Mark 5:21-43

In our house, there is a hidden space that I alone can see. Jess can’t see it. Caroline can’t see it. Benjamin can’t see it. Hannah can’t see it. Because only I can see it, I consider myself responsible for cleaning it, and because it is visible only to me, I often put important items, like bills or my glasses, in this hidden space. So, what is this place that only I can see? Is it a secret safe stashed under my bed? Is it a hidden drawer? It is some figment of my imagination? Nope. It’s the top of the refrigerator.

It never occurred to me that only I could see the top of the refrigerator until one day Jess removed some flowers from the top and left behind a pile of petals. I was puzzled why she would only partially clean the fridge top. I guess I should have cleaned it myself, but I kept thinking, “Is she going to get that?” After a couple passes by the fridge, it hit me: She can’t see the petals because she can’t see the top of the fridge. I stooped to her height to confirm, and sure enough, the fridge top disappeared. We were looking at the same thing, but because we had different perspectives, we saw different things. She saw a clean fridge, and I saw a pile of flower petals.

Has something like that ever happened to you? Maybe your friend or spouse or child is furiously pointing at something, asking if you can see it, but you just can’t see it. “It’s right there!” they keep saying (and pointing), but you can’t see it. So what do you do? You go stand where they’re standing and look with them. And lo and behold, there is the bird/sign/thing they were seeing. It was a matter of perspective. It took standing where they were standing to see what they were seeing. 

Today we begin a new series, Seeing like Jesus. In this series, we want to change our perspective. We want to learn to stand where Jesus stands so that we can see what Jesus sees. We want to look like Jesus by looking like Jesus. To do that, we are going to consider several stories that will help us see like Jesus sees. The first story we will examine appears in Mark five.

Mark 5:21-43

[21] And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. [22] Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet [23] and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” [24] And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. [25] And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, [26] and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. [27] She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. [28] For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” [29] And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. [30] And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” [31] And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” [32] And he looked around to see who had done it. [33] 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. [34] And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

[35] While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” [36] But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” [37] And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. [38] They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. [39] And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” [40] And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. [41] Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” [42] And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. [43] And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

What I love about this story…

I love this story. It is one of my favorite scenes in the ministry of Jesus. I love this story because we see so much of what it means that Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is fully God. He has power. He has power to heal sickness. He has power over death with just a word! But he is fully man. He walks among the crowd. He is present and gentle. He comforts the father eye-to-eye. He wakes the girl (from death) with a touch and a whisper. He is a God who is far off, great and mighty, but he is also a God that is near, kind and dusty from our roads.

But, while there is much we could discuss and marvel at, I want us this week to focus on one thing in particular: the Jesus who sees the fearful, anonymous woman. 

Standing with Jesus.

Let me briefly point out a few aspects of this scene so that we might stand with Jesus and see as he sees.

• Jesus is not too busy to notice. He’s among a great crowd, headed to the house of a leader on important business. But he has eyes to see this woman that no one sees.
• Jesus is curious. He wants to know the story. He engages a half-second interaction. What an encouragement to think that in the same way God acknowledges my small and fleeting attempts of connection and prayer and wants to respond to me.
• Jesus is determined. His disciples give the typical reaction: Who touched me? You’ve got to be kidding me! There’s no way! Who cares? How many leaders are carried away by such protests? Pilate “wanting to please the crowd” dropped his objections to the punishment of Jesus and had him crucified. But Jesus insists. He will find this woman.
• Jesus is freely gracious and overflowingly powerful. The woman just touches his clothes in faith and God grants her prayer and instantly heals her. Think of what this scene means. The grace of our Lord is so powerful that he heals with a touch, and it is so freely given that it seems their are storehouses ready with it, waiting for the simple faith that accesses it. Would that we were so free with our gifts and strengths, that they were so available.
• Jesus is timely. It’s interesting that she had this problem for 12 years. I wonder what she thought all of those years. I wonder what her friends thought. She didn’t know and they didn’t know all those years that this moment was coming, but it was…at just the right time. Apparently, there is no darkness too deep, no ground too fallow that God cannot break through and bring life. There is no hopeless situation.
• Jesus touches the untouchable. According to the ritual purity laws of the Old Testament, this woman’s condition made her perpetually unclean. She was literally untouchable, and she trembled at being caught touching a respected Rabbi. But Jesus is not concerned about the touch.
• Jesus names the unknown. We never learn her given name, but Jesus names her nonetheless. He calls her daughter, and like that, she has a whole new identity and a whole new life. She goes away forever changed by this man named Jesus.

Now, I know we are flying here, and we don’t have the time to deeply dwell on each of these points. So what do we do with all this? What does all this mean? What do we do with this story and these points? 

Well, as we conclude, I hope for you two things.

First, I hope that you will be encouraged today. This story should remind all of us that Jesus sees us in our story, in our saga, maybe when nobody else does, and he is ready and willing and able to engage us there, even at the deepest point of our need. The crowd, your coworkers…your friends, may say, “What heartbreak?” But Jesus sees your broken heart. The crowd may have lost track of the time, but Jesus says, “I have counted the days of your suffering, every tear.” The crowd may not know your name. They say, “What guy? Who?” But Jesus says, “My son. My daughter.” Jesus says to you today, “I see you, and at just the right time, I will deliver you.” How do I know this? Because Jesus left heaven to take the form of a servant to die on a cross for your sins. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). This is the Gospel, that God is mindful of dust-made man, that God knows the name of the nameless and that He sends His Son on our behalf. What wondrous love is this! Be encouraged today, church.

Second, I hope that this story will help us begin to gain the perspective of Jesus, to stand where He stands and see as He sees. Obviously, we are not identical to Jesus, but I do believe we can look more and more like Him as we look at others more like He looks at them. So, who is the trembling hem-grabber in your life? Maybe their story is 12 years old now, and you’ve nearly forgotten. Who at work or in your family or on your street or in your apartment complex has tried to reach out, but you had never really registered it until right now, in hindsight? Maybe they alluded to a loss. Maybe they were leaning in for an invite. Maybe you said, “How’s it going?” and they said, “Ok” with a shrug and a hesitation, hoping you’d probe further, but you didn’t notice. Today, if you walk over to where Jesus is standing, do you see who he sees? Do you see someone new?

At Immanuel, I hope and pray we would all have eyes to see those who need Jesus. They’re all around us if we have eyes to see. May God give us those eyes.