St. Simons Community Church

How desperate are you? ABC and Wisteria Lane have the Desperate Housewives, and the Bible has men and women who are desperate for an encounter with God. There is one woman whose story has always been an inspiration to me (Mark 5:25 -34). In this passage, there is a woman who has been subject to bleeding for 12 years. It is a problem with her menstrual cycle and she can find no relief in spite of seeking medical attention. Due to her problem, she would have been considered unclean. She would not have been allowed into the temple, and she would not have been allowed to have any physical contact with another human. She was basically all-alone, cut off from God and man. She was desperate for God to touch and heal her.

This woman wanted to get well. She wanted to be whole. She wasn’t going to give up hope that God had a better life for her. This is important because I meet people all the time who don’t want to get well. They are unwilling to change. They remain a victim for the rest of their lives holding onto their misery, bitterness, or pain. They aren’t willing to take any steps in order to get well.

This woman had heard about Jesus though (Mark 5:27). Perhaps she had heard about how Jesus had touched a group of lepers. They were considered unclean too, but Jesus healed them. Whatever she had heard about him, there was a little seed of faith in her heart. She was desperate to find out if Jesus could heal her. As an unclean woman in that day and time, she would not have dared to approach Jesus face to face. Apparently she decided she would try and sneak a touch from him. She wanted to do a “drive by touch” on Jesus.

The story says, “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.’” I love the fact that this woman decided to go after Jesus. She was going to press in and go after him. She was desperate to touch Jesus in hopes that he would somehow touch her. If her broken body and soul could somehow come in contact with the essence of this man Jesus, perhaps his very nature would change her.

She could have sat at home and played it safe. She could have thought, “Well if he is really God, then he can come find me. If God wants to heal me, then he knows where I am.” Some people are like that. They just sit there and wait for God to come to them – not this lady though. She went to touch Jesus. It was a great risk and a great step of faith. She risked the social embarrassment from those in the community. She risked rejection if anyone saw this “unclean” woman stepping beyond her allowed social boundaries. She could have been scolded by a Pharisee, or rejected again by the rest of the crowd.

What about you? Are you willing to go after Jesus no matter what someone else says or thinks? How desperate are you to get a hold of Jesus? Do you want to get well, or do you want to hang on to your bitterness, your anger, your fear? Are you waiting on God to pick you out of the crowd, or give you a holy zap? Or are you ready to press in to Him, and go after him?

This woman pressed in to Jesus, and she wasn’t disappointed. Regardless of the cost, regardless of the risk, she was desperate to touch Jesus. She did, and she would never be the same again. And that’s the Word.

What is the highest place on earth? You might say that Mt. Everest at more than 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest place on earth. I beg to differ though. There is a higher place. I am sure some of you have discovered this place, and perhaps some of you have not. I would like to direct you to the 5th chapter of the Gospel of Mark to show that place to you.

I have always appreciated a couple of stories in Mark 5 that run together. The two stories are about a synagogue ruler named Jairus whose 12 year old daughter was ill (and died) and a woman who had been suffering an affliction for 12 years. The story of the woman is actually inserted right into the middle of Jairus’ story. She basically intrudes upon Jesus as he is going to help Jairus’ daughter.

There is an interesting contrast between this man Jairus and this woman. As I have said, Jairus was a synagogue ruler. We are told his name and what he does. The woman was merely an unknown person. Her name is not even mentioned. We are just told about her affliction. She had been “subject to bleeding for twelve years” (Mark 5:25). Basically, this woman was suffering from a continual menstrual flow that had not stopped.

As a synagogue ruler Jairus would have been an important and well-respected man in the community. Everyone would have known Jairus. He would have been a popular person due to his role as a spiritual leader. The woman was an unknown nobody, and even an outcast. According to the OT, a woman was considered to be unclean during her menstrual cycle. That meant she was not allowed to touch or be touched by others. She couldn’t go into the temple during this time. Basically she was cut off from God and from man. She was the unknown outcast living her life in obscurity.

Jairus would have been a man of means. He would have been well compensated for his role as a ruler of the synagogue. The woman was broke. She had spent all that she had on doctors.

Jairus had 12 years of happiness with his daughter come to an end when she died. The woman had 12 years of affliction and discomfort finally come to an end after Jesus healed her.

As you can see, these are two completely different people from opposite sides of the track. One was wealthy, prominent, and popular. The other was poor, obscure, and an outcast. And yet they both shared some things in common. They both had a great need. Jairus had a critically ill daughter slipping towards death. The woman had an issue of blood that the doctors could not help to heal. They were both desperate with nowhere else to turn. They both ended up turning to Jesus though.

It is very interesting at how both of them approached Jesus. Let me share these verses, and notice how each one of them comes before Christ: “Seeing Jesus, (Jairus) fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him…” (Mark 5:22). “Then the woman … came and fell at his feet, and trembling with fear, told him the whole truth (Mark 5:33).

That day, Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and He healed the woman from her affliction. Even though these two were quite different, they both found their answers at the feet of Jesus. Both Jairus and the woman fell at the feet of Jesus, and they both had life changing encounters with Him.

Do you know what they discovered? The highest place on earth is not Mt. Everest. The highest place on earth is at the feet of Jesus. There is no greater place to go. There is no higher place to climb to. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you face, I encourage you to fall at the feet of Jesus. And that’s the Word.

Did you hear about the day when the apostle Simon Peter asked Jesus to go away? That’s right, (Simon) Peter couldn’t stand for Jesus to be in his presence any more. Let me give you a little more insight into the story. Over recent weeks, I have been sharing from the 5th chapter of Luke. In this passage, Jesus gets into Peter’s boat and teaches the crowds. Then he asks Peter to launch out to the deep and let down his nets for a catch. Peter had been fishing all night and caught nothing. He most likely didn’t want to do what Jesus said, but he did. He wasn’t expecting to catch anything at all, but when he pulled in his nets they were overflowing with fish to the point of almost breaking the nets. The boats began to sink in the water because they were so loaded with fish. This is when Peter wasn’t sure he wanted Jesus in the boat anymore.

Scripture records, “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me Lord; I am a sinful man!’” At this point, the boat wasn’t the only thing about to sink. Peter’s heart began to sink as well. The weight of the full nets and the weighted down boats seem symbolic of the weight of God’s presence in the boat with Peter. In the person of Jesus Christ, Peter came face to face with the weight of God’s holiness and power. And Peter seemed to feel the weight of his own sin pulling him down into the water.

I think Peter saw how shallow his existence had been. He truly understood he was unworthy to have this man Jesus in his boat, much less to have him in his life. Peter was a selfish, stubborn, prideful human who wanted life on his own terms.

“I am a sinful man,” Peter cried. He was thinking, “I am undone. I am sinking under the weight of all this.” He felt so unworthy that he bid Christ to go away. It seemed that the presence of Christ reminded him of everything that he should be, but everything that he was not. He became a broken man. He no longer called Jesus Master, instead he called Lord. It was a word that held much greater weight. It meant Master of all – God. Peter knew in his heart that he was not right with God.

When you really encounter Jesus, you will come in touch with your own sin. As Jesus calls you deeper, you will get a glimpse at how shallow your life may be. In those moments when you feel the weight of God’s holiness and your sin, part of you will want to run away from God. You too may ask him just to go away and leave you in your misery.

Jesus didn’t leave Peter though. As Peter cried out in sorrow for his sin, Jesus saw something in him. Jesus didn’t see a man worth drowning. He saw a man worth saving. In Peter’s humility, Jesus saw a man that he could actually use. Peter understood that he was nothing without Jesus. Peter’s sin became something that would cause him to run to Jesus instead of from Jesus.

So instead of hopping out of the boat, walking on water and leaving Peter, Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” It was an invitation to follow Jesus and to be used by Jesus.

Have you ever felt so unworthy that you just wanted Jesus to leave you alone? Don’t run from him. Run to him. You just may be in the perfect place for God to use you – humble, broken, and surrendered to Jesus. And that’s the Word.

Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. This is what Jesus told Peter to do after a long night of fishing. Peter didn’t yet know who Jesus was. He seemed to be just another rabbi passing through town, coming to teach God’s Word to the people. There was something different about Jesus though. His invitation for Peter to launch out into the deep (Luke 5:1 – 11) seemed to be a call to a deeper life with God, a deeper purpose.

For Peter to respond to Jesus’ call to launch out to the deep is very telling. Something must have been stirring in his heart because his natural inclination would have been to tell Jesus to go jump in a lake. Peter and the boys had been fishing all night long and caught absolutely nothing. In the Sea of Galilee, one would usually fish at night in the shallow waters. Jesus is asking Peter to go out into the deep water in the middle of the day. He is basically asking Jesus to do everything contrary to what Jesus had been trained to do.

This wasn’t just a hobby for Peter. He wasn’t just a weekend fishermen whose idea of the perfect bridal registry was the Bass Pro Shop. This was his career. This was his life. He was a trained fishermen on these waters from his earliest years. Jesus was basically asking Peter to hand over the keys to his business. He was asking Jesus to trust Him with his trade. Jesus wanted Peter to make this decision even though it seemed like the wrong advice. He wanted Peter to do what made no sense to his natural mind.

Simon (Peter) answered Jesus, “Master, we worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5). We know Peter must have had some great respect for Jesus even though it was very early in their relationship, because Peter called him Master. The word can mean “leader, commander, and boss.” Basically, Peter is telling Jesus, “Jesus this doesn’t really make any sense at all. As a matter of fact, I think it is crazy. But I have so much respect for you that I will do it just because you say so. I will launch out to the deep and let down the nets for a catch.”

Was Peter disappointed for doing what Jesus said to do? If he had pulled up an empty net, I am sure he would have been frustrated. Imagine he had pulled up just a couple of fish, just enough for a fish nugget meal from Long John Silvers. Peter might have thanked him for dinner, but he still would have been disappointed.

The story says “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” This haul of fish was abundant and overflowing. It is a picture of supernatural fullness. Jesus surrendered what was his, and put it into the hands of Jesus. Jesus blessed him in a supernatural way. After a futile night of fishing that turned up nothing but empty nets, Jesus filled the nets of the seasoned fishermen to the point of overflow and abundance. It is a real picture of what we can do on our own versus what Jesus can truly do when we surrender what it is ours and put it into his hands.

Does it always make sense to do what Jesus calls us to do? No. Does it sometimes seem contrary to what we think we should do? Yes. He is the Master though. We must come to a place where we do what He says just because He says so. “Because you say so…” That is reason enough to obey Jesus. He said so! And that’s the Word.