Unnamed but Not Unimportant

If you turn in your Bible, it's that passage we read in Mark's Gospel. Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

! Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

And we'll read from verse 24, the middle of verse 24. Mark 5, from the middle of verse 24.

A great crowd followed Jesus 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, came up behind

him in the crowd, 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 see 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.

Having a name is very important. I mean, one of the first things that we do when a child is born

is to name that child because, I mean, imagine a child without a name would be a bit weird going through life.

What's your name? Oh, my name is no name. It's a bit strange and it always baffles me, to be frank, where

people have babies and then they take weeks to decide on a name. I just can never get my head around that.

I mean, you've had a good bit of time to decide on a name.

Sometimes people look and they'll say, oh yeah, yeah, but it doesn't look like a colon. I mean,

who wouldn't look like a colon? I think it's a wonderful name. But everybody gets a name.

And in the Bible, names are very important as well, particularly in the Bible because

names in the Bible mean something. Names in the Bible communicate something. Adam is called Adam

because he's the father of mankind. Eve is named Eve because she's the mother of living. Jacob

was named Jacob because figuratively grasps the heel. He's a deceiver, which is what he was.

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus is called Jesus. Why? Listen, why? Because he will save. That's what he came to do.

He came to save his people from their sins. So names communicate something and names are very,

very important. But sometimes names, people in the Bible are not named.

And so whilst I'm saying that names are important, sometimes people in the Bible are not named. Like

this woman. We don't know her name. She's unnamed, but she's certainly not unimportant. And let's

always remember that. There's lots of unnamed people in the Bible who the Lord uses to teach us

wonderful lessons. Unnamed people in the Bible whom the Lord gives to us, shows us,

He saves in order to give us encouragement and hope. And so today this woman, I'm going to look at this

woman, this woman with the issue of blood as we know her, this bleeding woman who's unnamed

and yet not unimportant. I want to give a wee background to what this woman was like.

Because she was not just unnamed, but she was very unfortunate in much of her life. She was socially

isolated. She had this bleeding problem, this issue of blood. And so according to Leviticus chapter 15,

Leviticus 15 · chapter mention

everything she touched would become unclean. She could not or should not touch anything and anyone

she touched would become unclean. So you can just imagine nobody wanted to go near her. She was

unclean like a leper, unclean, unclean. She couldn't hug anybody. She couldn't or shouldn't go to

gatherings or mix freely. Twelve years she had been socially isolated. She was religiously excluded.

She couldn't go to church, synagogue or temple. Synagogue was basically, synagogue was more like a

community center that was also used for worship services. Temple was more kind of religious.

But she couldn't go to these places or shouldn't go to these places because she was unclean. So she

was cut off from people, but cut off most importantly from the life of God's people. She wasn't a church goer.

Socially isolated, religiously excluded, financially exhausted. We read in verse 26 that she had spent

all her money on physicians, suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had,

and was no better, but rather grew worse. She had no money. She spent all her money on the doctors,

and the doctors took her money, and they also, though, took her hope and her energy,

and left her feeling worse. So here's this woman. She's lonely. She's unclean. She's broke. She's tired.

She's exhausted. She's hopeless. But that's the kind of person Jesus came to meet.

That's the kind of person Jesus still comes to meet today. Do you feel like that?

Do you feel in some way unclean, excluded, hopeless, helpless, exhausted, weary?

Jesus comes for you. And we have that made very clear by this woman whose name we don't even know,

but whose life was touched and transformed by the Savior that we do know. And if he can do it for her,

my friends, he can do it for you. And so there's three things I want us to think about today

as we think of this unnamed but not unimportant woman. The first is this. There's timing.

There's the timing of Jesus coming into her life. Not just her life, but the timing of Jesus coming

into Jairus' daughter's life as well. So it begins in verse 21, the passage, with Jairus coming to see

Jesus. His daughter of 12 years of age is very, very sick. And in verse 22, he sees Jesus. He falls at

his feet and he implores him. That's a pleading word. He's desperate. Who wouldn't be desperate?

If your child was sick to death? Who wouldn't be? So he comes and he's imploring him, Lord,

please, my little daughter's at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her. So he makes his way

to see this daughter. And then the woman gets in the way and stops Jesus from going to see Jairus'

daughter. The woman stops him, interrupts her sword looks, and then he heals the woman.

I wonder, do you know what it's like to be impatient about something? Are you ever impatient? I'm sure

many of us are impatient. How often have we said, you're late? I mean, sometimes we say, you're early.

That's equally annoying to me, to be honest. I like people to be on time. But we're all kind of

impatient in one way or another. We're impatient with people. Maybe we're impatient with things.

Have you ever ordered on Amazon, or there are other places you can buy goods from, and they'll tell you

it's going to be here in 48 hours. And I don't know, do they think 48 hours means 10 days? Maybe in

another world it means that. It gets very frustrating. Makes me, in a way, very impatient.

Well, I think there may have been a great deal of impatience with Jairus, and maybe even this

woman. From Jairus' point of view, here's his daughter who's desperately unwell,

and this woman steps in, and Jairus may have been thinking, what are you doing, Lord? Why are you

stopping? Did you not hear what I said? My daughter's dying. Why are you stopping on the way? Why are you

standing around? And when Jesus stands around and he says, who touched me? The verbs in that passage say

he would not let it go. He kept on saying, who touched me? Who touched me? I can imagine Jairus being

very impatient. Do you not realize my daughter is going to die? What's happening here? From Jairus'

point of view, there was a bad timing. But from heaven's point of view, this has been ordained.

This has been scheduled. This is the way it was always meant to be. Maybe even the woman. The woman,

12 years she had suffered. That's a long period of time. 12 years. Maybe she was thinking, why did

Jesus take so long to come this way? Where was he? Where was he when I needed him? Why did he allow

me to suffer for 12 years? From her point of view, perhaps, there was a level of impatience. But from

Jesus' point of view, it was, this was the appointed time. This is the ordained time. And Psalm 139 is,

the main message of Psalm 139 is, all our days ordained for us were written in your book before

one of them came to be. Everything is according to the appointed time of God. He's never too late.

He's never too early. He's always on time. So there are no, with God, delays or disruptions or

cancellations. It's just his appointed time. And we see that very clearly here in this passage today.

There are many things that we see about Jesus and notice about Jesus and I think are amazing about

Jesus. But have you ever thought of this one thing? Jesus was never in a hurry. No matter what he had to

do, no matter where he had to go, he was never in a hurry. No matter how desperate a situation, in fact,

sometimes the more desperate a situation, he would actually hold back. Think of Lazarus and maybe others.

Why? Why was he never in a hurry? Because his timing is sovereign and his timing is certain

and his timing is perfect. You know what, friends? Maybe today we need to slow down a bit.

Maybe we need to synchronize our timing. So in March and in October, we change our watches, don't we?

Spring forward and fall back. Everybody does it or else you'll be out of time with everybody else around you

and all the best with that. Why don't we? Maybe today is the time, the day to synchronize our watches,

the watch of our lives, according to Jesus' time, according to the Lord's timing.

Change our timing, how we view life, talk to him, walk with him, time our lives by him,

which means giving our lives to him and say, the time piece of my life, dear Jesus, is in your hands.

So there's timing. The second thing is this. There's a touch. That's a big feature in this passage,

of course. There's a touch the woman. Jesus is coming to him. Jesus is passing by. And she said in

verse 29, 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. A touch, a simple, slight,

but saving touch transformed this woman's life. Touch in the Bible is often used. The Bible uses

lots of pictures to describe what faith is. And touch is one of them. Touch. When the apostle Paul

was in Athens, in Acts chapter 17. Do you remember that passage where he goes to Athens and he's

Acts 17 · chapter mention

looking around the city in Acts chapter 17 and he reasoned with them and he saw how they were so

Acts 17 · chapter mention

religious and he wanted to show them. He says, I see you even have an altar to an unknown God. I want to

show you who this unknown God is. And this is what he says when he's proclaiming to the Athenians,

the God who made the world and everything in it, the Lord of heaven and earth doesn't live in temples

made by hands, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives

to all mankind life and breath and everything. He made all men to live on all the face of the earth,

wherever they are, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

Why? That they should seek God in the hope that they might feel their way towards him and find him.

So Paul is saying to the Athenians, God puts people everywhere, wherever they are in the world. Why?

So that they might reach out and touch him. That's what he's saying. That they might just reach out

and touch because he's never far away. The Lord is never actually far away from us, as he goes on to

say, because he is everywhere present. So I think that the image of touch, the picture of touch is a

great picture for us to get an idea of what faith in Jesus means. It's a touch.

It's a touch. It's a touch. And there's three things I want to say. First is this. It's a simple touch.

It was only a touch. She doesn't come, this woman doesn't come with a speech and she doesn't make a

scene and she doesn't ask for an audience. She doesn't create a drama. I mean, her problem was

massive and she might have thought there needs to be something huge here in order for me to be

healed and saved like Naaman the Syrian. You remember Naaman in 2 Kings 5, you had this terrible

problem with leprosy. And when he went to Elisha and Elisha said, basically, dip yourself seven times

in the Jordan. He says, it must be more complicated than that. There must be more to it than that.

And Elisha said, no, it's not. It's simple, not dramatic. It doesn't need to be dramatic.

And that woman or this woman got this. She realized, all I do, all I need to do is touch.

A simple touch. If I touch, she says in verse 28. If I touch. See, faith does not need to be

complicated. I think we think faith needs to be complicated. Sometimes I think we think faith needs

to be complex, but it doesn't. If I just touch him and that touch reveal the power and release the power

of Christ to change her life. A simple touch. Faith in Jesus is, it's about knowing him. It's about a head

knowledge. Faith in Jesus is also about a heart knowledge as well. We need to know him in our hearts.

But faith in Jesus is also the hands. Faith in Jesus, true faith in Jesus, simple faith in Jesus,

must involve the hands. It must involve action. The apostle James, or James in the book of James, says,

faith without works is dead. See, we can say we believe in God. I trust that everybody here today

believes in God. But James says, you believe in God, so does the devil. The devil doesn't reach out to

touch Jesus. The devil doesn't reach out and say, Lord, save me and Lord, heal me. Believing is one thing,

but believing that response and action is another. And that's the saving faith that this woman had.

She reached out simply to touch him. And that simple touch transformed her. Do you have that belief today? Do you

have that faith today? You believe in God, yes. You believe even in Jesus, yes. But have you reached out

with a simple touch? There's a simple touch. Secondly, there's a slight touch. It's just his garments. It's not even

himself. In verse 28, it's not even himself. It's touched his garment. I think in some version it says,

touched the hem of his garment. The word there means the tassels, the edges. It's not the whole garment even.

It's just the very edge of his garment. So not only is it a simple touch, it's a slight touch. She doesn't

grab his arm. She doesn't hold on to him like Mary Magdalene or doesn't wash his feet like the

immoral woman in Luke who washed Jesus' feet and wet his feet with her tears and her hair. She didn't do

any of that like Mary Magdalene grabs Jesus and holds on to him. She just touched the fringe of his

garment of his cloak. The very hem, the very tassel, the very edge.

The smallest possible contact with the greatest possible Savior. That's what this woman had.

It's the minimum of faith which receives the maximum of grace. Just a slight touch. Do you know that

slight touch today? Do you know that ability, that desire just to even touch the hem of his garment?

You might say, but I don't know much theology. I don't know much about the shorter catechism or

the Westminster Confession of Faith or maybe even my Bible. Or I haven't gone through a ritual or I've

not had any powerful experience. That does not matter, friends. That does not matter. That'll come

in time. But I'm asking, do you have that sense? I need

Jesus and I'm willing even to touch just the hem of his garment.

That's what's needed.

In fact, all she knows

or all we know she knows is that she needed

to be made clean

and she believed that Jesus

could and would do it.

And that was it. That's it simply.

We sang in Psalm 109, I am poor and needy.

Do you know that you're poor and needy?

Do you recognize that?

And willing to

simply

and slightly even

reach out and touch

this Jesus?

Do you know

if you have

a bare wire

that's connected to a power station

you don't have to

grab that wire

in order to feel its power?

Am I right?

And I trust you would tell your children

don't even touch that

because if you just

touch a bare wire

or touch something

that's exposed

that is powerful

even the slightest touch

is enough to

show you its power.

And so it is with Jesus.

You do not need to know everything.

But do you know enough?

I need him

and he can

and he will

heal me

restore me

save me.

A touch

a touch

which was simple

and which was slight

and which was saving.

Verse 29

we read that

immediately

the blood

flow of blood

dried up

and she felt in her body

that she was healed

of her disease.

And verse 34

Jesus says

daughter

your faith has made you well

and that word

made you well

is the word

to be saved.

It's a Greek verb

to be saved

used in different contexts

but when Jesus says

your faith has made you well

go in peace

she was saved.

Being justified by faith

we have peace with God.

She was saved

and healed.

Her life was

utterly transformed

and turned around.

And how?

By a simple

touch.

By a saving

touch.

And it happened

immediately

12 years

of suffering

ended

immediately

not progressively

not after a while

but right away

through a touch

on the garment

of Jesus.

And that's what Jesus

does friends.

When Jesus

heals

or Jesus saves

he does so

fully

and finally

and forever.

He really does.

The wonderful hymn

to God

be the glory.

The second verse

one of the lines

in the second verse

is this

the vilest offender

who truly believes

that

what's the word?

Moment from Jesus

a pardon receives.

Not gradually

or eventually

but that moment

from Jesus

a pardon receives.

Immediately

the woman's blood

the issue of blood

was dried up.

That's what he does

because his power

is such

that he can work

immediately.

That is why

Jesus is so different

from every other

medicine

or offer of help

we might get.

If you take something

like an antibiotic

you've got to take it

over time

or maybe something

like a prophylactic

medicine

you've got to take

to keep a disease away.

It's something

that's ongoing

and progressive.

Being saved by Jesus

is something

that happens

immediately

right away.

Right away.

for all

who will reach out

and touch

even the very hem

of his garment

right here

right now.

Can I ask you

this morning

it still is morning

can I ask you

how would you

describe yourself

before God

today?

How would you

describe yourself

before Christ

today?

A leper

an outcast

an offender

shamed

broken

abused

sinner

think of how

you would

coming into

the presence

of God

describe yourself

that definition

or description

that is

keeping you

away

from God

I can't

come to God

because I am

one of these

and maybe a multiplicity

of these things

you know

one simple touch

and one slight touch

upon the Lord

Jesus Christ

will completely

change

your standing

before him

to the broken

we become healed

sinners

become saints

that just means

set apart

for Christ

the guilty

become forgiven

the lepers

are cleansed

the outsiders

we become

insiders

in other words

everything that

keeps us

from God

everything that

keeps us

from Christ

everything that

keeps us

from the fellowship

of belonging

to the family

of God

immediately

the Lord

Jesus deals

with it

so do not

hold back

do not

stand back

simple faith

reach out

faith

reach out

and touch

faith

will utterly

and completely

transform

your life

if you will

reach out

and touch

him

today

and so

there's the

timing

and there's

the touch

and then

very briefly

there's the

transformation

and this

woman's life

was transformed

and Jesus

friends

I mean

hallelujah

Jesus

always transforms

lives

isn't that

great news

he utterly

transformed

this woman's

life

in so many

ways

but you know

one of the

amazing things

I think

in this passage

that stands

out for me

is this

look at verse

34

he said to

her

this is the

woman

who was

known as

excluded

and don't

go near

her

and all

of these

things

he calls

her what

he calls

her daughter

she hadn't

heard that

term for

decades

and decades

but now

the son

of God

says

daughter

what an

amazing

thing to

hear from

the mouth

of Jesus

she's

his daughter

family

language

and that's

what he

does for

all of us

she comes

to him

in verse

33

in fear

and trembling

and fell

down before

him

and this

to me

is

it's

concerning

and it's

interesting

because maybe

today

maybe you

are afraid

of God

and maybe

the fear

of God

has been

drummed

into you

and maybe

that is

what's

keeping you

away

from God

also

and I'm

not saying

today

that the

fear of

God

is wrong

but the

correct

fear of

God

is right

but not

a fear

of God

that draws

us to

God

and to

Christ

is very

good

a fear

of God

that drives

us away

let me

tell you

that is

not a

true fear

of God

there's

something wrong

with that

John

the apostle

says

perfect love

drives out

fear

and he's

using that

in the sense

of I'm

afraid

like she

was

and maybe

today

you are

afraid

you're

full of

fear

and you're

full of

trembling

and you

think I

can't

come to

him

but the

Lord

is waiting

for you

to reach

out and

touch

him

and the

Lord

is waiting

to restore

and to

redesignate

your life

as daughter

as son

as child

as loved

one

don't be

afraid

in fact

he says

that to

Jairus

later on

when his

daughter

was dead

don't be

afraid

somebody

said

it said

somewhere

that

the phrase

God's

phrase

don't be

afraid

appears

365

times

in the

Bible

do you

believe

that

it's

actually

not

true

it

sounds

great

you know

it's

a lovely

thing

one

for

every

day

but

the

fact

is

the

truth

is

that

God

does

say

throughout

the

scripture

again

and again

and again

and again

and again

and again

do not

be afraid

he wants

to draw

us

he doesn't

want to

drive us

away

God

so loved

the world

that he

gave his

one and only

son

not to

drive us

from him

but that

whosoever

would believe

in him

whosoever

would reach

out and

simply

seemingly

slightly

touch him

even the

hem of his

garment

would be

saved

that to

me

speaks

very

clearly

of a

God

of love

and grace

who wants

to draw

us

and not

to drive

us

to bring

us

from

outcasts

to family

from sinners

to be

saved

and that

is what

he calls

you

today

this

woman

unseen

unnamed

unknown

unfortunate

worn

down

many

many

long

years

on the

edge

of hope

but this

story

says

you may

be unnamed

in this

world

you may

be unfortunate

in so many

ways in this

world but you

are never

unimportant

to Jesus

never

ever

his timing

is perfect

his power

is present

and his

touch

still saves

and his

grace

will turn

you

into a

son

and a

daughter

I'm going

to close

now

with a

poem

that I

read

it's in

William

Hendrickson's

commentary

on Mark

actually

I remember

reading it

years and

years ago

and I

remember

it came

back to me

when I was

preparing for

today for

this morning

and it's a

wonderful poem

that a

woman who

heard a

minister

preaching on

this passage

sent to

the minister

and it

says

who

touched

me

t'was the

voice of

the master

and the

woman's

heart beat

faster and

faster

trembling

she came

and bowed

her head

I touched

you Lord

was what

she said

the master

answered

go thy

way

thy faith

has made

thee

whole this

day

have you

touched

me

I heard

it

t'was the

voice of

the master

and oh

my heart

beat

faster and

faster

you came

with a

throng

to God's

house

today

but I

felt not

your touch

as you

went on

your way

I was

ashamed

and bowed

my head

reach out

a bit

further

the next

time

he said

hear Jesus

calling you

reach out

a bit

further

today

our father

we thank

you for

the power

of the

gospel

for the

love of

Jesus

and we

pray that

we might

every one

of us

here

in this

building

today

know

what it

is to

reach out

and touch

to reach

out

and to

be

transformed

to reach

out

and receive

forgiveness

and healing

and new

standing

through

Christ

with you

we ask

these things

in Jesus

name

amen

we're going

to sing

our final

psalm

from

psalm

34

page

247

psalm

34

from

page

247

we're

singing

verses

8

to

11

oh

taste

and

see

that

God

is

good

and

the

psalmist

there

David

is

saying

he's

not

asking

us

to

enjoy

the

whole

meal

he's

just

saying

taste

and

see

that

God

is

good

you

know

when

you

taste

something

gives

you

a

taste

of

what

is

to

come

and

that

is

what

this

woman

did

she

touched

and

she would

much

better

taste

and

see

that

God

is

good

who

trusts

in

him

is

blessed

psalm

Psalms 34:8–11

34

verses

8

to

11

we

stand

to

praise

God

oh

taste

and

see

that

God

is

good

who

trusts

in

him

is

blessed

fear

!

God

is

good

to

be

with

what

oppressed

God

is

good

and

may

be

and

he

be

and

they

may

lack

their

food

food

but

they

that

truly

seek

the

Lord

shall

not

lack

any

food

O

children

hither

do

ye

come

and

unto

me

give

hear

I

shall

you

teach

to

understand

how

ye

the

Lord

choose

hear

and

may

grace

and

mercy

and

peace

from

Father

Son

and

Holy

Spirit

be

with

you

all

Amen

take a

seat

folks

just

before

you

make

your

way

out

just

like

I

said

at

the

start

just

to

come

back

to

one

of

the

items

in

the

bulletin

sheet

I

wanted

to

leave

it

to

the

end

and

hope

that

it

wouldn't

be

too

much

of

a

distraction

during

the

preaching

and that

is

the

matter

of

the

future

of

the

seminary

it's

on

your

bulletin

sheet

and

there's

a

note

there

that

there

will

be

a

congregational

meeting

on

Wednesday

the

28th

of

January

at

7.30

p.m.

that will

be in

the

seminary

and the

meeting is

being called

with regards

to addressing

the future

of the

seminary

and especially

the proposed

sale of

it

it's not

an easy

matter

of course

and it

has had

much

prayer

and still

requires

much

prayer

from us

all

and

today

so prior

to the

meeting

today

there is

a sheet

going to

be

distributed

as you

go

out

which

contains

more

information

about

the

process

that's

been

followed

and

just

various

bits

and pieces

about

how

we're

looking

at

things

and

on

the

evening

itself

there will

be a

more

detailed

presentation

given

where they

go into

more

detail

about

the

items

mentioned

on that

summary

sheet

that you

get

today

and

there'll

be

an

opportunity

for

questions

on

the

evening

as

well

and

I

want

to

encourage

as

many

of

you

as

possible

to

come

along

on

the

evening

to

be

involved

in

this

whole

process

and

to

be

able

to

give

any

questions

that

you

would

wish

to

ask

on

the

evening

so

you'll

get

this

sheet

as

you

go

out

read

it

before

the

meeting

and

then

you

can

come

maybe

more

prepared

and

more

informed

about

the

process

so

thank

you

for

your

patience

thank

you

for

making

this

a

matter

of

prayer

and

do

keep

praying

about

it

Colin

will

go

to

the

main

door

now

and

I'll

go

to

the

door

to

my

left

here

if you

just

give us

a

moment

for

that

as

Thank you.