In Christ We Are Healed
Luke 8:40-56 ·July 23, 2023· Joel Passmore
Part of: Luke
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We're continuing in our sermon series on the book of Luke. We've been looking at the past few weeks in Luke 8, we've been looking at how a series of challenges meet Jesus. And as he defeats one after the other, it reveals more and more of his power. In any good action movie, in any good video game, or any good book, you know that any kind of battles that happen in the middle of the story are not going to be as big as the battle at the end of the story.
It builds up, right? And that's exactly what's happening here. The things that have happened in the past couple weeks that Jesus has dealt with, those have been the mini-bosses, but the big boss is awaiting. He's been doing battle with things that we're helpless against. We've seen his power to calm the wind and the sea. He makes us safe from the things that we can't control. We've seen him do battle, and we've seen his power cast out evil and sin, freeing us from the things that we're captive to.
Today we're going to see if his power can overcome something even stronger, something that's at work in the world and in us, death. In Romans, Paul says, the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Everything else is a mini-boss. It's just in the middle of the story. Death is the great enemy, Paul says. Now, spoiler alert, Jesus has the power to defeat that too. I hope I didn't just ruin the ending for you. But the challenging thing for us is not so much what he can do, but when he does it, and what we do in the meantime.
This passage is going to teach us about all of this, the power that Jesus has to grapple with and do battle with and cast out and overcome death. But it also shows us two ordinary people and what they're doing while they're waiting for Jesus to do what he alone can do.
So let's dive into Luke chapter 8, starting in verse 40. This is God's word for us today. God makes no mistakes, and he speaks to us clearly in his word. He's made no mistakes in this word. We can build our lives upon it. So let's read it and respond to it that way. Luke chapter 8, starting in verse 40. Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue.
And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about 12 years of age. And she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years. And though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment. And immediately, her discharge of blood ceased.
And Jesus said, Who was it that touched me? When all denied it, Peter said, Master, the crowd surrounds you and are pressing in on you. But Jesus said, Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me. And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling. And falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well.
Go in peace. While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher anymore. But Jesus, on hearing this, answered him, Do not fear. Only believe, and she will be well. And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter, and John, and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her. But he said, Do not weep, for she is not dead, but sleeping.
And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand, he called, saying, Child, arise. And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed. But he charged them to tell no one what had happened. Pray with me.
Lord, we know that you've promised that when your word goes forth, your spirit accompanies it, and it goes down into our hearts, and it bears fruit. Lord, we need the new life that only you can offer us. We need to turn away from idols, from false places of comfort. Lord, we need to grow in you. We need to grow in our faith. Lord, help us to do that, please. It's your work. Please do more and more of it, even now. Jesus, we pray this in your name.
So last week, I told you that the sermon was titled, In Christ We Are Free. That's what it was. In Christ We Are Free. This week, it's, In Christ We Are Healed. Enduring faith leads to eternal life. These two stories in this chapter, not in this chapter, this little episode, these two stories are intertwined. The woman and Jairus and his family. They're not just circumstantially intertwined. They're thematically intertwined. They bring out the same lessons to us.
They teach us the same things. Jairus and the woman are more alike than they are different. So, because they're intertwined, because their stories teach us the same things, we're going to look at them together, not separately. There's three common aspects to their experience that I want to draw your attention to. The first one is this, waiting. Jesus gets into town. The crowds are waiting for him, but two people are waiting in a whole different way.
The first is Jairus, a man who has it all together, at least he seems to, until his only daughter got sick. That's when his waiting first begins, because he becomes desperate, more and more so when she, it's clear that she's on her deathbed. He's a desperate man. He hears Jesus is in town. He rushes to Jesus. He's well-respected in the community. He's an authority figure, but Jairus falls down at Jesus' feet. He doesn't try to demand or bargain. He just pleads with him to come help.
As they go, another kind of waiting begins. How quickly can they get to her? It's like riding in an ambulance with a loved one to the hospital. You're looking out through the front windshield. You're hoping that the traffic clears away, that every light is green, that people get out of the way. You're wanting the driver to floor it. Jairus is thinking, these crowds, why can't they just let us through? Get out of the way! This is urgent.
But among the throng of the people, there's an anonymous woman. She's also been waiting. For 12 years, she's been waiting. She's had an uncontrollable bleeding. This has been a long, disappointing hardship for her. She's seen doctor after doctor after doctor. No one has been able to help her. To figure out how to make it stop. Now she's in poverty. She's spent all that she has. She's not just sick, but she's poor. And she's no better. Since she's been bleeding, she's probably chronically tired, weak in her body.
And she's most likely a Jew, and so her bleeding makes her ceremonially unclean. She can't go to the temple and worship. Her friends and her family have to keep their distance from her. They can't touch her. She's an outsider in her own community. She's embarrassed. She's ashamed. She's poor. She's weak. She's tired. And for 12 years, no one has been able to help her. 12 years, that is a really long time to live with something like this.
Those of you who have been through long-term suffering know it poses a unique difficulty. Whether it's pain, or fatigue, or depression, or some combination of those things. To spend years scheduling appointments, chasing symptoms, trying to get a diagnosis, or just some treatment, some attention, some positive improvement. You feel trapped. You feel helpless. You feel hopeless.
This woman hears Jesus is in town, and her hope is rekindled. Maybe he can help. In fact, I know he can help. I know he can. Now we'll come back to what this woman does, and how Jesus responds to her. But for now, let's go after that and remember who is among this crowd that has just witnessed this interaction between Jesus and the woman. Jairus, right? He's still there. He's been there the whole time. He was leading Jesus to his house, to his sick and dying daughter.
And then he sees Jesus stop, ask who touched him, seek out the woman, have a whole conversation with her. How do you think Jairus is feeling this whole time?
He's probably going out of his mind, right? Jesus, what are you doing? Just keep going. I told you she's dying. This is an emergency. Imagine riding in that ambulance, and then the ambulance driver sees somebody with a more minor injury, somebody limping down the sidewalk, bleeding, and the ambulance pulls over, gives them directions to the hospital, loads them up in the car. You'd be thinking, forget about them, just get to the hospital.
We've got to be honest here and just say, no one likes to wait. No one likes to wait. If you'd like to wait, come talk to me. Maybe you'll change my mind. Our natural selves and the whole world tell us that waiting is a sign that something has gone wrong. Waiting is a sign that somebody somewhere screwed something up. And that's why I'm waiting.
If it's good and God says he will do it, then why can't I have it now? And when we or someone we love is in danger, waiting is excruciating. It's unbearable. Now, the experiences of the two characters in this story, it reminds us of this. In this life, we wait because Jesus is still at work. I just want you to remember that. We wait because Jesus is still at work.
Now, I'm not saying, look people, he's real busy right now. He's got lots of people to attend to. He'll get to you in the proper order. I'm not saying that at all. He has the capacity by his spirit, by his very power to be working in all of our lives at the same time. Right? He's not limited in that way. He's working in countless places and people simultaneously, even right now. But he has a plan. He has, his work has a timing for how it unfolds.
He accomplishes what he intends when he intends to do it. Imagine it like this. He's like a father who is in the workshop making something for you. Something that's going to bless you. Maybe it's a bookshelf or a desk. Something that's going to help you. And you keep knocking on the door. Dad, is it ready yet? Is it ready yet? And he says, nope, it's not yet. I'm still working on it. I've got something great for you and I'm still working on it. It's for you and he's at work.
But it's not ready yet. It's not that he skipped town and he's like, why won't he just show up with my desk? He's there and he's working. He accomplishes what he intends when he intends to do it and that includes our healing, friends. It includes our healing.
It's really, really hard to know that God can heal now and to not see him do it. One way to avoid this waiting is just to give up and not expect anything from him. But that's faithlessness and that's not what he calls us to. He really does want us to ask but then when we ask we will wait.
Asking means waiting to see what he will do and when he will do it. Asking without accepting his timing is not a request, it's a demand. And a demand doesn't require any faith at all.
Faith is required when we ask and we wait. And let's talk about faith because that's the second thing we see in common with these two people is faith. Both Jairus and the woman sought out Jesus for healing. Jairus, it was an open act. It was a public act. He got down on his knees in front of everyone and he asked Jesus. He pleaded with Jesus. The woman, she went in secret. She was probably ashamed of her condition. She probably was embarrassed at the thought of asking directly.
She moves in behind Jesus. In Matthew's account of the story, she says to herself, if I only touch his garment, I will be made well. And so she did. And Jesus calls that faith.
Faith is belief in action. It's belief in action. It's not just believing that Jesus can save, it's reaching out to him and asking him to do it. It's receiving and resting upon him alone for salvation, as one of our membership questions says. Faith is active, it's not passive. Think of faith as active, always. Last fall, we learned that on our property, we have a lot of leaves to deal with. Every fall. I mean, it's insane, the amount of leaves. I didn't really believe it until I saw it and it was completely overwhelming.
I knew the problem was getting worse. I was driving, I would drive around and I would see crews of people working on other yards, trucks outside with logos of businesses and numbers that I could call. And I thought to myself, you know, they could probably help me. But I didn't call. And the leaves just kept piling up and piling up and piling up. I knew they could help me, but I didn't do anything about it. You might believe that a roofer can fix your roof.
You might believe that a doctor can lower your blood pressure. You might believe that a counselor can help you with your anxiety. But that belief does you no good until you make and keep that appointment.
Until you seek their help. There were many among the crowd that day pressing in on Jesus, close to Jesus physically. Many who believed that he could do mighty things. But she reached out with a desire to actually receive that help, to receive that healing. That was the difference for her. And that's exactly why she was healed. But there's more to the story for both of these people because Jesus wants their faith to grow.
He takes them where they are and he wants their faith to grow. For this woman, this happens when Jesus calls her out, asks her to share her testimony. His purpose is not to shame her in front of everyone for stealing something from him. No, he wants her to acknowledge what she did to give glory to God and so that he could recognize her as a faithful disciple. He's calling for another act of faith from her, something she didn't want to do to be in front of people, to speak up.
She's been an outcast for 12 years and now he's asking her to come forward and say what had happened. That takes a lot of faith. But she does it. She declares in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been healed.
Now for Jairus, it's the waiting itself that grows his faith. The time spent with the woman has made the problem worse. Word comes from the house. the worst thing you could hear. His daughter has died.
You can just imagine the devastation immediately that hits him. He's told by someone from the house, don't bother Jesus anymore. It's too late. You've missed your chance.
There's no more reason to hope. But Jesus looks at him and he says, do not fear, only believe and she will be healed. She will be well. This, let's just acknowledge this is a big ask.
How would you feel in that moment? The bottom has just fallen out and Jesus looks at you and he calls you to practice even more faith than you had a minute ago.
He's saying, you believe that I could heal her, Jairus? Do you believe that I could bring her back from the dead? It doesn't get any easier once they get to the house. Many people were weeping, were mourning. They knew what had happened. They knew that she was dead. When they hear what Jesus has to say, they laugh, they mock. Jairus now is called to hold on to Jesus' promise through the mockery, through the disdain that everyone else has. And he does.
What God allows in our lives is intended to strengthen our faith. Breeson is growing cantaloupe in her garden and she's doing it vertically on a trellis. I didn't know you could do this with cantaloupe. The first few times I saw it, I saw the vine traveling up the trellis and I told her, you better put that vine on the ground, kind of untangle it, put it on the ground, the fruit's going to be too heavy. And she said, no dad, it's supposed to be like that.
And I was like, alright. A little later I saw the fruit begin to form, it's like the size of a grape. And I wondered, how is that teeny tiny little vine going to bear up under the weight of that cantaloupe? I kept trying to tell her, you better untangle it and put it on the ground. She says, no, no. It was Lisa Burton who explained it to me. As the weight of that fruit grows, the vine strengthens. It as the fruit gets heavier, the vine that's holding it gets stronger and supports it.
God wants to strengthen your faith. Not because he's dissatisfied with us, but because he wants us to be more satisfied in him. That's why he's doing it.
Our burdens, our sufferings, the weight in our lives, they're meant to strengthen that little vine that we have, to make it stronger, to trust him more. And this includes the breakdown of our bodies, the invasion of disease and illness, the threat of death.
Our plea for healing is an act of faith. It's an act of trusting him. The perseverance of our faith is what leads us to treasure him more than anything else. And that's the goal he's after. Leading us to treasure him more than anything else.
The third thing that these two people had in common was they experienced the power of Jesus. When the woman touched Jesus her But get this there's another thing that Jesus does for her another way that he expresses his power in her life. He calls her daughter.
He calls her daughter. What a sweet and a powerful way to address her in the middle of this crowd. She didn't even know if he would bother with her. He was on his way to heal the daughter of an important man. She thought herself as a nobody.
But Jesus says no no don't you see you are my daughter. You're my daughter. You belong to me and you are precious in my sight. He honors what she's done her faith and he says your faith has made you well go in peace. He has now restored her health and her standing in the community at the same time she has been affirmed by Jesus of Nazareth in front of everyone everyone that she was alienated from outcast from that she couldn't be near he has lifted her up we don't know her name but we have her story what she has done is still being your importance in the world your status in the community your rank in society he heals all who come to him in faith that's all it takes and those that come he looks at you and he calls you daughter or son or child now as for Jairus and his wife they get to witness one of the only three times that we know of that Jesus raised someone from the dead this daughter the son of the widow and Lazarus Jesus says she is not dead but sleeping don't misread this this is not a denial that she actually died everyone knows that she died that's why they're laughing at Jesus it's a way of declaring his power for him bringing her back from the dead is as easy as it is for us to wake someone up maybe even easier I say child arise and my daughters don't get out of bed sometimes it's as easy as speaking to her and taking her by the hand he commands her spirit come back into her and immediately it happens she sits up a simple word now this is the heart of this passage the
power of Jesus to overcome death our own mortality it is it's universally difficult it's hard to even think about it for more than a few minutes something we resist thinking about this passage it points to you this fact the mighty foe of death it is not undefeatable Jesus is stronger than death now listen death is not some cosmic impersonal force in the universe that's eternal that God is just wrestling with and will finally subdue that is not what death is death is a curse death is God's just and righteous punishment that he has imposed on mankind for sin and for rebellion that's what death is and Jesus conquers death with his death he conquers it because he took the sin and punishment on himself that's how he overcomes death he takes the punishment that sinners like us deserve the death that God promised in the garden of Eden Jesus takes it on resurrection resurrection it's what you can expect of your future alive whole perfect eternal in Romans 6 Paul writes this if we have been united with him in a death like his we shall certainly certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his we're resurrection people Christians it's the heart of our faith just like Jesus was resurrected it is not a metaphor he walked out of that grave the new life that I and others and this book talks about that's in you because of Jesus it is not just a metaphor your body will be raised again in imperishable your spirit will be reunited with it all this is the promise that is true for you if you
are in Jesus death poses no threat to us it's not not it does not thwart the work of God this little girl's life that's been restored to her it's just a sign pointing forward to when he returns in power when he comes back to the earth which is also literal he will return when he's raised in and we'll be united with him we'll get new bodies that will never age never break down never get cancer never even get a sunburn if you belong to Christ through faith your healing is just a matter of timing it's not if he will heal you friends but when you can count on that this is what Jesus was telling Martha when he said I am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me though he die yet shall he live that's the power of Christ and his resurrection that we see foreshadowed and previewed in this miracle these two miracles of the woman healed instantly and the girl brought back to life instantly that's what helps us wait with patience church hold on to that promise it's real and it's yours in Christ let's pray Jesus we hold on to the promise that this passage offers us that we will be healed everyone who has hidden their life with you Christ will be healed and Lord we know that in this life we ask and we wait sometimes we wait a little while sometimes we wait a long while Lord help us to grow in our faith to grow in our treasuring and our trust of you while we wait Lord remind us of the good news of your resurrection which is the foundation of the