The Gospel of Mark #14 – “Pressing into Jesus”
Mark 5:21-43
Intro –
1. ILL – A New Yorker was driving through Texas when he collided with a truck carrying a horse. A few months later he tried to collect damages for his injuries. “How can you now claim to have all these injuries?” asked the insurance company’s lawyer. “According to the police report, at the time you said you were not hurt.” ‘Look,” replied the New Yorker. “I was lying on the road in a lot of pain, and I heard someone say the horse had a broken leg. The next thing I know this Texas Ranger pulls out his gun and shoots the horse. Then he turns to me and asks, ‘Are you okay?’”
2. The truth is, sometime we are not okay. Sometimes we have real problems, issues, difficulties &seemingly hopeless situations.
3. In Mark 5, we see Jesus going from one seemingly hopeless situation to another. Our text is a “Markan sandwich” where two stories are pressed together. In it we are introduced to two very different individuals with one thing in common - they were willing to “press into Jesus.”
4. Mark 5:21-43 (Read)
5. This passage is a study in contrasts – Jairus was a rich man; the woman was broke. He was a synagogue official; she was an outcast. She was afraid to approach Jesus; Jairus went right up to Him. Jairus’ daughter was twelve years old; The woman had been fighting her problems for twelve years.
6. Although the people are totally different, they do have some things in common – They both have found themselves helpless. They both have heard that Jesus can help. They both seek Him out to take care of their needs.
7. God really can take care of our deepest longings & greatest needs!
8. 2 Scriptures that God has used in my life –
a. Gen. 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”
b. Jer. 32:17 “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
9. ILL – How many of you remember when we just had telephones & no cell-phones? What about when we actually used the phonebook instead of the internet or 411? Do you remember AT&T’s old slogan? It was “Reach out & touch someone.”
10. Jairus & the woman with the issue of blood both reached out to Jesus to touch Him & be touched by Him!
I. From Hopelessness to Healing: the Woman - Vs. 24-34
This was a woman who was “at her wits end.” She must have been ready to give up!
A. She was unclean & isolated – vs. 25
1. She had suffered from some kind of hemorrhage for 12 years.
2. She was an outcast from society at large as well as the religious world. The nature of this woman’s illness fell under the stipulations of Lev. 15:25-27.
3. She could not take part in any religious observances, nor could she have any public contact without defiling those whom she touched.
B. She was incurable – vs. 26
1. The Physician Luke adds the statement, “no one could heal her” (Luke 8:43).
2. Her suffering was much more than physical, though that would have been enough. She suffered as much from her ‘cures’ as she did from her case of bleeding.
3. Pliny’s “Natural History” reveals the generally low condition of medical science in the world at that time. Physicians were accustomed to prescribe doses of curious concoctions made from ashes of burnt wolf’s skull, stags’ horns, heads of mice, the eyes of crabs, owl’s brains, the livers of frogs and other like elements. For dysentery powdered horses’ teeth were administered, and a cold in the head was cured by kissing a mule’s nose.”
4. Last of all, this woman has lost all of her financial resources. Mark tells us that she had spent all of her money on doctor bills, with no relief—indeed, with added affliction. And in those days, there was no such thing as a malpractice suit.
C. She reached out for restoration from Christ – vs. 27-34
1. Because of her condition, she would not have been allowed to even approach Jesus. To talk to Him would be unthinkable! So she approached Him the only way she secretly – & it was enough! Knowing her faith, Jesus granted her healing.
2. After her healing, the woman probably began to shrink back into the crowd. Suddenly, Jesus stops & asks, “Who touched me?” (Mark 5:30).
3. Jesus was not angry at the woman for touching Him; He wanted to teach her &all those around Him something about faith. Genuine faith always involves action!
4. James 2:17 “…faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
5. W. Ian Thomas said, “It is your living faith in the adequacy of the One who is in you, which releases His divine action through you.”
6. Upon this woman’s confession of faith, Jesus sent her off with the words of vs. 34.
7. The common words for physical healing were either “iaomai or qhrapeuai.” The word, “healed” in vs. 34 is the word “sozo” which is the word that is used for salvation from sin. She went away healed & saved!
8. God never disappoints a person that comes to Christ with real & genuine faith. He is able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by faith!
II. From Tragedy to Triumph: Jairus & His Daughter - Vs. 21-24. 35-43
The 2nd healing of this passage involves a man named Jairus & his daughter. The woman actually interrupted Jesus while He was on the way to Jairus’ house to heal his daughter.
A. He was a desperate father – vs. 21-24
1. Jairus was the elected leader of a local synagogue, and as such he was a man of influence and prestige. Many synagogue leaders had close ties to the Pharisees & were pressured not to support Jesus’ ministry in any way. For Jairus to bow before Jesus was a desperate act that would probably cost him everything.
2. None of that mattered, because when he came to Jesus he did so as a desperate father seeking to spare the life of his critically ill child.
3. ILL – Jace being in the NICU / Jocelyn Johnson…
4. There is a great lesson here. The best thing we can do for our children is not to make sure they get a college degree, or that they have more than we had – it is to introduce them to Jesus through our words & actions!
B. He reached out for a resurrection from Christ – vs. 23, 35-43
1. Jairus was well aware that his daughter was on the verge of death & must have been annoyed at the fact that Jesus stopped to help this “unclean woman.”
2. Suddenly, he gets the worst news he ever heard, “your daughter is dead” (vs. 35).
3. The common belief in his day, as ours, is that “where there’s life, there’s hope.” And now all hope was gone.
4. Jesus ignored the announcement & spoke gently to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (vs. 36).
5. His faith was faltering, & it was through faith that the child would be raised. Where there is life, there is hope. But with God, we must also believe that where there is death, there is hope as well.
6. John 11:25 “…I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”
7. They move on & Jesus heals the little girl. The actual event was both simple & sweet. With a couple of softly spoken words, our Lord took the young girl by the hand & lifted her up so that she began to walk about.
8. The result was that those who witnessed this great miracle were completely astonished (vs. 42).
III. From Then to Now: Lessons we can Learn -
The wonderful thing about the stories in the Bible, is that they teach us so much about who God really is & how He operates!!!
A. There are no hopeless situations with Jesus.
1. Both Jairus & the woman found themselves in hopeless situations & came to Christ in desperate dependence & simple trust.
2. G.K. Chesterton, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude: It is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be strength.”
3. In this chapter, we have seen His power over demons, disease & death! He has power over any situation we may face as well.
4. Jesus is the Hope of the Hopeless; the Help of the Helpless, He can tackle the most desparate situation & bring restoration and life.
5. Rom. 4:18 “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’”
B. God shows mercy to those who are humble.
1. Jairus came to Jesus & “fell at his feet” (vs. 22). The woman secretly reached out & “touched his cloak” (vs. 27). Both came to Jesus humbly.
2. Just as God responds to faith, He responds to humility.
3. James 4:6 “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’”
4. 1 Pet. 5:5 “ Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
5. Do you want God’s mercy for your life? We must come humbly before Him.
6. James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
C. Interruptions may be divine appointments.
1. The huge crowd must have been a source of irritation to Jairus. When Jesus stopped to help the woman, he must have been furious. However, we know that this was s divine appointment!
2. We get so busy in life, that sometimes we may miss out on being a blessing to others. Remember, relationships are what life is about, not getting stuff done!
3. ILL – Calvin & Hobbes… “I was put on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now, I am so far behind that I will never die.”
4. God may have people in our path to minister to, but we get too busy!
5. Luke 10 – the Good Samaritan…the priest & the Levite were so focused on the business of ministry stuff they forgot what ministry was all about – people!
6. Ps. 142:4 (NLT) “I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.”
D. Fear causes us to give up, while faith causes us to reach out.
1. We talked a few weeks ago about how fear & faith often co-exist. Both of these people had fear – Jairus came to Jesus because he was afraid his daughter would die. The woman touched him secretly because she was afraid. Yet, both reached out in faith to Jesus.
2. Why? They were not ruled by their fear, they were ruled by their faith.
3. When we allow fear to rule our hearts & minds we will give up on even trying to reach out to Jesus!
4. How many have stopped praying because we were afraid God wouldn’t answer?
5. We must walk through our fears by faith!
6. Mark 9:24 “Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’”
Conc. –
1. God really can touch us in the midst of our tragedy if we will reach out to Him!
2. ILL – A Methodist preacher by the name of Luther Bridges, was born in 1884, he married & had 3 sons. Pastor Bridges accepted an invitation to minister at a conference in Kentucky in the year 1910, so he left his family in the care of his father-in-law & made the trip to Kentucky. There, 2 wonderful weeks of ministry resulted. The last service closed with great joy & he was excited to be called to the telephone. He couldn’t wait to tell his wife about all the blessings. But it wasn’t her voice on that long distance line. He listened in silence to the news that a fire had burned down the house of his father-in-law & his wife and all three of his sons had died in the blaze. That distraught reached out to Jesus & wrote the words: “Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know. Fills my every longing, keeps me singins as I go.”
3. Today, I invite you to do what Jairus & the woman did – in their greatest hour of need they reached out to Jesus!!
