This Week in Recovery Lesson
8/16/2010
Trusting the Known God
For this week’s TWIRL, please read the FFMP Series article, Who Touched Me?
Now that you have read “Who Touched Me?” we can explore the reasons we tend to have difficulty trusting God. Let’s take a closer look at this issue. We will begin our examination by reading the Scripture in the Gospel of Luke.
Jesus Heals in Response to Faith
40 On the other side of the lake the crowds welcomed Jesus, because they had been waiting for him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. 42 His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying.
As Jesus went with him, he was surrounded by the crowds. 43 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. 44 Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.
45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”
46 But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” 47 When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. 48 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking to her, a messenger arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. He told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
50 But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.”
51 When they arrived at the house, Jesus wouldn’t let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, James, and the little girl’s father and mother. 52 The house was filled with people weeping and wailing, but he said, “Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”
53 But the crowd laughed at him because they all knew she had died. 54 Then Jesus took her by the hand and said in a loud voice, “My child, get up!” 55 And at that moment her life returned, and she immediately stood up! Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were overwhelmed, but Jesus insisted that they not tell anyone what had happened.
There is a great deal going on here with both Jairus and the “woman of blood”. Jairus finds Jesus and humbly approached him and asks Jesus if he could come to his house to heal his 12-year-old daughter who is very ill and near death. Jesus, moved with compassion, adjusts his schedule and heads toward Jairus’ home. Everywhere Jesus traveled there seemed to be a crowd traveling with him while still others would get word, “Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming” and would prepare to meet him.
On this day as he was on the way to meet Jairus’ daughter, as Jesus pushed and shoved his way through the crowds gathered, he had another encounter. A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately the bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
This sick woman had a serious problem. She desperately needed help. She believed Jesus Christ had the power to heal her body. She believed Christ could radically improve her circumstance. As Jesus walked through her town amidst the crowd, this woman battled her way through. Just as it seemed the moment was passing her by, she reached out to Jesus and missed him as he passed. She whiffed, barely clipping the hem at the fringe of his robe. Her heart sank. But in a split second, the woman went from that devastating sinking feeling to knowing absolutely that she had been delivered from severe affliction. Jesus blessed her with his power even when he wasn’t actually paying attention to her.
Jesus experienced it as well as he sought out the one determined to receive from him what he so lovingly desired to give. Something changed. Now the woman, formerly living in the shame of being and feeling unclean, was hoping to slip away in obscurity. Perhaps this little miracle would remain between her and God. But Jesus, loving her, wanted to know her and went looking for her; asking for her. He was fervent in finding her and he did find her. Touched by his healing power (the evidence), the woman then met Jesus, personally, and then was touched by his compassion and love (the substance). She began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. Now that’s a love story of faith in relationship with Christ.
- During that time, “unclean” people were consider to be living under some kind of curse. What would you say was in the mind of the woman as she pursued an encounter with Jesus who could heal her?
- What would you say the woman was feeling realizing that she might miss Jesus in the midst of a crowd? Explain.
- She desperately reach out and caught the fringe of his garment and immediately experienced healing. How would you say the womans thoughts and feelings changed?
- What do you think was in the mind of the woman as the crowds began to turn toward her as Jesus located her began to dialogue with her?
- How do think she felt that this man she tried so desperately to touch was now seeking her out?
- But wait a minute; what about that little girl on her death bed? Did Jesus forget about her? Please answer this question and explain.
- What would you say was going through Jairus’ mind while all this was going on with the woman?
- What would you say Jairus was feeling as he was about to miss the window of opportunity for healing for his daughter?
- How would you say Jairus felt when the message had come that his daughter had died?
- How would you say Jairus’ feelings changed when Jesus decided to go his house anyway, claiming Jairus’ daughter was merely sleeping?
- How would you say it changed Jairus’ life changed being that one minute he had lost a child to death but now his daughter is healed?
Please click on TWRAC for this week’s recovery challenge.
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