THE TOUCH OF HOPE
Luke 8:40-56
[See video “God Restores”—1:02]
Who of us haven’t had those times when we wondered if maybe our lives had been trashed? And I’m guessing more of us than would like to admit it have had those experiences that left us feeling broken, crushed…even shattered. And while I’m incredibly grateful that it hasn’t been my day-by-day experience, I do know what that’s like—and too often I’ve been the greatest culprit of my own brokenness. Do you know what I mean?
Sometimes it’s just life that pushes us to the edge! Even good things! When Cindy and I married we so very much wanted to have children and were so thrilled when God blessed our home with Justin, Krista and Kara! But I also can look back and see what I couldn’t see at the time—that my wife was so overwhelmed with the demands of three babies that she was living on the edge of depression—especially in that first year when we had all three in diapers! She shared years later that there were times in that first year or two when she’d pause at the top of the steps for just a moment and the thought would go through her mind, “If I fell down these steps I might break my leg and then I could go to the hospital and get some rest!” Life happens, doesn’t it?
This morning we’re going to look at the lives of a couple of people who found themselves at the edge of life—fearing they were about to fall off! And then…they met Jesus. And when all they could see were holes, He saw wholeness! When they saw rubbish, He saw righteousness! When they saw death, He saw life! Jesus was the One who makes beauty out of ashes! I like the thought that God recycles: He turns trash into treasure, rags into riches and paupers into princes—and that He’s not afraid to dig through the garbage of our lives in order to make that happen! Isn’t that an amazing thought?!
So turn with me to Luke 8—
[Read Luke 8:40-56]
Here we have intertwined the stories of two people—caught at what was perhaps the most critical time in their lives. And for both people we see the power and compassion of Jesus displayed in marvelous ways—and we also see the significance of faith.
And yet the two people involved in these two healings could not have been more different. Jairus was a man of means—apparently rich and certainly socially powerful. He had prominence in the religious world—what some might think of being a “cut above the rest.” In the synagogue he was up front all the time—in the spotlight reading the scriptures, perhaps determining which songs would be sung.
The woman, however, suffered from a physical problem with bleeding that would have barred her from even entering the synagogue. Her physical condition left her ceremonially unclean—and it had been that way for 12 years! Twelve years is a long time! It probably seemed to her like most of her life had been spent that way—and, having spent every penny she could muster on doctors and still not finding a cure, she apparently had concluded that this was her lot in her life—the way it would always be now. And with all of that in mind, she was on the far end of the social and religious spectrum from where Jairus was. We don’t even know her name.
The circumstances of the healing were so different too. In a scene full of people crowding in upon Jesus, all who apparently had enough faith in Him to believe that He could do something for them, there emerged one woman of special faith. While she was forbidden to touch others because she would make them ceremonially unclean too, she dared to believe that God’s power so resided in Jesus that if she could just get close enough to Jesus to touch the border of his long garment that she would be made well.
On the other hand, when Jesus entered Jairus’ home, there was pretty much a void of faith. “Your daughter died, Jairus. No need to bother the Teacher now. He can’t do anything for her.” They were consumed with sharing the grief of a mother and father who had lost their only daughter. And when Jesus said to them, “Don’t cry, she didn’t die; she’s only sleeping,” they laughed at Jesus because they knew the girl was dead. And from their vantage point, there wasn’t anything now that could be done for her. Jesus got the naysayers out of the house and only He and a few of His disciples and the parents were allowed to enter with Him. And Jesus restored life to that little girl. And it wasn’t a resuscitation—it was a resurrection!
It was all truly amazing, wasn’t it?! Two people in seemingly hopeless situations come to Jesus—and He restored their lives. His touch was the touch of hope. The woman had been trying for years to get her physical problem resolved, but no one could heal her. All due respect to doctors, but there was only so much the doctors could do! She had exhausted her resources—and there appeared to be no hope and no help for her condition. It not only sapped her strength, but it was embarrassing. And because it rendered her ceremonially unclean, it had taken control of her life!
She didn’t want to draw attention to herself in coming to Jesus, and she didn’t want others to deem Jesus ceremonially unclean because of her need, so she determined to simply try to touch the bottom fringe of his long garment. That meant that she had to get down near the ground—with the crowd pressing in upon Jesus. He immediately knew that power had gone out from Him—though it certainly wasn’t as if His power was being drained. I don’t know that we can begin to understand what that was like—but clearly Jesus was aware that someone had reached out to Him in such a way that healing power had gone out from Him to this person. And Jesus immediately asked those closest to Him, “Who touched me?”
The disciples thought Jesus’ question was a bit ridiculous and unreasonable, noting that the crowd was pressing in upon Him from every direction—all wanting to get close to Him. That moment reminds me of an experience I had in the Dominican Republic when I was a college student ministering there for a summer. Our team of four spent much of our time in a village outside the city of Santo Domingo. The village was a community of Haitian people who had come from their home country on the other side of the island in order to make a living working in the sugar cane fields. Of our team of four, I was the blondest, and evidently most of these very dark-skinned people had never seen a person with blond hair before. And I remember times when we would get into the little taxi they called the “publico” to ride back to the city, hands would reach through the open window to touch my blond hair as they would call out my name in farewell greeting, “Timoteo!” I’m just guessing that lots of people were reaching out to touch Jesus with certainly greater enthusiasm and more excitement than my Dominican friends had with me.
And yet Jesus knew that someone had touched Him in such a way that His divine power had been tapped. “I felt healing power go out from me!” The woman apparently felt exposed. She began to tremble, bowing at the feet of Jesus. Her voice quivered as she told Jesus and all who were standing nearby about her need, and how she had indeed reached out to touch the edge of His garment, and how she had been instantly healed. I’m sure she didn’t know how Jesus would respond to her, but with compassion and grace and affirmation of her faith, Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
And even though Jairus was a man of social standing in the community, there is no less of a display of desperation in him coming to Jesus that day. Scripture tells us that he fell at the feet of Jesus, pleading for Jesus to come to his house in order to heal his only daughter who was dying at this very moment! It was pretty remarkable that Jairus would bow at the feet of Jesus—particularly when it was already clear that most of the religious leaders were not happy with all the attention given Jesus. And I wonder if he might have responded to those who may have scrutinized him for doing so, “You’d have done the same thing if your little girl was dying!”
It appears that Jesus agreed to go to Jairus’ house, but they got waylaid en route. And don’t you just imagine that Jairus was chomping at the bit while all this conversation was going on between Jesus and the woman he healed along the way? If I had been Jairus and I had to stand there while she cried and trembled her way through her long story while I knew that my little girl was at that same moment dying and desperately needing the emergency care of Jesus the Healer, I don’t know what I’d have done. Even if I hadn’t said anything, my body language would be screaming, “Come on, Jesus! You can’t waste time by talking with this lady now! You healed her, now let’s get going! My little girl’s dying!” If I’d been Jairus, Jesus would probably have had to take me by the shoulders and say, “Chill out, Tim! I’ve got this under control!”
And I wonder if the poor guy didn’t just fall apart when he got the update from his house, “Your daughter just died. There’s no need to bother the Teacher now.” But did you catch what Jesus said to Jairus at that point? “Don’t be afraid.” “Don’t be afraid.” How often has the Lord had to steady us with those words?! All through scripture, the Lord brings those words of peace to His people—“Don’t be consumed with your fears. Trust me in this. Don’t be afraid!”
And we know how it ended. Jesus went to the house and reached out to hold the hand of that 12-year-old girl. It was a lifeless hand—limp as Jesus took it in His. She was dead. He looked into her ashen face and gently spoke to her, saying, “My dear child, get up!” And she did! Life returned to her body! She wasn’t just alive—she was healthy! She stood up and Jesus had to ask the stunned parents to get the poor girl something to eat!
Our scripture today tells us of two people in hopeless situations and how Jesus stepped into their world, bringing hope and health and wholeness. These stories of healing demonstrate Jesus’ authority over disease and death. They give us a glimpse of the difference He can make in our lives when we dare to have faith in Him.
So was that then and now’s now and do such miracles never happen anymore? No…that’s not so! And if we were to have some open mic time in this crowd today, you’d likely hear lots of stories of how people experienced Jesus’ touch of hope in their lives. Miracles are still taking place. God still brings His healing touch upon bodies. Lives are restored by God’s touch. Marriages have been healed. God still reaches out to uplift and restore exhausted, desperate people. He still lifts up those who have blown it with their lives and have no place to turn. He still redeems lives. He is the God of hope!
Verse 50 of Luke 8 is a strong word for us today: “Don’t be afraid; just believe…” And the truth is that today or tomorrow, whatever we face, we do not need to be afraid. It may be our mistakes and failures that got us where we are. It may be secret sin that takes our lives to the edge of disaster. It may be from circumstances out of our control—maybe loneliness, sickness or grief…but God’s word to us today is “Don’t be afraid; just believe…you can trust me.”
Maybe you’ve lost sight of hope in your life. You might acknowledge the hopelessness in only one corner of your life, but the darkness of that corner of hopelessness seems to consume too much of life for you. Perhaps you’ve lost hope of ever being accepted as you’d like to be. Maybe you’ve lost hope of keeping your job—you just keep waiting every day for the ax to fall and for you to find yourself unemployed. Maybe the ax has already fallen for you, and you’re losing hope of getting a job that will meet your needs and the needs of your family. It all may have brought you to hopelessness in ever carving out a better future. Maybe your hopelessness relates to physical needs—your body’s falling apart and you don’t know how long you’re going to be able to hang on! And with all that’s going on in our world today, maybe hopelessness has consumed you and you fear that you will never feel secure again!
May I remind you of what God’s Word says to us about hope—and how our lives can be anchored in our hope and trust in Him? Listen to these words. Let them speak peace to your soul today…
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:5)
Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. (Psalm 130:7)
A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope. (Matthew 12:20-21)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:1-5)
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)
On Him we have set our hope…(2 Corinthians 1:10b)
God has chosen to make known among the
Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade…(1 Peter 1:3-4)
It is our greatest privilege as sons and daughters of God Almighty to find hope in Him—hope in the midst of pain, anguish, disease, fear, poverty, rejection, sadness, heartache, loss, and regrets. May we never forget that He makes beauty out of ashes, that He makes joy out of sorrow. And He wants to restore His people today—if we will dare to trust Him.
This morning I want to do something that I do not do often. I want to offer to you the ministry of anointing. It’s a New Testament practice, spoken of most clearly in James, chapter 5—
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make them well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
(James 5:13-16, TNIV)
And if you need to experience in a tangible way this morning the touch of hope, I want to encourage you to come forward and let one of our pastors pray for you and anoint you with oil. Let’s do so believing that our Heavenly Father loves us and wants to make a difference in our lives—if only we will place our trust in Him. Please understand that it’s not the person praying for you and anointing you who will make the difference—we’re just the vehicle through whom we pray God may chose to work. We also recognize the sovereignty of God and submit ourselves to His wisdom and His grace, knowing that God’s ways are often different than ours, but assured that however God responds to our need that He will not leave us alone to struggle with it. We can trust Him with our every need. His touch is the touch of hope.
