“Faces In The Crowd - A Pushy Women”
Scripture Reading: Mark 5:25-34
Sermon Transcript for September 10, 2006
By Pastor Nancy Blevins
I am especially grateful for the privilege to work with Bob and this staff. It has been delightful just in the few meetings that I have had. You should go to the Lord every day and lift them up and now me, because it’s an awesome responsibility but a great privilege. I know I hear their hearts and they are for you and for God and that is a great blessing indeed. The Scripture this morning is one I chose because Bob said, “Have you got a series that you can preach?” I never have preached a series on these women so I decided, “Yeah, I can come up with one.” It’s the Scripture this morning from Mark and his rendering of the story you may have heard. It’s placed here because God, through Jesus Christ, has just demonstrated His power over nature having calmed the storm. And then over the physical disability of a man who was running around, known as a lunatic possessed by demons, in the graveyards. And Jesus cast the demons out of him into the swine. And then comes this story about an unnamed woman. A large crowd had been following them, you see, because Jairus had asked Jesus to come and heal his daughter. Let’s pick it up at verse 25 in Chapter 5:
“Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had. And she was no better; but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak. For she said, ‘If I but touch His clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately,” as Mark is so fond of saying, “Immediately her hemorrhage stopped and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from Him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My clothes?’ And His disciples said to Him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in upon you, how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ He looked all around Him to see who had done this, but the woman knowing what had happened to her came in fear and trembling and fell down before Him said the whole truth. And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.’” For the Lord, for the people of the Lord, thanks be to God.
I suppose a few might remember the event. It was an issue, an issue of Forbes magazine that is. Forbes magazine that did something that had never been done in their history before. They published a list. And it wasn’t the usual list. It was about two years ago. Some of you may have realized it was a collector’s item. But I doubt that many of us remember whose name was at the top of the list. See, in that issue, in the fall of 2004, the list that was first-time published was the list of the 100 most powerful women in the world. It was a collection of international politicians, a queen or two, presidential advisors, TV anchors possibly you might have heard of one of those recently. There were CEO’s although one, only, made the top of the list and Hewlett Packard knows her leadership no more. And there, within those 100, were someone you might recognize as associated with the name of a young boy named Harry Potter. Yes, J. K. Rowling ranked number 85.
But more interesting and to the point was who did Forbes magazine consider the most powerful of one hundred powerful women in the world? They said she had steely nerve. Yes, it was Condoleezza Rice. She ranked two levels above the President’s own wife who was known for her calm and commanding, reassuring demure. The vice-president or we would call her that, but she was known as Vice Premier of China, her name was Wu Yi and she was described so contrary to those first ones. She was described as elegant, intelligent, and proud. More than a few women from that list we might have called assertive or aggressive. And a few of those may have attributed a five-letter word to them known as “pushy”, a pushy woman, downright pushy. You know, when I look at a list like that or a Times Magazine list, it reminds us that it takes a lot of different leadership styles, a lot of different personalities, and yes, a lot of different genders, to run the world doesn’t it?
That day around Jesus there were women in that crowd similar. Not just women, not just men, children. They brought whole families out to meet Jesus. Now you never do anything like that, do you? Maybe we gather around the tube to watch the game tonight with the whole family. Maybe we go to a concert or the fair and we start getting pressed together. And if there is someone, like a Payton Manning, in the midst of us, an athlete or a presidential candidate, yes we know what it is like to stand in a crowd and be shoulder-to-shoulder. And some of you know what it’s like to be in church shoulder-to-shoulder with people you don’t know. There are those who are known because of their status in the community. Like Jairus, he was known. In fact that is partly why the crowd had been gathered because he was a leader in the synagogue. He was well-known and named. And then there are those in any gathering of a large number that are unknown by name.
There was a woman in that crowd, the Scriptures tell us. She wasn’t named, but oh she was called something. She was called “the bleeding woman”. There are those in every village, community that have a well-known named or called person—the town drunk, the crazy guy at the end of the street. Known by their personalities, perhaps, known by their disease. This woman was in a category of her own in that she shared only with people that might have had leprosy—untouchable in the Jewish tradition! And because her life flow was literally draining out of her, she was so weak that sometimes she may have stumbled like the drunk. And there were rumors. But then there was the smell, the smell almost as though of a dead carcass. And one would look around for the garbage collector. She had been that way, unclean, untouchable, for twelve years. She could not participate in their ritual of purity and have it cleanse her because she was always unclean. She was an outcast, no doubt, probably from her own home because with a woman who had an issue of blood, a Jewish husband would not be allowed to touch her or he too would become unclean. If she were not married, who would want to marry one such as her? And if she had children, she could not rock or cradle those children. She would more and more lose touch, literally, with others.
Unfortunately like some of us, her disease was not always visible. People could walk by and maybe notice the odor, but not sure that it was her. But tradition made her cry out that she was unclean. So not only did other people call her “the bleeding woman”, she had to be vulnerable enough to go through a crowd and say, “This is my condition. This is what I have.” Loneliness, isolation was a way of life for her. And now poverty! She had spent twelve years and the Scripture’s say she had spent all of her money. She’d gone to many physicians and had received many promises but no resolution. Each day she woke up with the hope that this might be the day they find a cure saturating her mind with the possibilities. But nothing happened until one day.
Maybe you have been there. Maybe you have been one to get down to your last straw. Maybe it’s not an issue of physical blood but physical relationships, blood relatives. And maybe it’s not a case of being without a home. Maybe for you it’s being without employment. Maybe for you it’s not your issue, at least you don’t think so. It’s the issue of your spouse or your child or your parents. But have you ever been in a situation where you knew that you were in a place that you would give anything you owned, everything you owned to change your way of life, to have some semblance of order and normalcy again? A sense of wholeness, a peace—you’d give it all!
Quite often it’s a pain of some sort that drives us to that point. A pain, physical or emotional or mental, that pushes us, if not draws us towards making a change. I had an issue once. That’s like saying you had a problem once, isn’t it? I had an issue. But what was known as the “preventing” issue as the psychologists like to say, was not the real issue. Mine seemed very minor, especially compared to this woman, but it was becoming troubling. Have you ever, of course you have because you live in Indiana, have you ever had one of those headaches that starts around your eye and then it goes back and then it ends up in your neck. And you try the ice packs. You go and you snort Afrin because maybe it’s a sinus infection. You throw down some Ibuprofen and then some more Ibuprofen and say, “I hope this doesn’t kill me, but it couldn’t be worse than the headache.” You don’t think it’s a migraine. My gosh, that sounds like a weakness. It must be sinus. I had done that. For two days I had done that. And I was ready for the resurrection, let me tell you. But I was no better.
I don’t know why I went to church that night. It was a mid-week revival. I guess I felt a little guilty. I had made myself; I had pushed myself to go to work that day. I mean, God forbid, miss a day of work. Surely an hour and a half of a church service wouldn’t kill me. I had worked eight hours. And so I was still somewhat formally dressed. Back in those days we knew it as the IBM blue suits, wool. I told Bob last week that I didn’t wear a tie anymore, but I do. In those days we dressed much differently because we thought that gave us power in the workplace. I wanted to hear that speaker. And so I did. It was wonderful. I can’t tell you his name. I can only tell you what happened that night. The throbbing was throbbing. And I was seated near the back. And there was that invocation. Now, when I was a child growing up I didn’t grow up in the Methodist church and I didn’t grow up in the Baptist church and I didn’t grow up in a lot of these churches that had one of these fancy things they call an altar. You walked the aisle for one reason and one reason only—well actually two. Number one, the invitation was offered for you to accept Christ. And number two, you could recommit your life. At the church camp where I worked, we found out that it was often how cute the missionary was as to how many recommittals we got.
Well, that night it was much like Billy Graham who has made a tremendous impact on people. But if you have ever been to a Billy Graham conference, you know it goes on and on and on. It’s “Just As I Am”, “Just As I Am”, “Just As I Am”. And thank God for that because some folks won’t move until the final stanza. They sang and they sang and they sang and the pounding grew on and on and on. And they then issued that invitation again, “Anyone with any problem, or even if you know of anyone who has a problem and you want to come forward and pray for that person at the altar, come ahead.” Now this is getting to be more than an hour and a half. And I turned around and I looked at the door and I looked at what was going on up front. And the evangelist was going through the crowd at the altar rail praying and touching. And they had prayer warriors, they called them, interceding for one another there. And then I watched what happened. When he touched them they fell to the ground in a heap. I wasn’t going to let that happen to me in front of all of those people especially not in my suit. They must have some real issues. Mine’s minor, remember.
And I looked between myself and the aisle. How could I make a get away? How could I get out that door? There were about 1000 people there. Surely they wouldn’t notice one person heading the other direction. And so I thought, “Well, if I climb over these people I’ll probably step on their toes.” Ever been there?--Afraid to come forward; afraid to get up to leave because you might make a scene? And, God forbid, that I would come down front! But He didn’t. Because when I got to the aisle and thought that I would make my break, I looked down front. And I thought, “You know, I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ve got to leave anyway.” And so I began that walk toward the front. I was about five steps from my seat, the row that I was in, and I noticed something. And I was totally embarrassed. I could breathe; I didn’t have any pain anymore! Oh, this was great, I’m going down front, what do I do stop in the middle of the aisle and turn around and say, “Made a mistake, don’t need anything, thank you very much.” But I kept walking and I stood up there and thought, “Oh, great, what am I going to ask for?” Because the evangelist was going from person to person saying, “What would you like to ask of the Lord?” I thought, “Boy, he was going to be disappointed when he got to me.” You see, I thought I only had one issue. Got there, he looked up at me because he was already on his knees thinking he was going to pray for me. And he said, “Sister, what do you need from the Lord?” And do you know what I said, “I already got it.” And I thought he was going to like be upset. And do you know what he did? He said, “Well, let’s kneel and thank the Lord.”
See, my issue that night wasn’t my issue. I don’t even remember the name of the evangelist. I couldn’t tell you the sermon title. All I know that going down front for me, it wasn’t about what I thought it was. Going down front for me had to do with my pride and my skepticism, prideful skepticism. But you all probably don’t know anything about that.
One woman who wrote a book called, Inner Healing for Broken Vessels, said, “Often the help we want isn’t the help we really need.” Many people that day were jostling the crowd trying to get a place close to Jesus. It sorted of happened in that crowd I was in. Everybody wanted to make sure that evangelist touched them and not any of the interceptors. People were pushing and pushing and pushing to get up next to Jesus. Maybe you’ve been in a crowd like that at a concert or walking the avenue there at the state fair and you really don’t have any control because the crowd is pushing you. You just want to touch their hand; you just want to get a touch. And why?—It’s probably a little groupie in all of us. “I’m not going to wash this hand for a week maybe a month. If the Colts win I won’t wash it till the Super Bowl if I get to touch Peyton’s hand.” That happened to me once. Not Peyton, it was a man that many of you might not remember. A few of you might. A man named Dan. He was one the Pacers basketball team a long time ago when I was about in the eighth grade. Dan Issel, anybody remember him? I was really into basketball. “Hi Dan, can I have your autograph?” Massive man, he gave it to me. Although to tell you the truth, nobody but me would know it unless they read what was below it. “I got Dan Issel’s autograph”, because he scrawled it so quickly who would know.
Jesus that day, a reputation was following him. He was gaining popularity. He had calmed that storm and He had put that guy that was crazy back in alignment with all of facilities. Is it possible that the crowd that day was unaware of their own need? That those who were pressing up against Jesus, why did we hear of only one who touched Him being changed? Were they those well-wishers, those jumping on the bandwagon just to get an association with Him? But that woman, that woman who had an issue of blood, she sought something more than groupie status. More than anything she was coming for the life-giver because she knew that she needed her life restored. She knew that there was power and that power drove her. That power pushed her. It started in her heart, the power of faith giving rise to hope. In her mind, “If I but touch...” And so the faith took action, and she reached to just the hem of his garment, she pushed to receive. And when she touched the power went through her like as though you might stick your hand into an electrical outlet—supercharged from on high! It wasn’t just a little dose, it wasn’t just a teaspoon. Jesus felt the power from God go through Him and to her, through her. And immediately she knew that she had been changed. She was in the power. A change of life had happened to her. She was expectant as she touched His hem.
Maybe that poses a good question for us. As we come to worship, do we expect? Do we have high expectations? Not of the choir only or the musicians or the pastors, but do we come with high expectations that God will indeed inhabit the praises of His people? Will God in our Spirit influence? You know what that is, that’s those sidewalks you are on everyday or in Franklin sometimes not such sidewalks. But the paths that put you among people? Can you ask yourself, am I expecting enough from Jesus? Do I still believe that He offers the power that can make a difference not only in my life but through my life? If you read the last verse of Chapter 6 of Mark, Jesus started something that day. That woman started something that day. The last verse in Chapter 6 says, “There were many who were healed then who touched His robe.”
It had never been done that way before. Oh, my God, I can’t believe I said that. See, God is the God who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. But He has endless resources and power supplies available. It is our touch, that first hymn that we sang, let me be the one that touches, let my words be the one, that you through me, Lord, before they are even on my tongue, you know what they are. My eye contact, Lord, use it to convey to someone else the power of love that you have for them. I want to walk like Jesus walked. I want to be a pastor window for Jesus--His love, His joy, and His peace. And this week I want to urge you, make an intentional connection. See yourself as a vessel or a window through which His resources can be passed to just one other person. Don’t try and change the world but take a step. And step by step, one by one, the world will be a different place. Christ through us, Christ in us, the hope of glory. Amen and Amen.
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