The woman thought, “If only I could touch Jesus…I would be healed..” Little did she know that Jesus was already on his way to healing a sick child. When she encountered Jesus, she received the healing instantly. By the time Jesus got to the child, she was already dead, and the people had lost hope.  However Jesus sent them away except for a select few, and then immediately called the child to get up, and she rose from the dead. There is no other problem that can stop Jesus from reaching you today. It is never too late for him to do a miracle.

Nobody Left Out

We are in the 5th week of our sermon series “Nobody Left Out.” We are inviting you to read along in a 40-day devotional with the same title by author Michael Murray.

Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Nobody-Left-Out-Messes-Devotional-ebook/dp/B08MY583G8

Tonight, I want to talk to you about the sick and the dead.

The Sick and the Dead

This story is really 2 stories intersecting. Life comes at us fast and often we schedule one thing, but life has a way of jamming in other unscheduled meetings and unexpected clients.

Mark 5:21-24(NIV) 21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.  

A synagogue leader named Jairus, who was not a pharisee nor a Sanhedrin member hyper-focused on his own righteousness, but Jairus was still considered an important religious leader. A synagogue is a congregation or meeting of Jews, or synagogue sometimes referred to the building where they would meet… a lot like how we use Church to describe a group of Christian believers and even the building where we meet. The leader, or ruler of the synagogue was the man chosen to care for the physical arrangements of the synagogue building & services.

Jairus was considered a leader of the Jewish community and today, Jairus was approaching Jesus. Why was this respected Israelite approaching Jesus?

23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

Jairus had a daughter who was dying, so he approached the man he believed would heal her. Good news!  Jairus was able to reach Jesus and Jesus agreed to go with Jairus to his house.

We have heard enough Jesus stories to know that over the next few verses Jesus is going to heal this little girl… It would be shocking if Jesus did not heal this little girl.

25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

What happened here? Where is Jairus and his little sick girl? In the middle of the story another story appears.  While Jesus is going with Jairus, another person comes to Jesus in need.

A sick woman

For 12 years this woman had been subject to bleeding. She had a terrible sickness.
For 12 years she had sought a cure with many doctors. The scripture said that she had spent all she had.
For 12 years she did not get better, but only grew worse.
For 12 years she had only faced disappointment.

Disappointment

Does anyone know about disappointment?
Have you spent years trying to get better, only to get worse? That is disappointing.
Have you prayed but not received the answer you wanted? That is disappointing.
Have you worked hard only to see things fall apart? Life can be disappointing.

Our hearts go out to Uvalde, Tx where 19 students & 2 teachers were killed, and 18 others were wounded. I am so disappointed by this news. My heart is troubled by this evil. I cannot understand the depth of heartache these families are feeling. It makes us ask “why?” After every school shooting our culture asks the same question… “Why can’t we find the answer to this problem?”

For 12 years this sick woman had been asking “Why can’t I find the answer to this problem?”

In our devotional this week Michael Murray told the story where a pastor once said… “There was a time in my life when I was one miracle away from being an atheist.” (Nobody Left Out pg62) The pastor had a son who was born with a sickness, and although they prayed and believed, their son was not improving. It was in this disappointment that he made this claim…  “I was one miracle away from being an atheist.”

In other words, the pastor was tired of seeing miracles happen for others, but somehow pass his family by.

Maybe the woman who was sick for 12 years felt this way?

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Hope postponed… an answer delayed… it is so disappointing that it can make your heart sick.

But a longing fulfilled… a dream accomplished… this is a tree of life.

I have felt this way before… I have told the Lord “I just need a win. I need a success. I know that I have hope for heaven… but right now on Earth God I need something good.”

You may not realize but some of you in this room have been the answer to those prayers. God brought you into my life and I am privileged to see the power of God work in your life and it has become a tree of life for me.

This woman who had seen her hope deferred for 12 years; she heard about Jesus and something amazing is about to happen in her. She has a thought…

28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

Often, miracles start with a thought.

REALIZE THIS… There is no place in scripture where anyone else touches the clothes of Jesus and is healed. This was unheard of… this was irrational… this was dangerous… But we have a simple word for it – Faith!

She had been disappointed so many times… but faith caused her to try again. By faith she tries something brand new. She tries something that no one counseled her to do.  She pushes through a crowd and reaches out to Jesus.

29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

She had 12 years of disappointment, but after touching she was immediately, miraculously, freed from her suffering.

Your disappointment is no match for Jesus.   …but the story goes on..

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.

Jesus stops everything… remember Jesus was on his way to Jairus’ home to heal his little girl, and now all of this has happened, and Jesus is making a big deal over “who touched me?”

The sick woman was also considered unclean. She had crossed a line.

Lines

There were these cultural & religious lines that were not to be crossed. Because of her bleeding she was to be outside the city and was certainly not supposed to be in the middle of the crowd. When Jesus asks “Who touched me…” the woman must have been scared and probably thought she was in trouble.

She had crossed a line and she knew it… and now Jesus knew it.

But know this about Jesus, He never rebukes someone for touching Him.

33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

When the unclean touch Jesus, they become clean.
When the bound touch Jesus, they become free.
When you touch Jesus, your touch does not affect Him… His touch affects you!

You can touch Jesus today. There is no line that can keep you from touching Jesus.

Do you think there is a line that is keeping you from God?  Do you think something you did in your past is keeping you from the Lord? Do you think God’s ability to use you and bless you is hampered by a line?

Here is what Jesus thinks about your lines… Jesus looks at the woman and calls her “daughter.”

We are unaware of her family situation, but we see Jesus invite her into His family. Jesus turns the sick woman into a healed daughter. The woman reached past her line… and Jesus reaches right back.

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

A miracle is followed by bad news. What is Jairus feeling right now? It is hard to see Jairus celebrating the sick woman’s healing. He might be blaming the woman’s unscheduled appearance for his daughter’s death.

The dead girl

Could Jairus relate to the pastor who said, “I was one miracle away from being an atheist?”

“Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher?”

For Jairus, he had to face losing his daughter.  We all have something to face…

The dead _____
dream
relationship
ministry
career

What is it that is dead in your own life?
What is it that causes you and others to say, “Why bother.”

Even though a miracle had just taken place, they said “why bother?”  Here is why they said this… More disappointment. Disappointment is not in short supply.

“Why bother the teacher anymore.”

Lines

Anymore… It is like they had this line proportioned where Jesus could work.  Up to this point maybe Jesus could do something… but now that the situation has passed this line… why bother anymore?

We all have these lines. They are thresh-holds of our willingness and faith.

When Jairus’ daughter died, it crossed his line, and it was uttered “why bother?”

Do you have a line? I am so glad you love Jesus and trust in Jesus… but you probably still have a line.  You may not realize it but you probably have a line that says, “If this kind of tragedy ever happened to me I would stop following Christ.”

For Jairus it was the loss of his daughter. Is there someone in your life, that if you lost them that you would give up on Jesus?

The disciple, Peter was willing to swing a sword at the head of a guard, but even Peter had a line that caused him to deny even knowing Christ. Where is your line?

I had been saved for 14 years when I put a line down. God was calling me into ministry, and I remember saying to Him that I would serve Him as long as a few conditions were met. Here they were…

#1 – You can’t let me live in poverty.
#2 – You can’t make me wait tables. (I hated being a waiter)

In a moment where the almighty God was dealing with my life, and the all-powerful God was calling my name, I decided I should barter and play a little quid pro quo (this for that).  I thought I should get some assurances.  I put down these lines that said I will serve you Lord, as long as I don’t cross these lines.   If I must cross these lines… why bother?

Your lines show you the part of your heart that is not surrendered to Jesus.
Your lines show you where you are unwilling and untrusting.

God, I will trust you as long as… that is a line.  Where is your line? Where is the point that you say “why bother?

Will you learn to trust beyond the line?

Jesus is not bound by your line.
You do not have to be bound by your line.

36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

Other voices are saying, “why bother?”  Jesus says, “Do not be afraid… just believe.” Jesus is saying this to you today. Cross your line of fear, through faith, today.

37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”

Not dead, but asleep.

Jesus is not bound by the line of death. From the perspective of Jesus, death is not final. Death is just going to sleep.

From our perspective, death is a line that no one comes back from.  Death is a “why bother” line. Yet Jesus is not bound by your line.

What happens next is a line for many people…

*40 But they laughed at him.

What people think…
What others say…

Some of us have lines on our worship. “If I raise my hands what will so-and-so think?”
Some of us have lines on this altar. “If I go down there someone might think that I am a sinner.”
Are you willing to trust God even if you are laughed at?

40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).

Jesus put the scoffers out. They were not willing to cross the line and Jesus removed them. There is a whole sermon there on the people in your life who are keeping you from your miracle…

Then Jesus went in with those who were willing to cross the line. Jesus went with the mother and the father, and 3 select disciples.

Jesus spoke to the dead little girl.  (Jesus, for the 2nd time that day was coming into contact with something considered unclean) Supernaturally, the voice of Jesus crosses over the line of death and life.

42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

The Sick and the Dead

 

We have these 2 stories that are coming from different perspectives…

An unclean outcast… and a socially elite synagogue leader. Both the sick woman and Jairus are facing disappointment.

Both stories intersect at Jesus.

In this story Jesus heals a woman, sick for 12 years.
In this story Jesus raises a 12-year-old girl.

The sick woman crossed a line to touch Jesus.
Jesus crossed a line to touch the dead girl.

The woman who had faced so much disappointment, she reached out and touched Jesus and everything changed.
Jesus reached out to someone who was dead and unable to do anything about it.  His touch changed that disappointing situation.

Lines are not permanent.

The sick and the dead are welcome to cross over every line and make contact with Jesus… nobody left out.