The Inconvenient Miracle

INTRODUCTION

1983 Lorne Whitehead published an article about the domino chain reaction. You can picture it in your mind, can't you? You knock over a domino, and it sets off a chain reaction that can knock down hundreds of dominoes in a matter of seconds. But the unique significance of Whitehead's research was discovering that a domino is capable of knocking over a domino that is one-and-a-half times its size. So a two-inch domino can topple a three-inch domino. A three-inch domino can topple a four-and-a-half-inch domino. And a four-and-a-half-inch domino can topple a … well, you get the point.

By the time you get to the eighteenth domino, you could knock over the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Of course, it's leaning so that's not fair. The twenty-third domino could knock over the Eiffel Tower. And by the time you get to the twenty-ninth domino, you could take down the Empire State Building.

By the time you get to the eighteenth domino, you could knock over the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Of course, it's leaning so that's not fair. The twenty-third domino could knock over the Eiffel Tower. And by the time you get to the twenty-ninth domino, you could take down the Empire State Building.

“Oh great, what are they working on now?!”

In the realm of mathematics, there are two types of progression: linear and geometric. Linear progression is two plus two equals four. Geometric progression is compound doubling. Two times two equals four. If you take thirty linear steps, you're ninety feet from where you started. But if you take thirty geometric steps, you've circled the earth twenty-six times!

In the realm of mathematics, there are two types of progression: linear and geometric. Linear progression is two plus two equals four. Geometric progression is compound doubling. Two times two equals four. If you take thirty linear steps, you're ninety feet from where you started. But if you take thirty geometric steps, you've circled the earth twenty-six times!

“It’s probably a dumb fender-bender that everyone has to slow down to see

Faith isn't linear. Faith is geometric. Every decision we make, every step of faith we take, has a chain reaction. And those chain reactions set off a thousand chain reactions we aren't even aware of.

Faith isn't linear. Faith is geometric. Every decision we make, every step of faith we take, has a chain reaction. And those chain reactions set off a thousand chain reactions we aren't even aware of.

There is a single act of faith in our text this morning that sets off a chain reaction of another act of faith.

1) JESUS’ RESPONSE TO SUFFERING(v.21-24)

What sets up this entire narrative is that Jesus is responding to human brokenness and suffering.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 and implored him earnestly, saying, “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.”

There is this huge crowd that is gathering around Jesus, and you have this guy named Jairus pushing and shoving himself through this crowd to get to Jesus.

Jairus, according to Mark and the other gospels, is a “ruler of the synagogue,” (v.22).

What this meant is that he was responsible for organizing and facilitating worship for a local Jewish community at a synagogue.

If your wanting to connect a synagogue ruler with a modern day equivalent, he would function in a similar way as a lead pastor.

These rulers were often of the Pharisaic tradition, meaning they were part of a religious sect of the Jewish faith that were very devout and held to a high view of Scripture.

Jairus, being a ruler of the synagogue, would have been a well respected individual in his community because of his office.

Here you have this well respected, highly religious man pushing his way through a crowd, getting down at Jesus’ feet, and “imploring” him to come and heal his daughter.

Imagine a few scenarios with me if you will:

Imagine your child. You were there at her birth. You’ve watched her take her first steps. You saved her so many times from dangerous situations that she might have put herself in because of her playful innocence. You worked hard to raise her. You’ve cherished the young lady that she’s become as she has entered her 12th year of life. And now, she’s dying. She has a disease that you have no ability to affect. You’ve called all the doctors. You’ve talked to all the experts. You are completely helpless in affecting the fatal condition. You have nothing left - except for that you’ve heard of this guy named Jesus. You’ve heard about his mighty miracles; about how he’s healed every kind of sickness imaginable. He’s casted out demons, and he teaches with an authority that no one has ever seen or heard before.

Now imagine leaving your dying little girl in the faintest hope that you will find this Jesus, and that He will hear your plea and come and heal your daughter. She could die while you’re gone, and as a parent I would want to spend every last minute with my little girl that she has here on earth. Yet Jairus, in faith, leaves his daughter’s side to intercede on her behalf. He goes to the One who is the only hope for his daughter: Jesus Christ.

Parents: who do we turn to when it comes to the condition of our children?

Your child may not be physically sick, but the reality is that they suffer from an insidious disease that you have no ability to heal, and that disease is sin.

Our children, from the moment of conception, are stricken with the sickness of sin that separates them from the Life-giving God. This sin-condition will lead them towards a life of self-gratification and rebellion towards God, and unless someone intercedes on their behalf their condition is terminal.

Jesus responds to suffering. If we go to Him on behalf of those who are suffering, He will respond.

Sometimes the response is not always what we think it will be.

As we see in this narrative, Jairus begs Jesus to heal his sick daughter in verses 22-23.

If you jump ahead to verse 35, you’ll see that Jairus’ daughter is no longer sick, but rather dead.

The situation for Jairus’ daughter has gone from bad to worse.

Yet look at Jesus’ response to the situation:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

Even when things have gone from bad to worse, Jesus tells this father to not give in to the temptation of fear, but rather believe in the power of God to resurrect the dead.

Even when things are not going according to your plans or how you would like them to, Jesus is calling you right now to believe in Him as the resurrection and the Life; as the only means of saving those who are suffering from the afflictions of this world.

Don’t despair. Don’t give up. Don’t be afraid.

Believe Jesus. Believe that He is who He says He is.

Believe that He responds when you go to Him on behalf of others. Believe that He cares for them.

Believe that He alone has the power to save the lost and heal our brokenness.

Believe that He has the power to take those who are dead in their sins and raise them up to new life!

Jesus responds to suffering. If we go to Him on behalf of those who are suffering, He will respond.

Now, I want us to spend the rest of this morning looking at what caused Jesus’ delay in going to heal Jairus’ daughter.

Obviously something happens in between verse 24, where Jesus leaves with Jairus, and verse 36, where they are informed that his daughter is dead. What happened in the middle?

2) A WOMAN’S COURAGEOUS ACT OF FAITH

English Standard Version Chapter 5

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And 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. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

Look with me at the middle of verse 24, through 29:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And 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. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

Here we have the introduction of a woman in the middle of this story; again, Jesus is on His way to heal Jairus’ daughter, and this woman shows up out of nowhere and stops the bus, so to speak.

Here’s what we know about this woman:

She’s not named. It’s not that she doesn’t have a name, but rather her name is left out of the story.

She has suffered for 12 years from what is called a “discharge of blood.”

We have a good guess as to what this discharge of blood is, base on how this particular phrase is worded. This disease that she suffers from, in all likelihood, is causing uncontrollable menstrual bleeding.

Some of the side affects of this type of condition:

Severe fatigue

Fatigue

Constant weakness

Shortness of breath

Dizziness

Headaches

Smell

This would have been a likely byproduct of first century hygiene.

Not only has she suffered from this condition for 12 years, but she also suffered under the medical care she recieved

John MacArthur writes: “ In NT times, it was common practice in difficult medical cases for people to consult many different doctors and receive a variety of treatments. The supposed cures were often conflicting, abusive, and many times made the ailment worse, not better.”

This woman, desperate for a cure, spent every single penny that she owned to pay doctors who amplified her suffering rather than cure it. The issue here is not that she went broke paying doctors who couldn’t cure her; the issue is that she went broke paying people who would cause her condition to worsen.

As if that wasn’t enough, this woman would have also been considered ceremonially unclean in the predominately Jewish society that she lived in According to Leviticus 15:25-27:

English Standard Version Chapter 15

25 “If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. 26 Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. 27 And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.

She is, by the definition in Levitical law, unclean. What that essentially means for everyone else is that they would be unclean by association to her, so the common practice of the day is for everyone to stay away from her.

In other words, she is a societal outcast, and no one dares come near her.

To summarize:

She is sick.

She has been tortured.

She is alone.

She is a woman who in every respect seems without hope.

But it just so happens that this woman hears about this guy named Jesus.

She’s heard reports of this Jesus, a man so powerful that he has healed every kind of affliction.

She’s heard reports of this Jesus, a man so powerful that he casts out demons and they obey him.

She’s heard reports of this Jesus, a man so powerful that he commands the wind to stop blowing and the waves to be still, and they obey him.

She’s heard reports of this Jesus, a man so powerful that He speaks with the authority of God Himself.

She’s heard reports that Jesus has healed every kind of affliction that has been brought to Him.

I’m willing to guess that with the reports that she’s heard about Jesus, she’s probably concluded by now that he is not just a man. He is the promised Messiah, the God-man, who has come to rescue His people from sin and build His Kingdom on earth.

Now, with nothing else to lose, she is willing to go and find this Jesus. With everything that she’s heard of Him, she has concluded that He is so powerful that if she only just touch his clothing, and that’s exactly what she does.

In faith of who she believes Jesus to be, she reaches out in faith to merely “touch” what Luke’s gospel describes as the “fringe of his garment.”

She is convinced that just to place the tip of her fingers on the very edges of his clothing will be plenty enough to heal her.

What is the result?

English Standard Version Chapter 5

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

Immediately, and quite literally without delay, this woman’s disease of 12 years is brought to an abrupt end.

What you and I might look at as a small act of faith leads to the biggest transformation for this woman. Her life has been completely changed in an instant - all because she had faith in who Jesus was!

We’re going to talk some more in a few minutes about the issue of faith, but before we move on I want us to notice several things:

The parallels between these two cases:

(BE Series Commentary) The contrast between these two needy people is striking and reveals the wideness of Christ’s love and mercy. Jairus was an important synagogue officer, and the woman was an anonymous “nobody,” yet Jesus welcomed and helped both of them. Jairus was about to lose a daughter who had given him twelve years of happiness (), and the woman was about to lose an affliction that had brought her twelve years of sorrow. Being a synagogue officer, Jairus was no doubt wealthy, but his wealth could not save his dying daughter. The woman was already bankrupt! She had given the doctors all of her money, and yet none of them could cure her. Both Jairus and the poor woman found the answers to their needs at the feet of Jesus (, ).

The parallels between this woman and us:

We are incredibly sick with a disease that afflicts us (Psalm 31:10)

English Standard Version Psalm 31

10  For my life is spent with sorrow,

and my years with sighing;

my strength fails because of my iniquity,

and my bones waste away.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans 7:24

It’s not a physical disease that makes us weak and gives us shortness of breath

English Standard Version Chapter 7

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

We look for remedies to soothe and heal our affliction, but the truth is it only makes things worse!

It is a disease of the soul that separates us from God Almighty!

Not only does our disease separate us from Him, it makes us unclean in His sight.

Look at me: I

Rather than going to him in faith to heal us of our affliction, how often do we spend whatever we have on other remedies to soothe our conscience?

Friend, only Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, can heal your affliction!

Only Christ can heal your soul!

3) THE INDIFFERENCE OF THE DISCIPLES (v.30-31)

Once this woman touches Jesus, Jesus immediately notices. His response is “Who touched me?”

It’s not that He didn’t know who touched him.

It’s the kind of question you ask when you find a pair of child-size socks left on the couch that are pink and purple with unicorns on them, and you call your kids over and ask “Whose are these?” Even though you know exactly whose socks they are, right?

That’s the question that Jesus is asking: “Who touched me?”

He is calling out to this woman to elicit a response from her.

However, the disciples are kind of annoyed by this.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

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

They’re on their way to see another miracle!

This miracle was going to be for a religious big-wig! Someone important!

Now Jesus stops everything to find someone who happened to touch Him?

The disciples seem very inconvenienced by someone that Jesus intentionally seeks to find.

4) THE RESPONSE OF THE WOMAN (v.33)

Regardless of the indifference of the disciples, Jesus doesn’t give up seeking out the woman who touched Him.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

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

He knows exactly who it is and exactly what happened and exactly who was involved, and Jesus for some reason wants to positively identify her.

When this woman realizes that there is no getting away from Jesus finding her, trembling with fear, she falls down at his feet and tells and confesses what she had done.

5) THE GREATER HEALING (v.34)

English Standard Version Chapter 5

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

CLOSING: