Bring Them In, Don't Push Them Away

Today’s Bible readings are Leviticus11:1-12:8, Mark 5:21-43, Psalm 38:1-22, & Proverbs 10:8-9

 

Mark 5:26-29

²⁶ She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

This is coming at a time in the ministry of Jesus where He is growing in popularity. He has worked many miracles at this point. People are starting to hear & talk about what He has done & who He has done it for. Hope is rising in the hearts of all who have felt out casted and abandoned.

Instead of flocking to the Pharisees & trying to win their approval, Jesus seemed to be chastising them for their grievous hypocrisy. They were the very people who had out casted these hurting & broken people from religion & from God. Now Jesus seemed to be reaching out to them in compassion, where the Pharisees had been looking at them with condemnation. This gave hope & anticipation to the broken & hurting.

As Jesus entered this particular city, a woman who had heard about how He had been ministering to broken people saw Him walking down the street. She had been out casted by the religious leaders of the day. She was also forbidden, by the same leaders, to have relationships with people because she was “unclean”.

The scripture tells us that she had spent all of her wealth on doctor visits but only got worse. Not only was her condition getting worse, but now she was in poverty. What a sad story. Why do you think that she had to spend all of her wealth of physicians? Many time preachers preach that it was because she trusted in man instead of in God. They make it a faith thing, or I should say a lack of faith thing.

I don’t know if that is the wrong explanation, but I think that it may have been that the religious people made her feel like God & religion was not an option for her. They so condemned her because of her condition that she believed in her heart that God wouldn’t want an unclean woman like her. So she started to resort to all of the alternative measures. This left her with more emptiness & confusion. I question if it was a faith thing at all, or if it was just that religion made her feel like she couldn’t be part of their club because of her issue, leaving her know option but to search for help elsewhere?

This happens in our churches every week. People come in the doors with issues different than the woman with the issue of blood, but similar.

1.      Young, unmarried pregnant women

2.      Drug/alcohol addicted individuals

3.      People living in sexual sin

4.      Sex offenders

5.      Convicted felons

6.      Poor people

7.      People with mental illness

This is just to mention a few. These people have been out casted by society at many levels. They come to church in a hope that they can find release & freedom for the chains that they are bound by. Often, when they get final get the nerve to come, the once again feel shunned & condemned. This leaves them feeling unwanted by God & His church. They leave & share with others the experience they had; usually with other hurting & broken people because birds of a feather flock together; this gives the thought to the other broken people that church is not an option for them because of their issues. Hence, we become known as a group of judgmental hypocrites.

Do you think that is what Jesus wants? Do you really believe that Jesus wants us to judge & condemn others? Do you really think that it is ok to send this kind of message to the ones that Jesus came to save?

Matthew 9:11-13

¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

                             

Luke 19:10

¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

On the contrary, notice Jesus’ response to this courageous woman:

Mark 5:32-34

³² But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³ Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

1.      He accepted her as a daughter—not treat her as a failure.

2.      He showed love & worth to her—not disgust & condemnation.

3.      He complimented & encouraged her—not judged & whispered about her.

4.      He blessed her—not cursed her.

5.      He set her free—not sending her away more bound.

This is what we are to model in our own lives & in our churches. This is what it is to be the hands & feet of Jesus. We see how he dealt with hurting people. This is a huge shift from what is common in most churches. It was a huge shift in Jesus’ day also. But it was a shift that was needed & it is a shift that is needed today.

·        Let’s pray together & ask God to help us love people like Jesus.

·        Let’s make sure that we are not guilty of the same sin the Pharisees were guilty of in their day.

·        Let’s not make people feel like God & church is not an option for them.

·        Let’s not make it so hard that nobody can get saved.

·        Let’s not shut the kingdom of God to those who need it most.

 

You have the love of Christ in you. It was poured into you by the Holy Spirit. I declare that it is time for that love to flow. It is time for that love to touch & reach the hurting & broken of our day. It is time for all those who are touched by your life to be set free & experience peace. I declare this in Jesus name!!!

 

Pastor Richard Schlotter