May 2, 2007
Review
Jesus healing great numbers of people
Jesus’ mission - not healing - seeking and saving those who are lost
The three Jesus raised from the dead:
Jairus
Just as Jairus thinks they may get moving again…
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?”
· These men give Jairus the worst news possible.
· What is Jairus thinking?
· Is he placing blame on the woman?
· Is he placing blame on Jesus?
· Is he just resigned to fate?
· Before he has time to react, they tell him not to bother Christ anymore.
“bother” - Greek skullo - weary, harass, trouble, bother, annoy someone
· These men probably meant well but were playing into Satan’s hand.
· They didn’t realize that the Savior Jairus was talking to had power over death.
· They didn’t realize that the Savior Jairus was talking to loved him not only enough to take time for him but also to die for him.
· What do we not bother God with?
· Do we allow ourselves to limit God and His power?
Matthew 7:7-8
7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
James 4:1-3
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
There comes a time sometimes when even solid faith buckles. We hope against hope and then our hopes are dashed. We are tempted to give up and walk away from Jesus. But Jesus doesn't let us go so easily. "Don't be afraid," he says gently. He knows our fears and our limits. But if he goes with us, he can carry us beyond our fears. "Just believe," he says, "and she will be healed."
-- Ralph Wilson, Jesuswalk.com
37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
The Woman with the Flow of Blood - Mark 5:24b-34
Why are these two stories together? Was it an accident that these two needs came together?
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
· “suffered a great deal” - just as we do spiritually without the great physician
· “twelve years” - as long as Jairus’ daughter had been alive
· Touching someone ceremonially unclean (the woman) or dead (Jairus’ daughter) would have made Jesus unclean.
The woman:
· Poor now - what had she been previously?
· Was she married? Had she been married?
· How old was she?
· What was life like for her?
o Was she ostracized by society since she was continually unclean and everything she touched was unclean?
o
What did people think of her?
(John 9:2 - “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born
blind?”)
o Did she live alone?
o Did she live with pain continually?
· What did it take for her to come out with the crowd?
· What did it take for her to simply leave her own home?
The Woman and Jairus
· Did they know each other?
· Was Jairus responsible for declaring her unclean and enforcing her ban from the synagogue?
· If so, did he do that kindly or harshly, judgmentally - what kind of person is Jairus?
· We know Jairus by name, God’s Word doesn’t tell us the woman’s name (although one tradition says her name was Veronica)
27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
· The incredible power of Jesus
· Imagine the feeling that came over this woman after her years of suffering
· She experienced physical, emotional, and spiritual healing
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
· She “told him the whole truth” (vs. 33) - that took a great deal of Jairus’ time
· “be freed from your suffering” - save or make whole
· Did she follow on to Jairus’ house with the crowd?