Healing

Mark 5:24-34
So Jesus went with him.A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”


Mark is the shortest of all the gospels.  I wanted to preach on this woman and her healing, and I wanted the full story.  Usually Mark is the one who reports the facts and only the facts of a story.  Luke was a physician and he records the most miracles of healing - he was clearly fascinated by the medical aspect of all the healings.  So I had planned to use Luke's account of the Gospel; but Luke records the story of this healing in just a few words.   - but I remembered a few more details and so I checked Matthew and Mark.

Matthew wrote for a largely Jewish audience - so in his book you are most likely to find proof of fulfillment of prophesy.  He had the same account as Luke.

But while Mark told the same story, he added a few details of importance.  Mark is the one who captures most fully this woman's plight.
We think that Mark was the young man who ran away naked in the garden.  

vs. 26 says that she had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse.

Luke the Physician simply states that no one could help her.  We don't have to look very far back into our history to find medical practices close to those practiced two thousand years ago.  The first world war was the first one in which any real painkiller was given to injured soldiers.  In the American Civil war if an arm or a leg needed to be amputated there was a good chance you would die from the infection.  Surgery without painkillers or an understanding of germ theory was deadly and obviously avoided at any cost.

Of course this woman had been sold every potion and chemical that a salesman could sell.  She had tried every home remedy, she had visited magic healers and doctors.  She had suffered much at their hands.  She had spent all of her money, and she had only grown worse.

In ancient days, and truly just until the last few decades, people knew exactly when they would die.  People got quiet sick and they died that night or the next day.  This is why famous people in history have beautiful dying words.  Today our medical belief is that it is better for someone to be kept alive by a machine than to die at home.  This is perhaps why you don't ever hear of modern celebrities and political figures' last words.

This woman's disease was unique.  It was clearly killing her, but she had been in her "final days" for twelve years.  For twelve agonizing years this woman had been in excruciating pain.  She had gone from doctor to doctor and never got any better.

And this woman sees Jesus, with the crowds pushing in around him, and this woman truly believes that if she can just touch the cloth of his coat that she will be made well.  This woman who has been poked and prodded by every doctor, who has drunk every poison and punch, this woman who has been experimented on - she knows in her heart that if she can just touch Jesus' clothes that she will be made well.

This is the most tremendous idea.  This woman who has had everything done to her - she decides in her heart that if Jesus really is who He says he is - that she can take the healing for herself.  Perhaps she was too scared of another crushing blow of disappointment if it didn't work.  Maybe she was too afraid even to ask Jesus for the miracle.  She was a woman and sick and for both of those reasons she shouldn't have been in the crowd of men following Jesus.

But she follows her heart and faith and begins pushing her way in toward Jesus.

This is Jesus the celebrity.  He is known for his miracles and his healings.  As soon as he steps out of his boat the people begin crowding around to see what he will do next.  When an important official asks him to come and heal his daughter, the crowd goes wild in anticipation of seeing this miracle first hand.  The crowd crushes in just to get a glimpse of this miracle in action.

There are so many things that crowd us.  The busyness of life and schoolwork and work-work all keep us from the silence and stillness.  Email and facebook and Vkontakte all keep us busy.  There is always a song on the radio or on our music player.  Our entire generation is somehow afraid of being still and silent.  The silence is frightening.  The world is crushing in on us and we like it that way.  We don't want the silence.  Sitting down face to face and just talking can be scary.

And throughout the Bible we read of these bold types who come up to Jesus directly and plead their case.  Jarius who's daughter is deathly ill comes and throws himself at Jesus feet just moments before we meet this woman.  Over and over someone comes up to Jesus and begs or demands something of him.

And even in this crowd, we feel this woman's silence.  The strongest sense of loneliness can be felt at a party full of people and no one to talk to.  No one notices this woman.  For more than a decade perhaps, no one had noticed this woman.  Perhaps she had been beautiful and wealthy and in love - but this day she looks old, tired, and sick.  She has no money left and she is alone.  This is a woman who has suffered.

I don't need to retell the hell that we have faced this summer.  We are a hurt and damaged people.  We are in pain and we have suffered much.  This is our reality.  Our semester is starting and our schedules and activities are beginning to weigh us down.  The crowd is pushing in and in this moment we must be certain that if we can just touch the fabric of Jesus clothes that we will be healed.

What does that mean for us?  What would it mean for us to touch the hem of Jesus cloak?  What needs healed in your life? What can God do for our group to continue to heal us? As the world crushes in what promise or idea can you grab on to to be healed?

As we sing our final songs, please take a marker and write on this piece of cloth.  Write your problems, your worries, your prayers.  Hold on to the hem of Jesus cloak and write what is on your heart.  Bring it up and place it here on this table.

When we reach out to Jesus we will be made well.

This woman immediately knew that she had been healed.  After twelve years of sickness, she felt the bleeding end and knew that she was well.  My mom had back surgery more than 20 years ago.  At that time it was an experimental procedure.  She couldn't stand up before the surgery.  Afterwards they offered her painkillers and she just looked at them puzzled.  "Why? I'm in much less pain now than I was before the surgery."  She said that as soon as she woke up she knew she was better and she wouldn't be in pain any longer.  She said it was one of the most tremendous feelings of her life.

And Jesus knew that she had touched him.  He knew that she had  reached out and had been healed.  He felt the power going from him.  Dear friends, over and over again since our tragedy we have felt God's hand on us.  Last week we promised that we would be meeting in an apartment in Kulisha - when that apartment fell through I was so upset.   I went to my quiet place to pray and I prayed, "God, we have had so many problems these last few months.  I got a little pushy and I said, "If we were going to learn our lesson - don't you think we would have learned it by now."  The leadership group has been fasting and praying for this place - and I get a little grumpy when I don't eat enough. 

We had called a realtor and talked with her about our needs and she said that she would have time on Friday to look  After I finished praying, this woman called me back and said that she had one option we could look at.  We met and Valodya and I went with her to view the apartment.  I smiled a little smile of relief as I read the sign of the last tenants - без проблем - as God once again taught me the lesson that I need to learn better - that God is with us and is watching over us.

It's easy to believe that in the midst of the crowd our needs are small or minor.  This is not true.  Our needs matter to God. 

When we are in need of healing and hope we need to go to Jesus.As you write and bring your piece of cloth forward, know that God is healing you.  Feel God's presence as He continues to heal our community and restore us.

God is with us.  God's great love has watched over us for the years we have been a community, through the accident, through the summer, and God is still with us.  Tonight we hold on to the hem of his garment and our faith will make us well.

Amen.