Pushing Through the Crowd
By Mark Stidham
In Mark chapter 5 we find the story of Jairus and the woman with
the issue of blood. We find two people who were in desperate
need of a miracle. Also we see at the beginning of the story
that as Jesus got off of the boat that the a huge crowd gathered
around him. People were crowding Jesus so much that he could
hardly get off the boat. And as he made his way through the
crowd, Jairus came to him, as he made his way through this swarm
of people, and fell on his knees before Jesus and asked him to
come heal his daughter who was at the point of death.
Then as Jesus was making his way to Jairus' house we see that a
woman with an issue of blood made her way through a crowd ,and
eventually having to get on her knee so that she could touch the
hem of his garment. They both were people who had to push their
way through the crowds to get to Jesus, to get to their
breakthrough, to get to their miracle.
Just as they had to make their way through a literal crowd of
people; they also had to make their way through figurative
crowds as we also have to do if we want to get to our miracle.
If we want to get to our breakthrough we will have to push
through the crowds. So now let's look at some of the crowds that
they had to push through and the crowds that we too are going to
have to push through to get to where we need to be in Christ.
Number one, we have to push through the crowd of pride. Jairus
was a ruler of the synagogue. He was a person who was high on
the social scale and he was also a Jew. And we see that he
pushed his way through the crowds literally, but he also pushed
his way through the crowd of pride as he fell on his knees
before the one who had the answer to what he needed. We also see
the woman with the issue of blood literally pushed her way
through the crowd and crawled on her hands and knees to touch
the hem of his garment. She laid down her pride. Sometimes we
have to come to that place where we can not be independent
anymore and realize that we must depend upon God for our answer.
We too must push through the crowd of pride. The crowd of pride
also includes a false humility. Sometimes, when we're trying to
be humble actually what we're doing is trying to con God and
trying to elicit sympathy. When in reality, we just need to get
in agreement with what God's Word says about us and about our
situation.
Number two, we have to push through the crowd of tradition. For Jairus to come to someone like Jesus he had to lay down his
traditions, sense he was a ruler of the synagogue. Also, the
lady with the issue of blood had to put down her traditions
also. Traditionally, she was not supposed to be in a crowd at
all because she was considered unclean. Actually when someone
came near her because she was supposed to let people know that
she was in an unclean condition. We should also note that the
ruler of the synagogue was right there and he had the power to
have her punished for what she did however she pushed her way
through the crowd of tradition and took a risk. We may also need
to push our way through the crowd of our traditions. So many
times we do take the word of man, instead of the word of God,
and it robs us of what we need. Jesus told the religious leaders
of his day that their traditions made God's Word ineffectual. Do
we do that also? When people tell us that God doesn't do
miracles anymore, are we taking the word of man and being robbed
of what God wants us to have. When people say you never know
what God is going to do, and we just sit and wait hoping that he
will do something in our situation. When all along we could go
to the word of God and find out exactly what he has already said
about our situation and exactly what he will do. We must push
through the crowd of tradition.
Number three, we must push through the crowd of fear. As Jesus
was walking with Jairus news came from his house that his
daughter had died but Jesus just looked at him and said do not
fear just believe. Jesus knew that fear would rob Jairus so
Jairus had to push through the crowd of fear and believe that
his daughter was going to live. As mentioned earlier, the woman
with the issue of blood should not have been in the crowd and
could've been punished, but instead of fearing she allowed
herself to push through that crowd of fear and not worry about
the consequences. She took a risk and got her miracle. Fear is
the opposite of faith, if you are in fear, then you are not
trusting God, if you are worrying then you haven't placed your
trust in the God of grace. We must push through the crowd of
fear; we must be able to take risks. Then we can go to the
higher plane that God wants us to live in Christ. So we can
receive those things that we need.
Number four, we must push through the crowd of ridicule. We see
that when Jesus entered the house he saw a bunch of people
mourning and wailing and crying and he asked them why they
making so much commotion. The girl is not dead but only
sleeping, he said. The Bible says that they laughed him to
scorn. But Jesus just put them out and continue to minister. He
did not let ridicule stop him. Maybe there are times when we
need to push through the crowd of ridicule. There are times when
you are going to believe God when you're going to make a stand
when you are going to stand on his word and people are going to
laugh at you and make fun of you. When you say out of your
mouth, what God says about your situation, even though it
doesn't look like it on outside. People will ridicule you but
you cannot let that stop you from taking your stand and doing
all to stand.
Number five, we must push through the crowd of unbelief.
Unbelief is caused by a lot of things such as stubbornness and
unwillingness to yield, ignorance and most of all fear. First of
all Jesus only took those of his inner circle and then when he
got to the house he put everybody out except those who he had
brought with him and the parents of the young girl. Jesus got
rid of the unbelief. Many people today that say show me a
miracle before, I believe, but many of them would not believe
anyway, and that's why they never get to see the miracle because
they do not believe. God expects us to believe before we see. We
must starve our unbelief. We must get rid of it. Sometimes we
just have to get away from the world and get in God's Word. Turn
off the news, turn off the TV and even turn off the music and
get in God's Word and get the unbelief out. We have to push out
unbelief.
So urge you today, push through the crowds, get to Jesus and
receive your miracle. Because when push comes to shove, you'll
com out on top.
Mark L. Stidham Th.D. is an Ordained minister, a life coach,
a motivational speaker, a preacher, a pastor, an evangelist, a
web site publisher, a writer, a songwriter, a singer, a
photographer and a musician. Mark has been married to his wife
and valuable life partner, Patty Stidham for 19 years.
