A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

Y. Christ’s Divine Power Over Disease And Death

(Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56)

I. Introduction

A. If Jesus is truly God come in the flesh, that should have become evident in His power over disease and death.

B. His divine power over disease and death was masterfully seen in His healing a suffering woman and raising a girl from the dead in Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43 and Luke 8:40-56. We view these events for insight:

II. Christ’s Divine Power Over Disease And Death, Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56.

A. Though Jesus performed many miracles of healing and raising the dead, God desired that these miracles direct people to put their trust in Christ as Messiah and God Incarnate. (John 21:30-31)

B. Thus, on one occasion, God arranged for Christ to perform two miracles that were connected to each other by a focus on a prolonged time of suffering to direct people to trust – really trust, in Christ, Mark 5:21-43:

1. In Mark 5:21-24, 35-43, Jesus initially faced the need to heal a twelve-year-old girl who was near death only to need to raise her from the dead upon being delayed by another healing incident (Mark 5:42).

2. Sandwiched between His initial effort to go to heal this girl who was near death and His actually addressing her need was the case of a woman who had suffered a long-term hemorrhage for twelve years (Mark 5:25 with Mark 5:25-34).

3. The coincidence of the woman’s twelve years of suffering a hemorrhage and the twelve years of the age of the girl indicate that the lives of these two people were divinely intentionally intertwined in God’s plan.

C. God’s intent in intertwining these two lives was to use the prolonged human suffering in each case to reveal the great divine power of Christ involved to meet the needs involved, that people might trust in Christ:

1. In the case of the woman with the prolonged, twelve-year hemorrhage, Jesus revealed His divine power:

a. While Christ was going with the synagogue ruler to heal his daughter who was near death, a woman of prolonged physical and consequential emotional need encountered Him, Mark 5:24-27:

i. She had suffered a twelve-year hemorrhage, what had kept her ceremonially unclean all during that time, alienating her in humiliation from fellowship with others under the Law (Lev. 15:19, 25-27).

ii. This woman had also suffered many things from medical practitioners, only to get worse.

b. Hearing that Jesus was near, she came in the throng that pressed against Him to touch His clothes from behind. She thought that if she touched Jesus’ clothes this way, she would be healed without anyone in the throng, including Jesus, knowing that she had ceremonially defiled Him, Mark 5:27-28; Leviticus 15:19.

c. When she touched Jesus’ clothes, she sensed that she was instantly healed of her infirmity, and Jesus also instantly sensed that someone had touched Him in faith to be healed as He noticed that power had gone out of Him to heal. Accordingly, He turned around and asked who had touched Him, Mark 5:29-30.

d. The woman came trembling to Jesus, thinking that she would be in great trouble for having ceremoniously defiled Him, and she fell down at His feet and reported her full story to Him, Mark 5:31-33.

e. Jesus graciously told her to go in peace, that her exercise of faith in Him had led to the healing of her prolonged infirmity. He also promised that she would remain healed of her affliction, Mark 5:34.

2. Then, in the case of the prolonged healing of the twelve-year-old girl, Jesus revealed His divine power:

a. The synagogue official had initially urged Jesus to come to heal his daughter as she was near death, so Christ had begun to go with him only to be interrupted by the woman with the hemorrhage, Mark 5:21-25.

b. This interruption used up enough time that the girl who had been near death had since died, Mark 5:35.

c. Though people around the girl’s father treated her death as a hopeless tragedy now that she had died (Mark 5:35b, 38), Jesus encouraged her father to keep on believing (Mark 5:36) and He critiqued the hired mourners for making a big wailing scene, claiming that the girl was only temporarily dead (Mark 5:38-39).

d. The mourners mocked Jesus for this claim, so since they did not trust in Him, Christ kept those unbelievers away from the miracle and took those who believed in Him – the girl’s parents and Peter, James and John – into the room where the body lay and raised the girl from the dead, Mark 5:40-43 with Luke 8:51.

Lesson: Regardless of the PROLONGED affliction of a woman with a twelve-year, humiliating affliction and the PROLONGED healing of a girl that had led to her death, Jesus restored both people in response to faith in Him.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as God Incarnate by the great divine power of His authenticating miracles. (2) May we KEEP ON TRUSTING God’s will and ability to meet our needs though we suffer PROLONGED trials.