Corona Chronicles - Crown of Thorns

Welcome back. Last time, we were looking at the beginning of this little Mark sandwich. This is something Mark often does. He begins telling story, and then something else happens, and then he concludes the first story. So there's, like, the bread and then the the meat in the middle.

Last time we were looking at the bread of this sandwich, which is where a man called Jairus has come to Jesus and he's pleading with him to come and visit his daughter who's very sick and about to die. So as Jesus is on his way, we get to the meat of the sandwich, and we see another little scenario. And that's where we pick things up in verse 24. So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed round, and the woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years.

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. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. Because she thought if I just touch his clothes, I will be healed Immediately, her bleeding stopped. And she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once, Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, who touched my clothes? You see the people crowding against you, his disciples answered, and yet you can ask who touched me, but Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and trembling with fear told him the whole truth. He said to her, daughter, your faith has healed you.

Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus. The cynical leader, your daughter was dead, they said, why bother teaching them more? And that's where the the second part of the story picks up again. Yeah.

So it's it's a great it's a great sandwich, isn't it? Because in 1 step since you're going from the step of this woman who who has had this bleeding for 12 years and tried all the doctors, you know, would investigate that a bit more in a minute. To being healed. And then, the next step is is death that Jesus dealt with, which we saw last time. But this is a really, very, very beautiful story.

And I think people can get a little bit muddled with this, because here is this woman. She she touches him. She's had this bleeding. Gotta remember that because she was bleeding, she was unclean, constantly unclean. So she's constantly unclean under Jewish law.

And actually shouldn't really have been in the crowd in the first place. Right. So she's very nervous about being there. Yep. She seems to be, I guess, a fairly rich woman to some degree because she's able to go to doctors and try to get help, and none of that's worked, but she shouldn't really be there.

Woman bleeding like this. She has spent all her money as well now. So -- Yeah. -- perhaps if she was rich, she's now poor. Yeah.

Sorry. I meant that. She she she seemed to have She seemed to have money that she'd have put in this. But it's wasted all her money. It's brought her low, and there's no really hope for this.

Woman, and she's an unclean woman. And yet, she's in the crowd. So she's gotta do this sort of secretly. I don't think it means Jesus didn't know who touched her. No.

I I I because we know he knows things, I think he's drawing her out, and he's drawing of the disciples out. And I do love to think, as he's looking around the crowd, He's giving her time, Saluca. And I always wonder at these things that as he's looking around, he might have just got her eye. For half a second. For half a second.

Yeah. And and was basically saying, come on, you can come to me. Yeah. And then looked around again until she had courage to sort of come out. Yeah.

It is very very beautiful. Yeah. Isn't it again? Yeah. Yeah.

He treats her so So, sort of, delicately, doesn't he. And the way he calls her daughter in the end, I mean, this is an older woman. I guess, traditionally, he would he would call it something else more respectful or even actually, if she's unclean, perhaps like, what are you doing? Get away from me. But Yeah.

Who is who is a daughter if you're that you feel the father of that, you know. So the more you use Jesus saying he is here, Yeah. But it is very And again, it does remind us of the other story that the sandwiches in because it's the daughter, isn't it? Yeah. So so here's this woman bleeding.

She she's unclean. There's only really 1 place that she can think about going to. She doesn't want to make Jesus unclean, so she touches the hem of his garment, because if she touched him, he would become unclean. But he is more than happy to become unclean, to make people clean. Yeah.

And that's the cross, isn't it? Yeah. That's this that's that's what he's all about. Yeah. He has had to take people's uncleanness to make us clean.

And so he makes sure that she comes out. She comes out of the crowd, And, I mean, the disciples are all, well, what do you mean who long touched you? And, you know, there's hundreds of people touching you. What are you talking about? Yeah.

But he knows that there's faith here, doesn't he? Yes. That's what he knows. Yeah. Yeah.

And it's a great you're used to get it right. It's a great picture of the cross. And he you'll often do this. You'll often get everyone's eyes on the cripple or the lame person or the unclean person. It makes me think of the man with the shrivelled hand in the middle of the synagogue.

Mhmm. He was someone who probably would have been shunned, you know, as a sinner, look, God's given you hold hand because you're filthy. But yet, Jesus makes him stand up in front of everyone and does a beautiful thing, and he sort of heals him. So it's it's Jesus often wants to display this this kind of humble coming to him to be healed Yeah. I quite like this because there's no sort of in the bible.

There's no sort of You know, people cut I guess what I'm trying to say is people come to Jesus in very different ways, don't they? Some some come up to him like Jairus and they make that they make their plea. Others are very nervous and, you know, just want to a touch. Yeah. But, you know, 1 1 tiny bit of faith, 1, you know, I want to come to Jesus.

He's coming to you, isn't he? He's pulling you out the crowd. Out of all of the crowd, he's the 1 you he's at all of the crowds, he's the 1 No. She's the 1 that he's interested in. You know, he wants to see people trusting him and and believing in him.

And it is just it is a game. It's just so good. Yeah. Is it nicodemus who goes up in the tree? That's Exactly.

So he is. Yeah. He goes up in the tree. And again, yes, because he wants to see Jesus and Jesus pulls him out as well. Yep.

So, yeah. Yeah. It's exactly like that. And then, you know, daughter, you know, Go in peace. He says, your faith has healed you.

Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. Yeah. What an amazing sentence for the savior to say to anyone. Yes. Yeah.

Totally. And there's something about this faith isn't there also makes me think of the Roman centurion. Either yeah. The Roman student comes to him. And he says, my servants ill.

And Jesus says, well, alright, I'll come with you. And he says, no, you don't have to come with me. Yeah. Just say the word. Yeah.

And and she seems to have this faith that Jesus is able to somehow in himself feel her. And that's the faith that makes her well. And she's drawn out and and it's it's a wonderful thing. So there's the there's the Louvre the Mark sandwich. You've got this Jaurus's daughter calling the ambulance if you like Jesus.

He stops on the way and heals this woman that's been bleeding for 12 years and she's cleansed and life is different now. All her money has gone on this problem now, she can She's rich in many ways, isn't she? Because the flow of money, as well as the flow of blood has stopped. And then he comes into this place of death, and he wakes this teenager up from death. It's a beautiful thing.

So we hope that you are looking and enjoying and understanding and coming towards this Jesus in faith.