Pivot - 3

Pivot - 3

Matthew 9:18-26

Introduction

Words can be a tricky thing. One word can mean different things to different people. Or one word can mean different things depending on its context and usage. Let me show you what I mean:

We must polish the Polish furniture.

The farm was used to produce produce.

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

This was a good time to present the present.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

The bandage was wound around the wound.

Our text for today introduces us to a word. A very important word. Yet it is a word that can mean more than one thing to more than one person. That word is ‘faith.’ What is faith? What does it mean to have faith?

TS - perhaps it may be best to define faith if we see faith in action. That may help us firm up in our minds what it means to have faith and what it means to live by faith. Our text for today does this very thing.

Matthew 9:18-26 - 18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. 20 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, 21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. 23 And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went through all that district.

As often happens, the other Gospel writers include these same accounts. The Gospel of Mark carries this same account and fills in some of the gaps and gives a bit more information. A synagogue ruler comes to Jesus…Mark tells us his name is Jairus and that his daughter is 12 years old. Mark also includes the detail that the daughter is not dead yet, but almost. So picture Jairus…he is a loving father whose daughter is sick and at the brink of death. He is anxious. He is fearful. He wants nothing more than rescue for his beloved child. So he goes straight to the only one who could help. Jesus agrees and they are on their way to his house. It worked! The one guy who can help has agreed to help! Jairus dares to hope again.

Mark tells us there is a large crowd who is pressing in on Jesus. He heals. His teaching is life-changing. Everyone wants to be around Jesus. It is in the midst of this crowd that one of the greatest acts of faith ever recorded will occur. It is in the midst of this crowd that we discover what faith is and what it means to have faith. All from the most unlikely of examples. In this crowd is a woman. She is sick. She has been hemorrhaging blood for 12 years, ironically the same number of years that Jairus’ daughter has been alive.

This is a woman who is at the end of her rope. Mark includes the details that she has seen every doctor. She has spent every dollar. She has tried every supposed cure. Nothing has worked. She is anxious. She is fearful. She is exhausted. She too is at the brink of death. But there is something about this Jesus that makes her think he can help.

TS - it is in her coming to Jesus that we find the foundation of faith. In fact it begins with the fact that she comes out of her house. Faith…

TAKES A RISK

This may have been the very first time she has ventured out of her home in 12 long years. This is a good Jewish woman who honors the OT Law. But here is what that Law says about people like her:

Leviticus 15:19-24 - 19 “When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. 20 And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean. 21 And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 22 And whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. 24 And if any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

I’m sure that when you woke up this morning you thought, “you know what I’d like to learn about at church today? Discharge!” But think of it…this woman has been ceremonially unclean for 12 years. Everything she touches becomes unclean. Everyone she touches becomes unclean. She cannot go to the synagogue to worship. She cannot spend time with family and friends. She has to avoid going to the store for food. This illness has isolated her. Women in this condition were kept quarantined so as not to contaminate others. 12 years!

So her presence in this crowd would be enough to shock most of the people. And since Mark describes the crowd as pressing in around Jesus, she has come into contact with many of them. She should’t be out in public at all, but she is. She risks public ridicule, shame from the crowd. She risks possible shaming from Jesus. She doesn’t know how he is going to react. He is a good, honorable Jewish rabbi. Maybe he will publicly condemn her for her actions. But she does it anyway and risks it all.

Faith risks being mocked for beliefs that are not respected in the world. Faith risks being misrepresented and maligned because of biblical values. Faith risks ridicule and shame from those who do not understand. Faith risks losing friends in the name of sharing the Gospel with them. Faith risks forgiving when it may mean you are betrayed again. Faith risks the humiliation of saying you are wrong and asking for forgiveness.

TS - why risk all this? Why would this woman risk such public humiliation and shame just to go outside? Well, she had to. That’s where Jesus was. She has suffered for 12 years - trying all cures, all medicines, spending all her money. She had looked everywhere for healing, but none was ever found.

RECOGNIZES JESUS AS THE ONLY HOPE

She had tried everything…except for Jesus. She knew Jesus was the only hope left for any healing in her life. Isn’t it true of us, that Jesus is sometimes the last person you go to or the last option you explore? After you’ve exhausted all your other efforts and options, then we think it might be best to give it over to him. How foolish we are! Faith recognizes Jesus as the only hope. Not because we have exhausted all the other options and he is all we have left. But because he was always the only hope.

One author has written that people have a God-shaped hole in their life. It can only be filled by him. Yet the story of so many lives is their attempt to fill that God-shaped hole with anything and everything else.

anything that will give them a temporary high, trying to numb the lagging low they feel every day. With relationships, hoping their presence and their attention will fix the loneliness and low self-esteem. With money or pleasure, thinking maybe they can be the answer to all the problems.

Jeff Higginson, a good friend now with the Lord, who worked for years with the homeless at Inner City Mission in Springfield, said this one year at a week of church camp: “If true happiness and true healing could be found in alcohol, drugs, sex, money, or pleasure, then all the residents at the mission would be the happiest people in the world. But they’re not. They’re the most miserable, the most devastated, the most broken. It is only through Jesus Christ that they come to find peace.”

You see, you can search the whole world over for something to make you whole. You can try every which way to fill the God-shaped hole in your soul, but nothing can fill it but God himself. Faith is with the realization that Jesus is more important than anything else because only He has the power to save, only He has the power to heal, only He has the power to give life. He is the only hope.

TS - but this woman’s story is far from over. And to me, this is where it gets really interesting. Notice Mark’s account:

Mark 5:27-29 - 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.

What is it about Jesus’ clothes that healed this woman? Were they made from some special material? Why did his clothes carry such power? The healing of this woman has much more to do with her faith than with Jesus’ fashion. Let me explain.

In Malachi 4, the OT prophet Malachi looked forward to the great day of God’s coming, the day of the Messiah. As he looked forward to that day, he writes this words about this promised Son of God:

Malachi 4:2 - 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

While that might not seem to have anything to do with what we are talking about, the Jewish scholars of Jesus’ day believed this verse was a prophecy of the promised Messiah to come and of the healing power he would have. What is so interesting is that, according to Jewish tradition, the phrase “rise with healing in its wings” came to carry with it the idea that the Messiah would be so powerful that even his clothes would have healing power.

As this bleeding woman comes to Jesus through the crowd that day, taking a risk, realizing her only hope was in Jesus, it is obvious she believed Malachi 4:2 to mean just that. Remember what is going on in her mind…If I can just touch his clothes I will be healed.

TS - so when she reached out her hand to grab Jesus’ cloak, this woman wasn’t making a meaningless gesture. Faith…

PUBLICLY DECLARES JESUS TO BE THE SON OF GOD

She is proclaiming to this watching, pressing crowd that she believes Jesus to be the long-awaited Messiah, the Son of God, the Sun of Righteousness, and that he had indeed come with healing in his wings. Jesus then takes this public declaration one step farther for her. Matthew reports that Jesus turned to see her and they spoke and it was all over. Mark lets us know that much more has occurred.

Mark 5:30-32 - 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.

Though this woman, due to the circumstances she is in, may have wanted to remain anonymous, Jesus would have nothing of it. In the middle of the huge, bustling crowd, Jesus is looking for one person. But why? Why look for just this one? Why take the time? Remember, Jesus is on his way to heal a 12-year old girl. Why stop and find this woman? Because faith is very personal.

Faith is not about merely believing a few religious truths or practicing a few religious traditions. That is part of it, but not all of it. Faith is a personal experience with Jesus Christ and his saving power. Yet…while faith is always supposed to be personal, it is never supposed to be private.

Mark 5:32-33 - 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

He confronts her personally and she confesses her faith. Faith is always personal and faith is always public. This is one of the reasons why baptism is so important. Baptism is a public identification with and participation in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. And before we baptize people in full view of the crowd, we have them repeat the Great Confession, originally confessed by the Apostle Peter in Matthew 16:16, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. We do this because it is the backbone of our faith. Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God.

Faith takes a risk, doing whatever it takes to get to Jesus. Faith recognizes Jesus as the only hope. Nothing else can fill that void. Faith publicly declares Jesus to be the Son of God. And look at the result of faith:

Matthew 9:22 - 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

Once this woman encounters Jesus, she will never be the same again.

‘Daughter’ - I imagine that word exploded her heart. God welcomes those who have faith and calls them his sons and daughters. A family term. A relational term. Meaningful for someone who has been isolated from people for 12 years. Mark records that Jesus told her to ‘Go in peace.’ Shalom means wholeness, complete. A body that has been broken is now whole. Relationships that had been damaged by her illness could now be restored. All that had been neglected in her life because of pain and weakness could now be finished. The shame and the humiliation she lived with day in and day out were taken away forever.

Back now to the original story with Jairus. He is still standing there watching all this go down. He too takes the risk to come to Jesus. He too recognizes Jesus as his only hope. But does he have the faith this woman has? He is anxious. He is fearful. His daughter is dying. And now they’ve been sidetracked by this woman. And though I am sure that he is amazing by Jesus’ power, I’m also quite sure he is in a hurry to get Jesus back to his house to his daughter.

Matthew tells us that Jesus just goes straight to Jairus’ house and raises his daughter. But Mark records that is another interaction here. One that puts this issue right in our face:

Mark 5:35 - 35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

Can you imagine being in Jairus’ shoes in this moment? He had done all he could do. He had a moment of renewed hope as Jesus agreed to go with him. But now it is too late. The situation is hopeless. But look at what Jesus says to him in the midst of the bad news:

Mark 5:36 - 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

You’ve seen what I can do. You’ve seen what I did for this woman. Don’t you believe I can do the same for you? Only believe. How much faith do you have?

It is a question Jesus has been asking every man and every women through the centuries. It is the question he has been asking you your entire life. And in the end, it is the only question that matters - how much faith do you have? This is the only question that matters because faith not only takes risks, and recognizes Jesus as the only hope, and publicly declares Jesus to be the Son of God…faith in Jesus Christ raises the dead.

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