairus, a leader from the Synagogue and an important man, and leading members of the religious establishment do not usually follow Jesus, unless it’s to criticise Him. But this seems different, for Jairus falls on his knees before Jesus, pleading with Him. You move a little closer and hear Jairus explain his daughter is dangerously ill, “Please come, Jesus,” he implores, “Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

Jesus agrees to go, in fact the whole crowd seems to be tagging along, everyone pushing and jostling, then something happens…

Jesus stops quite suddenly. He turns around, “Who touched me? Who touched my clothes?” As far as you can see it could have been any number of people; the disciples agree, “With all this pushing and jostling we’ve no way of telling,” they add…

But Jesus is not for moving, He’s looking around, everyone is looking around, you look too, and then you notice her, a lady, her robe gathered tightly around her body and face. She seems frozen to the spot… Was it her? Was she the one? Did she touch Jesus? What’s going to happen now? It’s as if, in those moments, time stands still…” Who touched me?”

Over these past weeks, we’ve been thinking about faith; faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord. What does that mean? What does it mean to be a person of faith?

It means knowing you need a Saviour and recognising that same Saviour is Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who died to take on your sin and mine to make it possible for us to be right with God. To be a person of faith is to be able to say alongside the Apostle Paul, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.’ (Galatians 2:20) But there’s nothing easy about being a person of faith and so stories of faith from our Bible are really important and helpful for us. Over these past weeks we’ve pondered several such accounts:

• The Syro-Phoenician woman of Matthew 15 – A woman of tenacious, stubborn faith, who knew Jesus was the One to go to for help and who would not be put off. Her faith in Jesus and her love for her sick daughter kept her in front of Jesus pleading for help.
• Last week we focused on the faith of the Centurion told in Luke 7 – a soldier whose faith was shown through a deep sense of humility and unworthiness, combined with his confidence that all that was needed for a miracle was a word from Jesus – the centurion who was content – in a desperate and difficult situation – to cling to the very word of God – the word of God was enough.
• And today, we focus on another desperate situation – another person who knows Jesus is the One to go to – a woman whose faith will show in her determination to just touch Jesus’ robe, just the faintest of touches for a miracle to happen…

According to custom, she shouldn’t have been there that day. This lady is described as subject to bleeding for over a decade, a condition that would render her permanently unclean in Jewish eyes and would specifically prohibit her from touching a rabbi. And so, it was risky, very risky, for her to be on that street at all. If she had been recognised in a crowd that included a ruler from the Synagogue, Jairus, she would have been chased or worse. Being labelled untouchable, she must have lived those past twelve years not only in considerable physical pain and discomfort, but also on the very fringes of society. She must have been weary on every level: doctors with the promise of help had taken all her money, she would have been lonely, probably with few friends, discouraged, exhausted, disillusioned, alienated and very, very sick. But she’d heard about Jesus, and risky or not, if she could somehow get to Him and touch his robe, just the hem, the portion considered sacred, some relief might come, and then she could melt away into the crowd, no one would ever know…

Have you ever wondered why Jesus asked the question, ‘Who touched me?’ Surely, He knew. We know that Jesus knows all things, He even knows what we are thinking, yet still He asked, ‘Who touched me?’ Why raise Jairus’ blood pressure and bring obvious embarrassment to this already embarrassed lady by causing her to speak up? Why did Jesus not just smile, knowing what had happened and let her slip quietly away without a word? Surely that’s what the woman wanted? Why ask, ‘Who touched me?’ Why? Was it because:

• There were truths that she needed to know,
• Truths the crowd needed to know,
• And truths we need to know too?
• I think it was all three ‘need to know’ reasons…

She needed to know: There was a belief at this time, an ancient superstition, that touching a rabbi’s clothes could heal. And Jesus wanted her to know the truth; she needed to know that her faith, even if it was only a mustard seed’s worth, her faith made the difference:

• Jesus prizes faith – faith matters…
• The faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman…
• The faith of the centurion
• And the faith of a sick and tired lady…

She needed to know that it was nothing to do with the garment but by faith and the power of Jesus she was healed. It was not because she had come near enough to touch Him but because she had trusted Him, and she needed to know. Only faith saves us, we are saved by faith alone, faith, trust, in Jesus. Faith matters…

And the crowd? There were truths they needed to know: For her sake, for her restoration to society, it was important that they knew she was now well, freed from the nightmare of this illness. They didn’t have to take her word for it, they had Jesus’ word. And ponder too of the impact this healing must have had on Jairus encouraging him he’d come to the right man for help. We know from the text that Jesus went on not only to heal Jairus’ daughter but to bring her back to life! “Get up, little girl”, Jesus would soon say, and these events must have reassured and encouraged the faith of the disciples and astonished the whole crowd pointing to Jesus, the One who prizes faith…

And what about us? What do we need to know? We need to know, to be constantly reassured and reminded, Jesus is the One to go to in our good times and difficult times. But although Jesus is always there for us there may be times when we might not find that easy:

• We may feel we don’t want to trouble Jesus with our concerns and worries,
• Perhaps we’re not always sure of what to say,
• Or perhaps we don’t feel good enough…

There may be lots of reasons, so WE need to know:

• It’s Jesus Himself who invites us to come, Jesus who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened…” Matthew 11:28.
• Jesus already knows everything about us, ‘O LORD, You have searched me and You know me.’ Psalm 139:1
• He knows us, really knows us, but wants to hear us voice our concerns and put words to how we’re feeling…

How do we know that? Let’s look back to our text, again, picture the scene:

‘Jesus kept looking around to see who had touched Him. Then the woman…came and fell at His feet and, trembling with fear, told Him the whole truth…’ verses 32-33.

So, she falls at Jesus’ feet, and finding her courage and no doubt with the crowd also listening on, she tells her story and that would not have been an easy thing to do. But she found the words…So, if anything is keeping you back from coming to Jesus, speaking to Jesus in honest, open prayer, find your courage, find your words, and here’s why – having told her story, Jesus then says to her: ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace…’ v34. The literal translation of those final words is, ‘Go into peace’…And that adds something to it…something very important…This woman, we don’t even know her name, was more than healed physically that day, she was made whole again, restored, and entered into a whole new life of wellness, and well-being, at peace with herself and others…

‘Go into peace…’ It was important that she knew, the crowd knew and we know, but we also know more, because we know that this same Jesus died for us that we might know His peace not once, but always, we know because of Jesus we can ‘go into peace’ now and all our days, for that’s the promise of Jesus for all who place their trust in Him…

Let’s pull that all together:

Picture the scene – A busy lakeside, Jesus, His disciples, Jairus, the crowd and this woman who arrives sick and tired, but because of faith and reaching out to Jesus leaves a new, restored person, with a whole a new life…

And then picture the scene of your own life – Your comings and goings, the things that trouble you, your hopes and dreams, and be assured by faith in that same Jesus you too can know life and that at its very best. And like all those whose life and struggles we have pondered these past few weeks, may our faith in Jesus be a tenacious, not easily put off faith, a humble ‘I’m not worthy but I trust in you’ faith, and a determined, ‘I won’t let anything stop me from reaching out’ faith, and to Jesus, God’s Son, be all the praise and glory.

Let’s pray:

Lord Jesus, Accounts of faith are such a help and a blessing to us pointing the way to You. Thank you for this story in Mark’s gospel; may it serve to encourage us to come to You in open and honest prayer knowing that in You is found new life and peace, now and always. Amen