If you turn in your Bible, it's that passage we read in Mark's Gospel. Mark chapter 5.
! Mark chapter 5.
And we'll read from verse 24, the middle of verse 24. Mark 5, from the middle of verse 24.
A great crowd followed Jesus and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge
of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she
had and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus, came up behind
him in the crowd, touched his garment, for she said, if I touch even his garments I will be made well.
And immediately the flow of blood dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
And Jesus perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the
crowd and said, who touched my garments? And his disciples said to him, you see the crowd pressing
around you and yet you see who touched me? And he looked around to see who had done it. 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. And he said to her daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed
of your disease.
Having a name is very important. I mean, one of the first things that we do when a child is born
is to name that child because, I mean, imagine a child without a name would be a bit weird going through life.
What's your name? Oh, my name is no name. It's a bit strange and it always baffles me, to be frank, where
people have babies and then they take weeks to decide on a name. I just can never get my head around that.
I mean, you've had a good bit of time to decide on a name.
Sometimes people look and they'll say, oh yeah, yeah, but it doesn't look like a colon. I mean,
who wouldn't look like a colon? I think it's a wonderful name. But everybody gets a name.
And in the Bible, names are very important as well, particularly in the Bible because
names in the Bible mean something. Names in the Bible communicate something. Adam is called Adam
because he's the father of mankind. Eve is named Eve because she's the mother of living. Jacob
was named Jacob because figuratively grasps the heel. He's a deceiver, which is what he was.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus is called Jesus. Why? Listen, why? Because he will save. That's what he came to do.
He came to save his people from their sins. So names communicate something and names are very,
very important. But sometimes names, people in the Bible are not named.
And so whilst I'm saying that names are important, sometimes people in the Bible are not named. Like
this woman. We don't know her name. She's unnamed, but she's certainly not unimportant. And let's
always remember that. There's lots of unnamed people in the Bible who the Lord uses to teach us
wonderful lessons. Unnamed people in the Bible whom the Lord gives to us, shows us,
He saves in order to give us encouragement and hope. And so today this woman, I'm going to look at this
woman, this woman with the issue of blood as we know her, this bleeding woman who's unnamed
and yet not unimportant. I want to give a wee background to what this woman was like.
Because she was not just unnamed, but she was very unfortunate in much of her life. She was socially
isolated. She had this bleeding problem, this issue of blood. And so according to Leviticus chapter 15,
everything she touched would become unclean. She could not or should not touch anything and anyone
she touched would become unclean. So you can just imagine nobody wanted to go near her. She was
unclean like a leper, unclean, unclean. She couldn't hug anybody. She couldn't or shouldn't go to
gatherings or mix freely. Twelve years she had been socially isolated. She was religiously excluded.
She couldn't go to church, synagogue or temple. Synagogue was basically, synagogue was more like a
community center that was also used for worship services. Temple was more kind of religious.
But she couldn't go to these places or shouldn't go to these places because she was unclean. So she
was cut off from people, but cut off most importantly from the life of God's people. She wasn't a church goer.
Socially isolated, religiously excluded, financially exhausted. We read in verse 26 that she had spent
all her money on physicians, suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had,
and was no better, but rather grew worse. She had no money. She spent all her money on the doctors,
and the doctors took her money, and they also, though, took her hope and her energy,
and left her feeling worse. So here's this woman. She's lonely. She's unclean. She's broke. She's tired.
She's exhausted. She's hopeless. But that's the kind of person Jesus came to meet.
That's the kind of person Jesus still comes to meet today. Do you feel like that?
Do you feel in some way unclean, excluded, hopeless, helpless, exhausted, weary?
Jesus comes for you. And we have that made very clear by this woman whose name we don't even know,
but whose life was touched and transformed by the Savior that we do know. And if he can do it for her,
my friends, he can do it for you. And so there's three things I want us to think about today
as we think of this unnamed but not unimportant woman. The first is this. There's timing.
There's the timing of Jesus coming into her life. Not just her life, but the timing of Jesus coming
into Jairus' daughter's life as well. So it begins in verse 21, the passage, with Jairus coming to see
Jesus. His daughter of 12 years of age is very, very sick. And in verse 22, he sees Jesus. He falls at
his feet and he implores him. That's a pleading word. He's desperate. Who wouldn't be desperate?
If your child was sick to death? Who wouldn't be? So he comes and he's imploring him, Lord,
please, my little daughter's at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her. So he makes his way
to see this daughter. And then the woman gets in the way and stops Jesus from going to see Jairus'
daughter. The woman stops him, interrupts her sword looks, and then he heals the woman.
I wonder, do you know what it's like to be impatient about something? Are you ever impatient? I'm sure
many of us are impatient. How often have we said, you're late? I mean, sometimes we say, you're early.
That's equally annoying to me, to be honest. I like people to be on time. But we're all kind of
impatient in one way or another. We're impatient with people. Maybe we're impatient with things.
Have you ever ordered on Amazon, or there are other places you can buy goods from, and they'll tell you
it's going to be here in 48 hours. And I don't know, do they think 48 hours means 10 days? Maybe in
another world it means that. It gets very frustrating. Makes me, in a way, very impatient.
Well, I think there may have been a great deal of impatience with Jairus, and maybe even this
woman. From Jairus' point of view, here's his daughter who's desperately unwell,
and this woman steps in, and Jairus may have been thinking, what are you doing, Lord? Why are you
stopping? Did you not hear what I said? My daughter's dying. Why are you stopping on the way? Why are you
standing around? And when Jesus stands around and he says, who touched me? The verbs in that passage say
he would not let it go. He kept on saying, who touched me? Who touched me? I can imagine Jairus being
very impatient. Do you not realize my daughter is going to die? What's happening here? From Jairus'
point of view, there was a bad timing. But from heaven's point of view, this has been ordained.
This has been scheduled. This is the way it was always meant to be. Maybe even the woman. The woman,
12 years she had suffered. That's a long period of time. 12 years. Maybe she was thinking, why did
Jesus take so long to come this way? Where was he? Where was he when I needed him? Why did he allow
me to suffer for 12 years? From her point of view, perhaps, there was a level of impatience. But from
Jesus' point of view, it was, this was the appointed time. This is the ordained time. And Psalm 139 is,
the main message of Psalm 139 is, all our days ordained for us were written in your book before
one of them came to be. Everything is according to the appointed time of God. He's never too late.
He's never too early. He's always on time. So there are no, with God, delays or disruptions or
cancellations. It's just his appointed time. And we see that very clearly here in this passage today.
There are many things that we see about Jesus and notice about Jesus and I think are amazing about
Jesus. But have you ever thought of this one thing? Jesus was never in a hurry. No matter what he had to
do, no matter where he had to go, he was never in a hurry. No matter how desperate a situation, in fact,
sometimes the more desperate a situation, he would actually hold back. Think of Lazarus and maybe others.
Why? Why was he never in a hurry? Because his timing is sovereign and his timing is certain
and his timing is perfect. You know what, friends? Maybe today we need to slow down a bit.
Maybe we need to synchronize our timing. So in March and in October, we change our watches, don't we?
Spring forward and fall back. Everybody does it or else you'll be out of time with everybody else around you
and all the best with that. Why don't we? Maybe today is the time, the day to synchronize our watches,
the watch of our lives, according to Jesus' time, according to the Lord's timing.
Change our timing, how we view life, talk to him, walk with him, time our lives by him,
which means giving our lives to him and say, the time piece of my life, dear Jesus, is in your hands.
So there's timing. The second thing is this. There's a touch. That's a big feature in this passage,
of course. There's a touch the woman. Jesus is coming to him. Jesus is passing by. And she said in
verse 29, if I touch even his garments, I will be made well. And immediately the flow of blood dried up
and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. A touch, a simple, slight,
but saving touch transformed this woman's life. Touch in the Bible is often used. The Bible uses
lots of pictures to describe what faith is. And touch is one of them. Touch. When the apostle Paul
was in Athens, in Acts chapter 17. Do you remember that passage where he goes to Athens and he's
looking around the city in Acts chapter 17 and he reasoned with them and he saw how they were so
religious and he wanted to show them. He says, I see you even have an altar to an unknown God. I want to
show you who this unknown God is. And this is what he says when he's proclaiming to the Athenians,
the God who made the world and everything in it, the Lord of heaven and earth doesn't live in temples
made by hands, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives
to all mankind life and breath and everything. He made all men to live on all the face of the earth,
wherever they are, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.
Why? That they should seek God in the hope that they might feel their way towards him and find him.
So Paul is saying to the Athenians, God puts people everywhere, wherever they are in the world. Why?
So that they might reach out and touch him. That's what he's saying. That they might just reach out
and touch because he's never far away. The Lord is never actually far away from us, as he goes on to
say, because he is everywhere present. So I think that the image of touch, the picture of touch is a
great picture for us to get an idea of what faith in Jesus means. It's a touch.
It's a touch. It's a touch. And there's three things I want to say. First is this. It's a simple touch.
It was only a touch. She doesn't come, this woman doesn't come with a speech and she doesn't make a
scene and she doesn't ask for an audience. She doesn't create a drama. I mean, her problem was
massive and she might have thought there needs to be something huge here in order for me to be
healed and saved like Naaman the Syrian. You remember Naaman in 2 Kings 5, you had this terrible
problem with leprosy. And when he went to Elisha and Elisha said, basically, dip yourself seven times
in the Jordan. He says, it must be more complicated than that. There must be more to it than that.
And Elisha said, no, it's not. It's simple, not dramatic. It doesn't need to be dramatic.
And that woman or this woman got this. She realized, all I do, all I need to do is touch.
A simple touch. If I touch, she says in verse 28. If I touch. See, faith does not need to be
complicated. I think we think faith needs to be complicated. Sometimes I think we think faith needs
to be complex, but it doesn't. If I just touch him and that touch reveal the power and release the power
of Christ to change her life. A simple touch. Faith in Jesus is, it's about knowing him. It's about a head
knowledge. Faith in Jesus is also about a heart knowledge as well. We need to know him in our hearts.
But faith in Jesus is also the hands. Faith in Jesus, true faith in Jesus, simple faith in Jesus,
must involve the hands. It must involve action. The apostle James, or James in the book of James, says,
faith without works is dead. See, we can say we believe in God. I trust that everybody here today
believes in God. But James says, you believe in God, so does the devil. The devil doesn't reach out to
touch Jesus. The devil doesn't reach out and say, Lord, save me and Lord, heal me. Believing is one thing,
but believing that response and action is another. And that's the saving faith that this woman had.
She reached out simply to touch him. And that simple touch transformed her. Do you have that belief today? Do you
have that faith today? You believe in God, yes. You believe even in Jesus, yes. But have you reached out
with a simple touch? There's a simple touch. Secondly, there's a slight touch. It's just his garments. It's not even
himself. In verse 28, it's not even himself. It's touched his garment. I think in some version it says,
touched the hem of his garment. The word there means the tassels, the edges. It's not the whole garment even.
It's just the very edge of his garment. So not only is it a simple touch, it's a slight touch. She doesn't
grab his arm. She doesn't hold on to him like Mary Magdalene or doesn't wash his feet like the
immoral woman in Luke who washed Jesus' feet and wet his feet with her tears and her hair. She didn't do
any of that like Mary Magdalene grabs Jesus and holds on to him. She just touched the fringe of his
garment of his cloak. The very hem, the very tassel, the very edge.
The smallest possible contact with the greatest possible Savior. That's what this woman had.
It's the minimum of faith which receives the maximum of grace. Just a slight touch. Do you know that
slight touch today? Do you know that ability, that desire just to even touch the hem of his garment?
You might say, but I don't know much theology. I don't know much about the shorter catechism or
the Westminster Confession of Faith or maybe even my Bible. Or I haven't gone through a ritual or I've
not had any powerful experience. That does not matter, friends. That does not matter. That'll come
in time. But I'm asking, do you have that sense? I need
Jesus and I'm willing even to touch just the hem of his garment.
That's what's needed.
In fact, all she knows
or all we know she knows is that she needed
to be made clean
and she believed that Jesus
could and would do it.
And that was it. That's it simply.
We sang in Psalm 109, I am poor and needy.
Do you know that you're poor and needy?
Do you recognize that?
And willing to
simply
and slightly even
reach out and touch
this Jesus?
Do you know
if you have
a bare wire
that's connected to a power station
you don't have to
grab that wire
in order to feel its power?
Am I right?
And I trust you would tell your children
don't even touch that
because if you just
touch a bare wire
or touch something
that's exposed
that is powerful
even the slightest touch
is enough to
show you its power.
And so it is with Jesus.
You do not need to know everything.
But do you know enough?
I need him
and he can
and he will
heal me
restore me
save me.
A touch
a touch
which was simple
and which was slight
and which was saving.
Verse 29
we read that
immediately
the blood
flow of blood
dried up
and she felt in her body
that she was healed
of her disease.
And verse 34
Jesus says
daughter
your faith has made you well
and that word
made you well
is the word
to be saved.
It's a Greek verb
to be saved
used in different contexts
but when Jesus says
your faith has made you well
go in peace
she was saved.
Being justified by faith
we have peace with God.
She was saved
and healed.
Her life was
utterly transformed
and turned around.
And how?
By a simple
touch.
By a saving
touch.
And it happened
immediately
12 years
of suffering
ended
immediately
not progressively
not after a while
but right away
through a touch
on the garment
of Jesus.
And that's what Jesus
does friends.
When Jesus
heals
or Jesus saves
he does so
fully
and finally
and forever.
He really does.
The wonderful hymn
to God
be the glory.
The second verse
one of the lines
in the second verse
is this
the vilest offender
who truly believes
that
what's the word?
Moment from Jesus
a pardon receives.
Not gradually
or eventually
but that moment
from Jesus
a pardon receives.
Immediately
the woman's blood
the issue of blood
was dried up.
That's what he does
because his power
is such
that he can work
immediately.
That is why
Jesus is so different
from every other
medicine
or offer of help
we might get.
If you take something
like an antibiotic
you've got to take it
over time
or maybe something
like a prophylactic
medicine
you've got to take
to keep a disease away.
It's something
that's ongoing
and progressive.
Being saved by Jesus
is something
that happens
immediately
right away.
Right away.
for all
who will reach out
and touch
even the very hem
of his garment
right here
right now.
Can I ask you
this morning
it still is morning
can I ask you
how would you
describe yourself
before God
today?
How would you
describe yourself
before Christ
today?
A leper
an outcast
an offender
shamed
broken
abused
sinner
think of how
you would
coming into
the presence
of God
describe yourself
that definition
or description
that is
keeping you
away
from God
I can't
come to God
because I am
one of these
and maybe a multiplicity
of these things
you know
one simple touch
and one slight touch
upon the Lord
Jesus Christ
will completely
change
your standing
before him
to the broken
we become healed
sinners
become saints
that just means
set apart
for Christ
the guilty
become forgiven
the lepers
are cleansed
the outsiders
we become
insiders
in other words
everything that
keeps us
from God
everything that
keeps us
from Christ
everything that
keeps us
from the fellowship
of belonging
to the family
of God
immediately
the Lord
Jesus deals
with it
so do not
hold back
do not
stand back
simple faith
reach out
faith
reach out
and touch
faith
will utterly
and completely
transform
your life
if you will
reach out
and touch
him
today
and so
there's the
timing
and there's
the touch
and then
very briefly
there's the
transformation
and this
woman's life
was transformed
and Jesus
friends
I mean
hallelujah
Jesus
always transforms
lives
isn't that
great news
he utterly
transformed
this woman's
life
in so many
ways
but you know
one of the
amazing things
I think
in this passage
that stands
out for me
is this
look at verse
34
he said to
her
this is the
woman
who was
known as
excluded
and don't
go near
her
and all
of these
things
he calls
her what
he calls
her daughter
she hadn't
heard that
term for
decades
and decades
but now
the son
of God
says
daughter
what an
amazing
thing to
hear from
the mouth
of Jesus
she's
his daughter
family
language
and that's
what he
does for
all of us
she comes
to him
in verse
33
in fear
and trembling
and fell
down before
him
and this
to me
is
it's
concerning
and it's
interesting
because maybe
today
maybe you
are afraid
of God
and maybe
the fear
of God
has been
drummed
into you
and maybe
that is
what's
keeping you
away
from God
also
and I'm
not saying
today
that the
fear of
God
is wrong
but the
correct
fear of
God
is right
but not
a fear
of God
that draws
us to
God
and to
Christ
is very
good
a fear
of God
that drives
us away
let me
tell you
that is
not a
true fear
of God
there's
something wrong
with that
John
the apostle
says
perfect love
drives out
fear
and he's
using that
in the sense
of I'm
afraid
like she
was
and maybe
today
you are
afraid
you're
full of
fear
and you're
full of
trembling
and you
think I
can't
come to
him
but the
Lord
is waiting
for you
to reach
out and
touch
him
and the
Lord
is waiting
to restore
and to
redesignate
your life
as daughter
as son
as child
as loved
one
don't be
afraid
in fact
he says
that to
Jairus
later on
when his
daughter
was dead
don't be
afraid
somebody
said
it said
somewhere
that
the phrase
God's
phrase
don't be
afraid
appears
365
times
in the
Bible
do you
believe
that
it's
actually
not
true
it
sounds
great
you know
it's
a lovely
thing
one
for
every
day
but
the
fact
is
the
truth
is
that
God
does
say
throughout
the
scripture
again
and again
do not
be afraid
he wants
to draw
us
he doesn't
want to
drive us
away
God
so loved
the world
that he
gave his
one and only
son
not to
drive us
from him
but that
whosoever
would believe
in him
whosoever
would reach
out and
simply
seemingly
slightly
touch him
even the
hem of his
garment
would be
saved
that to
me
speaks
very
clearly
of a
God
of love
and grace
who wants
to draw
us
and not
to drive
us
to bring
us
from
outcasts
to family
from sinners
to be
saved
and that
is what
he calls
you
today
this
woman
unseen
unnamed
unknown
unfortunate
worn
down
many
long
years
on the
edge
of hope
but this
story
says
you may
be unnamed
in this
world
you may
be unfortunate
in so many
ways in this
world but you
are never
unimportant
to Jesus
never
ever
his timing
is perfect
his power
is present
and his
touch
still saves
and his
grace
will turn
you
into a
son
and a
daughter
I'm going
to close
now
with a
poem
that I
read
it's in
William
Hendrickson's
commentary
on Mark
actually
I remember
reading it
years and
years ago
and I
remember
it came
back to me
when I was
preparing for
today for
this morning
and it's a
wonderful poem
that a
woman who
heard a
minister
preaching on
this passage
sent to
the minister
and it
says
who
touched
me
t'was the
voice of
the master
and the
woman's
heart beat
faster and
faster
trembling
she came
and bowed
her head
I touched
you Lord
was what
she said
the master
answered
go thy
way
thy faith
has made
thee
whole this
day
have you
touched
me
I heard
it
t'was the
voice of
the master
and oh
my heart
beat
faster and
faster
you came
with a
throng
to God's
house
today
but I
felt not
your touch
as you
went on
your way
I was
ashamed
and bowed
my head
reach out
a bit
further
the next
time
he said
hear Jesus
calling you
reach out
a bit
further
today
our father
we thank
you for
the power
of the
gospel
for the
love of
Jesus
and we
pray that
we might
every one
of us
here
in this
building
today
know
what it
is to
reach out
and touch
to reach
out
and to
be
transformed
to reach
out
and receive
forgiveness
and healing
and new
standing
through
Christ
with you
we ask
these things
in Jesus
name
amen
we're going
to sing
our final
psalm
from
psalm
34
page
247
psalm
34
from
page
247
we're
singing
verses
8
to
11
oh
taste
and
see
that
God
is
good
and
the
psalmist
there
David
is
saying
he's
not
asking
us
to
enjoy
the
whole
meal
he's
just
saying
taste
and
see
that
God
is
good
you
know
when
you
taste
something
gives
you
a
taste
of
what
is
to
come
and
that
is
what
this
woman
did
she
touched
and
she would
much
better
taste
and
see
that
God
is
good
who
trusts
in
him
is
blessed
psalm
34
verses
8
to
11
we
stand
to
praise
God
oh
taste
and
see
that
God
is
good
who
trusts
in
him
is
blessed
fear
!
God
is
good
to
be
with
what
oppressed
God
is
good
and
may
be
and
he
be
and
they
may
lack
their
food
but
they
that
truly
seek
the
Lord
shall
not
lack
any
food
O
children
hither
do
ye
come
and
unto
me
give
hear
I
shall
you
teach
to
understand
how
ye
the
Lord
choose
hear
and
may
grace
and
mercy
and
peace
from
Father
Son
and
Holy
Spirit
be
with
you
all
Amen
take a
seat
folks
just
before
you
make
your
way
out
just
like
I
said
at
the
start
just
to
come
back
to
one
of
the
items
in
the
bulletin
sheet
I
wanted
to
leave
it
to
the
end
and
hope
that
it
wouldn't
be
too
much
of
a
distraction
during
the
preaching
and that
is
the
matter
of
the
future
of
the
seminary
it's
on
your
bulletin
sheet
and
there's
a
note
there
that
there
will
be
a
congregational
meeting
on
Wednesday
the
28th
of
January
at
7.30
p.m.
that will
be in
the
seminary
and the
meeting is
being called
with regards
to addressing
the future
of the
seminary
and especially
the proposed
sale of
it
it's not
an easy
matter
of course
and it
has had
much
prayer
and still
requires
much
prayer
from us
all
and
today
so prior
to the
meeting
today
there is
a sheet
going to
be
distributed
as you
go
out
which
contains
more
information
about
the
process
that's
been
followed
and
just
various
bits
and pieces
about
how
we're
looking
at
things
and
on
the
evening
itself
there will
be a
more
detailed
presentation
given
where they
go into
more
detail
about
the
items
mentioned
on that
summary
sheet
that you
get
today
and
there'll
be
an
opportunity
for
questions
on
the
evening
as
well
and
I
want
to
encourage
as
many
of
you
as
possible
to
come
along
on
the
evening
to
be
involved
in
this
whole
process
and
to
be
able
to
give
any
questions
that
you
would
wish
to
ask
on
the
evening
so
you'll
get
this
sheet
as
you
go
out
read
it
before
the
meeting
and
then
you
can
come
maybe
more
prepared
and
more
informed
about
the
process
so
thank
you
for
your
patience
thank
you
for
making
this
a
matter
of
prayer
and
do
keep
praying
about
it
Colin
will
go
to
the
main
door
now
and
I'll
go
to
the
door
to
my
left
here
if you
just
give us
a
moment
for
that
as
Thank you.