This sermon is from a week ago (I'm a bit behind in posting). Yesterday's sermon was preached by our Associate Pastor (go to http://www.saint-andrew.com/category/sermons/ later today or this week to hear her sermon on touch in the Hannah's story and the Prodigal son).
This sermon is closely connected to a sermon I preached two years ago. I really liked preaching the sermon the first time around and again last week. Of course, when i really like a sermon, it's not always as well received. In fact, no comments on the sermon, which is unusual!
Mark 5: 21-34 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat[f] to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 and begged him repeatedly, “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.” 24 So he went with him.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
“Just a Touch” Mark 5: 21-34; FPC, Troy; April 26, 2015
Move 1: Twelve years. 144 months. 4383 straight days living with and suffering from a flow of blood.
1. In truth, She suffered from more than just the flow of blood.
2. She has suffered as an outcast from society – her medical condition marked her as unclean.
3. She might as well have had a “Do Not Touch”: sign hanging around her neck for all to see.
4. As the Gospel of Mark describes her, she also suffered at the hands of physicians.
5. I bet she has seen all the doctors or anyone else, from the ones with the best reputations to the quacks and their wild theories, anyone who might have a chance at healing her.
6. she also has spent all of her money dealing with her problem.
7. And for all that she has done to try and treat her illness, she has just gone from bad to worse. "Begging Believers and Scorning Skeptics," from the blog Left Behind and Loving It on 6/26/2012, by Mark Davis (http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2012/06/begging-believers-and-scorning-skeptics.html):
b. She is a desperate woman.
1 Her desperation shows as she fights her way through the crowds.
2 There are no guarantees, but she has decided that her last, desperate hope is found in Jesus.
3. People surround him, the crowds are pressing in leaving little room for her to reach him.
3. People surround him, the crowds are pressing in leaving little room for her to reach him.
4. Perhaps she is too ashamed to admit publicly what has happened to her so she is sneaking up on Jesus.
5. Perhaps she has tried to arrange a meeting with Jesus but has been rebuffed by the disciples who handle his schedule.
6. perhaps she has just not felt good enough to make the effort to see Jesus.
6 But today, maybe today will be different.
c. “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”
1. The hope and dream of a desperate woman who is pushing her way to get near Jesus.
2. She is not trying to strike up a conversation with Jesus.
3. She is not demanding his attention.
4. She just wants a touch.
5. Just a touch of the hem of Jesus' garment.
5 Does she really think that can make a difference?
6 she's desperate enough to be seemingly delusional.
7. how could touching the man's clothing make a difference in her life.
d But desperate people can convince themselves of almost anything.
1. Do you ever feel that sense of desperation?
2. Maybe a health issue that seems beyond your control and overwhelming.
3. maybe life seems to be falling apart.
4. Maybe you feel like you have no control over anything in your life.
6. and you are desperately trying to make changes.
e. She is not the first or the last desperate person to to turn to God.
1 We hear the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 30 - “O Lord my God, I cried to you for help”
2 Nowhere else to go, so the psalmist desperately turn to God.
3. A pattern repeated again and again by God’s people.
f. Or in this passage from the Gospel of Mark we meet another desperate person – Jairus.
1. the Gospel of Mark uses this “sandwich” technique of telling stories several times.
2. Mark begins one story, breaks in with another, and then completes the first (For other examples, see Mark 3:22-30; 6:6-30; 11:12-20; 14:1-11; 14:54-72)
3. each aspect of the story helps to interpret the other story.
4. Here is Jairus – he believes his daughter has died at his house.
5. Stricken with grief, desperate to try anything, nowhere else to go, he turns to Jesus.
6. Jairus, the well-known leader from the synagogue;
Jairus who has a name in this story, unlike the bleeding woman;
but they share something in common; Jairus the leader is the community is linked with this unnamed woman and outcast from society; linked by their desperation, both turning to Jesus.
Move 2: Jesus meets their desperation with his healing powers.
a. Mark does not make much of this, but Jesus is really stepping outside the societal norms in these stories as he violates the “purity codes.”
1. First, the woman with the hemorrhage touched Jesus, rendering him unclean.
2. Second, if we continue reading Jairus’ story, Jesus touches the dead young, at least the young woman everyone thought was dead, which also would have rendered him unclean. (Blog progressive involvement, Posted by John Petty on June 25, 2012 http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2012/06/lectionary-blogging-mark-5-21-43.html)
3. Jesus clearly tells us by his actions that Societal norms do not matter; desperate people do.
b. It's almost as if Jesus cannot help himself.
1. he is wired to connect to the desperate people.
2. As if those who have “do not touch” signs hanging from their necks, so to speak, are a magnet that attracts Jesus to them.
3. He comes for those people who need him.
4. We can dress up in our Sunday best to look good for God..
5. We can act as if everything is great, even if it is not.
2 We can dress Jesus up however we want as we turn to the world.
5 but ultimately, those who recognize their need for Christ, those who out of desperation cry out for God, they, we, will find him.
6. that's why Jesus came – for the desperate people who need to be changed.
Move 3: The disciples do not get it.
a. perhaps after Jesus dies on the cross they will finally understand the faith of the desperate.
1 The disciples cowering behind locked doors out of fear; the disciples needing to touch Jesus' wounds, maybe then they get it.
2. perhaps they look back on this woman and “Go aha, now we understand how desperately you needed Jesus, why you fought to get near enough to touch him.”
3. But this day with the crowds they do not understand what is taking place.
2 Jesus asks them, “Who touched me?”
2 Their reply” “Are you kidding. With this crowd pressing in. How do you even know you were touched?“
b. But Jesus knows.
1 he knows the touch of the desperate.
2 He can find the woman.
3 As he looks for her, she comes forward, trembling on her knees. She tells him of her desperate need for him in her life.
4 “your faith has made you well.”
5. the touch. Grace abounds.
c. it's hard to comprehend that just a touch changes the woman's life.
1. can a little touch really make a difference?
2. We live in a world with touch screens. My kids swear that touch screens have changed their lives.
3. with a touch on your device, you can have a camera, movie, music, Facetime, videos, messaging, wifi, games, pages to work on documents, numbers to work with spreadsheets; keynote graphics; internet; mail
4. Really simple. Just a touch of the screen.
5. Really powerful. Just a touch of the screen.
6. A touch screen can do just about anything, but it cannot change your life.
7. That takes the power of Christ’s touch.
8. Christ, the one to whom we turn in our desperation.
9. Christ the one whom we take to the world so others desperately in need can know the power of his touch.
Conclusion: Just a touch.
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