(A Beach Church talk from Matt 9.20-22)
Talk
- How do you feel about going to the Doctors? Some people hate it and put it off as much as possible. Perhaps in denial about the pain or the problem.
This woman in the bible, she has been to every Dr she could possibly think of, and every Dr that she could possibly afford, and none of them have been able to help her cope with her illness, let alone find a cure. After over a Decade you might give up trying, but she doesn’t.
She doesn’t give up on God, and she doesn’t give up seeking help.
She has a Daring Faith. She tiptoes up to Jesus, she squeezes through the crowd, and she reaches out to touch Jesus – not even to touch Jesus – just to touch his tassels, a symbol of his authority.
So lesson one for us is not to give up. But to keep trying, seeking help, that might mean NHS and Drs, it might mean therapy, and it might also mean Daring to reach out to Jesus.
She had a daring faith and
- Jesus is Distractable. Its okay to distract Some of you know that Jesus, in that bible reading, was really busy,
he was already on His way to see a little girl who really needed Jesus’ help and healing. Her parents were beside themselves with worry.
But Jesus has time for you, has time for this woman. Jesus is distractable and its okay.
If you ask me to do something and I get distracted then that’s not good. It might mean that it doesn’t get done today, and I might even forget that that’s what I was doing.
But Jesus doesn’t forget. Its okay to distract Jesus with what is worrying you.
I’ve heard people say, I didn’t pray about something because I didn’t want to bother God about it. There are far more important prayers for God to be dealing with. And that’s true. There are far more important prayers. But the Upside of being Eternal is that Jesus has time for you and for me.
1 She has a Daring faith, she dares to reach out to Jesus. That took some courage, some faith.
2 Jesus has time for you and for me. Its okay to distract him with your prayers.
3 And Daughter!
Jesus says to her: Daughter your faith has made you well.
At the Olympics a reporter interviewed a Grandad – “How do you feel about your granddaughter winning bronze?” I think it was a woman called Sky Brown who won bronze in the skateboarding. And Grandad said, something like – “My granddaughter is a fantastic person, she’s kind and caring. And I am glad for her that she has won the bronze.”
Brilliant answer! Its not, “Now that Sky has won the bronze, now Grandad is proud of her, loves her”
But:. The medal is nice, but he loves his granddaughter.
Bear that in mind during this Exam Results week A Levels just gone by and GCSEs coming up.
So Jesus turns to this woman, she is now healed in her body, and says I want to give you something more important than physical healing, I want to give you a connection, a relationship with God, I want you to be part of my family the Church, I want you to know that you are loved and welcomed, that you belong here, that you are a wonderful person. And so Jesus calls her – My Daughter.
Its important that today – you hear that – that you know that as you come to Jesus that He calls you to be part of His family, to be filled with His love. I want you to hear in your heart Jesus saying to you – My daughter! – or my son if that makes more sense to you!
She had enough faith to Dare to ask Jesus for help.
You cannot distract Jesus because He has time for you. You’re not distracting him.
Daughter – Jesus wants to give us a healing that is deeper than our bodies. A healing of our souls. He wants you to know His love and so he called her, as he calls to you, my daughter. Amen.