“Just A Touch” Mark
Intro.: There was once a commercial on TV featuring
two children, a brother and sister, sitting on the beach. The boy was pestering
the girl by holding his finger about an inch from her and repeating, “I’m not
touching you..
I’m not touching you.” Of course
the girl called out to her parents, “He’s touching me”. That certainly brings back memories of my
childhood, riding in the back seat or sitting on the sofa with my own sisters. Like the girl in the commercial there are many
who claim they don’t want to be touched.
But in today’s Gospel our Lord Jesus reveals that He desires all of us
to draw near and touch him in faith. He
shows us what blessings are ours with “Just a Touch.”
I.
Suffering. (vv.
24-26)
A. As our lesson begins a highly respected ruler
of the synagogue, whose daughter was terribly ill and near death approached
Jesus. With great humility he fell down
at Christ’s feet and acknowledging him to be his Lord, and confessed his faith
in Jesus’ life-giving touch. He knew
that if Jesus would just come and place his hands on his daughter she would be
healed and would live. So Jesus went
with him, and a large crowd went along, pressing in on him from every
direction. Some were committed
followers, some were just curious, but many like Jairus
had issues and were suffering. All they
wanted was to get close to the Lord of life.
One such sufferer was a woman who had been
battling a bleeding disorder for twelve long years. In those days, blood was a symbol for life and
bleeding a symbol for death. As a result anyone who had bleeding problem was
considered unclean and cursed by God.
Such a person was cut off from the community, and like the lepers, had
to announce their presence to insure that no one would risk touching them. The woman in our Gospel could not worship,
she could not get married, she could not have children, she could not socialize
and she could not do any of the things that make life worth living. She was
diseased and for that reason she lived her life in seclusion; despised and
rejected by everyone, and seemingly by God as well.
Everybody has “issues” which bring
suffering. For this woman, it was what the King James Version calls an “issue”
of blood. You also may have some unresolved “issues” that you brought with you
here today. You face physical issues
that burden you, isolate you, frighten you, or leave you feeling hopeless. Some of you have financial issues that have
you feeling threatened, overwhelmed, or weighed down. You may have social issues; problems dealing
with your family and friends, or like the woman in our lesson you feel like an
outcast, unloved and friendless. You may
continue to struggle with spiritual issues; burdened by your sin, unable to
connect with the Lord and His people and questioning your place in God’s
kingdom and God’s place in your life. Everybody
has “issues” and like the woman in our Gospel sometimes they go on for far too
long. The important question is how do
you deal with your issues?
B. The woman who suffered from an issue of
blood had, for a long time, tried to deal with her problems on her own. For twelve years she tried everything in her
power to overcome her illness but nothing worked. No matter how hard she tried,
no matter how many doctors she visited, no matter how much money she spent
nothing could take away the pain and the shame she endured. Our lesson tells us that she suffered much
under the torturous treatments of the ancient physicians, until finally she was
left hopeless, penniless, and worse than before.
Maybe that’s where some of you are today.
You’ve tried seemingly everything, but your life is not what you dreamed it
would be, and your issues continue to bring you suffering. It's too bad that much of the time faith becomes
our contingency plan. We first rely on ourselves, and when that doesn't work,
as a last resort, we turn to the Lord. I read a story the other day about a
person who had a lot of contingency plans for their job.
Illustration: A signalman for the local
railroad was asked to meet the inspector at the signal box. The inspector
decided to give the signalman a test. He asked him, What
would you do if you realized that two trains were heading towards each other on
the same track?" The signalman said, "I would switch one train to
another track." "What if the lever broke?" asked the inspector.
"Then I'd run down to the tracks and use the manual lever down there",
he answered. "What if that
had been struck by lightning?" challenged the inspector. "Then,"
he said, "I'd run back up here and use the phone to call the next signal
box." "What if the phone was busy?" "In that case,"
said the signalman, "I'd run to the street level and use the public phone
near the station". "What if that had been vandalized?"
"Well," replied the signalman, "in that case I would run into
town and get my Uncle Leo". This puzzled the inspector, so he asked,
"Why would you go and get your Uncle Leo ?"
"Well, because Uncle Leos never seen a train crash."
How many of us have made a train wreck of
our lives because, like the woman in our Gospel, we have tried to solve our
issues and relieve our suffering on our own.
We may try to drown our sorrows in alcohol, numb our pain with drugs, or
avoid the issues by filling our lives with a flurry of activities and
distractions. We may have tried to buy
happiness with our wealth, meaning with our work, and
health with our lifestyle. We may have
even tried to overcome our spiritual issues by getting on God’s good side with
a moral, upright life, or by impressing him with our church attendance, and
participation. But in the end nothing
we can do can cure what ails us. We are
sinners in a sinful world. Like the
woman, left to our own devices we will only make matters worse. You dear friends, like the woman in our
Gospel, are desperate and you need help, the kind of help that can only come
from Jesus Christ, your Savior through the…
II Touch of Faith. (vv. 27-28)
In our lesson we read that the woman of
suffering, who had tried to overcome her problem and failed, had heard the
reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd to touch his garment.
A. It might not seem like a big deal to you but
what the woman did was extremely courageous. Think about what was going on in
her mind. First of all, Jesus was on a mission, to help the dying daughter of
one of the most influential men in the city, a religious leader. He was surrounded by a large crowd of people
who pressed in on him, many of whom were also suffering and in need. Who was she to think that He should help
her? She was a woman of no consequence,
an outcast of society, a woman marked as cursed by God, whose situation hardly
seemed worth comparing to that of the little girl who was at death’s doorstep, waiting
for Jesus’ touch.
And what if she were found out? She would have been publicly humiliated,
perhaps even killed by the crowd. She was not supposed to be among them, much
less to touch them. But she pressed through the crowd and reached out to Jesus.
She had faith, the kind of faith that
B. Today the Lord invites all of you to let go
of your doubts and reach out and touch Him. Some of you doubt that you are
worthy to experience God’s love, forgiveness and power in your life. Let go of
it. You may doubt that your issues and sufferings are important for the Lord to
take notice. Let go of it. You may doubt
that he would ever be willing to cure you of the issues that afflict you today.
Let go of it.
Some of you may be tempted to stay away
because of the crowds; the people in the congregation who make you feel
unwelcome, and stand between you and Jesus, or the friends and family members
who are antagonistic against the church and try to keep you away from the Lord.
But
do not let the crowds keep you away from Him.
Press through them to get to Jesus.
Let go of your doubt, and reach out and touch him with the faith you
have received from the Holy Spirit coming to you through the Word. That faith which says, “if
I could but touch even his garments, I will be made well.” In our Gospel the woman pressed through the
crowd, knowing her unworthiness before the Lord, and reached out with the touch
of faith, and was blessed with…
III. Freedom And Peace. (vv. 29-34)
A. After touching his garment the evangelist
writes, “immediately the flow of blood dried up, and
she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.” All those years of torment! All those wasted attempts at
self-deliverance! And by simply drawing
near to the Lord Jesus in faith to touch Him, she was set free from her
suffering, shame, and isolation.
This is what the Lord offers each of us,
also, as we reach out in Spirit worked faith to touch Him. There in the waters of baptism the power of
Christ goes out from him as the life-giving waters of baptism are poured over
us to wash away our sin sickness and create in us a new life. Here in embracing the pages of Holy
Scripture, we touch the hem of Christ’s garment, and we feel the power of God
unto salvation granting spiritual healing, and are filled with certain hope
that He will deal with us according to His mercy with power to heal and deliver
us from every temporal issue we may face.
Here we are able to touch and feel even more than His garment, because
with our lips we are able to kiss the very body of Christ offered on the cross
unto death for us and with our mouths to receive the very blood which was shed
to cover our sins. Here, in the divine
service, faith is given us by hearing, and by that faith we reach out to touch
Jesus and are set free from our bondage to sin, free from our suffering and
shame, and free to walk boldly and confidently with the crowd who follows
Jesus.
B. In our lesson Jesus wanted still
more for this poor suffering woman. As
with all of us, he was not content to let her think that she could anonymously
steal his power without having a personal relationship with him.
As
a pastor I see this all the time; people who want what Christ offers, but not
an intimate relationship with him. They
are those who sneak
in and out of church hoping to remain undetected by the crowd, those who want
to use the church for things such as baptisms, weddings, and burials, but then
want to slither away again. I don’t know
the motive behind this. Some are
faithless hypocrites who have no real interest in a relationship with Christ
and His people, some are ignorant of what the Lord wants for them, but some,
like the woman who came to Jesus, still have no peace with God and continue to
feel unworthy of the Lord’s care. The
Lord wants us all to know that He wants to be more for us. He wants us to have peace with God, and an
everlasting relationship of love with Him.
After the woman touched Jesus in faith,
our Gospel says: “And Jesus, perceiving
in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the
crowd and said, ‘Who touched my garments?’" His disciples thought this a silly question,
since so many were pressing in on him and constantly touching him, but the
question was directed to the woman, who then fell down before him in fear and
trembling and told him about the years of pain and shame, the sins of her wasted
efforts in trying to cure herself, and her violation of the ceremonial law in
stepping into the crowd that day and in her lowly state to reach out and touch
the garment of the Holy One of God. No
doubt, she thought he would despise and condemn her, but He didn’t.
“.He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has
made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’” Far greater than the physical healing was
this spiritual blessing which Christ had given her. She could indeed go in peace, because Jesus,
the Son of God, had confessed his love for her.
She was no longer despised and rejected.
He called her his daughter. He
claimed her as his own, and child of the covenant of salvation. He restored her into the fellowship of God
and his people, and declared her an heir of the heavenly kingdom. He gave her peace with God, and peace with
herself.
In the same way Jesus says to all of us
who reach out today to touch him in faith, “Son, daughter, your faith has made
you well, go in peace and be healed.” You
are the children of God through faith in Christ. You are not despised and rejected because of
your sin, because Jesus has confessed his love for you there on the cross, here
in the words of absolution, and there in the sacred meal. You are God’s holy people and heirs of the
heavenly kingdom. In Christ you no
longer need to be afraid, in Christ you have peace with God and with
yourself.
Concl.:
Dear brothers and sisters, I encourage you, with the woman of our
Gospel, to continue pressing through the crowd, put away your doubts, and reach
out to touch the Lord Jesus…and the peace of God which surpasses all
understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life
everlasting. Amen.