Flipping the Script – Luke 8:10-56 – Annabelle Edward

Amen and welcome. Welcome.

My name is Grant and I'm one of the pastors here at the church.

And can you all hear me? OK, Wonderful.

OK. It is.

It's a great privilege this morning to be able to invite one

of our own up to the platform to preach.

This morning we're welcoming Annabelle Edward back to the

platform to preach. It's been a while since

Annabelle has preached here and after some travel has now

returned and we'll be sharing with us out of the Gospel of

Luke. And So what I simply want to do

is on our behalf, pray for Annabelle and for us as we enter

into these next few moments. Annabelle, thanks for preaching,

thanks for being here. Thanks for returning, not

deciding to stay in France, and for your good work and

dedication, prayer over this passage in your time of

preparation. So let's pray and then we're

going to jump in. God, thanks for your love and

for your grace. Thanks that you're with us and

thanks that you love us. Yeah, we are so grateful for our

ability to be a community together and to worship together

and for all of the joy and. And give that that is so.

Yeah. Thanks that you've gathered us

here today. And thank you for the word that

you have given to Annabelle in preparation for today.

So I got I'll pray for her as she preaches.

Would you allow her, call her, challenge her to preach boldly

again the word that has been stirred in her heart, in her

mind, Grass, Scott, would you continue to open our hearts and

open our minds to what it is that you have for us this

morning? So Jesus, we love you.

We're so grateful for all of life together.

Bless Annabelle as she preaches. We pray in the strong name of

Jesus, Amen. Thank you.

Alright, good morning everyone. I wanted to add my word of

welcome to what has already been said today.

So welcome. My name is Annabelle Edward and

I'm your digital communications coordinator here at the church

this summer. If you don't know what that

means, just think social media. On that note, if you are not

following our social media, I would highly recommend it.

We have both Instagram and Facebook and I have heard

they're really good. So, so just a thought as I'm up

here. Anyway, let's jump into our

passage this morning. So if you have a Bible or a

phone, flip through to Luke 840 to 56 as that is what we will be

reading this morning. Jesus heals a bleeding woman and

restores a girl to life. Now when Jesus returned, a crowd

welcomed him, for they were expecting him.

Then a man named Cyrus, a synagogue leader, came and fell

at Jesus's feet, pleading with him to come to his house because

his only daughter, a girl of about 12, was dying.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowd almost crushed him, and a

woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12

years, but no one could heal her.

She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak,

and immediately her bleeding stopped.

Who touched me? Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said.

Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.

But Jesus said someone touched me.

I know that power has gone out from me.

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came

trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the

people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been

instantly healed. Then he said to her daughter,

Your faith has healed you, go in peace.

Well, Jesus was still speaking. Someone came from the House of

Cyrus, the synagogue leader. Your daughter is dead, he said.

Don't bother the teacher anymore.

Hearing this, Jesus said to Cyrus.

Don't be afraid, just believe and she will be healed.

When he arrived at the House of Gyrus, he did not let anyone go

in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's

father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were

wailing and mourning for her. Stop wailing, Jesus said.

She's not dead, but asleep. They laughed at him, knowing

that she was dead, but he took her by the hand and said, My

child, get up. Her spirit returned, and at once

she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her

something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but

he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

When I was in elementary school, I tried out for the girls

baseball team along with all of my friends.

It was a small school, so nearly everyone who tried out for a

team would get on except me. Year after year, in fact, for

three years in a row, I didn't make this baseball team and I

felt left out, like I didn't belong.

I tried so hard each year and yet it never was quite enough.

Looking back, it's actually quite funny, but at the time

little Annabelle was really sad. She felt left out, maybe even a

little outcast. Now I don't know about you, but

I'm sure we have all had our fair share of experiences like

this. Maybe you did make all the

sports teams in school, but when you moved schools you felt

outside of the in crowd or walking into a new church not

knowing anyone. You felt like an outsider

looking in. Or maybe you feel like this with

your family or friend group, or in a new job.

Or maybe you just know the pain of rejection all too well, the

feeling of being left out, outcast, hurt.

We have all felt like this at some point in another, and we

will probably feel like this again.

This is exactly why, when Pastor Grant said I'd be preaching on

Luke 840 to 56, I was excited. This passage had been one that

both intrigued me and I found powerful the first time that I

read it. Now there are multiple reasons

for this, but the main component of this was the contrast seen in

the text, Mainly the contrast between a woman, unnamed,

unknown, outcast, with Cyrus, a synagogue leader, wealthy,

respected. The feelings and situations that

we have all felt and experienced at one point or another is

exactly why we find this passage so powerful.

We're introduced to two people, A prominent man, Cyrus, one who

is seen as everything good and noble in this world, and a woman

completely cast out at the very bottom of society's hierarchy.

And yet Jesus meets them both, and in doing so completely flips

the script of these norms in society, blows up the idea of

insider versus outsider. Up ends the way that we know and

understand the world, changes the game, just like Jesus always

does. Let's unpack that today.

So Jesus. Jesus turns a private moment

into a public one. This woman, she has been

bleeding for 12 years, 12 years, labeled unclean, untouchable,

dirty. In every cent.

She was equated, as NT right puts it, with a corpse.

As he writes, two of the most obvious sources of pollution in

that time were corpses and women with internal bleeding.

She couldn't have a husband. She couldn't have kids for all

intents and purposes in this time, she was seen as useless.

Further, with being labeled unclean, she couldn't be near

others, let alone a holy man. As in that day, customs dictated

that though her physical condition wasn't contagious, in

a ritual sense, it was. And yet she pushes through the

crowd to touch Jesus's cloak, makes her way through these

great crowds that Luke makes no mistake in mentioning.

In fact, he goes as far as to say that the crowds almost

crushed Jesus in verse 42, which really paints a powerful image

of how great this woman's faith and bravery truly is to brave

this crowd just to be able to touch the edge of His cloak.

In a deeply private, desperate act, this woman comes to Jesus

with what is most likely the end of herself.

She knows that going into this crowd means she will infect

others with her impurity. Well, in fact, Jesus with the

act of touching him, a man that even the synagogue leader vowed

to, she would have known the consequences as NT Wright says.

The risk of rebuff of the crowd, of the synagogue ruler and of

Jesus. And yet she still goes at the

end of herself. After 12 years of bleeding,

going from doctor to doctor in pain, separated from her

community, she approaches Jesus unnoticed, unseen, but with the

strength and bravery and faith that if she could just touch

him, she would be healed. What could this faith look like

in our lives, this desperate at the end of ourselves?

Faith. She didn't come with anything.

No expectations for a man that in her mind shouldn't want

anything to do with her, with the intention to disappear.

Healed, but still invisible. Yet Jesus doesn't let that

happen. That's just not who he is,

because he knew that physical healing was only one thing this

woman needed. Jesus stops everything, even on

his way to what is arguably more important, a dying little girl.

Someone who doesn't have time with a father who is most likely

anxiously urging them to go faster, desperately trying to

get him there in time to save his daughter.

Jesus still stops, takes time, and sees this woman.

He's Jesus. He knows who touched him and

why. He knows the outcome, knows this

woman, and knows that she has already been physically healed.

So why does he stop? Why does he ask who touched me?

Because in doing so, he brings a private moment into a public 1

something hidden into the light for everybody to see.

Not to shame her, but to see her, to call her daughter, to

bring her home, to make her visible in a time and a place

where everyone would love nothing more than for her to be

invisible. He stops because her life

doesn't change. Without him stopping, yes she

would be physically healed, but that's not all she needed

healing from. And physical healing, well a

part of him is not the reason Jesus came down to earth.

Know without him stopping she would not have been spiritually

and socially healed as well. Without him stopping, she would

not have been seen to be clean, allowing her to come home,

allowing her to be whole. As again NT Right puts it, Jesus

shares the pollution of sickness and death, but the power of his

own love. And it is love above all else

that shines through these stories, turns that pollution

into wholeness and hope. Wholeness and hope What do you

need wholeness and hope for today?

Many of you have most likely at some point felt shame, fear,

hurt Outkast and unseen. Maybe you're feeling that right

now. Whatever your situation, I have

good news. We have a God who sees, a God

who knows, and a God who stops. Just like he restored the woman.

Just like He made known to her that this healing was in no way

an accident, He too wants to restore you today.

Going back to the passage for a second, though, we see that

Jesus is day is not at its end, because while he's taking time

to see this woman, someone else is watching the clock.

Jesus turns a public moment into a private one.

Gyrus has no time. He's desperate.

His daughter is dying and Jesus just stops.

Like this is a leisurely stroll and not a life or death

situation. Not like this is a father at the

end of himself reaching out in desperation.

The amount of anxiety he must have been feeling not only for

Jesus stopping but having to tackle the sheer presence of

this crowd. He knows that the clock is

ticking down on his daughter's life and yet with the crowd, the

verse 42 literally uses the word suffocating to describe impeding

progress and Jesus stopping. He sees this time running out.

Gyrus probably stood there, anxious and impatient, trying to

get Jesus to his daughter faster.

This is not the Monday morning traffic anxiety you feel when

you're on your way to work and you're like, Oh no, I'm gonna be

late. Hmm.

No, this is the anxiety you feel when you see a loved one on

their deathbed. Gyrus is trying so hard to push

through this crowd, to just get there in time, and yet he

doesn't. He didn't.

Time ran out, as he finds out, Just as Jesus is finishing

talking to this woman, his daughter is dead.

There's nothing more he can do. It's over.

All that anxiety, desperation, fear must have all come crashing

down the conflicting feelings this man must have been feeling.

His hard, maybe impossible to imagine.

Maybe he was thinking if only he did not stop, if only the crowd

led us through faster. If only.

If only Jesus sees this, He sees him, He knows him, and he

understands him. Jesus still has perfect timing,

even when we, like Gyrus, question why it feels like he is

too late when we cannot possibly understand how he can still move

in spite of the situation. I mean, Gyrus just heard that

his daughter is dead, his hope is gone.

Every normal human being would know that this her story is

over. Even those around him understood

this, for they told him don't bother the teacher anymore.

But it's not. Jesus is still there.

In the midst of this crushing storm that Gyrus is going

through, Jesus is there. He tells Gyrus do not be afraid,

but to believe in his daughter would be healed again.

Probably not something Cyrus wanted to hear at that moment.

Probably not something we wanted to hear if we were in his shoes.

But this is not Jesus telling Cyrus if you only believe a

little more. No, this is Gyrus calling G is

Jesus calling Gyrus into a deeper dependence, a trust in

God's so profound that he puts all he understands away and

gives it to God in trust. Trust in his timing.

Trust to take in san anxiety and desperation.

Trust that Jesus has got him and his daughter.

Not an easy feat for any of us. But let's not forget, the Gyrus

is a synagogue leader, one that should have had it together, one

that should have been able to save his daughter himself.

Yet Jesus is calling Cyrus to humble himself, put faith above

his own understanding, and see where Jesus leads.

And Jesus leads differently, that's for sure, as when they

get to the house, Jesus only allows 3 disciples and the

daughter's parents inside. Probably not something all the

mourners and great crowds were hoping for, yet exactly what was

needed in this situation. Because Jesus is ultimately in

control. He is the calm authority in the

centre of all situations. Jesus flips the script.

Yet unlike interacting and touching a bleeding woman, He

flips it by allowing no crowd, no spectacle, just the girl's

parents and his three closest disciples.

What had been a very public moment became an intimate moment

of resurrection, new life. A public moment turned private.

Jesus takes the theatrics out of it for he doesn't want this

miraculous and it is miraculous resurrection of a girl to over

shadow who he is. He doesn't want a crowd to just

see the signs and wonders and not get who he is or why he is

here. Not for spectacles, but to bring

wholeness, bring peace, bring restoration, and to show care as

demonstrator with him asking for the girl to be fed as soon as

she was up again. Not only to care for her, but to

bring her parents out of their state of fear and joy and into a

task of helping their daughter. He shows care and love, brings

peace and restoration, and yet makes it abundantly clear in

doing all these things, even ordering those present not to

speak of what had happened. Though I doubt that lasted

longer than an hour cause the dead girl was up and walking.

But that though this was amazing.

This was not a spectacle. This was not a trick.

This was not a magic show. Instead, it was an intimate

showcase of Jesus's great love and care for his children.

How He will meet you where you are.

Jesus restores our peace. Now this does not mean that this

is not scary. In fact, it is quite obvious in

both interactions with the woman and Gyrus that they are scared.

We see clearly how much fear this woman is experiencing in

verse 47 as she came trembling and fell at Jesus's feet, or how

fear and anxiety are haunting gyrus both before and after

learning of his daughter's death, as Jesus himself mentions

it. And yet the woman's still went

to Jesus Gyrus, still brought him to his home.

With fear and faith they went, because yes, God wants to work

through us and in us to bring us out of detrimental fears that

grip our hearts. But that does not mean that we

can't start afraid, that we can't run to Him, afraid and

desperate. Because sometimes it is our

desperation that pushes us towards God.

And we see clearly in these passages that these two were

desperate enough. Gyrus, A synagogue leader with

all his many resources, had failed.

He had failed to save his daughter himself.

He was so desperate that the and at the end of himself that he

went to a man that for everything that were probably

hearing about in the synagogue was a Beck best crazy at worst

blasphemous. That's desperation.

And the woman desperate enough to brave a crowd, one that is

disgusted by her, deems her unworthy, won't touch her with

all the consequences, beating down on her if this doesn't

work. That's desperation.

That's faith because Jesus calls for faith.

We see it in both these stories, how the woman's faith heals her

and how Jesus calls the man to faith that his daughter would be

healed. Again, this is not easy.

They both had to do things that were uncomfortable.

Gyrus had to humble himself. The woman had to reveal herself,

and yet in doing so, God worked in unexpected but miraculous

ways. Because God moves in response to

our prayers, He hears our desperate calls, He feels our

pain, and He knows our heartbreak.

He is the God of salvation, a word that literally means added

to root, wholeness of body, mind and spirit.

He takes our uncleanness and restores us once more.

Remember when I said at the beginning of the sermon that one

of the two most obvious sources of pollution in this time was a

bleeding woman and corpses, and that it was a very understood no

go? You do not touch anyone that

could fall into these categories.

Well, Jesus touches both of them in the span of one day in this

passage. Not only that, but Luke mentions

his instance like instances like this quite consistently.

Last Sunday, Justin preached on a man that Jesus called demons

out of who was also deemed unclean.

These stories written together by Lucas and Norway.

A mistake. It showcases spectacularly who

Jesus is at his core. He is a man who flips the

script, shakes it up. He is preparing people for this

flip. He does this by touching them,

those deemed unclean, dirty, polluted.

He takes their uncleanness and restores them.

He takes our uncleanness and in order to make us whole once

more, as Isaiah 53 four says, He took up our pain and bore our

suffering to bring salvation, to bring restoration, to bring new

life. Jesus restores our peace.

Maybe physical, but more than that, too, as though these

stories are about physical healing.

They're not about that at all. Just like I could never actually

end up on that baseball team even though I worked and I hoped

each year, so too do we not always get the physical healing

that we so desperately hope for, that we pray for, long for?

And I can't answer the question of why it is something that many

have and still do wrestle with. However, I can tell you that

Jesus restores our peace. He wants to end does bring

wholeness and hope. He wants to restore our peace in

spite of fear in the midst of brokenness, our peace during

struggles. Jesus is peace meets all

situations like His peace met the fear of both the woman and

gyrus. He wants to meet you today too.

Let me end with one final thought.

Luke is using these stories very strategically.

He is preparing us for the climax of the Gospel, the whole

point of the New and Old Testament.

Luke is writing the ultimate foreshadowing for how Jesus

flips the script during the crucifixion.

Where Christ becomes desperately unclean for us to be healed,

where Jesus takes all the sin, all the shame, all the

brokenness and suffering, everything unclean to bring us

into wholeness, Jesus embraces our uncleanness to restore us in

salvation. Isn't that amazing?

Let's pray, Lord, thank you for your word that You have given us

today. Thank You that we could be here

together to hear it. May it take root in the hearts

of all those who heard it, all those who need it today.

Yet Your. Let your truth shape our lives,

challenge our thinking, and deepen our walk with you.

I asked you that that you restore our peace today and as

we go into this week, let your name be glorified in all that we

do Amen.