Brushing Up Against Jesus

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 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... He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

M‌ark 5: 24b-29, 34

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The passage tells us that in spite of all the money this woman spent and all the suffering she endured, she only grew worse and more desperate. But then she heard about a man who could heal every disease with a touch. She had already suffered so many disappointments. Did she dare to believe this Jesus could heal even her? 

She did. She believed that Jesus could do what no one else had been able to do for 12 years. She said to herself “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” So, she found out where Jesus would be. She worked her way through the crowd and came up behind Him and reached out her hand in faith and touched Him. Actually, she didn’t even touch Jesus, just his cloak. And that was all it took! Scripture says that her bleeding stopped immediately. She was healed.

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Now, many people touched Jesus that day, but she alone touched Him in faith. And that made the difference, because God responds to faith. He has, by His own Divine decree and character, determined that He will honor those who come to Him in faith. Her touch seems to have called the healing forth automatically. How? 

The key is that she touched Him in faith. No one else was healed. Surely some of those other people in the crowd who brushed up against Jesus had bad backs and sore knees, but they weren’t healed because though they touched Him they didn’t touch Him in faith.

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Did you realize that faith really does matter in the Christian walk? A person can walk the aisle and pray a prayer of salvation but if they don’t pray it in faith, they won’t be saved. A believer can come to church week after week, but if they don’t come with faith, expecting God to do something, asking Him to do something, then it will profit them nothing. You can open your Bible to read it, but if you have no faith, it will only lie lifeless before you.

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So when you come to Jesus, when you come to church, when you come into your quiet time alone with God... come with faith. Don’t just brush up against Jesus like the crowds did. Reach out and touch Him in faith! I’m NOT saying that if you have faith all your problems will go away. I AM saying that faith really does matter, it counts for something in the Christian walk.

Invite Him In

When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

Mark 5:15–17

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How did the townspeople respond to Jesus and the great miracle He performed when He cast thousands of demons out of this one man?

They very kindly and very politely invited Jesus to leave. In fact, it says they “pleaded” with Jesus to leave their region. And this is exactly how some of you treat God. You go to church on Sunday morning and pay your respects and then you politely ask God not to interfere with your private life. Why? Why did they respond this way and why do we respond this way?

Verse 15 gives us the answer. It says, “When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.” They were afraid! Who knows how long this man had terrorized their area. Who knows how many times they had tried to deal with him. The story tells us that he had often been chained hand and foot. Yet, Jesus arrives and within just a few minutes is able to subdue this man and cast all the demons out of him! They didn’t think this was possible. They were afraid of Jesus’ power. They simply weren’t sure that they wanted someone that powerful anywhere near them or their town. They were afraid of what Jesus could do, afraid of what He might do with all that power.

‌I think many of us respond to Jesus in this same way. We are afraid to let Jesus into our life, because we are afraid of what He might do? Afraid of what He might ask us to do. I struggled with this for a very long time. I was afraid that if I fully surrendered my life to Christ He might call me to be a missionary, or He might ask me to walk up to strangers on the street and share the gospel with them. Are you keeping Jesus at arm’s length? Are you very politely asking Him to leave you alone because you are afraid of what He might ask you to do? Don’t make the mistake these people made. The Bible doesn’t record Jesus ever returning to this area after they invited Him to leave. Don’t let fear keep you from Jesus. Don't plead with Him to leave. Invite Him in.

Train Them Up! (W.o.W. Rewind)

 Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6

Many of you know this passage by the King James translation which begins with "train up a child in the way he should go..." I actually like the way the New International Version translates it better. It draws out what the Baker Commentary on the Bible has to say about this verse. It notes that the word for "train" can also be translated "dedicate." It also says that the phrase "the way he should go" is more literally translated "on the mouth of his way." I am not skilled enough in language studies to confirm this, but it seems to be in keeping with the meaning of the passage. Interestingly enough, the word for "way" can mean not only "path" or "road" but also "manner" or "habit." (edited by Walter A. Elwell. Proverbs commentary written by R. K. Harrison,  p.424).

All of this taken together gives us the general thrust of this proverb. I liken it to a sharpshooter aiming at a target that is a long distance off. Even if your aim is only a degree or two off, over such a long distance it is multiplied so that you miss your target altogether. But if you are careful to eliminate the smallest of errors in the beginning, then you have a much better chance of hitting your target. So too with our children. We must do more than merely lay a solid foundation in their early years and hope for the best. We must go far beyond this. After we have laid that foundation we must be diligent to watch for deviations from the path of righteousness and correct their course whenever needed. A minor step away from the Lord at the age of 8, 10, or even 15 can take your child far away from the faith by the time he is 25 or 30.

This reminds me of a saying from one of the early church fathers. Chrysostom said, “To each of you fathers and mothers, I speak: Just as we see artists fashioning their paintings and statues with great precision, so we must care for these wondrous statues of ours. Painters, once they have set the canvas on the easel, paint on it day by day to accomplish their purpose. Sculptors, too, working in marble, proceed in a similar manner; they remove what is unhelpful and add what is lacking. You should proceed in the same way. Like the creators of statues, give all your leisure time to fashioning these wondrous statues of God. As you remove what is unhelpful and add what is lacking, inspect them day by day, to see with which good qualities nature has supplied them so that you can increase these qualities, and to see which faults so that you can eradicate them” (quote taken from Perspectives on Family Ministry by Timothy Paul Jones, p.20).

It is important to remember that the proverbs are not promises. They express what wisdom has found to be generally true. Unfortunately there are those children who will decide to walk away from God in rebellion even after their parents have done all they can do. But on the whole, if we are diligent to dedicate our children to the path of righteousness at a young age and keep them on it, then they will never depart from it, even in their old age after we have gone to be with the Lord. So I charge you to be diligent in raising up your children for the glory of God.

For further reading...

• Deuteronomy 6:1-9- Teach God's commands to your children.
• Ephesians 6:1-4- Don't be too hard on your children.
• Joshua 4:20-24- Set up practical reminders of God's goodness. 

Small Starts

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

Mark 4:30–32

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The Bible Knowledge Commentary* helpfully notes that it takes over 700 mustard seeds to weigh a gram (and there are 28 grams in a single ounce). So a mustard seed is pretty small and very light. Yet the shrub that grows from this seed becomes the largest of all garden plants in Palestine, reaching a height of 10–12 feet in a few weeks. The key point being that this mustard seed starts small but grows to be something very big.

Jesus is comparing His ministry and the kingdom He is planting to the mustard seed. He is saying that even though it looks small and insignificant right now, it would grow. In fact, this small movement would one day encircle the whole globe. 

‌‌This parable is a great reminder for us that God often starts great works in the smallest ways. An old Chinese proverb says “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” And that seems to capture how God often works in His children’s lives. Consider for example how God chose to create a people and a nation for His name. He didn’t go find a people already existing and adopt them as His own. No. He chose one man and his wife and asked them to go on a long journey to a place they had never been before. Imagine that! The beginnings of Israel, even the beginnings of the church. Abram I’ve got a plan, but first you need to go on a journey.

Yes, God has a habit of starting large undertakings in small ways. So, you have to learn not to despise small things and small beginnings in the Christian life. Advancing God’s kingdom in your life often starts with small things like choosing to obey. Praying and asking God for guidance and help. Or even inviting someone to church. Don’t underestimate these small steps of faith.‌

* John D. Grassmick, “Mark,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 121.