[AI translation] Two stories are woven together here in the passage. The last of the two I spoke of was the one about the resurrection of Jairus' daughter. Most szeretnék a másik részről beszélni, a vérfolyásos asszony esetéről. - Bevezetőül csak annyit, hogy emberileg szólva igen nehéz helyzetben lehetett Jézus: ketten is kérték a segítségét, ketten is igényelték ugyanabban az időben - melyiket teljesítse?A little girl dying, a desperate father pleading with him to come quickly before the end, and a long-sick woman detaining him on the road! At the worst possible time! What should Jesus do? He says to this woman, "Oh, I'm busy now, come another time, I'm in a hurry! It would be reasonable for her to take the more difficult and urgent matter first and leave this one. That's what we would do. But not Jesus! He always has time for everyone. He never says to anyone that He is busy with bigger things, that He has no time to bother about small individual problems. He takes the fateful questions of world politics, or the cosmic order of the Milky Way, as much to heart as the secret sigh of a forlorn, sick woman. In this small scene, we glimpse something of the incomprehensible mystery that Jesus is truly close to everyone, everywhere, at all times, equally accessible, addressable. I once saw a poster similar to a medical sign, the kind that doctors hang on the door of their surgery. It read: 'The blessed doctor, Specialist in all diseases. Open 24 hours a day, no appointment necessary. Free appointment. You paid the price."
Yes: His invisible but real doctor's office must have some signage like this. You can go to him with any problem you have, any time, day or night, without any appointment! That's how this sick woman in the story came to Him: uninvited, at the most inopportune time possible, she timidly approached Him through the crowd and touched the hem of Jesus' garment. Just a timid, shy, secret touch, a touch between a sick man and Jesus, and both felt something: the woman felt healed, and Jesus felt that power had flowed from her. How did Jesus know that someone had touched him with a desire to be healed? There were so many people around him, pressing him on all sides, elbowing him, pulling at his clothes, hitting him with their shoulders in the tumult. Why had he only noticed this touch, which was otherwise imperceptible? Obviously because this touch was different from everyone else's. In this touch there was the cry of a beating heart without sound: this touch was like a humble supplication. It was not like the squeeze of a crowd, it was not an accidental, unthinking touch, a touch born of sheer physical closeness, of drifting - in it was a soul, in it was the fearful and living faith of a trembling soul!
There is something symbolic about this scene. There is a big difference, you know, between holding Jesus and touching Him. Those who only press gain little, - those who touch receive everything. Someone who, through personal experience, has a very broad view of the state of the world today, has said that the whole world's thinking has never been so turned towards Christ as it is now. There is more interest in him than at any other period in human history. Because so many of life's paths have led to dead ends, people are turning to Jesus with longing. Many fine plans, many happy endeavours have failed, life is bleeding from a thousand wounds, it is indeed as in the case of this biblical woman: 'she suffered much from many physicians and spent all her wealth on herself, and got no better, but rather got worse'. (v.26) It is becoming increasingly clear that there is indeed one hope for this messed-up world to escape some final, great destruction, to avoid bleeding to death: Jesus Christ! This longing of the world for Christ is also evident in the fact that churches around the world are more full today than they used to be. Sunday after Sunday, crowds flock to hear Jesus. They are pressing in on Him. But of the crowds crowding around Him, how many are really touched? Or how many seek and find Him, and live through Him? How many touch Him in such a way that they leave not only healthier, but fully restored? Oh, how many who, from childhood to old age, go to worship, Bible studies, read the Scriptures, practice prayer, flock to Jesus, and just like those people who pressed Jesus, they leave Him again after the encounter, just as they came, unsatisfied, unstrengthened, without anything having happened between them and Jesus! I did the same for a long time, until one day I really touched Him! Then I was amazed to discover what a difference it makes between holding Jesus and actually touching Him!
But what does it mean to touch Jesus? Let's look at the story: this woman was also different from the others in that the multitude went to see a miracle after Jesus. Behold, Jesus is on his way to a dying patient, here something extraordinary is about to happen! Curious, people flocked to see something extraordinary, to witness Jesus healing someone - someone else, a dying person. And the woman came to Jesus to be healed. She brought her own sick, bleeding life to Him. I think that this is where we should start: not to lament and complain about how sick this world is, how wicked and evil people are, but to approach Jesus with the need to start healing this sick world and wicked humanity through me, by cleansing my heart, by forgiving my sins, by sanctifying my life and putting it at His service! How many of you have come here now with this need? To be healed, to be cleansed from some particular sin, to be strengthened, to be made more fit to serve, to work for the glory of God? If someone has come here just to see what sermon Alexander Joo is preaching again, he will leave here without a blessing, just like the rest of the people who are anxious to see Jesus. Jesus is here, He is the main person, not a preacher who interprets Him! Dare to expect a lot from Him, dare to come with the need for something to happen in us! Our tears must be dried, our hearts must be comforted, our bitterness and despair must be turned into hope, our limp, weary members and souls must be filled with heavenly strength! Let us dare to come to Jesus with the determination and exalted aspiration of the woman who said to herself, "If I may only touch His garments, I shall be healed!"
Perhaps the old Old Testament memory encouraged this woman to this touch, that a similar miracle had already happened once, when a man was buried and laid in the tomb of the prophet Elisha, and as soon as the body touched Elisha's carcass, the dead man was raised to life (cf. 2 Kings 13:21). This is the mysterious One in whom the full power of God's redeeming love is released. In whom God has revealed Himself, so that all who need this heavenly energy may have access to it, may be filled with it! How can this precious power not have a healing effect, even if the sick man touches the hem of his garment! Oh, how little this woman knew about Jesus, but it was enough to heal her through him. We now know much more: we know that the divine power at work in her made sin harmless, defeated Satan, broke the prison of death, opened the gates of heaven! And we are allowed to touch not only the hem of His garment, but His heart, Himself. To touch Him with our word to Him, with our faith flowing towards Him and clinging to Him.
Our faith and our prayer are the spiritual hand that grasps the power in Christ and makes it the component of a new life. Our faith and prayer can become as real a connection as the touch of a hand, and as you believe and pray into Christ, His healing, renewing, sanctifying power flows into your heart, into your daily struggles, into your tasks, and behold, the effects of Christ's power begin to be seen in your life. Step out from those who are just pressing Him, into those who are boldly touching Him in faith! Look, here, now, Jesus is present. Tell Him: Lord, I have heard from others that You are alive, You can be contacted. I cannot see You, but now I am reaching out my faith as a hand to You, through the invisible world, and by touching You in faith, I am gaining healing, spiritual health from You in my innermost being! I do the same every day, and that is how I gain forgiveness of sins, strength over temptations, over fear, over worries, over everything that stands in the way of a victorious Christian life!
Someone might say, "Yeah, but that takes a lot of faith! This woman didn't have much faith either. She didn't have great faith, she was determined, she just made a move. Here again you can see how faith is not an intellectual act, but an action. In fact, this woman had an almost superstitious faith. She expected a miracle from the touch of Jesus' garment as a relic. And Jesus does not even reject this perverted faith! The other day I read about someone who bought a nice, new, valuable pipe for himself. When he put the expensive pipe on the ashtray with great care, it occurred to him that he now needed to buy a new, proper ashtray. Once he had that, the old tablecloth didn't match. But the new tablecloth almost required a new curtain for the window. And then, in the same way, the furniture, the stove, the lamp, the whole room decoration. And all because of the new pipe! - Well, that's even more so in a spiritual sense. If all you have faith in is that Jesus hears your prayer, for example, start with this. You will soon discover that this prayer is not at all suited to the morose state of mind you are in, and then ask Jesus to give you a new, serene, liberated state of mind. But our speech is strikingly different from this new state of mind, so it needs to be renewed. As soon as we start to speak differently, we find that we are too selfish with our money, so we need to reorder it according to Jesus' will. And so, one by one, we have new relationships with people in our lives, new ways of using leisure time, new Sundays, new interests, new tasks, new goals, new joys - slowly everything changes. This is the essence of faith: movement; that through a relationship with Christ, change happens in us! Renewal, healing! The power of Christ becoming visible in our daily lives! And all this renewal from a tiny beginning, from a movement of faith - a touch! You too can ask Jesus to start new life in you today!
In conclusion, this secretly happy experience must become manifest. The woman in the Bible also wanted to disappear in the crowd, but Jesus would not let her. She was forced to stand up in front of Jesus in front of everyone and tell Him the truth: how sick she was and how she was healed. The blessing she had received from the Lord in secret, yes, let's tell others openly. People need it. That is how the glory of Jesus grows. But we need it ourselves. A confessed faith, a testimony, commits us to Christ, helps us on our way. He warns me: behold, others know about me, they have heard, it is clear that I belong to him!
Jesus asked this there in the crowd. Who belonged to me? With faith, with his heart, with the longing of his soul for healing. Who among you who are here has touched Jesus now? By faith, by his heart, by the movement of his soul? "My daughter, my son, your faith has saved you. Go in peace, and be healed of your trouble."
Amen
Date: 19 May 1957.
Lesson
Mk 5,22-34