A father was talking with his rather rebellious son one day and said, "Every person who lives in the United States is a privileged person."
The boy answered, "I disagree."
And the father replied, "That’s the privilege."
Tuesday we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is a day we celebrate our freedom. But there is a different kind of freedom that we need to talk about today. Freedom that only Christ can bring.
Jesus had attained celebrity status. People were coming from all around to hear him teach. Even more to the point, they were coming to him for healing. We can understand. There were no reliable doctors. No MRIs. No CAT scans. Not even x-rays. No diagnostic tools of any kind. Only prayer and herbs and doctors of the most primitive skill and knowledge. So, people who were desperate for help had no reliable place to turn. But then word got out about a man whose very presence brought healing. So, quite naturally, the people rushed to him. And reached out to him. And, of course, he responded. Many were healed. And the net result was that even more people came. By the thousands they came. And they crushed around him, seeking to avail themselves of his healing power.
In the middle of the crowd was a woman who had been seeping blood for twelve years, what doctors would call a hemorrhage. How sad. How uncomfortable. How humiliating. Even worse, Leviticus 15 denotes such a woman as "unclean.” What this means is that no one was supposed to touch her as long as the bleeding continued. Her condition would prevent her from getting married. She was not even supposed to go into the temple for worship or religious instruction. She was a despised and solitary woman.
And there was no one who could help her. The Gospel writer tells us that "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.” The doctors had taken her money, yet had not given her any relief. So, here she is impoverished, an outcast, almost without hope.
What do you do when the doctors have done all they can do and you are no better? It happens, doesn’t it? Even today it happens.
The whole world was saddened last winter when Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died in a medical clinic in Mexico. What was she doing in Mexico? It’s simple. Doctors in this country had told her they could do no more for her. The clinic in Mexico offered hope. That hope may have been an illusion, but who can blame her? We’ll do anything for hope. Ask someone who has been in chronic pain and has discovered that even the finest medical professionals don’t have a clue about how to stop their pain. Many of these sufferers will go to any lengths to find someone who can give them relief. Wouldn’t you?
This woman comes to Jesus. She has heard that this is the physician she has been looking for. There she is in the crush of the crowd. She is in a delicate situation. She can’t cry out about her condition to get Jesus’ attention. The crowd would push her off to the side. No one’s supposed to even touch her. How can they help touching her in a crowd like that? "Unclean! Unclean!" She might even get injured. Who knows what an angry crowd might do? She can’t risk speaking up and having Jesus reach out to touch her, but, she thinks to herself, if I can just get close enough to touch him, just touch the hem of his garment, then maybe I will be healed. Probably the physician won’t even know.
But He does know. Jesus always knows. You’ve got a problem, you’ve got a need. Jesus knows. You kneel down by your bed and pour you heart out over some situation that seems to have no solution, Jesus knows. You take your deep concern to God, he knows. This woman came up behind Jesus and touched his cloak. Immediately her bleeding stopped and she was freed from her suffering. And Jesus knew. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
The disciples are mystified by Jesus’ statement. "You see the people crowding against you," they said, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'" But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. The woman is mortified. She thought she could hide in the crowd, but it didn’t work. She’s been found out, exposed. Mark tells us, "Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.”
We can feel for her, can’t we? Her condition was humiliating, and socially isolating. She’s probably kept it hidden as best she could for many years. But now it’s out there. No more hiding. No more pretending. Now everybody knows. Why couldn’t Jesus just heal her in private? Why couldn’t he allow her to keep at least a shred of her dignity?
But see, here is the point: exactly because the community had shunned her due to her condition, the community needed to know that she was now free from that condition. Confession is not only good for the soul, it helps us to be restored to our rightful place in the community. Jesus was not exposing her so she would be embarrassed, he was giving her the opportunity to come forward and to truly be set free.
He speaks to her. "Daughter," he says. This is the only time recorded in the Scriptures that he ever used this term "daughter." "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
"Be freed from your suffering." Be freed physically. Be freed socially. Be freed spiritually. Be freed!
What a beautiful and important story. There is someone in this room today who is feeling hopeless about some situation in your life. Maybe you’ve kept it a secret from your family, even your closest friends, but Jesus knows. Maybe it has to do with your health. Or your marriage. Maybe there is a situation in your family that defies healing. Perhaps there is a son or daughter you are concerned about. Maybe your business is failing and you are at your wits’ end to know how to reverse your financial slide. Maybe there is a secret sin that has you in its grip. And you think to yourself, if only there was something I could do. If I could touch even the hem of his garment, I would be set free. Our story today offers us hope.
First of all, Christ knows about your concern. If you have any question that Christ knows and is concerned about your situation, let me put your mind at ease. He knows. The depth of his knowledge is unsurpassed, and what he knows best is people.
Lloyd Ogilvie, former pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church, and a popular speaker and writer once spoke at a large convention. The woman who introduced him began by saying, "We have a very unusual privilege tonight. In our midst is without a doubt the world's finest communicator. He is extremely sensitive, alert, compassionate and wise. He can sense a person's true needs immediately and speak just the right word to heal a hurt."
Dr. Ogilvie later confessed that he felt both flattered and frightened. How could he live up to all that? He didn't have to. For as the woman came to the end, she said, "We are in for a tremendous experience tonight because this supreme lover of people is in our midst. Who is He? He is Jesus Christ. And now here is a man named Lloyd Ogilvie who will tell us about Him." (1)
Jesus is the supreme lover of people. "He can sense a person's true needs immediately and speak just the right word to heal a hurt." He knows your situation. But there is a second thing to be said: It is very difficult to carry a heavy burden alone. Is there a trusted friend or counselor with whom you can talk? Yes, you can talk to Jesus, but sometimes it is helpful to have a human being to whom we can unload our troubles.
Tony Campolo tells of going to a funeral home to pay his respects to the family of an acquaintance. By mistake he ended up in the wrong parlor. It held the body of an elderly man, and his widow was the only mourner present. She seemed so lonely that Campolo decided to stay for the funeral. He even drove with her to the cemetery. At the end of the graveside service, as he and the woman were driving away, Campolo finally confessed that he had not known her husband. "I thought as much," said the widow. "I didn't recognize you. But it doesn't really matter." She squeezed his arm so hard it hurt. "You'll never, ever, know what this means to me." (2) And it did mean more to her than she could express. Burdens are so much lighter when someone else helps us bear them. The woman with the issue of blood needed the support of her community. That is why Jesus had her confess her situation.
Is there someone you can turn to? Someone who will not break your confidence? Someone who will listen sympathetically without judging? Jesus knows about your situation, but sometimes it helps to share the hurt with at least one other person.
Here’s the final thing to be said: Don't forget your faith. Jesus said to this desperate woman, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." So often the answer to our problem is our faith in God.
Pastor Ray Stedman tells of a Barbara Walters' television program sometime back on which she interviewed three celebrities: Johnny Carson, Johnny Cash, and Walter Cronkite.
According to one viewer, Johnny Carson came across as the typical jaded playboy hedonist. Everything he said telegraphed the fact that he was living for pleasure, but, having tried everything and been everywhere he was fed up with the whole thing. Walter Cronkite was the suave humanist, the worldly philosopher. Now retired and wealthy, he is enjoying life as best he can. He was looking at life rather philosophically, but all he really was saying was, "That's the way it is!" Johnny Cash, on the other hand, admitted his background of alcoholism and drug addiction and the fact that he had virtually destroyed a marriage and wrecked his life. But he openly said he had found Jesus. There was peace in his eyes and contentment in his voice. He spoke of a hope for the future which neither of the others had. (3)
No doctor could have healed Johnny Cash. Only Christ could do that. Only Christ can heal a broken marriage. Only Christ can heal broken relationships within a family. Only Christ can give us hope when everyone else is telling us that there is no hope to be found. Only Christ can deliver us from sin. To be sure, we need to take our problems to trained professionals. We’re especially grateful to live in a time when medical science can do so much for us. And many people have been helped by marriage counselors and credit counselors and addiction programs and all the resources that are in our community to help those who are in distress. But when the doctors tell you there is nothing more they can do, don’t forget your faith. Jesus knows. Jesus cares. And he can speak words of freedom to us. "Daughter,” he said to this woman who had suffered so much, "your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." That is a word he speaks to us today. Be freed through faith in him.
1. From a sermon by Dave Wilkinson, Moorpark Presbyterian Church, Moorpark, CA
2. Philip Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990).
3. http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/john/3848.html