Jesus Take The Wheel: Sermon Mark 5:21-43

Jesus take the wheel. Take it from my hands. Cause I can't do this all on my own. I’m letting go. So give me one more chance. To save me from this road I'm on. Jesus take the wheel.

This is the chorus from a popular song by country singer and American Idol Carrie Underwood. The song, if you are not familiar with it, is about young girl who has taken some bad roads and made some bad mistakes. She is coming home for Christmas and hits a patch of ice and with her baby in the car with her she begins to slide and in an act of desperations she cries out “Jesus take the wheel”. The young girl in the song has reached a breaking point, just as the two people in our story this morning. Jairus and the woman had reached come to a turning point, a moment of truth and in that moment they are changed forever.

We all come to these moments ourselves. Some of us face these moments on a regular basis. Sometimes it is an illness that has struck us or a loved one. Many people deal with addictions or have to suffer through the affects of the addiction of others. Whatever it might be, there is a moment when all hope seems to hang on a thread, when happiness and all that is good in our lives seems to fade almost to black and it that moment all hope seems to be gone. The two people in the story reached that point.

The woman, let’s call her Jane, has been suffering from blood hemorrhages for twelve years. Many scholars thing that when Mark says hemorrhages, or issue of blood in the KJV, he is referring to menstrual blood. If this is the case then she has been ritually unclean for twelve years. That means she could not touch anyone or anything without that person or thing becoming unclean. She could not have social contact with friends or family and the fact that Mark does not mention friends or family could lead one to believe that she had already been abandoned by her family and left to fend for herself. Jane was anemic and in constant pain, to the point where she could barely walk. She had lost what money she had to doctor after doctor after doctor and they did nothing to improve her situation, in fact she was worse that when she started. Can we place ourselves in her shoes? What happens when the doctor says the tumor is malignant? What do you do when the arthritis makes even the simplest of jobs, the same jobs you used to do with ease twenty years ago? You might feel like Jane did after you have gone from specialist to specialist, a cardiovascular surgeon, cardiologist, a gastrointestinal expert, a gynecologist and still nothing can be done to cure your sickness. You might feel like Jane if you have lived in constant pain every waking hour. You might have reached that moment.

Jane had heard about this Jesus guy going around healing people and she thought he might be the one to heal her, but he would never come by here and she had not strength to go and find him. Jane was lying in a growing pool of blood; she was resting because her energy was always gone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him, there was a large crown pressing in on him. Jane knew that touching this important man would make him unclean and she would be risking her life but what kind of life was this. She took her last but of energy and slipped behind the crowd and she thought maybe if I just touch his clothes then I can be healed. The moment had come and she reached out her hand.

You could be like Jairus; it might not be you who is sick but a child or a spouse. It is not you lying on that bed but still feel as helpless. I cannot imagine the pain and agony of sitting there helpless while a child is dying on a hospital bed. Jairus was a powerful man, a man of God, a leader of the local synagogue and yet he could do nothing. He could not find a physician to come and heal her. Jairus also had heard about this Jesus and he wasn’t sure about this guy from Nazareth. He had heard rumors about this Jesus guy saying things like he was the son of God and he was healing on the Sabbath. Some one had told him that Jesus was not too far away and he might be able to persuade him to come and take a look at his daughter. Jairus took the chance, the risk to his reputation and went to see this man. He had persuaded Jesus to follow him to his home but along the way Jesus was distracted by some old woman and along the way to his house his servants came with the worst news. He was too late, his daughter was dead. Jairus’ moment had come.

Both Jane and Jairus had a choice to make, because the moment of truth is also a moment of choice, faith or fear, trust or despair, Jesus or self. What choice would you make? It does seem like and easy answer sitting behind a pulpit or in a church pew, but things get much more complicate when it is you bleeding for no reason or you child gasping to the last breaths of life. In those moments the choice might be a little more difficult to make and sometimes the choice is not simply just a choice but it requires an action. Jane and Jairus had to make the first move. Jane reached out her hand and touched Jesus and Jairus had to keep going when the all hope had been lost.

Sometimes you are the one who has to make the move. Jesus only spontaneously healed people a few times in the New Testament. Most of the time people came to Jesus. They had to make the move of faith to Jesus. In both of these cases, there was a movement to Jesus at the moment of choice. Jane reached out her hand and touched Jesus’ cloak, Jairus had to seek out Jesus and even after he was told that his daughter was dead, he continued on with Jesus after Jesus reassured his faith. We also must make the movement of faith at the moment of choice. We are the ones who must cry out to Jesus. We must forgive a long standing grudge to demonstrate a movement of faith. It does not take a great act of faith. Remember, a few weeks ago we talked about seeds and we talked about how the smallest of seeds, the mustard seed, grows to the largest of plants. So a small movement of faith, a cry, a hand reaching out, can result in a life altering change from Jesus. We talk about how David placed a 100% of his faith in God when he faced Goliath, but sometimes a small act of faith can result in gigantic changes. God is such a good God that a small act of faith combined with the abundance of God’s grace can result in a giant slaying change in our lives.

Also, we cannot allow fear to prevent us from making that act of faith. I have said many times and I will say again because it is important that fear and faith are enemies. We cannot allow the fears of making the movement of faith prevent us from making that movement. We cannot fear the reaction of Jesus or the reaction of others around us. Jane was considered unclean, as I said before, because she was bleeding, not only was she unclean but anyone and anything she touched was considered unclean. If she touched someone purposely she could have been beaten or stoned to death, especially if that person was of high stature, like Jesus. Jairus risked his reputation as a leader of the synagogue by asking this new guy to come to his house. Both of these people were taking a big risk but by taking that risk and making that movement of faith they received a big reward.

We too might feel like we are too far gone to receive help. We think that our sickness is too advanced and has been happening for too long and there is nothing that can be done. We have done some pretty bad stuff in the past and we are far too ashamed to call on the name of Jesus and even if we did wee are too dirty to be cleansed. We have been trapped in sickness and depression too long to be freed. I say to you this morning that is completely, totally, and unequivocally false. There is no sickness that Jesus can’t sure. There is no addiction that Jesus can’t break. There is no soul that is too dirty to be cleansed by Christ. Jesus is waiting, calling, begging us to make that movement of faith because there comes a moment, a moment where we do not know where to turn. We must hang on to that thread of hope. We must hold on to that mustard seed of faith. There comes a moment and just around the corner if we have faith enough to see is Jesus.

I started with a song lyric and I will finish with one, this one comes from a contemporary Christian band Third Day. There is hope for the helpless, Rest for the weary, Love for the broken heart, There is grace and forgiveness, Mercy and healing, He'll meet you wherever you are, Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus.