Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are at a great distance in space from our lovely Savior, Jesus Christ. He is in heaven, seated at the right hand of God, and we are yet on this earth. He was on this earth at one time, but we are separated by a great span of time. . .20 centuries, from that time He was in the world.

     However, when your Lord and Savior was about to leave this world and return to the Father, He promised to send the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and especially the Spirit of the Son, who would bring the presence of the son to the hearts and lives of believers of every age and every place. St. John tells us in his gospel, chapter 16:14 that Jesus said about the Spirit, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you.”

     What is Christ’s, is the love and compassion He showed to His people while here on earth, and what is Christ’s is that same love and compassion, as He sits upon the throne of His Father.

     What the Holy Spirit does for the church, for you and for me, beloved, is to bridge what we can’t bridge, to make a living connection between us and Jesus. He connects us to the works and miracles of Jesus while He was on the earth, and the love and power of Jesus as He is in heaven. This is the promise of the spirit Peter mentioned in Acts 2, the wonderful promise that the spirit reaches across the vast distance of time to bring us through the Word, this miracle of Jesus. At the same time the same Spirit assures us that through Him we have a living connection by faith to Jesus right now in heaven.

     So let’s praise God for this blessing, and pray that through the preaching of the Word of this miracle our connection to Jesus Christ by faith may be widened and deepened.  I want to consider this miracle under the theme: The Faith Connection.

     Not only Mark, but Matthew and Luke record this miracle. These first three gospels are sometimes called the “synoptic”, a word coined in specific reference to these gospels. It came from two Greek words, sun meaning “together”, and optsis, meaning “seeing”. It means that Matthew, Mark, and Luke generally told the same stories about Jesus and have many parallel passages.

     Our passage begins with Jesus crossing back by boat to the other side. He had been in the country of the Gadarenes where He had cast out the legion of demons. So He crossed the Sea of Galilee and a great crowd of people followed Him. Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, and falling at Jesus’ feet begged Him to come to heal his daughter who was at the point of death. He asked Jesus to come and lay His hands on her, that, said Jairus, “she may be healed, and she will live.”

     Jesus answered his request by going with him towards his house. As He went the entire great crowd of people went along, and, says the Bible, “thronged Him.” That means the crowd was pretty tight, they pressed against one another and against Jesus as He went along.

     “Now,” says our text, “a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.”

     Perhaps the first thing we should note here is that because of her constant flow, discharge of blood, she would be considered. . .unclean. Indeed, the law of Moses specifically labeled her as “unclean.”

     In Leviticus 15 God instructed Moses to tell the people: “If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, other than at the time of her customary impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity. She shall be unclean. ‘Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity; and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. ‘Whoever touches those things shall be unclean; he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.” (Lev. 15:25-27 NKJV)

     God went on to say, “Thus you shall separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness when they defile My tabernacle that is among them.” (Lev. 15:31 NKJV)

     Does not this woman really represent Israel? Did not Christ pronounce woe against the scribes and Pharisees because although they were clean on the outside just like whitewashed gravestones, yet inside they were full of abominations? Ezekiel many years before said this of Israel: “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity.” (Ezek. 36:17 NKJV)

     Indeed, Israel was like an unclean thing to the Lord. They washed the outside of the cup, but left the inside dirty. They defiled the temple of the Lord with moneychangers, making God’s house of prayer a den of thieves. Yes, this woman represented Israel in all her uncleanness. Though you wash yourself with water, said God through the prophets, your uncleanness is still with you. Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin; can a leopard remove his spots? Then, said the prophet, shall you Israel, be able to remove your iniquities from you. Yes, just like this woman, Israel had gone in vain for help.

     This woman had, says our text, “suffered many things at the hands of the physicians”. She had spent all that she had, but instead of finding any relief, instead of getting better, she became worse. But this, beloved, was the way of our fathers. You should know their history. They went to Syria for help. . .they went to Assyria for help. . .to Egypt, to Babylon. And each time they purchased the assistance of these kingdoms, these nations, by robbing the treasuries of the temple, by finally cutting off the gold from the doors of the temple. But instead of providing help, instead of coming to the aid of Israel, these nations were the curse of Israel. Israel became defiled through their contact with these nations.

     Israel had a God, the great God of Abraham, but Israel forsook her God and went to a man. But vain is the help of man. Yet she was not yet finished, even at the time of Christ. For as a final and devastating attempt, she appealed to Rome. She finally said, “we have no king but Caesar”. but Caesar did not cure her but kill her. Caesar destroyed her.

     And what of today? At every level we have forsaken the fountain of living waters and dug out for ourselves cisterns that hold no water at all. On the national level and for the sake of our oil supply we have allied ourselves with such a filthy nation as Saudi Arabia, and we are polluted because of it.

     We drain our resources exploring Mars for signs of life when the God who created all things is near us. We take men and women whose lives are emotionally and physically wrecked, and spend millions treating them with psychiatrists, and for all that, they become worse. How many defiled, unclean, people walk this land today? Unclean because of drugs, because of drunkenness, because of sexual sins. And where do we send them?

     There is a fountain, says Zechariah, opened for the house of David for sin, and for uncleanness. To this fountain the woman in our text came. “When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, ‘If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.’ “

     There are commentators, and Calvin is among them, who think that this woman’s faith was mixed with error because, instead of coming right to Jesus and asking to be healed, she kind of snuck up behind Him. Why, was she afraid of offending Him if she was convinced of His power to save her? Other commentators think that she was somewhat superstitious, thinking that there was some kind of magic power in Jesus’ clothes.

     I’m not so sure. It would seem to me that she was reluctant to come before Jesus because she had for twelve long years been considered an unclean person. Perhaps her reverence for Jesus, the Holy One of Israel, kept her from confronting Him.

     If these commentators are right, there is a lesson to be learned here. Did this woman want the power of Jesus and not the person of Jesus? Did she want the benefit of health without coming into a relationship with Jesus? What about you and me? Do we think that Jesus and the Spirit of Jesus is some king of impersonal power that brings us blessings? Is the power of Jesus something like electricity, that if you can make a connection, you will be able to tap unlimited power in your life? But Jesus in not a power. He has power. . .but He is a person, and you and I must come into a personal relationship with this Jesus. We must know Him. . .and we must be known by Him. Does He know you? Does He know you by name? does He know you by need?

     This woman believed, though that contact with Jesus, even if it was only contact with His clothes, would be a healing and restoring contact. “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well”. Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. “And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘who touched my clothes?’ Immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him”.

     The Old King James says that “virtue” had gone out of Him. We think of virtue as goodness, and that’s a wonderful thought to connect with power. For how often do we think of power and goodness together? There is a famous saying by Lord Acton, I think that it goes like this. “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But the power of Jesus, although it is unlimited and absolute is the power of God. The power of God. . .the omnipotence of God, is an attribute of God, and is always and forever totally filled with all the other attributes of God. That means that His power is always a Holy power, a power filled with goodness, a power filled with mercy, a power filled with justice, a power filled with grace.

     “Jesus, immediately knowing that power had gone out of Him.” Jesus was, and is today, the great Physician. There are some doctors today, and there are other people too, who seem to have special hands. What I mean is that their hands almost seem to draw the pain out of their patients. If you are in sympathy with someone in pain, whether that pain is physical or emotional, you want to touch them, and as if were, want to draw that pain out of them and into yourself. You reach out to them and touch them with the strong desire, the great longing that you could just pull the pain out of them. The Bible tells us that Jesus, not just 2000 years ago, but today, is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” Hebrews 4:15, OKJV. Then if you remember that Matthew quoted Isaiah 53, saying: “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.’ “ (Mt. 8:17 NKJV)

     “Power went out of Him.” This woman, whose contact with Jesus was only with her fingertip touching the edge of His clothes, received in her body the power of Jesus, and her sickness left her. Jesus, through His power as the great physician, drew it out of her and into Himself. He was touched with the feeling of her infirmity. Jesus, asked, “Who touched me?” but His disciples said to Him, “you see the multitude thronging you and you say, who touched me?”

     Let us see, my friends, that there are countless people like this crowd, all thronging about Jesus, all in some sort of contact with Him, and perhaps all needing some form of healing. Yet for all their contact, in spite of the fact that this pushing and shoving crowd whose shoulders and bodies came into contact with Jesus, none of those contacts resulted in power going from Jesus.

     What is the difference? The difference is ‘faith’. There are countless multitudes of people today who are aware of Jesus. There are many who have His name on their lips. There are many who, like the crowd walking with Him on the road to Jairus’ house, have through the Bible watched Him, seen Him, and even had some kind of contact with Him. Yet how many have only a superficial contact? The essential contact is by ‘faith’ alone!

     The difference is believing that Jesus is really, and especially today, touched with the feeling of our infirmities. The hand that reaches out to Him, your hand, weak and trembling, fearful, full of the anxieties that you know you shouldn’t have. . .when that hand of yours touches Jesus in faith, power, great good and merciful power goes from Him to you. And from you He takes all your sorrows, your cares, your worries, your shame too, and lifts your burdens.

     Do you believe that? What else did Jesus mean when He said, “Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” What happens to all that heavy load, except that He takes it upon Himself, and releases you? What else does He mean when He says, “Cast all your cares upon me?” Ah. . .Lord. . .if we only had the faith to do so.

     Jesus said, “Who touched me?” Did He know who touched Him? Of course He did. Why did He say that then? He said that so that the woman would come to Him and say what had happened to her. And so she did, for she came fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, fell down before Jesus, and told Him the whole truth.

     Perhaps it is as the commentators say, that this woman’s faith was of a small and faulty kind. Yet the promise always holds sure, “the one who comes to Me, I will never cast out.” Whenever you come to Jesus in faith, even a faith that is poor and small, He will not send you away empty. Jesus deals kindly and gently with His people, and accepts their faith though imperfect and weak.

     A small faith, perhaps a misshapen faith, but, as one of the commentators said, the mercy of God flows like a river. That means it is like water, and water takes the shape of the containing vessel. Your faith may be as small as a thimble, yet God’s mercy will surely fill it. Your faith may be like a tin can, dented and bent, but God’s mercy will surely fill it. Your faith may be battered and twisted out of shape, but God’s mercy like water, will fit, will take the shape of your faith.

     This woman, although perhaps her faith was placed on externals, placed on the power of Jesus garment, yet had an absolute confidence that the touch of her finger-tip on the edge of His robe was enough.

     One of the commentators on this passage was Alexander MacLaren, a 19^th century Scotsman, a Baptist of the Calvinist and Reformed persuasion. His expository preaching was famous and the twelve volumes of his sermons are still in print today, you can get them from Barnes and Noble. Anyway, he made what I think is an amazing statement for a Calvinist to make, “She was attaching undue importance to externals, thinking more of the hem of the garment and its touch by a finger than the heart of the wearer and the grasp of faith. But while we avoid such errors, let us not forget that many a poor worshiper clasping a crucifix may be clinging to the Savior, and that Christ does accept faith which is tied to outward forms, as He did this woman’s.” End of quote.

     Then Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” “Daughter.” What a wonderful word Jesus used in addressing her. She is the only woman in the gospels Jesus called “daughter.” What a wonderful sense of joy and relief must have flooded her soul. For what a wonderfully intimate and tender relationship is given in this word “daughter.” She, who had been for 12 years unclean, is now made clean by Jesus. She who had been impoverished and pained by helpless doctors, is now declared to be a daughter of the living God.

     Beloved, let us recover again the joy and peace the Lord gives us by calling us sons and daughters of the living God. The One who is holy, who is just, who is righteous, who is eternal, calls us who are yet struggling with sins, who are so often of little faith, who yet bear the image of the earthly, who stumble and fall, yet never does He stop calling us sons and daughter. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when Jesus comes, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.

     Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” Oh, she wouldn’t misunderstand Jesus. She would not think that there was something in her that made her well. She knew that it was all in Jesus. His was the power, His was the mercy, and His was the grace that called her “Daughter.”

     Yet, let us consider carefully. Jesus didn’t say, “Daughter, I have made you well.” That was true enough. But that’s not what He said. What He said, He said for her, and He said for us. “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” Her faith, and we have seen in the miracle we considered last week, her faith was visible. Her faith was demonstrated in action. She reached out her hand through that thronging crowd, and touched the edge of Jesus’ robe.

     This too is what Jesus is saying. You must reach out, you must take. I realize that as Reformed we emphasize the sovereignty of grace, the fact that we don’t come to God, but He comes to us. “Tis not that I did seek Thee, for Lord that could not be. No I was found, was found of Thee.” So we sing, and so we believe. And so we may continue to believe. But our faith is in the words of Jesus.

     We may mock those who talk about accepting Jesus, we may disagree with those who say that we have to take a step, we need to reach out. But, while maintaining, while confessing, while believing that the grace of God, that the act of God is first, at the same time we much believe what Jesus said here. “Your faith, your act of faith in reaching out to touch the edge of My clothes, that faith has made you well. If you hadn’t done that, you would still be unclean.”

     That is the call of the gospel, isn’t it? We don’t tell people. . .just keep on sitting there in your sins, and wait until the grace of God comes upon you. No. . .we preach what the apostles preached. Repent – that is faith in action. Repent, means to turn away from your sins, to stop doing them. That’s action. Then the gospel calls men, “Come and be baptized.” That’s action too. They must come. Then it is that God acts upon them, for the water of baptism unites them to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

     And then again, the call for action, for faith in action is given. Take eat. . .take drink. “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” So here is this miracle. Jesus is on a mission to save the daughter of Jairus, the great crowd around Him, hustling Him, elbowing their way to stare at Him. But His heart detected the touch, and His heart went out with healing power.

     So we may be sure, though a universe waits before Him, and the closed ranked hosts of heaven stand around His throne, we can reach out hands through them all, and find that He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, touched with the feeling of our struggles, our tears, our anxieties, our burdens of shame and guilt, our weariness. We will find our faith, however shrunken and meager, filled with the power of His mercy.

Amen.