Sermon Tone Analysis

A Touch

in the bible touch is an important word and an i:mportant concept.

Touching to bring a body part into contact with something else, in the bible most notably another person.

There is a significant use of the word touch in the bible .

Isaac was blind and had to touch the hands of the disguised Jacob , to determine who to bless

When the angel wrestled with Jacob he touched him on the hip.

When the Israelites finally crossed the Jordan the water parted when the priest feet touched the water.

An Angel touched Daniel and gave him strength

An anointing was made with a touch

6. Jesus was constantly ask to bless little children by blessing them with his touch.

In fact on one such occasion the the Apostles tried to stop the blessing of children and Jesus told them suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of heaven.

And it said he took them into his arms and placed his hands on them and blessed them.

There is something about a touch, I remember Momma say they can talk about you all they want but if they touch put their hands on you.

So there is something about a touch.

The Woman

This eighth chapter of Luke , like the 5th chapter of Mark and the 9th chapter of Matthew, tells of Jesus power and saving ability.

The miracle of this woman is sandwiched between the healing of a possessed man and the raising of the dead of a little girl.

We don’t know much about this woman, a opposed to those other two miracles.

We know the possessed man was a resident of of the Decapolis, and we know the little girl was a resident of Capernaum.

The possessed man was named Legion ,and the little girl was the daughter of Jairus, but we don’t know the name of this woman.

There were witnesses to the madness of the possessed , and their were a crowd of people who could attest to the illness and death of the daughter of Jairus the Synagogue leader, but no one bore witness to the the travails and misery of this unnamed woman.

Folk know you when you act out, they even know you when you are somebody , but who looks to you when you have nothing, who witnesses for you when you are a nobody.

how many of us are home alone, or buried in our misery , and nobody there to witness what we go through, but take hope for there is Jesus.

May not be a crowd but there is Jesus, may not not be anybody important but there is Jesus .

Somebody knows what I am talking about.

Anybody here a witness that Jesus is there in the midnight hour, Jesus is there when the folks are gone Jesus is there when, the lights go off.

settle down preacher and let me finish this story don’t get too happy preacher , there is word to be given.

Scripture says that this woman has suffered for 12 years with a issue of blood.

Now this particular pericope is found in all three of the synoptic Gospels.

That is just my seminary study peaking out, a pericope is nothing but a story, part, snippet that makes sense ,a part of the whole that can stand by itself which is part of the scripture, and the synoptic gospels are Matthew , Mark, and Luke because they are similar and have some of the same information, while John is is similar but far different then the others.

This found in the 8th chapter of Luke , the 5th chapter of mark and the 9th chapter of Matthew, and I will tell the story with the information from all three gospels.

It says that she had an issue of blood for twelve long years.

Now I am not a woman, so I can not imagine what she went through.

But this is not a normal thing, I can only imagine , the pain, and discomfort she felt for a period of twelve years.

I can not imagine what she went through.

But i do know she went through.

She went through physically

There had to be some psychological damage because 1, she is sickly and 2, the nature of her sickness ostracized her from Jewish society.

The 15th chapter of Leviticus says that a woman during her cycle is unclean for seven days .

That uncleaness means that she can not participate in temple life.

Anyone she touches is unclean.

Any thing she touches is unclean.

the bed she sleep on, anything she sits on, and so where if it was just a usual cycle it would end in seven days.

but Leviticus says it will last until the flows stops.

So since she has had this problem for twelve years.

She has been unclean for twelve years.

That has to way on your mind, nobody want to be with you because you are unclean, the only people who wouldnt mind are other unclean people.

You know how we do what don’t you go and be with your own kind, we are not like that.

Church folk

Not only is she down physically, beat down psychologically and socially but she is also down financially, for the scripture says that she has spent all of her money on physicians , and there cures, and she is now worse, and without funds.

Some of the cures for her ailments are listed in the Talmud a jewish book of learing

1. carrying the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen rag around one’s neck in summer and in a cotton rag in winter or 2. carrying barley corn from the dung of a white female donkey

3. mixing different herbs in wine shouting begone flux

4. cup of wine at a crossroads , and have someone scare her

5. dig 7 ditches burn, different vines in each ditch and have her sit over the ditch and shout arise from your flux.

After all that and more for seven years she has spent all of her mone and is broke.

Doesn’t say how she had money in the first place.

Maybe she had a husband and one time and he put her down and returned the dowry he paid,

maybe she had an inheritance, we don’t know but we do know it is all gone and she is getting worse.

The Touch

What do you do?

What do you do when you our at your wits end?

What do you do when your money is gone?

What do you do when you are depressed ?

What do you do when there is nobody else?

This woman had heard about Jesus and she took a chance.

It says she heard about Jesus, it does not say what she heard.

Maybe she heard he healed a paralysed man whose friends had lowered him through a roof.

Maybe she heard he healed Peter’s mother in law when she was sick.

Maybe she heard she heard he spoke to the wind and told it to be still.

I don’t know hat she heard, but when she found out he was back in town, she took her sick, broke ,depressed ,unclean self where he was.

Some of us need to find Jesus for ourselves.

We need to get out from in front of the television, get off the telephone, stay away from the alcohol, ,the blunt , the sniff, and the toot, , run from the crack and whack and we need to find Jesus.

Don’t know what her plan was when she left where ever she came from but scripture says Jesus was approached by Jairus, a synagogue leader, who prostrated himself on the ground asking Jesus to come save his little girl.

And jesus agreed.

So Jesus is going with Jairus and this woman gets it in to her head that she must touch Jesus.

And if she can’t get to jesus if she can just get to the hem of his garment she will be healed.

But she comes up behind him.

Some of us want to sneak our blessing .

We don’t want folks to know , that we are down with this Jesus person.

Some of us hide from Jesus because we don’t want to look as if we are in need.

So she sneaks behind him and touches his garment.

And immediately two things happen!

She feels healed, and Jesus knows that power has left his body.

You know when you have felt the power of Jesus, anybody here ever felt the power of jesus!

Belief in Jesus gives you access to his power.

believers know there is power in the name of Jesus

say it with me there is power in the name of jesus

And Jesus turns around and says who touched me!

Not the trip part of this scripture comes right here.

you see people were all around him pressing into him, and I am sure touching him but he says who touched me.

Peter says what do you mean who touched me, all of these people bumping and shoving and you say who touched me.

You see , this tells me just because you are in the vicinity does not mean you get the blessing,

just because you are in the church does not mean the church is really in you

The crowds were on him but not really in him.

Just because you rubbing up against the the master does not mean you are connected with the master.

out of all of those people touching only one got a blessing.

You got to seek him , you got to believe in him , more strongly than you believe in, seek anything else.

she may have snuck because she was afraid, and unclean and felt unworthy, especially as Jesus was going to the house of a synagogue leader, but he put er and her problem right there, she although unnamed, and unclean was somebody.

you know what the song says i am just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody that can save everybody.