2007-01-07 - Healing Touch - Mark 5 25-34
Message: The healing touch Newport Baptist Church
Scr: Mark 5:25-34 Date: 2007-01-07
Have you ever been really sick?
Last 2 days – Flu – BAD! Biggest problem though was pain, not the symptoms, but the way in which my whole body ached.
Woman with the issue of blood
Problem for years! I can’t imagine
We all have issues… what is Your Issue
Scripture Reference: Mark 5:25-34
We all have issues. Some of us have big issues others have small issues but it can be certain that we all have issues. Some of us have come to realize that we have issues while others of us are still trying to figure out what’s wrong with everyone else in the world
Issues – Physical, Spiritual, Emotional, Financial, Relational?
- Here this certain woman has a certain issue (Verse 25).
This is not your normal ignorable issue either. Sometimes we can have issues that are insignificant enough that if we don’t bother them then they won’t bother us.
When I was a teenager – acne! Bothered me, but most of the time ignored it.
However this was not that type of issue. Dealing with blood was tedious and time taking. It restricted her travel she was in no way able to live life to the fullest because she was limited by this nasty issue that she was forced to bear.
- The issue had been with the woman for quite some time now. She had been dealing with this issue for twelve years now. When a person deals with something that long they can get the idea that they would rather just go ahead and live with the issue than continue to search and spend on ways to solve the problem. The bible says that she had spent all that she had. She had also went to the doctor several times verse 26
This was a lady of substance. She obviously was not poor because she would not have been able to see any doctor if she did not have any way to compensate them for their services. The woman had to be a little disheartened about the fact that she had tried so hard to solve her problems yet she could not see any healing. with all of her efforts her condition only got worse.
- I am sure that the woman considered the thought of giving up on the issue and trying to live with the issue as if it was supposed to be like this. It was impossible for this woman to lead any type of normal life with this issue because since the woman had an issue of blood society looked at her as if she was unclean
(Leviticus 15:25 ‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. 26 Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. 27 Whoever touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.
(Leviticus 15:31 “ ‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place,a which is among them.’ ”
- Since she was unclean she should have been prohibited from being around let alone touching anyone. Even if she did touch someone then she should have never touched any man.
The possibility of marriage was not to ever be thought of. The things that go along with being married such as sexual relations, child bearing and the like were supposedly never to be considered by this woman.
a good thing that this woman did not think like many of us in today’s society.
good that she did not think that she needed to clean herself up first before she could approach Jesus who could heal her.
Ill – Clayton in last church – baptized – told people at the concerts he did… afterwards – someone came to him and asked where he found a pastor willing to baptize a guy like him!
- When the woman touched Jesus the one thing that she had been missing all of this time had been immediately restored to her (Verse 29).
She had been searching for this thing and couldn’t figure out exactly what it was.
Whatever it was came to her immediately when she touched Jesus. The woman felt her body heal. She did not know what had happened and after all of her hard work and searching for someone to heal her when she finally found someone who could actually heal her the healing in her body made her frightened. It was not that she was healed that frightened her but it was the way that she was healed and by who she was healed that made her frightened (Verse 33).
- The fear that this woman felt represented the fact that she was immediately filled with the knowledge of God. She had an idea of who he was and what he was but the fact that she was suddenly healed overtook her and she was immediately blessed with this new knowledge along with the healing of her issues. Some of us need to get some issues in our lives fixed but are we really sure that we know who Jesus is.
The knowledge of Jesus was a new thing in her day. She really had to step out on faith which on one hand was easy because of how desperate she was to be delivered from her issues. The hard part though was to be able to walk away in the faith that she was actually healed and not just feeling a quick fix that would go away as fast as the man of God left her area.
This woman had to have faith that she was actually healed or the touch would not have meant anything.
Ill – man fall off cliff – is there anyone else up there?
Many of us have touched Jesus and we are truly healed and that was the easy part.
The hard part is to walk in the faith of your healing. Could you imagine when she went and showed herself to her loved ones? They probably jumped for joy right along with her for as long as she was in their presence but as soon as she turned her back and walked away they would probably make terrible comments saying things like “She’ll be right back in the same condition next week.”
The healing hand for Jesus is really not the hard part because Jesus is and will be a healer no matter how we feel about him. The hard part is for the person that he healed to actually walk in the healing that he has given.
Do we have the faith to walk in the healing that Jesus has so graciously provided us with?
CONCLUSION
When we finally realize that we have issues we need to look to Jesus to fix them. We don’t have to run around town telling everybody about our problems before we give God a try. We need to turn it over to Jesus and let it go.
It is truly amazing to me when I see a doctor do all that he can to help a patient with medicine and then come to the conclusion that he can do nothing else. It is usually at this point that the doctor turns around and says, “We have done all that we know how. All we can do now is pray.” Although this statements sounds good and gives temporary comfort to the listener the reality of it is that we should have been praying the whole time no matter what.
I’m glad we have doctors and hospitals, they are a gift from God, but!
All issues are truly not of medical nature however all issues are fixable by Jesus with just one touch.
He specializes in making us whole.
What is your issue? Is it physical? Emotional? Spiritual? Reach out to Jesus and he can heal you
Let’s Pray