Your Faith Has Made You Whole

October 30, 2022

Series 2: Jesus Is Lord

2.4

Your Faith Has Made You Whole

FOCUS VERSE

Mark 5:34 “And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”

LESSON TEXT

Mark 5:24–34 “And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy f…”

TRUTH ABOUT GOD

God responds to faith.

TRUTH FOR MY LIFE

Because it is never too late to touch Jesus, I will take my need to Him.

TEACHING OUTLINE

Icebreaker: How was life different or the same for you twelve years ago?

Lesson Connection: Share the Lesson Connection.

I. THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD SUFFERED FOR TWELVE YEARS

A. She Sought Many Cures Without Improvement

B. I Will Reject Hopelessness in Favor of Faith

» When you feel hopeless or overwhelmed, what do you do?

II. THE WOMAN DID NOT TOUCH JESUS, BUT SHE TOUCHED HIS CLOTHING

A. Faith, Not Formulas, Produce Results

B. She Was Not Deterred Because Jesus Was Busy

» Why do we sometimes feel like God is too busy to heal us or help us?

C. I Will Trust in God, Not Formulas

» Have you ever caught yourself trying to find a formula to cause God to work in your life, or do you simply put your faith in His knowledge and wisdom?

III. JESUS HEALED THE WOMAN AND GAVE HER PEACE

A. She Was Made Whole and Inspired Others

» If you were Daughter, how do you think Jairus or the disciples might have acted toward you? How do you think Jesus might have acted toward you?

B. Because It Is Never Too Late to Touch Jesus, I Will Take My Need to Him

Internalizing the Message

» What is the balance between faith and works? How do we make sure we wait on God while reaching out to Him in faith?

Prayer Focus

Lead the group in prayer and consider the following topics of focus:

• For us to have faith in Jesus for our need

• For Jesus to give us the courage to reach out to Him in faith

LESSON CONNECTION

If I could just . . . ,” said Daughter, a woman with a twelve-year-old sickness. Daughter paused on the central question of what she would have to do to be well. She made a series of proposals, but it seemed none of them would work out.

“If I could just ask Him to touch me. But He might not want to touch someone like me.”

“If I could just ask Him to say a word of healing over me. But He might not even give a hearing to someone like me.”

“If I could just touch His hands. But I’d have to get close, and His entourage will keep me away.”

“If I could just touch His garment. But to get that close, I’d have to be stronger and more favored than all the worthy people there.”

“If I could just touch the hem of His garment. That’s it. If I could just touch the hem of His garment.”

A little hope stirred in her and steeled her for the severe test of her newfound faith. If she could just touch the hem of His garment, she would be healed.

Bible Lesson

I. THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD SUFFERED FOR TWELVE YEARS

This woman is the only woman in the Gospels whom Jesus called Daughter. She was afflicted with his condition made life outside of a home almost impossible for women in any culture, but it was especially hard for Jewish women. While she was unclean, she was considered a potential threat to the sanctity of the Tabernacle or Temple. Therefore, she had to remain at home,

A. She Sought Many Cures Without Improvement

There were prescribed cures for her disease if she was willing to pay for them. Each doctor responded about the same way, “I know exactly what to do for you. The Talmud has listed over fifteen potential cures for your disease.”

Surely, out of those fifteen plus potential cures, one of them would be just what the doctor ordered. Here are a few of the cures the Talmud recommended:

1. Take of gum Alexandria, of alum, and of crocus hortensis, the weight of a zuzee each; let them be bruised together, and given in wine to the woman that hath an issue of blood. But if this fail,

2. Take of Persian onions nine logs, boil them in wine, and give it to her to drink: and say, Arise But should this fail,

3. Set her in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a cup of wine in her hand; and let somebody come behind and affright her, and say, Arise But should this do no good,

4. Take a handful of cummin and a handful of crocus, and a handful of faenu-greek; let these be boiled, and given her to drink, and say, Arise . But should this also fail,

5. Dig seven trenches, and burn in them some cuttings of vines not yet four years old; and let her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let her be led from this trench and set down over that; and let her be removed from that, and set down over another: and in each removal say unto her, Arise

If none of those worked, there were at least ten other remedies that could be prescribed for this one condition. But of course, that would be ten more doctor’s visits and ten more doctor’s bills. After her last doctor’s visit, she reached into her purse only to realize she had just enough for this cure and no more. But sadly, she was no better. In fact, she was getting worse.

. I Will Reject Hopelessness in Favor of Faith

It is easy to feel hopeless when all the cures and prescriptions we try do not work. We are still sick. We are still addicted. We are still bankrupt. But we do not have to feel hopeless; we can have faith. Our faith is not grounded in what we can do but in what our God can do. Jesus proved all throughout the Gospels, and namely here in the Gospel of Mark, that He is greater than nature, the devils, disease, and even death.

When you feel hopeless or overwhelmed, what do you do?

II. THE WOMAN DID NOT TOUCH JESUS, BUT SHE TOUCHED HIS CLOTHING

Daughter was considered a danger to the community because she could communicate her dangerous uncleanness to anyone she touched. But in faith she boldly left her isolation and determined within herself to touch Jesus.

A. Not Formulas, Produce Results

Daughter’s faith led her to a proper understanding of Jesus. She did not need to be strong or favored; she did not need to say just the right words or catch Him when He was alone; she did not need to successfully move Him to pity with a display of her suffering. She did not have a magic formula; all she had was faith. And it was enough. Her faith gave her insight to the power of Jesus others did not have. She only needed to touch the merest fringes of Jesus’ garment. She understood she could be healed even if Jesus had not intended to heal her. Jesus did not even have to know He was healing her in order to heal her. What faith!

She Was Not Deterred Because Jesus Was Busy

That day Daughter was not the only one in need of a miracle. Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, was desperate. His precious, twelve-year-old daughter lay at death’s door back at his home. If Jesus did not make haste, the girl may not make it. Although Jesus was busy walking toward Jairus’ house to work a miracle, Daughter still came to the crowd because she knew Jesus was her only hope for healing.

Mark’s Gospel intertwines these two episodes together so we can compare them. Jesus was on His way to attend to an important official’s daughter. Any delay could mean the death of the daughter, so we must imagine Jairus was walking fast, as any father would, on high alert against anything that would delay them. But suddenly a lowly, anonymous woman, unclean because of her condition, had the audacity to break through a crowd of important people to touch Jesus.

Without any training, without a single Bible study, Daughter’s understanding of Christ dwarfed that of the scholars of Israel, including even of Jairus. This is what faith can do. Faith is the greatest teacher, opening up vistas of knowledge in an instant.

Why do we sometimes feel like God is too busy to heal us or help us?

C. I Will Trust in God, Not Formulas

The apostle Paul said we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1). The Greek term under the English verb justified could also—if English would allow—be translated “righteoused.” We are righteoused by faith. Faith in God makes us righteous. Faith puts a halt to all the corrupting influences of doubt—the doubt that leads our hearts astray, the questioning of God’s faithful care for us, the questioning of God’s boundaries, the questioning of God’s truthful Word. Faith aligns our hearts with God’s heart and gives us a glimpse of God’s perspective.

Touching the hem of His garment or bringing Him physically to our house will not automatically affect the same wondrous outcome. Jesus was not moved by their formulas but by their faith. He is moved by the same for us. Do not seek special formulas as if they are sacred incantations. Rather seek Jesus with faith, knowing He knows how to heal us and help us.

Have you ever caught yourself trying to find a formula to cause God to work in your life, or do you simply put your faith in His knowledge and wisdom?

III. JESUS HEALED THE WOMAN AND GAVE HER PEACE

A dozen years of weakening health had sapped her strength. But if she could somehow get to Jesus, there was a chance He would show compassion and she would be healed. So with the memory of twelve long, hard years behind her and nothing to lose in front of her, she ventured into the mob. The Bible does not spell it out for us, but many believe she crawled through the crowd. As she expected, they kicked her and stepped on her and stomped on her. But she kept crawling and saying, “If I can just touch the hem of His garment.”

A. She Was Made Whole and Inspired Others

After a short time or long time, she finally reached where Jesus was. She saw the tassels hanging from Jesus’ robe. With all the faith and strength she could muster, she reached out and touched the hem of His garment, and suddenly, everything changed. What was wrong was made right. She felt strength like she had not felt in twelve years. She instantly knew she was healed. She would doubtless go to the doctor for a checkup, but she already knew what the doctor would discover. She was healed.

But she was not the only one who felt the power of Jesus to heal. As soon as she touched Jesus, He stopped walking and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” The disciples were confused. Jairus was probably anxious. The crowd stopped abruptly and bumped into each other, like a pileup on the interstate. Jesus’ followers pointed out the obvious. “Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?” (Mark 5:31).

But this touch was different. This person did not just rub shoulders with Him or accidentally bump into Him when He stopped. She came to the parade fully intending to leave differently than she came, and she did. It would have been tempting for her to hide. As far as the rest of the town knew, she was still unclean and unfit to be in public. They knew about her sickness. She was not permitted to touch anyone, especially a holy man. How dare she make Him unclean? She confessed, “Master, it was me.” She did not know what to expect from Jesus. She just knew she came to Jesus sick, and she was leaving healed.

Jesus called her Daughter. It had probably been a long time since she had been called anything that kind, that humane. And He said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Mark 5:34). We know Jesus made her whole, but Jesus worked through her faith to make her whole. Jesus draws our attention to her faith, as if to say this kind of faith purifies us, guides us, and in the end, justifies us.

B. Because It Is Never Too Late to Touch Jesus, I Will Take My Need to Him

Perhaps you feel hopeless because of what you have been going through. Even if you have battled for twelve years or longer, this story is a testament to the power of God to work through our unrelenting faith. We may not know exactly how God will respond when we ask, but we know He knows, and He will always do what is right. Let us take our need to Jesus and see Him work for us like He worked for Daughter and for Jairus’ daughter. In case you do not know the rest of that story, Jairus’s daughter died while they were on the way to the house. But when Jesus arrived, He spoke to her, “Damsel, I say unto thee, ‘Arise.’” (Mark 5:41). And she did. Even death bows its grisly knee at the word of Jesus.

Internalizing the Message

A supplemental image is available in the Resource Kit.

A great physicist studied his whole life. He spent long hours in the lab, toiling for the merest hints of truth hidden in the mysteries of his formulas. He was an atheist in a field dominated by unbelief. He achieved awards, prizes, and recognition for his groundbreaking genius in the field. But as he came toward the end of his life, he found himself strangely tempted to faith in God. In hindsight, he said he had studied for so long and with such intensity, only to find what fragments of truth he had discovered near the end of his life, people of faith in God had discovered as children.

After hours of climbing the tallest mountains of science, one rock at a time, one cliff at a time, one summit after another, he finally reached the top of the mountain of truth only to find Moses, Jeremiah, and Paul playing a game of checkers and laughing at one another’s jokes on the top of the mountain. How had they gotten to that summit? Thousands of hours of hovering over a microscope or behind a telescope? No. They had leapt there in an instant—by faith.

What is the balance between faith and works? How do we make sure we wait on God while reaching out to Him in faith?

Prayer Focus

Lead the group in prayer and consider the following topics of focus:

• For us to have faith in Jesus for our need

• For Jesus to give us the courage to reach out to Him in faith