Title: Sickness to Salvation/Mark 5:25-34
The event in this text is an accidental incident that occurred while Jesus was traveling and evangelizing throughout Judea during his evangelistic life, and was on his way to Capernaum to heal the daughter of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. In particular, at this time, we would like to share the grace with you while pondering the Word against the background of the healing of a woman suffering from a hemorrhagic disease.
The existentialist philosopher Kierkegaard said that everyone has a disease that leads to death. So he said that life is the existence of death. This means that humans are dying every day.
The desperate figure of the woman who suffered from hemorrhage for 12 years mentioned in the text would be a representative example. In this story, a hopeless event in life turned into a hopeful one. Thus, the existence of death became the existence of salvation. We would like to consider a few facts through this text.
1. This woman stands in the face of a desperate existence.
This woman's disease itself is a disease that leads to hopeless death. Hemorrhagic disease itself is an incurable disease that cannot be killed by itself, and is still a disease that is not well understood medically. It is a disease in which the blood in the human body leaks and eventually the blood dries up and the person dies pale. It's a life-limited life that is alive, but has already been confirmed to be dead. Therefore, according to Leviticus 15:25-30, such a person was forbidden from entering the temple, not being able to touch him because he was unclean, not allowed to appear in the congregation, and no one wanted to see him, and he was divorced from his husband. In other words, it was a life with no hope whatsoever.
You said you worked hard for 12 years, but 12 years here means a very long period of time. It symbolized the full life of Judea, and it means that now they are exhausted from disease and are dying. It means that you are on the verge of death.
The woman was troubled by many lawmakers. Since ancient times, the more evil the disease, the more difficult and superstitious to cure it. According to Jewish custom, there are six ways to cure this disease, but it seems that all of these methods were mobilized to the woman.
Even in our country, if you suffer from a hay fever, you can startle them, frighten them, roll them in a bale and let them pass by, or wet a towel with water while sleeping and let them pass like a snake.
The woman wasted all her wealth. The weaker the person, the stronger the attachment to life. There is nothing to waste for one's health. Perhaps this woman divorced her husband when she contracted the disease and may have inherited a considerable fortune from him. Therefore, they must have been precious possessions received on behalf of her husband. The fact that when this woman came to Jesus, she came back and touched the collar, it can be inferred that she was originally from a good family. Then my husband must have been a very good person. He would have given the woman a considerable fortune to heal her sickness and divide her wealth so that she could live her life. But all that money was wasted.
But there was no effect. The saying that a hundred pills are invalid may be referring to this woman. Perhaps the most unfortunate thing on earth is being afflicted with an incurable disease. A disease without medicine is an incurable disease, not an incurable disease.
A female butler who lives with an artificial heart in her chest came to me. "Pastor, I'm going to die soon. My heart is starting to stop. I feel sorry for my husband and I feel sorry for my children."
Who can prescribe the sickness of these poor people and cure this terrible disease that leads to death?
“Hear me, dear Savior,
Call me when you say I am a sinner."
2. God's grace has turned man's worst condition into his best opportunity.
This is called the special grace of God. The God who turns darkness into light, sorrow into joy, tribulation into blessing, the God who changes the shadow of the sun, the limits of the earth, and the surface and the other side of history. You have changed it into life, and you have changed the sorrow and sorrow of a hopeless woman into joy, joy, praise, and hope. We need to think of the Lord, who has changed our own circumstances in this desperate, desperate, extreme situation, with the bitterness of life that sometimes strikes us like a chill.
“Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (Psalm 119:67).
Lord, I would not have sought you if I had not suffered. Had it not been for me, I would not have sought the Lord. Without sorrow and loneliness, I would have died without ever finding the Lord.
Let's go back to the main text and discover the new truth of faith through the process that led to the salvation of a poor woman.
1) This woman has heard of Jesus.
There are two types of beliefs today. They are the form of faith that sees and believes and the form of faith that hears and believes. Faith that sees and believes is prevalent in pagan religions and primitive religions. So they make objects, make idols, use talismans to attach them, and show some visual signs. They even sell atonement tickets, smell them, and put pictures on them. But Christianity is a hear-and-believe religion.
In Romans 10:17 it says, "Therefore, of faith...", in John 20:29 Jesus said to Thomas, "Do you believe in me?" In 1 Peter 1:8, "You do not see Jesus. I couldn't, but I love you."
As I said last week, everyone who saw and believed in Jesus left. However, among those who heard the words of Jesus and believed, there were saints who were saved. What was wrong with Nicodemus' faith was that he believed in Jesus as a teacher who came from God because of the signs that Jesus performed (John 3:2).
2) There is grace that leads to salvation to those who seek it.
Christianity is the religion that God came to first. God the Father came to man (Genesis 3:9), the Son Jesus came to us (John 1:14), and the Holy Spirit came to the congregation (Acts 2:2).
Also, Christianity is a religion that receives God's grace through the hands of faith. Luther said that faith is the only way man can be saved and have eternal life. That faith comes only through the Word of God (Gospel). It is the Word, not me, that creates faith. Faith is the power of God, not the power of man. In faith, man shares in the power of God.
From the human side, we must come to God with faith. Only then can we receive God's grace. But even that faith can be said to be a gift from God.
3) This woman had modesty and humility in life.
When this woman heard about Jesus, she came, mixed with the crowd, came back and touched the Lord's clothes. The woman did not come forward, but came back. This means that this woman, this poor, sick woman, had real humility. You must have thought that you couldn't boldly push a lot of people out. I dared not look up and see the face of the Lord. Here lies the humility, modesty, and sincerity of this woman.
4) This woman had faith in absolute power.
This woman had the belief that just touching the edge of the Lord's clothes would heal her. This woman was not healed simply because she touched the Lord's clothes. It was because of such faith that he was healed. Here we have to be careful. We have to be on the lookout for contact theology, sensory theology, spirituality theology, and witchcraft theology.
3. There was faith to hold on.
"Ruth said, "Do not compel me to go back and not leave my mother and follow you. Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. You will be my God, and where you die, I will die and be buried there. If I go away from you except to die, the Lord will punish me and give me more" (Ruth 1:16,17). . Ruth followed her mother-in-law Naomi (Ruth 1:14).
Even in desperate situations, let us not be discouraged. God can turn the worst into the best. In order to solve problems, we must have faith and hold on to God. Let us all hold fast to the Lord and live a life of faith moving forward.