Do you prefer to be in the crowd

Are You Just in the Crowd, or Are You Actually Touching Jesus?

Have you ever been in a crowd so thick you couldn't breathe? Where bodies pressed against you from every side, and you couldn't find a moment of space? I remember going to a Green Bay Packers game with my wife - a wild-card game against Seattle. "The Green Bay Packers have benches for their seats. They don't have seats. They're benches. And as you can imagine, they just packed the place out, right? They sell more seats than are really available." We watched the entire game standing like this, pressed against strangers who became instant best friends out of necessity.

That's exactly the scene we find in Mark chapter 5, where Jesus is surrounded by a massive crowd - but only one person actually touches Him. And the difference between being in the crowd and touching Jesus changes everything.

The Final Piece: I Am Engaged by God

"We're in the final day of the I am Sermon Series on the vision of Life Church at Easton." Over the past weeks, we've discovered that "I am loved by God. So I am going to love others." We've learned that "I'm inspired by God" and therefore "I lift others up. I stir others up, right? I encourage them, I speak into their lives." Last week, we explored being focused - not with blinders on, but with a clear vision of both God's power and the enemy's schemes.

Today, I want us to understand what it means to be engaged by God. "Not just with God, but by God. Right? It's God who initiates the engagement."

A Desperate Woman in a Desperate Crowd

In Mark 5:24, we read: "A great crowd followed him and thronged about him." This wasn't just a gathering - this was a mob scene. People had heard about Jesus, "the man that rose Lazarus from the dead. They've heard about the man who's done miracles." When Jairus asked Jesus to heal his sick daughter, the crowd followed, thinking, "We gotta go see him heal somebody."

But in the middle of this chaos was someone different. Mark 5:25-26 tells us: "And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse."

"Can I talk to somebody this morning? So often that's where we're at. We've tried everything, and in the end, we just get worse."

The Touch That Changes Everything

This woman had heard about Jesus and made a decision that would change her life forever. Mark 5:27-28 says: "She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, 'If I touch even his garment, I will be made well.'"

Now, "I've often thought about this moment because there's a crowd around Jesus." Many people teach this as if she were like a pickpocket, barely brushing against Him. But I believe something different happened.

"I know the Bible doesn't say this, but I have to believe that she reached out with everything she had, and she grabbed him, that it wasn't this light of, oh, I just have to just barely touch him. There was such a desire. He was her only hope. He was the last thing she had."

"I don't know if you've ever been there. I don't know if you've ever been at the pit before, at the bottom. I don't know if you've ever been in that moment, you had no hope, and you see something go, I have an opportunity. If you've ever been there, you know that you grab hold of it. You don't just touch it a little bit, but you grab ahold it."

Power Released Through Desperate Faith

The result was immediate and undeniable. Mark 5:29-30 records: "And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, 'Who touched my garments?'"

"I want to talk to somebody this morning. When you touch Jesus, power is released. When you touch Jesus, power is released. You could go from the entirety of the Bible, Genesis to Revelation, and those that actually touch Jesus every single time, power is released. Every single time, not maybe every time."

The disciples' response reveals how crowded it really was. They essentially said, "Jesus, you're crazy. Have you. Do you not see the crowd? They're thronged around you. Do you not see everybody's touching you? Everybody wants a piece of you."

But Jesus knew the difference between casual contact and desperate faith.

The Whole Truth Sets You Free

When the woman realized she'd been discovered, her response teaches us something crucial about a genuine encounter with Jesus. Mark 5:33 tells us: "But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth."

"Can I ask you, Church, when's the last time you fell down at his feet? When's the last time that you came with fear and trembling? It's not being afraid. She was fearful because of the great power that she had experienced in that awe-inspiring moment."

She didn't just acknowledge the healing - she told Him everything. "All the doctors she had gone to, the Pharisees and the religious leaders that she had gone to, all the medicine that she had tried, everything she had tried. Can I tell you? I believe she probably tried some Un-Jewish things as well. Just trying to find some relief."

"Church, can I tell you? If you want to be engaged by God, you need to learn to get to his feet and tell him the whole truth. You need to get to the point where you tell him, oh, God. I know you know already, but I just have to let it out. I gotta let you know the whole truth."

From Well to Healed: The Complete Transformation

Jesus' response in Mark 5:34 reveals something beautiful about God's heart: "And he said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.'"

Notice the progression: "Your faith has made you well. But then he tells her, to what? Go in what peace? It's not the absence of fear. It's not the absence of. Of conflict in the moment. But it's a wholeness. He goes, your faith has made you well. Now go into wholeness. And be healed."

This wasn't just physical healing - this was complete restoration. "No longer unclean. Now she's clean. No longer excommunicated from the community. Now she's part of the community."

The Tragedy of the Crowd

Here's what bothers me about this story: "There was a whole lot of other people that touched him, and there was only one that was healed. There were a whole lot of people who were excited about him being there and just loved the fact that Jesus was around, couldn't wait to see the next miracle, couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. And they pushed around him. They were around him, and yet only one, only one was desperate enough, only one was hungry enough. Only one wanted him beyond anything else."

“Church, where are we at in this day and age, when we have a crowd of people and only one touches him? That if Jesus is in the room, the king is in the room; we just sang it, we just proclaimed it. Where two or more are gathered, he is. And yet we could walk out of these doors and not touch him."

The Call to Desperation

"Unfortunately, what happens is we really, really want it when we're completely desperate, then when we've tried everything else, and it's failed because it will fail." We wait until our marriages are falling apart, our finances are in trouble, our relationships are crumbling, and then we say, "Okay, God, I've tried everything else. I guess it's time for you again."

But what if we didn't wait? "What if there were other people who thought, man, I need that same freedom. Maybe my life is not as bad as I. You know, it's not the point where I'm just completely desperate. But I've seen what this guy has done... I just want to touch him."

"As Christians, we need to be desperate. Not because my life is a wreck, but because I know I can't go a day without him. Not because everything is falling apart around me. Oh, God, I need you. I'm so desperate."

Putting It Into Practice

Recognize Your Need: Even when life seems stable, acknowledge your daily dependence on Jesus. Don't wait for a crisis to drive you to desperation for God.

Push Through the Crowd: Whatever obstacles, distractions, or even other people's opinions stand between you and Jesus, be willing to push through. Your relationship with Him is worth fighting for.

Tell Him the Whole Truth: Come to Jesus with complete honesty about your struggles, failures, and attempts to fix things yourself. He already knows, but confession brings freedom.

Expect Power to Be Released: When you truly touch Jesus through faith, expect something to change. You should leave different than you came.

Don't Settle for "Well": God doesn't just want to patch you up temporarily. He wants to bring complete healing and wholeness to every area of your life.

"God is passing by. He's put himself in proximity to you. He's put himself in a position where he's around where you are. He's put himself to the point where you can touch him. But let me tell you, you can have proximity without transference. The power could be right next to you, and you could get nothing out of it. But by simplying out and grabbing, reach out and grab, say, God, I need you more than anything."

The question isn't whether God is present - He is. The question is: Will you be content to stay in the crowd, or will you reach out with desperate faith and actually touch Him?