Sermon Mark 5:21-43 “A Savior’s Touch”
New Covenant Church
July 1, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
As American, we have a built-in reluctance to touch anyone or to have someone touch us. We protect a zone of space around our bodies which ordinarily others will not violate. When we meet someone we don’t want to stand too close. Rather we extend our right hand outside of our zone of privacy to shake hands with someone also protecting his space. I know that Koreans usually go farther than this to protect their zone of privacy. They stand at a distance from another person and bow without touching at all.
Of course, there are some people who like to get into our private space. We call these people huggers. Huggers will meet someone and inevitably will try to hug that person. I know some pastors who are huggers. They love to hug people in the congregation. I know of one church who had a pastor who had difficulty even shaking hands. When he left the PNC looked for a more personable pastor who would hug the congregation. They found a hugger for that congregation, but sadly that congregation was not ready for a hugger pastor. And he went to another church.
So what about Jesus? Was Jesus a hugger? Did he like to be touched and to touch others? Of did Jesus protect his own zone of privacy? We will get to this, but first, let pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
The disciples and Jesus have returned from the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They encountered a storm which Jesus calmed. Then they ran into someone possessed by demons and Jesus cast the demons into a herd of pigs. But they left all of this is behind them and Jesus is ready to resume his teaching and healing ministry in Capernaum.
Mark 5:21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.
Jarius has a daughter nearing death and he wants Jesus’ help. He is a leader in his synagogue. We are not told that Jarius was a rabbi. So he was probably someone who organized sabbath worship services like an elder would do in this church. And he wants Jesus to heal his daughter. He wants Jesus to touch her, lay his hand upon her, for healing.
Throughout the Old Testament, the act of laying on of hands was something done by a priest. A priest would place his hands on an animal and curse it will all the sins of the community. Then the animal would be sacrificed to God and all those sins were forgiven. This restored the people to a right relationship with God.
Jarius wants Jesus to lay his hands on his daughter not as a curse but as a blessing. He wants his daughter blessed by having all of her sins removed and restored to right relationship with God. And he believes that Jesus can do that. All Jesus has to do is touch us and we experience salvation.
But before Jesus can do this work for Jairus’ daughter he was interrupted.
24 A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 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. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
This woman had no business touching Jesus or anyone else. She had a chronic disease which would have caused her to be quarantined. But here she is, pushing through a huge crowd to touch Jesus’ cloak. And she was healed as if Jesus’ cloak was some kind of good luck charm.
Jesus was being bumped and pushed by the crowd as he was going to Jairus’ house. And he probably should have kept going because Jairus was a very important person and his daughter needed him. But Jesus stopped to find and speak to this woman who had touched him.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
So Jesus stopped his hurried journey to the bedside of a dying girl to try to find out who touched him. The disciples wanted to help find her, but the crowd was so big there was no chance.
In ancient times, when a person experienced healing from a chronic disease she would go to a priest for examination prior to being reintroduced into the community. So the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak presented herself to Jesus. She had to be scared to death to reveal herself. Everyone knew her. Everyone knew about her disease. And now everyone would know about her leaving quarantine and joining the crowd. But she had to present herself to Jesus. And Jesus, as a priest, pronounced her clean. Jesus saved this woman from a lifetime as an outcast and reconciled her to the community.
So Jairus wanted Jesus to touch his daughter so that she would experience forgiveness of sin and be reconciled with God. And the woman touched Jesus to experience healing of a chronic disease and reconciliation with the community. They both needed a savior, and so do we. We need a savior who forgives our sin and reconciles us with God. And we need a savior who will heal our diseases and reconcile us with our families and communities. And thankfully we have a savior, Jesus Christ.
After his encounter with the chronically sick woman, Jesus finally got to Jairus’ home and the bedside of his daughter.
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Jesus touched the hand of a young girl who had already died and brought her back to life. This too is what a savior does for us. A savior resurrects us from the dead and restores us to new life. And the savior who does that for us is Jesus.
So a savior forgives our sins and reconciles us with God. A savior heals our illnesses and reconciles us in community. And a savior raises us from the dead to eternal life. And the person who does all of that for us is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And Jesus does all of that through touch. He places his hands on us, like an ancient priest, to bless us, forgive us, and restore our relationship with God. He allows us to touch him to receive healing, wholeness, and peace. And he grabs our hands to lift us up out of our graves to life eternal in the resurrection. So don’t be afraid of our Savior's touch.
Two ways that we feel our savior's touch are in the sacraments. In baptism, we feel the water and we affirm our faith in Jesus. In communion, we feel the bread and wine on our tongues. Remember as we share that bread and wine today that this symbolizes our savior touching us, forgiving our sins, reconciling us with God, healing our diseases, restoring us to community, and resurrecting us to new life. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for being our savior. We thank you for blessing us with your touch. Lay your hands upon us to bless us with forgiveness of sin and restored relationship with the Father. Heal our diseases with your touch. And grab our hands lift us from death to eternal life. This we pray in the promise of scripture and in your holy name. Amen.
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