The Conclusion of the Galilean Ministry

We have been for several weeks now in this section of our Lord's ministry in life called the Great Galilee and ministry and Someone asked me last week if we were going to spend 18 months in the Galilee and ministry just like Jesus did Not quite we are actually nearing the conclusion as you can see the the title of the study united to the conclusion of the great Galilee and ministry We probably will not conclude tonight. However, we probably will take another week to conclude But we are getting right toward the end of the Galilee and ministry that 18 month period of time where our Lord makes three tours of the region of Galilee and Does many miracles throughout this part of of Israel? Last week we we ended by talking about the healing of the demonic act of G'dara Jesus had crossed over the sea of Galilee to the the eastern side and Had healed a man who was demon possessed who lived in the tombs We saw that he still the storm before that on the way over on the lake and then healed the demonic of G'dara Now tonight we're going to pick up with the next story in the sequence of the gospel writers account of our Lord's life and it is the raising of gyros daughter and also the healing of a woman Woman typically referred to as the woman with the issue of blood We're going to use marks account tonight. So let's open our bibles to mark chapter five this these two stories are found in all three of the Synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke will use marks account chapter five tonight Let's look first at the map and remind us where Jesus is Jesus has been on the east side of the shore of Galilee over here Gagasah is one way that it is is referred to this area or this town It's also called G'dara some of you may have noticed there's a G'dara down here and there is some confusion in the maps and geography is to this being the region of the Gatorines and exactly where the city of G'dara was Obviously in Israel sometimes it would be two cities named the same thing for instance. There is Cessaria along the coast and there's a Cessaria, Philippi There's a Bethabra in two different places one north and south so there that happens from time to time And it could be that there are two places actually near each other called G'dara But this one is sometimes referred to as G'dara on this map. It's called Gurgasa This is where Jesus Cast a demon out of the man so he has crossed over from Capernaum to Gurgasa and now he has crossed back Let's look at verse 21 of Mark 5 and we'll see where the story picks up When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake in other words, he's coming back from G'dara or Gurgasa to Capernaum Says a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake Again large crowds are following him at this time in his ministry We don't know whether Jesus paused to teach this crowd or whether he just moved on through them We don't know exactly how long is the time frame is here. It's being referred to but look at verse 22 Then one of the synagogue rulers named Jairus came there Seeing Jesus he fell at his feet and 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 So Jesus went with him a large crowd followed and pressed around him now. Let's Understand what's happening here this this man named Jairus is one of the synagogue rulers verse 22 says A ruler of the synagogue and there could be several ruler of the synagogue was responsible for the Managing of the building the the synagogue itself, but also the arranging of the services in the synagogue So he would be a leader spiritually among the Jews in Capernaum Some have questioned whether or not this man may have been one of the elders referred to earlier in the gospels When Jesus healed the Centurion's servant remember the centurion who had a servant and he sent some elders from Capernaum To ask Jesus to come and heal his servant and remember those those elders told Jesus This man is worthy of you coming to heal his servant because he has built us a synagogue in Capernaum so Put two and two together and it's quite possible this man was one of those elders who knew the Centurion Okay, now are you beginning to put some things together? Possibly the reason why this man had such confidence in Jesus to heal his daughter Was because he had experienced first hand the healing of the centurions Servant we can't be dogmatic about that can't say for sure, but the proximity of all these things is so close that it's quite likely that this is the case Who knows maybe he had Followed Jesus some and his teachings around Capernaum and seen some healing seen some miracles But he has confidence that Jesus can do this so he pleads earnestly with him my little daughter is dying You can just feel the the love of a parent here and Luke tells us that this little girl was 12 years old Luke often actually Mark will tell us this later on in the passage as well Luke tells us that That this is their only this is his only daughter and so he requested Jesus come and and heal her as Confidence that he can do that So Jesus starts after him and verse 24 says a large crowd follows and presses around him So you can you can see the the scene here Gioros wanting to get Jesus to his house as quickly as possible Jesus progress is being impeded by this large crowd of people around him and then notice what happens next verse 25 A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years and just pause for a moment to Try to grasp her situation Some kind of hemorrhage had been going on for 12 years And in that culture the fact that she was bleeding for that long The fact that she was bleeding at all would have rendered her unclean ceremonially she would not have been able to go to the temple She would not have been able to go to synagogue services She probably would be considered pretty much an outcast in society because of this ceremonial uncleanness So she had had 12 years of agony and Not to mention the physical distress that this woman is under the the emotional burden and and difficulty that she labored under no doubt was was just one of heartache and It's added to by the fact in verse 27 Or was 26 excuse me she had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and it spent all she had Yet instead of getting worse her better she grew worse There are some people for whom this could be a life verse I know some of you may feel this way from time to time But she had spent a great deal of money everything she had trying to find a cure and nothing had worked She was just getting worse Some of the cures of that day are Recorded for us in some of the literature of that day. Let me just read some of them So you get an idea of the kinds of things she may have been told to do One remedy and this is for quoting Jewish rabbis and Jewish scholars One remedy for this kind of hemorrhage would consist of drinking a goblet of wine containing a powder compounded from rubber Alam and garden crocuses Another treatment would consist of a dose of Persian onions cooked in wine administered with the summons Arise out of your flow of blood other physicians would prescribe sudden shock and Some the carrying of the ash of an ostrich's egg in a certain kind of cloth You can see medicine in that day was a mixture of superstition and some kind of home remedy type of things And at least in her case she had tried everything and spent all the money she had and She was totally in despair. Can you imagine a think of her as she comes to Jesus This would go on going on for 12 years and she's desperate and she comes to Jesus for help Verse 27 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 Now why do you think this woman would Think of this option and she's been 12 years Spending all of her money on doctors trying every cure imaginable Why do you think she tries this option? Last resort desperate. Yes Do you think this is superstition just touch his garment? To come to Jesus or to touch his garment Yeah She she believes doesn't she that coming to Jesus will provide a cure the interesting thing to me is if I shoot why she would touch his garment Okay, all right, maybe so maybe this is an act of humility He did Yeah, right Maybe there's a combination of things here Maybe she doesn't feel worthy to take his time to be the focus of his attention but yes to to touch his garment she knows that he can heal from a distance No doubt the healing of the centurion servant had become quite well known in the area of caernum And possibly she feels that all I need to do is be close and touch even is clothing It is it Maybe she couldn't get any closer. Yeah I Think there's a lot to what Kathy's saying there she does not want to call attention to herself Because she's not supposed to be that in close proximity to other people like this especially in a crowd So it could be all she feels she can do rather than becoming the focus of attention And I think that's going to play into the story in a few moments too. I think that's a very significant point in the story But maybe she feels that that's all she can do is just get close enough to touch his garment without being noticed without being seen without even bothering him Yeah, I think there's something to that It was common in the culture of that day to show Subservience obedience to a royal figure by kneeling and touching the hymn of their robe and so this may have also been an act of faith on her part I think there are a number of things involved We we don't know all that was going on in her heart But Jesus will tell her a little bit later your faith has healed you so there was faith there wasn't expression of faith In that touch because that's all she did she didn't ask him for anything She didn't address him in any way she just touched the hymn of his garment and so that evidence some kind of faith I'll be it mixed with with no doubt humility and possibly fear of Being noticed and that kind of thing to lot lot probably going on here But immediately the bleeding stopped and she could sense that that her body was freed from her suffering Verse 30 Very interesting 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 asked who touched me? I love this part of the story For a couple of reasons You sent something about Jesus you also sent something about the disciples. What are you sent about Jesus from what he has said? He Yes Obviously he knew who touched him He did sense that power had gone out. He's very sensitive to any time That a healing has occurred one of the things that really fascinates me is that obviously if this is normal For for healings that Jesus would do Whenever there was a healing there was an expenditure of power and strength that Jesus could noticeably discern Now when you think of that I Don't want to think of it in terms of simply the drain of power like you drain power from a battery But I think there is the the taking of Strength away that is discernible on the part of Jesus when when you have occasions where he's healing many people Just think of the physical exhaustion that would be included in that Because Jesus can sense when power has left him Very interesting I think about Jesus What does this say to you about the disciples They're comment They didn't understand obviously they didn't understand what was happening Do you sense a little bit of maybe irritation here? I mean, I don't want to read too much into this so you know You just love to know what their tone of voice was I'd almost like to Gather them together up in heaven someday and say would you say it like you said it that day? I'd like to hear you the tone of your voice because I just sense there's a little bit of irritation here Lord Come on. What do you mean? What do you mean who touched people crowding all around you? Come on come on. We got to get the gyrosis house I think there's a little bit of that in the disciples We've got to keep moving on we've got a deadline to meet we've got a schedule to keep here We've got someone that needs us over here. You can't stop now and start asking who what do you mean who touched you anyway? It's just I sense that bit of pushing him along here And if that's the case Jesus really would frustrate him with what he does next first 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it He insists he stops he keeps looking around Think of what gyros must be thinking at this point You know that doesn't he care that has he forgotten all about my daughter Does he really care at all? There's a very real human element here and And if I can say this mystery about our Lord's actions to those who are watching him What's he doing why is he stopping? And he's looking around to see who has done this now he knows obviously in His deity he would know But he's looking around to see who had done it. There's a reason why he wants this person identified so verse 33 Then the woman knowing what had happened to her came and fell at his feet and trembling with fear Possibly related to what Kathy said earlier about Knowing that she is maybe a little out of place here in this setting And she out of fear tells him the whole truth and he said to her daughter It's the only time Jesus uses the word daughter in the gospels Daughter your faith has healed you go in peace and be freed from your suffering. I think Jesus wanted this to be a public recognition of what had happened You know he could have gone on the woman would have still been healed right and Maybe later after all is away all all people are aware that and it's very obvious that she's he old She would have told the story then that could have happened that way, but I think Jesus wanted a public recognition there What it happened and it's again another miracle obviously it's recognized as such but but also He wants her to publicly Recognize what has happened and to hear his voice of forgiveness to to actually have that personal touch here And I think that's significant. I think Jesus does at times heal from a distance. Yes, but here there is a need for a personal confrontation with this woman and he will not he will not leave until that happens Okay, any any questions you might have about the the episode with this woman that Kind of interrupts where he's supposed to be the disciples think he's supposed to be questions Could be Yeah, yeah, maybe in the in the context in the setting of what all has happened with Jesus being rejected by the religious leaders You know officially rejected and and now he's wanting to make sure that publicly this is seen and heard my tie in Yeah Okay Yes Yes Excellent point. I had not thought of that. I don't know if you're hearing what John is saying. I don't mean to Yeah John's pointing out the fact that we have two people from different ends of the spectrum in society a man who is a recognized community spiritual leader in Caperna And a woman who basically is an outcast and Jesus may well be demonstrating very purposefully that there is no favoritism in his kingdom That needs are needs and whoever has a need will be ministered to Yeah, it's an excellent observation Well Verse 35 while Jesus was still speaking some men came from the house of gyros to synagogue ruler your daughter is dead They said why bother the teacher anymore? Now notice Jesus response verse 36 ignoring what they said Jesus told the synagogue ruler Don't be afraid just believe Now Jesus hears the report Jesus hears the report that Little girl has died And that there's no need for him to come to the house anymore and he completely Ignores that and I can almost see him focusing on gyros and Challenging him with a level of faith that gyros has never been called upon to exhibit before Believe believe believe what Believe that They're not right in what they're saying believe You're still going to come to my house, but she's dead. What are you going to do? Believe believe that you would raise her from the dead Is that what you're asking of me Lord? Can you see the can you just see what might have been going on in gyros' mind? Struggling to understand what's happening in Jesus is focused up on him challenging him Don't be afraid just believe Verse 37 says he did not let anyone follow him except Peter James and John the brother of James These three are sometimes referred to as the inner circle of the disciples three who were allowed on Three different occasions to be with the Lord that are recorded in the gospels where the other disciples were not there. This is one of them Do you remember where the other two are? The Garden of Gethsemane Mount Transfiguration. Yes And those very special occasions and this is a very special occasion Jesus is now in training mode remember we've talked about since he's been officially rejected He's now focusing on training his disciples and these three men are going to be key leaders even among the disciples early in the book of Acts Peters the spokesman James is the first leader of the early church. He's the first one killed John obviously will be with Peter preaching in the temple early on those are the first two arrests. I mean, they're key leaders And so Jesus is going to take them on a training mission that some of the others are not ready for yet or maybe Maybe Jesus knows these men need this more than the others don't know exactly why but they're getting some training here Is what's going on first 38 when they came to the home of the synagogue ruler? Jesus saw a commotion with people crying and wailing loudly He went in and said to them why all this commotion and wailing the child is not dead, but asleep Now let's pause here for a moment is Jesus being insensitive To the grief of this family. You think that's what's happening? I mean obviously that's a rhetorical question isn't that that's obviously not what's happening but Why does he say this why does he try to stop the grieving? Okay, obviously the impact of what Jesus is doing by waiting and and so forth is much greater It's very possible these people were not genuinely grieving It was it was common in that time to hire professional mourners Now some expositors question whether or not there's been enough time to do that but it could still be that they were Thinking the inevitable was coming and they were waiting to to Help the family it was it was cultural tradition in that day for people to lead in In grieving and they were sometimes hired to do this They would bring instruments they would cry very loudly wail very loudly all as a Really what we would consider an insincere demonstration and the fact that that's probably what's going on Seems to be the case because look at what happens next When Jesus said the child is not dead, but asleep and by the way How do you think he uses the word asleep is she dead? Or is she just in a coma? She is dead. Why does Jesus use the word asleep? Temporary By the way Paul uses the same word for the death of any believer Over and over again Paul refers to the death of a believer as sleep Because death is not final for a believer. It's just the body being laid to rest temporarily I I love to When I use those passages at a grave side point out the Paul Consistently first Corinthians 15 first that's learnings four other passages consistently uses the word sleep Because it's only the body being temporarily laid to rest the person is still alive in heaven And the body just temporarily is laid to rest and because Jesus is going to raise this girl from the dead He knows it's only temporary. He says she's asleep, but notice first 40, but they laugh at him Now if you're grieving Sincerely you don't turn that off do you? I Think this indicates that these are probably professional mourners that are there just Basically for the show They're not really sincerely grieving with the family And so look at what Jesus does middle of the verse after he put them all out I love would love to know a little bit more about that. I'd love to know what he said how he did it But he made them get out They have no place there I'm sorry, can you say again, Jim? Yes If If if gyros does not continue to believe Then Jesus cannot raise the dead what happens to his credibility That's an interesting what if it's an interesting scenario We're going to see a little bit later that the Bible does say Jesus could not do many miracles in Nazareth because they would not believe in him Jesus in that case would choose not to do a miracle We don't know if that would be the case here. Obviously Jesus could raise her even if he does not believe even if he stops believing That's not the way he chose to do it But his power would still be there to heal or to raise from the dead even if gyros did not believe Jesus telling him gyros just believe is basically for gyros is sake not for Jesus sake but Yes Yes Yes Yes This is a powerful miracle obviously this is a very poignant moment And that's why I believe Jesus does and I think gyros does demonstrate because He continues on with Jesus. He doesn't tell Jesus. No, I don't need you now. I think he does continue to demonstrate faith And what you're saying is true. This is going to be an illustration of where God honors his faith Does do the miracle and it will be a powerful powerful testimony in this area um Jesus puts them out he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him the three and went in where the child was verse 41 He took her by the hand and said to her Talitha cum that's that's aramaic aramaic was a Kind of a hybrid form of Hebrew which was the language actually spoken by a Jewish people in the first century It was the actual Jewish language of the first century now everybody pretty much spoke Greek that was the Common language across the empire But aramaic was the Jews language and that's this is one of the very few occasions the New Testament where The aramaic is actually used and and then Mark translated for us which means little girl. I say to you get up Immediately the girl stood up and walked around she was 12 years old At this they were completely astonished. Jesus does raise her from the dead Obviously everybody is completely amazed astonished Flabbergasted at what's happened and Verse 43 he gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this A probably the situation here is not quite the same as what we've seen With other healings where Jesus has told the person not to make a public display of it so that there will not be a premature crowd Ground swell of popular opinion trying to thrust Jesus into an early Kingdom and that kind of thing that's probably not the same here probably Uh, what he's saying is don't tell the people outside what's happened uh, they didn't believe anyway And wait until I get away before you say anything about this obviously They're not going to be able to keep this secret This is the kind of thing you cannot keep secret And so I don't think this is the same thing as what we've seen earlier But basically I think he's saying give me time to get Get away before anything is said and then the story ends with um Uh, with these words he told them to give her something to eat I isn't that a Just a real special touch at the end of the story after all that has happened Jesus is sensitive to recognize this little girl's going to be hungry She's probably been sick for days and has had probably very little to eat And so Jesus says give her something to eat. I mean, it's just a special sensitive touch at the end of this story You know in Hollywood The miracle worker would perform the miracle and stride out with his head high And not so Jesus Jesus is not concerned about his reputation. He's not concerned about How people are looking at him. He's concerned that there's a little girl. That's probably hungry Let's get her something to eat. I mean, that just shows his heart. Doesn't it just shows the genuine compassion and sensitivity to sensitivity of our Lord. I think it's a great touch Now let me say and um in kind of closing up this story What What happens here is just a little foretaste Of what Jesus is going to do for every broken parents heart Just a little foretaste You know how we all wish that we could see this repeated every time a child gets sick It's obvious that's not God's Normal method of operation we live in a world that is cursed That is the result of the fall of man and man sin and And we all we all live with that we all live with the results of that illness pain suffering Not only physically but in other ways and sometimes death And it is a very rare occasion where Jesus steps in to do something like this We only have three occasions recorded in his ministry where he raised someone from the dead But this is just a little foretaste of reality and reality is there is coming a day when Jesus will reunite all All who've had loved ones taken from them and That is going to be the culmination of what Jesus came to do. He came to usher in his kingdom And it's rejected but when his kingdom does come when Jesus does come back the second time And we go into the millennium and then we enter the new heaven and new earth Then there will be Millions millions of families reunited And Jesus is going to raise many people and bring families back together And there will be scenes of great rejoicing like we've never imagined And probably every one of us in here will be touched by that in some way no doubt we will be But some Look forward to that day with an agony and a pain that some of us don't really know and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever And he will make every family complete and whole someday Any questions comments about this story before we move on to the next one For the next story we need to go to to Matthew chapter 9 And there are a couple more a couple more healings here that are Very quick. I mean this this whole section of our Lord's ministry is just a quick succession of miracles and healings and testing out of demons and While this doesn't Doesn't happen in the other gospels this story is only told in Matthew We know of where it's positioned in Matthew it comes next After the raising of gyrosis daughter and you can see How that story ends in Matthew's gospel back in verse 26 chapter 9 verse 26 news of this spread through all that region Obviously you can't keep that news from spreading But verse 27 says as Jesus went on from there. So this evidently happens very soon after Jesus leaves gyrosis home To blind men followed him calling out have mercy on us son of David now because this sounds so much like a later story in Jesus Life some have said Well is Matthew telling that same story remember the story of Bartomeus blind Bartomeus in Jericho when Jesus is going into the city But this is this is much later Bartomeus is much later in our Lord's life It's right. It's as he's going up to Jerusalem to die and so the timing doesn't fit This is a separate occasion although you have two blind men just like you do in Luke 18 with with Bartomeus And his friend and you have them saying the same thing have mercy on us son of David but remember what the title son of David refers to The Messiah the one who will bring in the kingdom the one who will sit on David's throne And so this expectation spiritually is this is the Messiah the one who has this miracle working power and A very common title for him would be son of David and so it's not surprising that many people would refer to him in this way Doesn't just because of the same expression doesn't make the two stories the same first 28 when he had gone indoors the blind men came to him And he asked them do you believe that I'm able to do this yes Lord they replied Then he touched their eyes and said according to your faith will it be done to you This is one of those instances where Jesus makes it very clear That the healing is done according to their faith. That's not always true We saw an instance earlier John 5 where Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda who didn't even know who he was Remember that man didn't even recognize who it healed him didn't know what his name was and And the same thing will happen later with a blind man in John 9 So it's not it's not always there's not a direct equivalent here in this case This is a response to these men's faith and so First 30 their site was restored Jesus warned them sternly see that no one knows about this again that same warning and in this case It does seem to be in the context of of You know, I've already been rejected. I'm not doing sign miracles anymore doing miracles of mercy and miracles to train and help my disciples understand What's going on But the purpose is not to convince people I'm the Messiah anymore So there's no need to spread this but obviously verse 31 they went out and spread the news about him all over that region So they did not obey what he had said. It's hard to be too critical You know if this had happened to you it would be hard to keep it quiet to Steve you have a question You The previous case had to do with lepers which they were required to go to the priest and be evaluated as for the not the leprosy was Was gone So this would be a little bit different, but yeah, it's still Still not wanting them to spread the news Yeah, and and create an unnecessary Ground swell of people who are coming to Jesus just because of the miracles and we're gonna see in just a little while We obviously won't get to it tonight, but we'll see in a little while that the whole Galilee and campaign collapses In John 6 after the feeding of the 5,000 when people do want to rush him to Jerusalem and make him king And Jesus finally says okay, I'm gonna put a stop to this I'm not gonna tell people anymore don't tell stuff. I'm gonna put a stop to this Ground swell of opinion for the wrong reasons and he preaches the harshest sermon one of the harshest Besides Matthew 23 of his ministry and the Bible says everybody turn around a left And Jesus would turn to the 12 disciples and say are you gonna go away to I mean Jesus himself squashed The popular uprising he did it himself purposefully And they're little hints that he doesn't want that then this is one of those hints Don't don't go telling people you know just because I know what'll happen people just want to put me on their shoulders And say he can heal all the blind people and in John 6 it was he can feed us all, you know And that's not what he came to do these are miracles of mercy But he didn't come just so people could have their sight restored and have her belly spilled He came to bring a spiritual kingdom where people needed to get right with God and when they got that backwards Jesus finally said okay enough I'll squelch it myself and he ran everybody off With a very very hard sermon And we'll get to that later, but it's in that context that he says this um Just to finish up the story very quickly here Verse 32 they were going out a man who was demon possessed and could not talk This was the evidence of the demon possession Was brought to Jesus again. Don't make the one-to-one parallel that every time a person Is mute? It's because of a demon. That's not the point in this case That was the the point that was the case Verse 33 when the demon was driven out the man who had been mute spoke the crowd was amazed and said nothing like this has ever been seen In Israel But every time the crowd says something like that and begins to approach the precipice again where they're saying could this be the Messiah Look at the response of the religious leaders verse 34 But the Pharisee said it is by the Prince of demons that he drives out demons So once again Now I know what you're thinking wait a second this comes after what we saw earlier that was in Matthew 12 wasn't it? This is Matthew 9 Remember Matthew's gospel is Is the most out of order of any of the gospels because Matthew had an agenda as all the gospel writers did Matthew had a purpose To pull together certain events from the Lord's life to prove the the point of him being the Messiah So Matthew is the least chronological Of the disciple of the of the gospels So actually Matthew 12 the rejection of the relief religious leaders saying that he had a demon has happened before this story In Matthew 9 and it's just another evidence though of the religious leaders in their insistence hardened resistance against Jesus They're just hardened in their hearts against him Okay, the next thing is going to happen we'll have to wait till next week is his last visit to his hometown Make one more visit the Nazareth and something very interesting happens and he will not go back there again Okay, so we'll wait on that till next week. Let's pray Father again, we are amazed that our Lord's power But we're also amazed that the one who Had the power to raise someone from the dead Would also have the sensitivity To ask that the little girl be fed because she's hungry Lord help us to be more like Jesus help us Whenever you do see fit to Use us in some way That we will not lose our heads that we will not Begin to think of how great we are But that will be focused upon the needs of others and still have humility and spiritual sensitivity Help us to be more like our Savior Pray father that we would never desire attention brought to us but Your kingdom To be accepted by people for the right reasons Lord of so much we can learn from from our Lord Help us to learn these lessons well and live them out By your spirit's power in Jesus name amen