Be Selfish.

Mark 5:32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.

 

I never ask people for help… truly, almost never.  As a last resort, usually when it requires a heavy dose of speaking German, I will ask Stephen to help me with something.  But, even then, almost every time, I still find a way to do it on my own.

Most of us behave exactly the same way with God.  But why?

• We don’t want to bother Him
• We feel our needs are insignificant
• We don’t think He cares
• We don’t think He’s capable

Here’s the deal: We are wrong.

In Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:22-43; Luke 8:41-56 (3 times!) we read an old but familiar story about a women who touched Jesus’ hem.  But perhaps we’ve missed a big part of the point here…

Jesus was on his way to take care of something urgent – more urgent than just about any problem out there – someone had died.  And not just anyone either, it was a little girl.  Plus, she was the daughter of a synagogue leader.  This father needed Jesus’ help urgently, and, having dedicated his life to the Lord’s work, this man (you can easily argue) deserved it, as well.

So Jesus was fighting through the crowds to get to the home of this child.  A house that was already filled with mourners.  Even the pipers were their playing music.

Had I been in that crowd, here is a clear instance when I would have said to myself, “My problems are not the priority right now.  No matter what I’m going through – this trumps it.  I’m out.”

But there was a woman who was sick and she knew Jesus was the answer to her problems.  She also knew that NOW was her chance to get her miracle.  She didn’t delay because of feeling less significant.  She didn’t assume there wasn’t enough healing to go around.  She FOUGHT her way to Him and, with the kind of faith that doesn’t even require a conversation, she touched the hem of his garment and was healed instantly.

I love the faith of that lady.  But this story is far from over.

When she touched Him, Jesus felt the power leave His body.  And… here’s the part I’m most excited about:

Mark 5:30-32 says “He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’  ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’.  But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.”

He wanted to see her.  The healing had ALREADY happened.  She didn’t NEED Him to stop and find her.  But what she had done was SIGNIFICANT to Jesus, and He wanted to tell her that she DID GOOD.

He had stopped the urgent mission He was on to find somebody in a crowd!

And, guess what?  He wasn’t mad about the distraction.  He didn’t regard this woman to be selfish for taking her miracle in that moment.  He stopped everything to look her in the eyes so she would know that her faith is rare.  That He valued it.

When He found her, he called her “daughter” – Oh how I long for the day He calls me that face to face – “your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Right about that time, some friends of the child’s family came and told the synagogue leader that he should leave Jesus alone now, his child having already been dead for a while.  But when Jesus overheard that he said, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”  I wonder if what Jesus wanted to say was “Don’t be afraid; PLEASE just believe ALREADY.”

What a contrast in faith.  What a contrast in ASKING God to meet your needs.  How long will it take for us to realize that all we have to do is believe… and ask?

Don’t you want to have faith that is RARE?  The kind of faith that gets God’s attention?

REMEMBER THIS: Matthew 7:9-11 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

 

#askgod #havefaith #bebold