GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME AND HAS A PURPOSE WITH OUR LIVES
WE ALL GOT ISSUES THAT NEED JESUS CHRIST
Lecture, Luke 8:43-48
“Now a woman, with a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of his garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said, ” Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with Him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘ Who touched Me? But Jesus said,” Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out of Me”. Now, when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and fell before Him, declaring to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she had been healed immediately. And He said to her, ” Daughter, be of good cheer, your faith has made you well, Go in peace”
It happened on a certain day that Jesus Christ decided to cross the Sea of Galilee with His disciples. Along the journey, He went inside the boat and slept. Suddenly, a strong wind blew against the boat, and water began to fill in. Jesus woke up and calmed the storm as His disciples went to Him for assistance, but in return, He asked them about their faith foundation. The point to note here is that the storm didn’t fear Jesus, and again the disciples had their own issue that needed Jesus Christ, even if He was in the boat (Matthew 8:23-27).
Now, as Jesus and His disciples reach the other side of the Sea, they meet a man who was demons possessed. This man (whom Jesus healed) stayed in burial caves, stayed without clothes and could never stay at home with other people or relatives (Mark 5:1-20).
Notice about this man:
- Staying in burial caves means he was dead spiritually and physically. This is how God find us. Paul tells us from the book of Ephesians that believers were dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-5). He didn’t know he was in such a situation as he was dead (Eccl. 9:5, 10).
- Staying without clothes means his situation humiliated him. And he was not having power to set himself free (John 8:36; Rom. 8:2). Only Christ can set humanity free from the bondage of sin (Gal.5:1). Yes, it may happen in life that people make a plan and discipline themselves to experience success in their lives, but a really true transformation is from within a person, and only God’s word can do that (Heb.4:12)
- Never staying at home means loneliness or being alone. There are some situations that make you alone, and when you are alone, God deal with you on a personal level. The bible does not tell us that Jesus called this man, but the man came to Jesus. This man pressed alone to come to Jesus; you face your own issue alone. We all got issue that need Jesus. What need is yours?
After Jesus Christ was rejected in this town, He returned to the other side of the Sea, where they welcomed Him. The Bible is telling us that, suddenly, an official of a certain local synagogue (Called by name Jairus) came to Jesus begging Him to go and heal her daughter, as she was sick to the point of death, and Jesus accepted the demand. It seems like Jesus was waiting for this man to come, because we don’t hear Him answer anything, only to stand and go with this man.
Thus, as Jesus was walking towards Jairus’s house, a woman with an issue of blood or haemorrhage came and pushed her way through the multitude that were following Jesus, and touched the edge of Jesus’s garment. The Bible calls her a woman, not a child, a girl, or a daughter of so and so. In this case, Me-thinking, she was already married and had children. This is another personal issue that we will be studying today.
PRESS FOR YOUR BLESSING
We are told that a multitude, crown followed Jesus as He was heading to Jairus’s house. We are not sure where all these multitude of people came from. And the story is telling us that this woman had an issue of blood for 12 years, and at the same time, the daughter of Jairus was 12 years old.
The question is, why 12? Nothing happened, or was written in the Bible by mistake? Everything has its own purpose. In the Bible, we have 12 spies, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 gates of the new Jerusalem, 12 sons of Ishmael, 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, 12 stones were placed in Jordan by Joshua, Elijah made 12 stones to build the altar, and the Israelites camped at 12 springs of water as they came from Egypt.
12 means God’s power and authority. Thus, when God need to set something in order, He uses the number 12. Believe that God will set something in order in your life today. Our prayer for today could be: Please God set order in my life, marriage, business, relationship….May God establish something in your life in Jesus’ name.
This woman was tired of her situation because it was not showing any indication of ending. Can you imagine 12 years of no human touch, no emotional support, no church attendance, no touch from your own children, husband, no friend, and no small group? This is not a one-day issue or one day of loneliness. It is 144 months, 624 weeks and 4380 days.
When we consider her situation from Leviticus 15:19-27, we discover that she was totally alone, as anyone she touched or touch her became unclean. She never even cooks for her husband and children.
Let me tell you that God has a solution for our exhaustion. No matter her situation, she had a desire to be healed. We read that she heard about Jesus. In this case, it is good never to be quite of what we passed through because someone can be healed by our situation. This lady heard about Jesus, then made her own decision to express her faith by touching the edge of Jesus’s garment.
As she heard about Jesus, her hope grew and made her decide to take a risk with her life. Remember, she was not allowed in public or where too many people are gathered. Please take a risk on your life, make a way for yourself, and open a way for yourself. She had a desire to get better; thus, she made a decision.
Fear could paralyse her confidence as she had no money. Which fear do you have? Just reach out, try your best. This woman pressed through the multitude to get her blessing. She said to herself, “I will show up in the ground, multitude and press to touch Jesus’s edge garment; I will keep fighting until I touch Him on his edge”. She didn’t care who would be unclean when she touched them.
Notice, she didn’t touch on the head but on the edge, or she didn’t come in front of Jesus, but from the back. I think she didn’t stand to touch the edge. She understood that she had to be down and put her situation under the leadership of Christ. Please, put your relationship, marriage, situation, and business under the feet of Jesus. I believe she didn’t stand but was nailed down on her knee. I think that she pulled the edge of Jesus’s garment a little bit and left it out. Then Jesus fell, someone, pulling back His garment once and leaving it. Then, he feels that the power is going out. As she pulled, the power of healing was transferred. She didn’t wipe, like someone wiping dust on a cloth.
There were tassels on the corners of the priestly garment, which reminded people of God’s command, so that the Israelite could never follow their own desire (Numbers 15:38-40). And this garment had 4 corner (Deuter.22:12). Blue colour was on the edge of the priestly garment, which represents or symbolises heaven, divinity and God’s commandment. This colour reminded the Israelites of the heavenly realm and God’s covenant. It seems that this woman knew all this truth, then she decided to be under the heavenly covenant, and once I am there, I will be protected.
A priestly garment was holy (Exodus 28:2-4). Now, she was hiding herself under the Holiness of Christ. The prophet Hagai says that a person could be unholy or defile her/himself when s/he touch unclean things (Hag. 2:12-14). In this case, Jesus was not defiled by a simple touch from this woman, but the woman became clean and righteous.
WELCOMING THE INTERRUPTION
When things are not going as planned or organised, sometimes people seem to be upset. But we should accept it. Please do not be hurry to fulfil your desire. Accept to slow down. Slowing down means helping people even when it is messy; it means knowing when to say “No” to someone’s expectation, so you can be able to say “Yes” to God’s mission. Slowing down means to make a routine of prayer and walk with Jesus at His pace.
Jesus accepted this woman from nowhere to interrupt Him. We are not sure where this woman comes from, or where she was heading. She just found Jesus on His mission toward Jairus’s house. Jesus was walking with the multitude, and the lady jumped in to interrupt the journey.
We notice from Jesus that everyone’s story matters to God, and He is available to all of us once we come to Him (Jer. 29:13). Jesus stopped and asked who touched Him, and He willingly accepted to hear story of a street woman who was healed as he was walking.
Sometimes things happen in our journey, people become sick, we lose money, we lose our loved one, our business is not going as expected- but trust me, if you are walking in Jesus’s pace, you will never be late. Jesus told Jairus, do not worry, and just believe. Jairus was walking with Jesus at an unauthorised pace. In his mind, he was hurrying so that Jesus could heal her daughter before she died, but Jesus was slow, knowing that everything has its own time.
Hurry and fear make us live without peace. When you walk with Jesus, you should never fear or worry that you may be late-just believe.
CONCLUSION
Each person has an exhausting dilemma, situation, or something that seems like it has no ending. In some cases, despite your coming to church services, attending prayer meetings, action of giving….something is coming back and seems not to change. For this woman, moment after moment, she was trying to fix something that cannot be fixed. From her. We learn to prioritize relationship with Jesus than religion rules and fighting through obstacles.
God knows how to show you up in front of all those who undermined you. This woman was the only one who knew about her healing, but Jesus made it public. It was easy for Jesus to let her go, since she was already healed. Why call her in public? The answer, it was to take her shame away, so each person present would know that she is already well, and they should never fear her again.
I will like to hear from you in the comments, as well as your input.