Jesus' Touch

Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today.

I was up this morning getting excited about this passage and then I saw the snow and my first thought was, man, I really hope we don't have to cancel worship.

I'd much rather be with you all here in person than try to preach to you through a screen.

So I appreciate you all being here. I'm glad you all made it. Of course, I'm certainly glad for those who made the decision that it was wise for them to stay home as well.

So don't hear what I'm not saying, but I'm glad that we are all here together and I'm thankful that you're here.

Special welcome if you're new or visiting with us. We're glad that you're here and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community and as we follow Jesus together,

we become convinced that there's no one so good, they don't need God's grace and no one so bad that they can't have it,

which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in his word.

We're continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark.

You'll remember that the Gospels tell the story of Jesus and his life and his death and his resurrection.

And we come today to the second half of Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

You'll remember the last two weeks we've had these two stories that were pairs that went together.

The first one was Jesus' power and control over nature.

And the second one last week was Jesus' power and control over evil and demonic forces.

This week we come against something interesting.

We have what might be called a sandwich or a bookend or a split screen,

which is a way of saying we have two stories.

One wraps around the other.

And so it's a way that Mark is putting these two things together.

We have the bread of the story, which is about this man named Jairus,

whose daughter needs to be healed.

That story gets split in half and there's a story in the middle

about this woman who needs to be healed from 12 years of bleeding.

And when we run into something like this in the Bible,

when we hit up against a sandwich, it is not by accident.

It is something extremely intentional on the part of the narrator

to connect these two stories to teach us something we would not learn otherwise

if they were apart.

And so we're going to do both of these stories together this morning,

which means we're going to have a slightly longer passage.

It also means I'm going to say something, not everything,

because we're handling two stories at the same time.

And so our focus, our strategy going in is we're going to look at what we learn

by the fact that these are both together,

which means we're not going to talk about every detail of every story.

We're not going to answer every question.

In fact, not all my questions are answered.

These two stories raise all kinds of interesting issues.

But as you listen this morning and as I read,

I'm going to ask you to think about this question.

Why are these two stories placed together?

What is it that we learn from the two of them wrapped around each other

that we wouldn't learn if we read each of them separately?

And our focus is going to be two different questions.

I bet you can't guess what they are.

Question one, who is Jesus?

Question two, how do we respond to him?

And so with that, I invite you to turn with me in your Bible

or in your worship guide or on your phone to Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's word.

And God tells us that his word is more precious than gold,

even the finest gold, and it's sweeter than honey,

even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.

And so that's why we read now, starting at verse 21.

And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side,

a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea.

Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name,

and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying,

My little daughter is at the point of death.

Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live.

And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.

And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years

and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had

and was no better, but rather grew worse.

She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd

and touched his garment.

For she said, If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.

And immediately the flow of blood dried up,

and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him,

immediately turned about in the crowd and said,

Who touched my garments?

And his disciples said to him,

You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, Who touched me?

And he looked around to see who had done it.

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her,

came in fear and trembling,

and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

Verse 35.

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house

some who said, Your daughter is dead.

Why trouble the teacher any further?

But overhearing what they said,

Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue,

Do not fear, only believe.

And he allowed no one to follow him

except Peter and James and John, the brother of James.

They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue,

and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.

And when he had entered, he said to them,

Why are you making a commotion and weeping?

The child is not dead, but sleeping.

And they laughed at him.

But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother

and those who were with him and went in where the child was.

Taking her by the hand, he said to her,

Talitha kumi, which means little girl, I say to you, arise.

And immediately the girl got up and began walking,

for she was 12 years of age,

and they were immediately overcome with amazement.

And he strictly charged them that no one should know this

and told them to give her something to eat.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we praise you again,

that you speak to us, that you haven't abandoned us,

but instead you instruct us.

We ask that you would remind us of the miracle that this is,

the love that it shows from you.

And we ask for your help this morning,

that you would help us to focus and attend to your word.

Lord, you would help us to hear and to understand,

that you would challenge us,

that you'd encourage us,

that you'd show us Jesus,

that you'd grow our love and our affection for him.

You'd grow our reverence and our all of him,

that we would look to him and see him more and more.

And we ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

We see at the beginning of this story,

we are back to the area of Capernaum,

which means we finished our little incursion

over into Gentile territory,

which we saw last week.

And in verse 21, we see again,

we're beside the sea,

which is this setting that we've become familiar with.

It seems to be a common location for Jesus.

Perhaps he's using the sea again as this natural sound system

where he's able to speak out and be heard by a large crowd.

And we find here as he comes,

verse 22,

one of the rulers of the synagogue comes up to Jesus.

Now, this should be probably the ruler of the same synagogue

we saw Jesus preaching at in Capernaum earlier

in the Gospel of Mark,

but this is an unlikely candidate.

And so there's a sense in which we should be surprised,

and there's a sense in which this is to be expected.

We should be surprised on the one hand

that this is the ruler of the synagogue.

The Jewish leaders, as we've seen,

are not exactly on Jesus' side.

In fact, Jesus presents something of a threat

to their power and their identity.

So that's the surprise.

On the other hand,

this is completely to be expected for this reason.

Desperation is a great motivator.

Desperation is a great equalizer.

This man's daughter is at death.

When you're in dire need,

it matters less and less who's on your side.

It matters more and more who can help.

And so in that sense,

it's exactly what we would be expecting,

that this man would run to Jesus.

We know that need and desperation

levels the playing field.

There are those who would come to Jesus

only where they're in these extreme dire straits.

And so we're in this unusual situation

in this ruler of the synagogues

coming up to Jesus.

And by my count,

as we look back over the gospel of Mark

that we've seen so far,

there are six people that Jesus has either healed

or cast a demon out of.

Now I'm wondering if you can name

any of those six people,

if you remember from the previous weeks.

You can't because we weren't told their names.

Not a single one of them.

Last week, we found out the name of the demon

was Legion.

That's the name of the demon,

not the man who was cured.

We have no idea what his name is.

And when we see a pattern break

as we're reading a story in the Bible,

that should raise our attention.

We should ask ourselves,

why is this detail suddenly changing?

We didn't need to know the name

of the six people who came before

from the very beginning of the gospel.

Suddenly, it's important that we know

that this guy's name is Jairus.

I'm gonna answer that in a bit.

I want you to hold that question in your mind.

Before we answer that question,

we have to understand the distinction

between clean and unclean

because it's an important factor in this story.

Now there's many terrible things

that have come out of COVID

over the last two years.

There's one good thing that's come out

for preachers and it's this.

It is easier than ever before

to explain the purity laws

from the Old Testament.

And so as we go here,

I'm gonna talk in terms of COVID

so you understand what we're dealing with.

And as I talk about this,

I know everyone's got their political opinions

about COVID, okay?

Whether you have opinions about masks or no mask,

whether it's serious or not serious,

whether you'd have a vaccine or not have a vaccine,

just please put all of that to the side.

That's not what we're talking about.

I'm just using this.

I'm not taking sides.

I'm just using it as an illustration

so we understand what's going on in the passage.

So just track with me, okay?

If you have COVID or you've been exposed to COVID,

especially if you have it,

there is a sense in which you are unclean.

And there's three things you need to know

if you're unclean.

One, you can make other people unclean.

So what happens if you're around someone

who later is tested positive for COVID?

Well, if you were less than six feet

and you interacted for a certain amount of time,

maybe if you gave them a hug,

you're now considered exposed,

which means you are now unclean.

So unclean people can make other people unclean.

Principle two, there's a separation.

Once you're unclean,

you're supposed to remove yourself from other people

so you don't infect them as well.

If you have COVID, you're supposed to quarantine.

It's less true now, but if you were exposed,

you were also supposed to quarantine

for a certain amount of time

to make sure you didn't make anyone else sick.

So you can make other people unclean.

You have to quarantine or separate yourself.

And then there's a third element to cleanliness laws,

and that is there's a way to purify yourself.

There's a process by which you can make yourself clean.

We know that process is twofold.

Either you get your negative test,

so you can prove to everyone you're clean once again,

or you quarantine for a certain amount of time, right?

That's your process to know

that you have finished your time of uncleanness.

You're pure now.

You're no longer going to infect other people.

So we've sort of lived this reality

for the last couple of years

where it's intuitive for us

in a way it would not have been, say, back in 2019.

In the Old Testament, it wasn't necessarily COVID, obviously,

but there were all sorts of things

that could make you unclean.

And if you became unclean,

you had the potential, just like we've talked about,

to make other people unclean.

There was this factor of separating yourself

from the community for a while.

There was a process of making yourself clean again.

In fact, that's what we read about,

John read for us in Leviticus chapter 15.

Leviticus 15 · chapter mention

And the purpose of this in the Old Testament

was for it to be this object lesson

that taught people about how holy God was.

It was meant to be this daily practice

that reminded God's people

of the seriousness of moral purity.

So it's a physical lesson about a spiritual reality.

There were also some real health concerns

that went along with the purity laws.

So they're practical things

that were meant to prevent sickness

from spreading among the Old Testament community.

It's with that background

that we come to verses 25 and 26.

So I want you to jump back in the story with me.

We've met this man, Jairus,

who's the ruler of the synagogue.

Now we meet this other individual, this woman.

We find out she's had a discharge of blood for 12 years,

which is another way of saying

she has been unclean for 12 years straight.

There's been 12 years of her saying,

don't come over to the house.

I don't want to make you unclean.

There's been 12 years of her being a social pariah.

There have been 12 years of this woman being isolated.

And we're told here she's penniless

because she spent all her money on doctors.

She is close to hopeless.

I mean, imagine if you were some,

I mean, you can think, right?

If you were someone who was quarantined for a while,

how hard it was to be isolated

for maybe 10 to 14 days.

Here's a woman who's been isolated,

not for 10 to 14 days, but for 12 years.

Even more than that,

she has the hopelessness that's come

from going to doctor after doctor after doctor

and not being able to find a cure.

We find out here, I believe it's verse 26,

that she spent all the money

that she has on these doctors.

And so she has nothing left.

It's in that context then

that we are going to compare both of these characters.

Remember, we're not reading this as two stories.

We're reading it as one story.

The purpose of Mark and Jesus here

is for us to take this man, Jairus, and this woman

and to put them side by side,

to see them in that split screen.

And of course, as we look at them,

we see there's major differences between them.

First, on the one hand,

you have this prominent man and this unknown woman.

You have a man who is confident

and has no problem coming out in public

and declaring before a great crowd to Jesus his need.

On the other hand,

you have this woman who is filled with shame

and wants to stay anonymous.

He is a ruler of the synagogue.

He's on the inside track

of those who are powerful and influential.

She is on the outside.

She's been separated and isolated for 12 years.

He leads the religious community.

She's unclean in the religious community.

He is known and respected by the world.

She is not.

There's one more important difference.

We know his name.

We don't know hers.

He is a person of note and power

and influence in the community.

She is a nobody.

That's what we need to keep in mind

as we come here to verses 30 and 34.

Because she comes up,

she's sneaking up behind Jesus,

hoping to remain anonymous,

hoping not to be seen.

And it's the midst of that

that Jesus decides to completely stop

this great crowd that's following him.

Verse 30,

Jesus perceiving in himself

that power had gone out from him

immediately turned about in the crowd

and said,

who touched my garments?

Disciples think he's crazy here.

Verse 31,

they're asking him

why he would be asking this question

when he has this great crowd

pressing in all around him.

But Jesus won't let go of it

until this woman comes forward

and confesses that she is the one

who has come to be healed by Jesus.

It is during this stop

that Jairus' daughter dies.

Okay?

Look at verse 35.

While he was still speaking.

In other words,

Jesus is talking.

There came from the rulers

how some who said,

your daughter is dead.

Why trouble the teacher any further?

Think for a minute

about what's probably going through

the minds of the crowd in Jairus.

Jesus had an urgent situation

where someone was on the brink of death

and instead of making it in time,

he needed to stop and chat for a little bit.

In fact, had he not,

maybe he could have made it

to this house in time.

If Jesus could just figure out his priorities

and have the right sense of urgency,

perhaps this child would not have died.

Jesus pauses his work

with a powerful man

to stop and help

a powerless, penniless woman.

Jesus pauses his work

with a powerful man

to stop and help

a powerless, penniless woman.

Jesus pauses something

that's incredibly urgent

to deal with something

that is not urgent.

The point is this.

Jesus does not give

preferential treatment

to the rich

or the powerful.

Jesus does not give

preferential treatment

to the rich

and the powerful.

you may have

standing in this world.

It does not give you

standing with Jesus.

Jesus does not choose

the young

over the old.

He does not choose

officers

over the enlisted.

Jesus does not choose

people with a college degree

over those

who only have a GED.

Jesus does not choose

the rich

over the poor.

He does not choose

those who are beautiful

over those who are

average

or unattractive.

Jesus doesn't prefer

people whose names

are known.

And Jesus does not

despise people

whose names

are unknown.

Jesus does not prefer

people who live

in the Broadmoor

over people who live

in Fountain.

Jesus does not operate

according to the values

and hierarchies

of this world.

And he gives us

both of these characters

side by side

to drive that point

home for us.

As we come

to the scriptures

we want to look

always for encouragement

and challenge

that God's word

would stir us up

and it would convict us.

Our encouragement

here is this

you may be nameless

to the world

you are not nameless

to Jesus.

You may be nameless

to the world

you are not nameless

to Jesus.

You may be nobody

to those around you.

That doesn't make you

worth any less

in Jesus' eyes.

James chapter 2

James 2 · chapter mention

James tells us

about this natural

tendency among humans

to treat the rich

better than the poor.

And he warns the church

not to give in

to this temptation.

Jesus does not respect

the things that this world

loves and values.

our challenge

is this

many people

may be impressed

with you

Jesus

is not.

Many people

may be impressed

with you

Jesus is not.

Jesus does not care

if you're the ruler

of the synagogue.

He does not care

if other people

know your name.

He doesn't care

if you have power

and influence

in a religious community.

That does not

get this man

any sort

of preferential

treatment.

If you've been

to the airport

of course you know

when you line up

there's two different lines.

There's the regular line

for the common people

and you also have

for the elites

the TSA pre-check.

And if you have

TSA pre-check

my understanding

is I have not

reached this level

of influence yet

but my understanding

is you do not

have to take off

your shoes.

You may not even

have to take

your laptop out.

You get to go

to a shorter line

right?

There's preferences

that you get

there's privileges

that you receive.

Some people

are used to

having a TSA

pre-check

in all the areas

of their life.

People will

show you

deference

they will give

you benefits

and privileges

if you are

powerful enough

beautiful enough

young enough

influential enough

and it's easy

to not even

see it happen.

Jesus doesn't

have a TSA

pre-check

and even

if the rest

of the world

gives you

a shorter line

Jesus

will not.

And so there

are many

powerful people

who are surprised

because they

expect the same.

The world

gives them

preferences

and defers to

them.

They expect

Jesus to do

the same.

And yet 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

tells us this

God chose

what is foolish

in the world

to shame

the wise.

God chose

what is weak

in the world

to shame

the strong.

God chose

what is low

and despised

in the world

even things

that are not

to bring

to nothing

things that are

so that no

human being

might boast

in the presence

of God.

The point

is this

others might

be impressed

with you

Jesus isn't.

Others might

overlook you

Jesus doesn't.

Others might

be impressed

with you

Jesus isn't.

Others might

overlook you

Jesus

doesn't.

He doesn't

care that this

man is a ruler

of the synagogue

and he's not

put up by the

fact that this

woman is unclean.

And what we

see here is

this picture

of the gospel

which is that

your merit

is irrelevant.

The clout

and power

and influence

that you have

in this world

means nothing

in the kingdom

of God.

God does not

care how much

money you have

how powerful

you are.

He does not

give you any

sort of special

access.

God does not

operate according

to the standards

of our world

based on what

is urgent

and not urgent.

In his world

he can choose

to heal

bleeding on his

way to raise

someone from

the dead.

Who is

Jesus?

Jesus is the

one who does

not give

preferential

treatment to

the rich

and the

powerful.

Now I've

given you a

list of all

the things

that this man

and woman

are different

in.

There's actually

a lot of

things that

they have

in common.

They're both

very similar.

Both of

them present

situations to

Jesus that

would make

him unclean.

they present

situations that

would contaminate

him.

So verse

35 we find

out of course

we know that

this woman's

unclean right?

She's been

bleeding.

We read that

section in

Leviticus 15

earlier.

But then verse

35 we find

out that this

man's daughter

is dead.

In verse

41 Jesus

touches this

dead body.

You know

what makes

you even

more unclean

perhaps than

touching someone

who's been

bleeding?

Let's try

touching someone

who's dead.

Both of

these situations

present a

threat to

Jesus'

ability as

a Jewish

man to

remain

ceremonially

clean.

And so

Jesus

accomplishes

something.

There's a lot

of reasons I

believe Jesus

stops to

talk with

this woman.

One of

them is

he gives

time for

this little

girl to

die.

Jesus

allows this

situation to

come to a

point where

he's going

to become

as unclean

as possible.

Because in a

sense this

woman and

this man are

much clearer

than they

appear.

Now you

might remember

from our

passage in

Leviticus

Leviticus 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15

that it's

touching that

you need to

be careful

about when

you're dealing

with things

that are

unclean.

And we

see this

theme of

touching

appear over

and over

again in

this passage.

Verse 23

Jairus

comes and

he wants

him to

lay his

hands on

his daughter.

Verse 28

what does

this woman

do?

She says

if I

touch even

his garments

I will

be made

well.

Verse 30

there's this

hope.

Jesus says

who touched

my garments?

What does

he do with

this dead

girl?

He takes

her by

the hand

he touches

her.

Jesus

chooses a

variety of

different ways

to heal

people throughout

the gospels.

He does

not always

have to do

it simply

by touching

them.

Here he

does to

highlight

and underscore

that he's

doing exactly

the opposite

of what you

want to do

to remain

ceremonially

pure and

clean.

Jesus is

putting himself

in the exact

situation

where he

is going

to become

the unclean

one who

has to

separate

himself

from others.

Except there's

something that's

different about

Jesus

than everyone

else.

we know

this going

back to

talking about

COVID.

Being exposed

to a sick

person hurts

you.

Right?

Being exposed

to a sick

person makes

you exposed.

However,

the opposite

is not

true.

Being exposed

to a healthy

person doesn't

help you.

So if you're

exposed to

COVID,

you don't

then find

someone who's

not infected

with COVID

and stay

within them

for six feet

for more

than 15

minutes and

then suddenly

you're healed.

Right?

It only works

one way.

You can infect

other people

with your

presence.

You cannot

heal them

with your

presence.

Exposure

is a one

way street

except

for Jesus.

Jesus here

is demonstrating

both by his

touching of

this woman

and this

dead body

that his

cleanliness

operates in a

way that is

not true for

anyone else

in this world.

Most people

would become

unclean

by being

touched.

Jesus touches

and the

opposite happens.

He in

fact makes

these people

clean.

Jesus is

able by

his presence

to reverse

the impurity

and the

infection.

Jesus is

able to

come and

touch things

that other

people want

to avoid

and stay

far away

from.

Jesus is

able to

be less

than six

feet and

resolve

the situation.

In other

words,

Jesus is

not just

the one

who doesn't

give preferential

treatment to

the rich

and the

powerful.

Jesus is

also the

one and

the only

one who

is able

to make

unclean

things

clean.

Jesus is

the one

and the

only one

who is

able to

come and

bring real

and full

and ultimate

healing.

If you

turn with

me,

you look

page seven

of your

worship guide.

We have

this long

quote about

the Old

Testament

system,

but I

want you

to look

just at

the last

sentence.

When

Jesus,

the clean

one,

touched

an unclean

sinner,

Christ did

not become

unclean.

The sinner

became

clean.

Jesus has

a power

that no

one else

in this

world

does.

Jesus is

the only

one who

can change

you and

clean you.

Jesus is

the only

one who

can change

you and

clean you.

Remember that

these purity

laws are meant

to be an

illustration of

our spiritual

lives.

Jesus cleans

these people

physically.

He's the

only one who

can do that

spiritually.

Jesus is

the only one

who can

actually make

you pure and

able to stand

before God.

Jesus is the

only one who's

able to remove

the spots and

stains of our

sin.

Jesus is the

only one who's

able to come

and bring us

real, life

transforming,

heart changing,

alteration to

our lives.

Jesus is the

one who's able

to empower us

to make a

180 degree

turn.

Jesus doesn't

prefer people.

Jesus makes

the unclean

clean.

That's who

Jesus is.

How do we

respond to

him?

I mentioned

before that

desperation

is an

equalizer

and desperation

is a

motivator.

There are

some things

you wouldn't

imagine doing

unless you're

desperate

enough.

Jairus

probably didn't

imagine that he

was going to

come begging

Jesus for

help.

And this

woman probably

didn't imagine

that she was

going to go

out in a

crowd in the

midst of her

uncleanness,

chase Jesus

down secretly

from behind

and touch

his cloak.

And Jairus'

need was

great enough.

This woman's

need was

great enough.

There is a

sense,

brothers and

sisters,

in which God

can only work

with us as

we give up

control.

There is a

sense in which

God can only

work with us

as and when

we give up

control,

as and when

we are

powerlessness,

we are

powerless.

Desperation

made this

powerful man

come to

Jesus.

Desperation

made this

powerless woman

chase down

Jesus.

Jesus'

work with

us does

not happen

within our

comfort zones.

God

says,

it is hard

if not

impossible

to be in

control

and for

God to be

at work

in your

life.

It is

hard if not

impossible

to be in

control

and for

God to be

at work

in your

life.

And of course

that's what's

happening here.

Verse 23,

this man's

daughter is

at the

point of

death.

And there's

few things

you won't

do to

save your

children.

Verses 25

and 26,

there are

very few

things that

make you

crazier

than searching

for a cure

to a chronic

illness.

we come

to Jesus

with our

powerlessness.

And I'm

going to be

really blunt

here.

If you're

not willing

to be

needy,

if you

don't

recognize

your need,

Jesus

isn't for

you.

If you're

not willing

to be

needy,

if you

don't

recognize

your need,

Jesus

is not

for you.

need not

just for

the situations

outside of

you,

need for

the situation

inside of

you.

If you

say that

you are a

Christian,

need is

part of

the package.

Remember

what I

told you

very first

sermon,

Mark

Mark 1:1–8

chapter 1

verses 1

through 8.

If you

want to

take the

journey of

Mark,

you have

to admit

real need.

That is

the price

of

admission.

I also

told you

we are

not

here for

an

intellectual

exercise.

We are

not here

to have

profound

insights.

As we

look at

the gospel

of Mark,

we are

here to

be saved.

We are

here to

come and

bring our

need to

Jesus.

Mark

Mark 2:17

chapter 2

verse 17,

And when

Jesus heard

it,

he said

to them,

those who

are well

have no

need of

a physician

but those

who are

sick.

I came

not to

call the

righteous

but sinners.

If you

want the

gospel to

be alive

for you,

this is

the secret.

If you

find the

gospel boring,

this is

why.

If you

want the

gospel to

be alive

for you,

this is

the secret.

If you

find the

gospel boring,

this is

why.

Jesus

could have

spoken to

this woman

in a

monotone.

And as

he spoke

to her

in a

monotone,

Jesus

could have

been reading

to her

the ingredients

off the

back of

a Wheaties

box.

And I

guarantee

you she

would not

have found

him boring

because her

need was

so great.

Jesus

was her

answer,

her

solution.

If we

want to

have joy

in the

gospel,

if we

want it

to be

alive to

us,

if we

want to

escape it

being something

rote that

we've heard

many times

before,

there's an

answer,

there's one

answer.

We need

to know,

like this

woman,

that Jesus

is the

one who's

able to

make us

clean.

We have

to know

our need.

If you

know your

need,

need,

the gospel

is not

boring.

Jesus

is not

stale.

Neediness

is the

price of

admission.

How do we

respond to

Jesus then?

We come

to him

with our

desperation.

We come

to him

with our

powerlessness.

It's not

simply need,

though,

that these

characters show

us.

need.

They also

have faith.

It's one

thing to

have need.

It's another

thing to

bring that

need to

Jesus,

believing he

can do

something with

it.

That's the

other thing

that these

characters have

in common.

It's not

just that

they're in

these powerless

situations,

but it's also

that they

believe Jesus

can do it

and they

come to

him for

it.

Verse 28,

If I touch

even his

garments,

I will be

made well.

Verse 34,

Daughter,

your faith

has made

you well.

Verse 36,

What does

he say to

Jairus?

Do not

fear,

only believe.

Having need

is the first

part.

Coming with

confidence to

Jesus is the

second part.

That's part of

what we do

every week

when we gather

together as a

congregation,

and John or

whichever elder

it is,

comes up and

gives the

congregational

prayer.

We are not

simply doing

that as some

sort of

religious exercise.

What we are

doing is saying

we as a

congregation are

incredibly needy.

Here's the

places and the

ways in which

we're needy,

and we have

faith that God

cares enough and

he's powerful

enough to do

something about

it.

And so we

come week after

week together

as a church on

Sunday morning to

do this very

thing together.

We do it as

a community

throughout the

week as you

share your

needs with one

another and with

God in prayer.

This is part of

what we do as we

walk as a church

following Jesus

together.

We're admitting

our need to

Jesus and each

other on the one

hand.

We're believing

in faith on the

other hand that

God cares and

he's powerful.

We know our

need.

We bring our

need.

I mentioned

earlier that

there's a lot

of different

ways that you

can become

unclean.

Perhaps the

best way to

become unclean

is death.

Jesus risks

his cleanliness

by coming to

the dead body

of this girl.

He gives us

a hint,

a picture

of what's to

come later in

the Gospel of

Mark.

because Jesus is not just going to go into a room

and touch a little girl by the hand.

Jesus is in fact going to go all the way to the cross.

And he's able to make the dead live

by himself experiencing death.

Jesus is able to make the unclean clean

by himself becoming unclean.

Jesus brings the power here that comes from the cross,

the power that he has as he stands

and takes God's punishment for us,

as he takes our uncleanness for us,

as he takes our death for us so that we can live.

This is not just a good story about Jesus.

It is a story that points us forward

to what Jesus is going to do fully and finally.

Speaking of this story with a little girl,

one man says this,

Later on Calvary, Jesus would share again in death.

This time it was our death.

He would become unclean for our sake

and bear God's judgment against our sin.

In a sense, what he was doing here

was but a preview of what he would do then.

It was also a preview of what he will do

at the end of time when he will take us by the hand

and say, arise.

That will not be in secret but in public.

Every eye will see him.

Even those who mocked him that day will see him and mourn,

this time for themselves.

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is the one who doesn't show special treatment

to the rich and the powerful.

Jesus is the one who takes unclean people

and makes them clean.

How do we respond to him?

We admit our need.

We bring Jesus our need.

And we believe that Jesus meets our needs.

Verse 34.

And he said to her,

daughter, your faith has made you well.

Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven,

we thank you for your mercy and your compassion on us.

That you're not just powerful,

but you're also good.

And you use that goodness to heal and cleanse us.

We ask that you'd be at work in our lives,

in our hearts,

that you'd be moving us in humility to come to you,

admitting our need to you and to one another.

And that we would have the faith to come to you

for the healing and the cleansing that you offer.

We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.