JESUS’ POWER TO CLEANSE

We’ll hear now about a woman whose problem had to do with one of the laws in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, in this case, it’s Leviticus 15. The laws in Leviticus are sometimes called the “holiness code.” A better way to say it rather than being holy/unholy is that it’s about being clean. or unclean, before God.

Sermon Text, St. Mark 5:25-34. 25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?” 31 But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” 32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. By Your Word, give us courage to touch the hem of Your garment, that is, to draw near to You in faith, to help us no matter how unworthy we feel. Amen!

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ, in whose blood alone is the power to cleanse:

This is the woman we heard about last Sunday, the one who interrupted Jesus on His way to Jairus’ house so that by the time Jesus was done with her, Jairus’ 12-year-old daughter had died. This woman was the cause of the delay.

Last Sunday we skipped over her story for the time being. But it definitely isn’t a story that we should skip. Although her specific problem is one we might consider rare, there is a lot in her story that is not rare at all and which we share with her: her need for Jesus’ power, her feelings of shame and unworthiness, how her suffering seemed to only get worse, but especially how Jesus actually cleansed her and wanted her to know it. We share all that with her too.

The crowds here were waiting impatiently for Jesus. As St. Mark says, they “were following and thronging Him,” clamoring about Him, tugging at Him. We heard last Sunday how Jairus made his way to Jesus and begged Him to heal his dying daughter. Jesus began to go with him when we met this woman. It says she “came behind Him in the crowd.” This isn’t the beginning of her story.

The gospels take us back a ways in her life. St. Mark says she “had a certain flow of blood for 12 years.” This bleeding wasn’t normal, it was chronic bleeding, a continuous discharge. In Leviticus 15 God singles out this condition. There it decrees that such a woman “shall be unclean for as many days” as this condition lasts. If anyone “touches” her or she touches anyone, that person also is “unclean.” This is not an uncleanness anyone could see. It was being unclean before God. It meant she was excluded from public worship, she couldn’t be in the synagogue or temple since she would bring her impurity into the sanctuary, she would make it unclean. Isn’t that a burden? It was her responsibility to keep from touching and contaminating others.

Her life the past 12 years was just miserable. She went to doctor after doctor until she had no more money, and not only was no better but was even worse!

Why did she come to Jesus? Obviously, because she heard about Him. She lived in Capernaum. She must have heard about His miracles: how He healed the paralyzed man who was lowered through the roof, how He healed a man’s withered hand right in the synagogue even though it displeased some, how He didn’t stay away from tax collectors and notable sinners but ate with them.

So she’s heard the Word of God, not from a preacher but from those who saw His miracles. She believes. She has faith, by the Holy Spirit. She believes Jesus has power she needs. Surely she was afraid to go among crowds where it would be hard to keep from touching people and making them unclean.

But she plucks up her courage because she needs Jesus’ power. She comes behind Him, thinking: “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Her only hope was for nobody to notice that she was doing this. She’s trying to keep from contaminating anyone else. She doesn’t want to be noticed, she just wants not to do any harm and she wants to be healed. Only she finds out that Jesus wants much more – not more from her, but He wants much more for her.

So He says out loud, “Who touched Me?” knowing full well who did. We might think this is cruel, for this woman who’s so ashamed and trying to be unnoticed, to be singled out. This terrifies her! She’s described as “fearing and trembling.” But Jesus has concern not just for her body and condition, but for her faith.

For Jesus, it isn’t enough for her to keep from making others unclean; it isn’t enough to take away her uncleanness. That’s only the negative part. What Jesus wants for her is so positive. It’s the Gospel: that He takes her uncleanness to be His own and He makes her completely clean. He gives her total cleanness, and her life is no longer a matter of avoiding uncleanness. Now her life is living out her cleanness in Him.

Jesus brings her to tell Him “the whole truth” about her condition and touching His garment, not to embarrass her but so she can hear the new truth, the Gospel: that His power has gone into her so that she is clean through faith in Him and is completely “well.” He says this to her: “You are well!” – or, whole.

This Bible story impresses us, in part, because of that moment when we hear that “power went out of Jesus.” We wonder what that was like.

We’re seeing what the phrase from Romans 1, “the power of the Gospel,” really means. We can think of the Gospel as “just words” that are spoken. We don’t always feel the power of the words, we don’t see results, we hear that our sins are forgiven but feel no different than before.

How different it is, however, to be in this woman’s shoes – which we often are. I don’t mean her specific condition, but what resulted from it: how the feelings of shame and embarrassment ruled her. She didn’t think she belonged and didn’t think she could be face to face with Jesus.

Feeling shame is quite common. I don’t want to oversimplify it, but guilt is about what you do, and shame is a by-product of guilt, it’s about who you are. You have guilt over what you’ve done. You have shame about who you are, or what you are afraid others think of you, or even you what you think of yourself.

Shame comes from knowing you’re unclean. You come in contact with the unclean world, and become unclean. Instead of living out your cleanness that you receive in baptism, the opposite happens. You’re unclean because of what you do. You also become unclean because of what’s done to you.

So it’s important that God not only says that He forgives you, but He cleanses you. We think of forgiveness as a transaction: God forgives some thing you’ve done. But cleansing describes it in a more total way. Cleansing is about your conscience, not only what you’ve done but what it seems to say about who you are, how you’re thinking about yourself. Hebrews 9 says the blood of Jesus cleanses your conscience. It cleanses you, your whole self.

This involves not only what you’ve done but what’s been done to you. Being sinned against infects you so you feel unclean. You feel low and worthless.

There can be other reasons you feel low and worthless too. Sometimes you can’t name what it is, as in something you’ve done. It’s something inside you. It’s that you’re poisoned with the bitterness of sin, the sin you do and the sin that’s done to you. You also can be infected by the sin and evil that’s around you. You need to be made clean. You need a clean heart. You’re just in need of cleanness!

This is when you’re ready for the power of the Gospel. You may be terrified by the attention Jesus gives you, when He wants you also to come to Him and tell Him “the whole truth” about what’s going on with you. But it’s so He can say to you that you are clean – “healed of your affliction” – that you’re completely “well,” and He says to you too, “Go in peace.” He is saying that you are not low or worthless. You are of such great value, so precious, that He died for you.

Jesus has His power go into you as it did to this woman: the power to cleanse. It comes to you, into you, in His Word and Sacraments, so you really are clean.

You received this cleansing in Baptism: His Word in the water is powerful to cleanse you and wash away your sins. It happens when His Word is preached to you: it does nothing less than cleanse you of all sin. And it happens in the Lord’s Supper. He cleanses you with His body and His blood. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you of all sin: all the sins you’ve done and all the sins done to you.

He heals you. He heals all the hurt and all the harm and removes it from you. He fills you with health in body and soul. You really are “well,” or whole. Amen!