Miracles of Jesus: The Bleeding Woman

Mark 5:25-34

Jesus is on his way to heal Jairus’ [the leader of the synagogue] whose daughter was gravely sick… and before the chapter comes to an end…. she will be dead.

25 [But] …. there was a woman who had… had a discharge of blood for twelve years,

26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.

In the days of our Lord…there was no such thing as the science of medicine…

The methods, medicines and surgical operations of the then so called practitioners…were beneficial…if the intent were to kill their patients.

Their processes were ridiculous and inhumane…and rarely alleviated their patients of anything except for… their money.

And in our passage this morning [Mark 5]…God’s Word tells of a woman who was not only sick… but was a victim of this corrupted medical system.

A woman who had been suffering with a disease that made her continuously bleed…a disease that weakened her body …and promised to send her to an early grave… But this was not all that she had to endure….

According to the Jewish Ceremonial Law… this woman was rendered unclean… and therefore could not have any physical interaction with people… and if she were to try be a part of any type of community, she had to first notify everyone of her condition and her unclean status…

This woman was doomed! For 12 years she was rendered powerless to change her circumstance… as she found herself lost in a life of poverty…and suffering… and depression… and loneliness.

She had tried everything. But she was continuing to deteriorate. Her Body. Her Mind. Her Spirit. Broken.

However…

27 She had heard the reports about Jesus…

And by this time…Jesus had turned the water to wine…

He had healed a man in the synagogue [the church] of demon possession…Saved the life of an official’s sick son…He had healed many who were sick including a leper, a paralytic, and a man whose hand was withered…He had calmed the storm on the sea…and had sent a legion of demons into a herd of swine…and most of this had taken place in a 25 mile circle.

She had heard the stories…she had seen the evidence…and stood in wonder of what would happen… if she was to find herself face to face with this Jesus. And so she desperately positioned herself….she yearned for God to work in her life… and when she saw her healer…

27B She…. came up behind him [Jesus] in the crowd and touched his garment.

28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” I will be made whole!

The woman thought her greatest need was physical healing…to be done with the pain and reality of which she lived…but unknowingly God had placed her on a path to Jesus… where she would receive more than she ever knew she needed!

Like the practitioners of Jesus’ day - There are many “self-proclaimed” healers in the world…people who are always looking to cast “their form of truth” and exploit the lives of the spiritually poor and destitute… who claim a form of healing for those whose lives are sick with sin

Many of these “not so helpful practitioners” gives one sin as a cure for another. Their prescription for a soul convicted over their sin is to “Go and have a good time. Let some steam off. Mix with society. Surely…that is where you will find pleasure, and this is what you need to cheer you up!”

There was once an Italian man who found himself spiritually empty and depressed. So he went to a doctor and began to explain how he felt. The Doctor recommended that he go to the theater and see the show “Carlini..who was a famous Italian actor and comedic…” and if that did not cheer the man up…then he was really in a bad place!

The Doctor was surprised when the man responded, “I am Carlini…and while I can make all of Paris die with laughter…I myself… am dying in misery!”

Listen to me….The world will give many remedies claiming to have the fix for the lostness a person feels as a result of their sin….but all of them…Just make bad - worse!

Charles Spurgeon said that these people and their supposed fixes…that they “Bid the man escape from drowning…by plunging deeper beneath the waves!” To invest more into a world that will never satisfy your need for Jesus.

As the woman…You are powerless to save yourself….

As the woman…others are powerless to save you…

There is not a remedy…there is not a fix…there is not a bottle…there is a drug…there is not a counselor…there is not a therapist…there is not a preacher….and there is not. a. priest…who can save you from the reality of your spiritual condition…

When will we understand that the reason why we hurt…the reason why we die…the reason why we are depressed…the reason why we are anxious…the reason why we struggle…and the reason why we are empty…is a result of our spiritual condition…is a result of sin....

And The only answer…the only way to be made well… is Jesus!

The Bible says that when the woman touch the hem of Jesus’ garment that…

29 … immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”

31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

32 And he looked around to see who had done it.

Jesus obviously experienced some form of physical sensation when her hand made contact with his robe…He states in v.30 that “he felt the power go out from Him!”

This woman is a nobody…she has nothing to offer…and everything to lose…she was walking through the fire…she had been let down so…many…times….her disease incurable…

She was poor…she was suffering… she was depressed… she was lonely…

But come in close here….

Jesus saw her....Jesus felt her… and Jesus responded in faithfulness… to her faith!

She was courageous to Touch Him…She was determined to Touch Him….She was desperate and hopeful…. for just.. One …Touch…

And when she did…He made her whole!

33 ….the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

The woman’s faith in Jesus for physical healing became faith in Him for salvation that day!!

Maybe you’re like the woman in The Word this morning…

You feel like a nobody…you have nothing to offer…you’re walking through the fire…and you’re lost…

I here to encourage you to reach out to Jesus…

Will you say this morning…as the worship team comes…

Jesus…

I come broken… to be mended And I come wounded… to be healed I come desperate … to be rescued God…I come empty… to be filled

And I am guilty… but would you pardon me… By the blood of Christ the Lamb

Lord please…welcome me…. with open arms And I Praise You God….Just as I am

Maybe -Never allow who you are… to keep you from knowing who he is