September 14

Transcript

(Transcribed by TurboScribe)

We're in week three of our series, where we are talking about, we want to see Jesus, the man behind the miracles. And Lord, this is our prayer again, that in these moments you will take everything else away, because we only want to see Jesus. And this morning, Lord Jesus, thank you that we will see you, but there is a promise in there that you will see us.

In your name we pray, Amen. The miracle of being seen is the theme for today. In the Bible, two big words for the Lord, especially in the Old Testament, El Roi, the God to see, or Yahweh Yireh, or you know what in English is Jehovah-Jireh, which is complete law.

There is no such name as Jehovah for God, his name is Yahweh. Yahweh Yireh means the Lord who sees. El Roi, the God who sees, Yahweh Yireh, the Lord who sees.

And we're going to see him today. We're going to see Jesus, see us. And what a moment that is, when God looks at us and God sees you.

Our story starts in Mark chapter 5, and we're not going to read yet. Let me give you a little background, because I'm not going to read the whole story. There's two stories in one, actually.

Three stories in one, actually. Mark 5 starts with Jesus and disciples in the land of the Gerasenes. There they meet up with a man who is demon possessed by a legion of demons.

It's so bad that he hides in caves. They try to put him in chains, but he even broke the chains. When Jesus comes up, these demons in this man just yell out, Jesus, what do we have to do with you? Don't hurt us, don't hurt us.

And Jesus then chases these demons out of this man, casts them out. And there's a herd of, they say, 2,000 pigs. That was a lot of 2,000 pigs.

And these demons go into the pigs. The pigs decide to go for a swim in the lake, and they go over the ledge, and they're in the water. The man is excited.

The pigs are not so excited, and the owners of the pigs are really not excited. And so they ask Jesus and the disciples to rather just leave. So they get in the boat, they go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

Of course, whenever they land, wherever Jesus lands, there's a crowd. And again, there's this whole crowd. In the crowd, there's a man who comes up to Jesus.

His name is Jairus. Jairus was one of the leaders of the synagogue. He says to Jesus, please help me.

My daughter of 12 years old is sick, so sick that she's dying. Will you please help me? Jesus says, let's go. Let me go help.

The crowd goes with. They don't stay behind. So he's all crowded around him.

And this is where Mark then introduces us to a woman. He doesn't tell us her name, but he does tell us her condition. So we're going to read it little by little.

Mark 5, and I'm going to start in verse 24, the second part of that. A large crowd followed and pressed around Jesus. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years.

She'd suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors. Jay, that doesn't sound good. She suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors.

And had spent all she had. Yet, instead of getting better, she grew worse. Let's just stop there for a second.

12 years. Can you imagine struggling, trying everything? Some of you, some of us might understand, might know about praying, waiting, believing. But somehow you feel a little bit like this woman, that instead of getting better, you're just getting worse.

It's not changing. I can just imagine how hard that must be. Here's what I want you to hear this morning, and that's where I started.

Throughout this whole sermon, this whole reading, there's this promise that Jesus sees us, that Jesus also sees you. And there's a little slide for that if you want to put it on, Joel. Jesus will see you.

It's been 12 years, but you're going to see what's going to happen in this moment. Verse 27. But let me, before I read that, let me give you a little background.

I want to stand with the Bible in my hand. Let me give you a little background why I say that. So in the society in which this woman lived, with all the rules and regulations that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law put on all of the people, the problem she had with bleeding would have made her an unclean woman, which meant that she would be isolated, that she would be lonely because this is what it was.

If she was unclean and she touched anyone else, they would become unclean. If someone bumped into her by accident, they would become unclean. So she was not allowed to go to worship because if by accident she touched someone there, they would be unclean and they would be put out of worship.

If she touched anything in that synagogue, it would become unclean and useless for worship. So she was isolated, lonely, pushed to the side. Imagine that.

Not being touched. Not being hugged or embraced or just held. Not being seen because you wanted to be, they wanted you to be unseen, stay away.

But Jesus, Jesus will see. Jesus will see you in those moments. Now let me read to you.

Verse 27. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him, look at what she's doing. She's taking her life in her hands if they catch her out.

She came up behind him in the crowd and she touched his cloak because she thought, if I just touch his clothes, I will eat him. Just look at what she's doing, right? She's taking her life in her hands in that moment. But then there's this other moment.

She's tried everything. Been to every doctor, they messed her up. Paid every penny she had, she had nothing left.

If there was someone who had the right to say, I doubt, I don't believe anymore, I just give up, it was this woman. But she doesn't. What does she do? She seeks Jesus and all she does, and there's a slide for this, all she does is she reaches out to Jesus in faith.

Here's the second thing I want you to remember. Faith reaches out when everything else runs out. She had nothing left.

She tried it all, was done, but she didn't give up. She reached out again. Have you been there? Have you been in those moments where you've tried it all, where you've done it all, and it just seems like been there, done that, and nothing has changed, and my mind says to me rationally, just let it go, just give it up.

It's never going to change. Well, that's exactly where she was, but she didn't listen to the rationale. She reaches out to Jesus, but there's a little word that I need to put in there.

She reaches out to Jesus in faith, because you see, here's the thing about faith. Faith is not a doctrine. Faith is not a belief.

Faith is not just a statement. Faith is a move where you from where you are, and you reach out to Jesus. It's taking action.

It's reaching out. It's going toward you when everything else has run out. Faith reaches out.

When faith reaches out, it seems great, because in faith, we don't always see. Remember what Hebrew says. We don't always see, but faith says, if I can just touch, that's all I need to do.

Put my hand out, and I will hear him say yes, and I will see him see me, and I will know that he's doing it. I hope you hear that. I hope you get that, because sometimes it just feels too much, right? I've been there.

I've been there in my own life, where it's just like, I just can't do this anymore. I just can't handle this anymore, and it's so easy to say, I'm done. Just take a moment like this woman.

Reach out. That's all. We all have stuff that we deal with.

We all go through struggles, but we don't have to do it anymore. The God who sees, sees. Let's finish this story, because it's amazing.

Immediately after she touched Jesus' clothes, her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. And once Jesus realised that power had gone out from him, he turned around in the crowd and asked, who touched my clothes? Look at the disciples. You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answer, and yet you can ask, who touched me? What a beautiful, beautiful moment.

Third thing, and there's a slide for that, Joel. The third thing that I want you to know is Jesus responds to faith, and not just to our needs. That's a big word that I'm saying here.

Jesus responds to faith, and not just our needs. He's not the one where I put my little bucket list, and I take them off one by one, because he has to do it. Jesus responds to my faith.

I love this moment, this crowd around him, people are over, and Jesus says, who touched me? And the first reaction is exactly that, that the disciples said, oh come on Jesus, there's a whole bunch of people around you. What do you mean who touched me? They all touched you. That's our first response.

Second response in our mind is, it's Jesus, come on. He knew exactly who touched him. He's Jesus.

That's not what he's doing here. That's not what's happening in this moment, in this place. He's asking this question, because he wants this woman, and he wants everyone around him to see that this woman is not just a problem to be solved.

This woman is a child, he is a need, that he's seen, and he's going to be loved, and he's going to be treated. But I want you to see something else. In calling her out, look at the story, and sometimes we miss the story behind this story.

What did I tell you about her? She's unclean. She's not supposed to people. When she touches them, they're unclean.

Now I want you to just go read the story this afternoon. How old was the little girl? Did I tell you? Twelve. How long did the woman suffer? Interesting.

Little girl, remember the story? When Jesus gets there, she's dead. What were dead people in those days? Unclean. What does Jesus do? He touches her.

What happens with this unclean woman? She touches him, and he's unclean. No, he's not, because that's what Jesus is saying. No one is too unclean for me to touch, or for them to touch me.

I can never be too unclean, and that's why he calls it out, who touched me? So that they could see it's the unclean woman that you have cast out, that you don't want to touch, that you don't want to see. Well, let me tell you something. She's my child.

She's my daughter. I made her, and when I look at her, I see her the way that I made her, not in her uncleanness. May we see each other the way that God touched her.

I did, and I'm not sorry, but there's a good but in verse 32. But Jesus, Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it, and then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet, and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. Actually, the better translation is, and she told him her whole story.

What a beautiful woman. There she comes, and in that moment, she can just open her life, in the presence of this woman. Jesus has been doubtful.

Maybe in those years, I doubted. Maybe in those years, I just faltered. Maybe in those years, my faith wasn't that strong, but Jesus, when I saw you, and I knew you were going to see me, I just couldn't help it.

I just needed to, and everything else runs out. Faith in Jesus. Tell him your story.

It's okay. He wants to hear the whole story. What does he do when we tell the truth? Jesus said to her, verse 34, daughter, your faith is yielded, so go in peace and be freed from your suffering, or your suffering is over.

Child. See what he sees? He doesn't see a woman who's unclean. He sees a God, someone that needs to be protected and be loved.

Your faith, that faith that reached out, is yielded. Go. Go.

You're free. You see, that's the power of faith that reaches out. Our faith is not a belief that God will do what I want, but faith, and there's a slide for this, Joel.

Faith believes that God will do what is right every time, all the time, in his time. Sometimes it feels like, boy, this is just too long. This is just never going to change.

Well, there was this guy called Lazarus. He was dead before he really was alive and living. There was this man who was filled with these demons and imprisoned in his own body before he became a preacher.

If you read about him, he actually started preaching. There was this man who was lying as a paralytic on his little stretcher before he ended up in the desert, and the God he sees saw him. Jacob was lying there, having to run away, and the God he sees saw him.

Ruth had nothing, lost it all, and the God he sees saw him, and we were lost, broken, and the God he sees sent his son so that we can reach out, knowing that God will do what is right every time, all the time, in his time. Thank you for the God you see. Take a few moments, silent prayer.

Oh, Lord, thank you. Thank you that you know, you know it all, even if we just touch the clock, because you know us, and you love us, and you call us by our names. You call us precious and honour, because you, Lord, you created us to glorify yourself, and thank you that when we feel that we are broken and hurting, and struggling, and lost, that all we do is to reach out in faith, for we know you, Lord.

We have seen you in our lives so often. Thank you that you continue to be there. If there is someone in this place that needs healing today from whatever it is, Lord, that they are struggling with, will you help them to reach out, and just touch, and to see healing? If there's someone who is hurting today, will you help them just to reach out, and to touch, to know that you will see? If there is someone who is desperate and seeking, thank you that you will find them, because that is who you are.

Thank you for your grace, and for your love, and thank you for your amazing work. In Jesus' name, amen.