Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, good morning, church.
[00:00:03] I was going to introduce myself as Jovan, like he did last week introducing himself as Chet, but that kind of got spoiled a little bit.
[00:00:11] But I am, Dave. I am filling in for Jovan, who's filling in for Tina, who's filling in for Chet.
[00:00:21] Jovan was kind enough to make a joke about how he had hair last week at the 11 o' clock service. I didn't particularly find it funny, and I was trying to think of something I could say, but he's got muscles.
[00:00:37] I went up and I gave him a hug, and he has something here.
[00:00:40] I didn't even know that was a thing.
[00:00:45] It's pretty wild.
[00:00:47] Pretty wild. I think if you took my muscles, combined them with Chet's and combined them with Tina's, then still wouldn't have as much as Jovan. But we are so incredibly blessed as a church to have the leadership that we do.
[00:01:03] We are so incredibly blessed for the wisdom, for the godliness, for the focus on the Lord and on serving him and growing closer to him that we do with the leadership.
[00:01:15] And I'm just so grateful for this church and for these leaders.
[00:01:21] But I want to share a story with you. This morning I drove here and I turned onto the road and I was getting close. I saw signs out by the road pointing the way in here.
[00:01:34] I drove into the parking lot and I was told where to park.
[00:01:40] I got out of my car, I started jogging, and the greeters were kind enough to tell me, you're not late, like they do on a fairly regular basis, despite me jogging in late.
[00:01:52] I'm an 11 o' clock service kind of guy.
[00:01:55] This is a stretch.
[00:01:58] I walk past tables that are set up.
[00:02:02] I walk past classrooms that are set up that have teachers in them, ready for students.
[00:02:07] I look down and we have a place where you can send your kids with classrooms and teachers that are ready to go. I come in here, I'm greeted again.
[00:02:18] I look around. We have lights. We have all of the tech set up. We have the music set up. We have chairs.
[00:02:25] And it takes dozens and dozens and dozens of people to pull this off. And it allows us to worship, as Jerry was saying, it allows us to worship as we wander in the wilderness of Grafton until we find our permanent home. And I am so thankful for each and every one of you who takes a part in this, because this would not be possible just with one guy running in late and showing up. It takes each and every one of us to make this happen. And I am so thankful and blessed to be a Part of a church that has a desire and a heart to serve the way that we do.
[00:03:03] So, yeah, thank you. God bless you and thank you.
[00:03:12] So I greeted Jovan last week, and Jovan was the person who preached the first Sunday that our family came to the church. And I went up and I reminded him of that. And I said, jovan, do you remember what you preached out of?
[00:03:30] You preached out of Isaiah, chapter 9, verses 2 to 7.
[00:03:35] And I remembered.
[00:03:37] So my expectation is that you are going to remember what I preached about the very last Sunday of the year. Right. Everyone remembers what I preached. Preached on. Like, just. No, fair enough. All right, so we were out of the Gospel of Mark. We looked at the Gospel of Mark together. Mark is one of four ancient biographies recording for us Jesus Life and ministry, or a portion of Jesus Life and Ministry. So we're going to be in Mark Chapter five today, and we're actually in a continuance of the previous events from Jesus Life that we talked about in the last Sunday of December of 2025.
[00:04:16] So I want us. Since apparently we don't remember, I want us to get a little bit of context for the passage that we're working through this morning.
[00:04:25] In Mark, Chapter four, Jesus is teaching the crowds. He shares the parable of the mustard seed. And as he shares the parable of the mustard mustard seed, he says, the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. And the idea is that from this very small seed grows this very large plant.
[00:04:43] With that imagery in mind, something small becoming something large, he takes a small group of his closest friends and followers.
[00:04:53] And as he takes this small group of friends and followers over the next couple chapters, he reveals more and more about himself.
[00:05:02] He shows himself to do all of these amazing and incredible things that point to his identity, that point to who he is and what he is capable of. And as he does that, this small group of followers begins to make a transition from fear into faith. And the faith, that small seed from that small group of people translates through 2000 years of history to us here today.
[00:05:30] Something large that covers 2,000 years of history, that covers the entire globe, recognizing who Jesus is.
[00:05:39] So he invites them. He invites this group of friends and followers on a trip. And this trip is the crossing of the Sea of Galilee at night. That was what we talked about last time. So Jesus teaching, and then he invites them on a trip.
[00:05:52] And this trip is crossing the Sea of Galilee. They just so happen to run into a huge storm as they're crossing the Sea of Galilee, and they sail into this megastorm as it's described. And Jesus says, peace be still to the wind and waves. And there is a mega calm. And then his closest friends and followers are struck with mega fear because they have run face to face with someone who doesn't fit neatly into what they expect from a person.
[00:06:23] Almost like it's not merely a person who, who is in the boat with them. They start to realize that Jesus is the architect, the creator, the sustainer of everything. And he demonstrated that with his clear power over the most dynamic forces of nature.
[00:06:40] Well, then they reach the other side.
[00:06:43] They reach the other side after this incredible trip and we get the record of an absolutely wild spiritual confrontation that happens at the beginning of mark chapter 4, 5. And in this confrontation, Jesus drives out an army of demons. And once again, Jesus doesn't fit neatly and comfortably into our lives. He demonstrates his clear power over all spiritual forces as he frees this poor tortured man that no one had even been able to chain up.
[00:07:11] He has, and he will triumph over sin and evil.
[00:07:18] But the people who witnessed Jesus display of spiritual power and of goodness were frightened by what they witnessed. And so they asked him to leave.
[00:07:28] And so this day that's now into its second day began with Jesus teaching the crowds included crossing the Sea of Galilee at night through a storm, and included this wild spiritual confrontation at the beginning of chapter five. Well, this longest day continues as they set back across the Sea of Galilee to where they started.
[00:07:48] And once they get back there, the crowds again surround Jesus and his closest friends and followers. And they do all this without any time. Jesus disciples, his closest friends and followers, they don't have any time to process any of the lessons that they have learned. They don't have any time to process anything that Jesus has shown them about who he is.
[00:08:11] And that kind of brings us up to speed on our context of our passage this morning. And so I want to take a look together at Mark, chapter 5, verses 21 to 43. I'm going to read that for us. Mark, chapter 5, verses 21to 43. You can read along in your Bibles, follow along on the screen or just listen as I read.
[00:08:34] And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea.
[00:08:41] Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, my little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be well and live.
[00:08:56] And he went with him, and a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.
[00:09:12] 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 garments, I will be made well.
[00:09:22] And immediately the flow of blood dried up. And she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
[00:09:29] And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him immediately, Turned about in the crowd and said, who touched my garments?
[00:09:37] And his disciples said to him, you see the crowds pressing around you, and yet you say, who touched me?
[00:09:43] And he looked around to see who had done it. 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.
[00:09:54] And he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.
[00:10:02] While he was still speaking, There came from the ruler's house Some who said, you, daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?
[00:10:10] But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, do not fear, only believe.
[00:10:17] And he allowed no one to follow him Except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue. And Jesus saw a commotion, People weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping.
[00:10:37] And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was taking her by the hand. He said to her, talitha kumi, which means, little girl, I say to you, arise.
[00:10:54] And immediately the girl got up and began walking, for she was 12 years of age. And they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this. And he told them to give her something to eat.
[00:11:09] This is God's word, and it's given to us for our good. Let's pray.
[00:11:17] Lord, it is wonderful to know you.
[00:11:20] It is wonderful to be known by you.
[00:11:24] It is wonderful to see you a little bit more clearly for who you are and for what you have done for us. And it is good to be seen by you in all of our fallenness and brokenness and to be loved and accepted nonetheless.
[00:11:38] Lord, I pray that you would open our hearts, Would Open our minds that we might be able to follow you more closely, know you more intimately, and love you more dearly. This I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:11:55] So what has this longest of days in the lives of Jesus closest friends and followers been about?
[00:12:03] What has it been about? What's been the core? What has been the heartbeat of these passages? What human emotion has kind of been at the center of this longest day? All of these different occurrences?
[00:12:18] I believe the answer is human fear.
[00:12:21] It has been fear in the face of nature, fear in the face of evil, and then fear in the face of Jesus. Power and authority over nature and evil.
[00:12:35] Fear has been central to all of this. And now we're introduced to two new fears.
[00:12:41] It's the fear of a parent whose child is near death.
[00:12:44] And it's the fear of a woman who has been an outcast and experienced nothing but loneliness and rejection.
[00:12:52] And these two people came to Jesus in desperation and they were driven by this wild combination of hope that maybe Jesus could help and the fear that had been dominating their lives for such a long time. And Jesus response, his response is to call them out of their fear, to call them out of fear, to. And call them into faith.
[00:13:16] And I need to hear this message this morning, maybe even a few of us need to hear this account this morning.
[00:13:22] Because Jesus meets people like us in the intersection of fear and faith. Jesus meets people like us at the intersection of fear and faith, where we have a choice to make.
[00:13:40] And the reality is all of us have faced death and mortality up close.
[00:13:45] Some of us have been faced with our own mortality.
[00:13:49] All of us have been touched by death of those in our lives, those that we love. This is a common human experience that touches and impacts each and every one of us. Living in a fallen and broken world, we cannot escape being touched by death.
[00:14:05] And all of us, in one way or another, have experienced suffering.
[00:14:10] All of us. I am not saying anything. We don't know whether it is physical, emotional, spiritual, social, economic, however it touches our lives, all of us have experienced suffering. And the reality is nobody gets an easy ride in this life.
[00:14:27] Jesus knows this and he experienced this as he walked on this earth.
[00:14:34] And in these few events, Jesus has demonstrated that he has the power to pull us from fear and raise us to a position of faith.
[00:14:44] And you know, there is something that is so compelling about Jesus that when he returns across the Sea of Galilee back to the place where he started the journey teaching at the beginning of Mark chapter four, he's once again surrounded by a crowd.
[00:15:01] Now this crowd didn't experience the calming of the storm. They had no idea that Jesus had calmed the storm that took place in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. As they were on the trip and on the journey to the other side, this crowd did not experience Jesus spiritual domination of the army of demons that came to oppose him. That happened on the other side.
[00:15:21] So this crowd had no experience with these two incredible, miraculous, incredible miracles that Jesus performed.
[00:15:30] But this crowd had heard Jesus teaching before the journey. And they had to one degree or another, experienced Jesus performing some incredible miracles.
[00:15:41] And so the crowd gathers around him and through this crowd comes a man. And this man is able to navigate his way through the crowd and fall at Jesus face feet.
[00:15:52] One of the things that's interesting is that we know this man's name, we know this man's title.
[00:15:59] And it may not seem like it immediately, but this actually speaks to the reliability of the Gospels.
[00:16:05] Mark's Gospel was written around 70 AD.
[00:16:09] That means there would have been people reading and hearing Mark's gospel who knew this man personally.
[00:16:18] It's entirely possible this man would still have been alive. Jairus would have still been alive at the time that these events took place, because they took place some 35 to 40 years before the Gospel was recorded for us. And it's highly likely that his daughter would still have been living when Mark was written and was circulating through the early church. So what Mark does here is that he has given his readers, his first readers and his first hearers, an incredible opportunity to fact check him.
[00:16:46] Like, hey, you don't believe Jesus did these things, go ask Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue in Galilee. He's not hiding. He's not some inconspicuous person that you wouldn't know.
[00:17:03] And if you don't want to ask him, go ask his daughter.
[00:17:08] I'm sure she'd be willing to say as well.
[00:17:12] So we have Jairus. He is one of the rulers of the synagogue in Galilee.
[00:17:17] That means that he's an important man in the Jewish community.
[00:17:21] He's held in high regard.
[00:17:24] And I'm not sure if I know a lot of powerful or important people, but powerful, important people, they don't fall down into the dirt before others.
[00:17:36] It's just not done. And if we were to look back at the last time Jesus was in this synagogue, this synagogue that Jairus leads, well, it ends with a death plot against Jesus. He has a confrontation with the religious leaders in Jairus Synagogue, and this confrontation becomes a controversy. And this controversy leads to a death plot against Jesus. And so Jairus knows Jesus, and he knows Jesus. Reputation with the religious leaders is highly controversial. So this is a very strange meeting.
[00:18:10] Something is obviously cutting through all the stuff that would have kept a man like Jairus out of the dirt and away from a controversial figure like Jesus.
[00:18:22] Something powerful.
[00:18:23] And Jairus tells us what it is. He tells us in verse 23 that his little daughter is at the point of death.
[00:18:30] He says, jesus, come and lay your hands on her, that she may be well and live.
[00:18:36] We see clearly that Jairus is at that intersection of fear and faith. He's at the end of his rope. He is desperate. He's afraid his little girl is going to die. And he has this wild hope, this wild hope that maybe Jesus might be able to help.
[00:18:56] So let's think about that for a moment, because there is a lot of stuff that clutters up our lives.
[00:19:02] There is a lot of stuff that clutters up the way between us and Jesus.
[00:19:08] Maybe we don't want to look stupid.
[00:19:11] Maybe we wonder what people will think of us if they find out about our relationship with Jesus.
[00:19:18] Sadly, maybe we don't see the point, because we're not even sure if Jesus cares.
[00:19:25] Maybe we're cynical and jaded.
[00:19:29] Maybe we're resigned to what seems like the inevitable. And even if we go to Jesus, it's just going to happen anyway.
[00:19:36] And all I have to say is that those reasons that we give, any of those reasons that Jairus could have given.
[00:19:43] I don't want to turn to Jesus because I'll look stupid and desperate. I don't want to turn to Jesus because other people might be angry and I might lose my position as ruler in the synagogue.
[00:19:54] I don't want to because why would Jesus care about me and my daughter? I don't want to because she's just going to die anyway.
[00:20:05] All of the reasons we could give, all the reasons that Jairus could give, well, they seem so small and insignificant when we consider how this story ends.
[00:20:16] And here's the truth, and I don't want us to miss this.
[00:20:19] If Jesus is who he says he is, I.e. the Creator, the authority, the God over nature, the God over all spiritual forces, then all those reasons we might have when we're at the intersection of fear and faith, all those reasons to remain in fear and not live by faith are so destructive when we consider that the world will end and time will end.
[00:20:45] And when it does, Jesus will be on the throne and he will be surrounded by those who lived by faith.
[00:20:53] Time will end with Jesus on the throne surrounded by those who lived by faith.
[00:21:01] But for now, we have Jesus and Jairus. Jairus says, please come. And Jesus response is immediate. Jesus, Jairus and this huge crowd start making their way to Jairus House. And it's in this scene that Mark introduces us to a new character. And she too is at the intersection of fear and faith. She is at the end of her rope. She is desperate, lonely, afraid, isolated. And this woman, like Jairus, has the wild hope that maybe Jesus can help.
[00:21:36] And the description of this woman is enough to break your heart.
[00:21:40] Mark gives us more and more detail about her, and with each new detail he gives, her situation becomes more hopeless. He says in verse 25, there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years, who had suffered much under many physicians and was no better, but rather grew worse.
[00:22:01] And it may not be immediately evident in our current cultural context, but it is hard to imagine a woman that is more completely isolated and alienated from society than this woman. She is completely alone.
[00:22:17] So we have the introduction of Jairus and then we have the introduction of this woman. And it begins with, there was a woman in a first century culture. We know immediately that she is in a completely separate category from Jairus.
[00:22:33] She doesn't have the influence, she doesn't have the authority, she doesn't have the voice, she doesn't have the rights that Jairus as a man would have.
[00:22:41] He was a man, but he wasn't just a man. He was a powerful and influential man and he had status.
[00:22:47] There was a woman and she had a discharge of blood for 12 years.
[00:22:53] Mark doesn't tell us what caused it or exactly what her condition was. And, and honestly, while those details matter, those aren't the important details of the story.
[00:23:03] Because what we know is that according to Old Testament law, this woman was perpetually, ceremonially unclean.
[00:23:11] Unclean does not mean sinful, it does not mean bad, it does not mean evil. It just means that for a temporary time, if you were unclean, ceremonially unclean, for a temporary time, you were outside of the religious norms and the community norms of the people of Israel. And there would be a time that you would go through for cleansing and then rituals that you would go through to make yourself so you could once again re enter society and re enter the worship of Israel.
[00:23:41] But that meant that her condition excluded her from common worship. She couldn't be involved in the worship of her people. It also excluded her from normal physical contact with other people, because if she were to make contact with someone else, that person would Become ceremonially unclean again, not sinful, evil, bad, anything like that, just temporarily set outside of the norms of religious life and community life in Israel.
[00:24:09] So think about what this woman would have to go through every day just to make ends meet, just to do something as simple as eat.
[00:24:18] She either had to lie about who she was or lie about her condition, or she had to completely and totally rely on the benevolence of others.
[00:24:28] Beg.
[00:24:29] And my guess is she probably did a little bit of both just to take care of something as simple as eating, just to survive.
[00:24:39] But Mark's description doesn't end there. He makes it clear that she has been used and taken advantage of. And it may not have been intentional, it may not have been malicious, but it has the same end result. This woman has gone from doctor to doctor, trying to figure out how to be cured, how to reenter. Society needs her survival, and no one is able to help her. So she has suffered from this condition, yes, but she has also suffered from all of the fake cures.
[00:25:07] And on top of that, she is now poor.
[00:25:11] And so it's hard for us, maybe not all of us, but it's hard for most of us to imagine someone going through situations like this and how alone and how ostracized and how shameful and how fearful this woman felt after 12 years.
[00:25:29] The emotional toll of not being able to touch someone else without shame or guilt or derision. The physical toll of poverty and just trying to make it every single day, and the overwhelming weight of her own frailness and mortality.
[00:25:42] And in her desperation, she thinks, maybe Jesus can help.
[00:25:49] So here she is, making her way through the crowd. And with every bump and every jostle and every shove along the way, she's touching people she's not supposed to be touching.
[00:25:59] Her plan is to quietly sneak up behind Jesus as he's walking and merely touch the hem of his robe, just touch his garment, and then to sneak out of the crowd the same way.
[00:26:10] So in this respect, she's like Jairus. Her hope that Jesus will be able to help her cuts right through everything that would have kept her away from Jesus. And the things that would have kept her away from Jesus were formidable.
[00:26:24] But despite her fear, she's right there at the intersection of fear and faith. She knows deep down what we know, if we'll only listen.
[00:26:34] And that is that the solution to all of our fears and all our failures and all our suffering and all our doubt can only be resolved and only be fulfilled in God alone.
[00:26:47] And here is this woman, broken in a way that few can imagine. And she has this clear desire for wholeness and peace.
[00:26:55] And here we are, or at least here I am broken in ways that I may not even realize with a desire for wholeness and peace.
[00:27:06] We are hardwired with that desire for wholeness and peace. And we pursue that desire in so many ways that just leave us wanting, that don't satisfy. And maybe, just maybe, our lives look more like this woman's than perhaps we care to admit.
[00:27:23] But we continue to pursue wholeness and peace because wholeness and peace are possible.
[00:27:32] If we could just reach out and touch the hem of Jesus robe, maybe we could find it too, right?
[00:27:38] Well, she touches Jesus garment and verse 29 tells us immediately the flow of blood dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
[00:27:48] It must have been.
[00:27:50] I mean, how do you even come up with the words to describe something like that?
[00:27:54] 12 years of pain and suffering, being poked and prodded by doctors, driving herself into poverty as she became even more isolated, just gone in an instant. Gone.
[00:28:05] Her whole life changed in that very moment.
[00:28:09] So what does she do?
[00:28:11] Jumps up and down, yells, screams, cheers, falls to her knees and cries with gratitude and joy. Overwhelmed by the experience and overwhelmed by the emotions.
[00:28:21] No, she starts sneaking back through the crowd the way she came.
[00:28:27] But Jesus knew what happened. And in a bit of comic relief, he says, who touched me?
[00:28:34] With the crowd pressing in, his disciples effectively say, really? In this crowd? You want to know who touched you?
[00:28:40] Jesus doesn't even bother answering them. What he does is stop walking and address the situation. And as he stops walking, imagine the growing fear and anxiety that Jairus must be experiencing.
[00:28:53] Jairus must be beside himself as Jesus inexplicably starts asking, who touched him in this crowd?
[00:29:01] Well, the woman knows, verse 33 says she came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.
[00:29:09] She knew and she came and fell down before him and confessed. She is still gripped by fear because she has to admit in front of all of these people that she was unclean and they have been made unclean and her fear and anxiety only increase.
[00:29:25] You have to ask the question why?
[00:29:27] Why did Jesus care who touched him? Why did he, after healing this woman, embarrass her like this? This.
[00:29:34] Why couldn't he let her go and get back towards something like a normal life? Why stop and put Jairus daughter at risk just to bring this woman in front of everyone seemingly to shame and embarrass her?
[00:29:49] And the reality is Jesus wasn't done Caring for this woman, her healing wasn't complete because her needs extended beyond merely her physical condition and her physical illness. And maybe if she walked away at this point physically whole, but thinking that something magical happened, thinking that it was a magical clothes touch that had healed her, she may well spend the rest of her life in fear that the magic would wear off and her condition would come back.
[00:30:22] So Jesus heals her, not only physically, but he heals her of the fear, the ostracism, anxiety, hopelessness, shame. Jesus speaking directly to her makes her whole and gives her peace.
[00:30:36] And after her confession, Jesus said, daughter, daughter, your faith has made you well.
[00:30:48] Go in peace and be healed from your disease.
[00:30:53] He doesn't just call her woman.
[00:30:56] He doesn't just call her by her name. He doesn't just tell her that she's taken care of. He calls her daughter. This nameless, faceless woman that we know only by her condition comes to Jesus at the intersection of fear and faith. And she is made whole and she is given the name and the title daughter.
[00:31:17] Jesus wants everyone to know that it wasn't some magical clothes touch that brought her healing. It was her faith. Amen.
[00:31:26] And honestly, her faith wasn't that great to begin with.
[00:31:32] Am I allowed to say that? Am I allowed to judge someone else's faith? I just did it, so I guess I have to.
[00:31:39] She was sneaking through the crowd, violating the law, defiling people with her very touch and her very presence. Driven by sheer desperation. Her faith was a I hope I don't get caught kind of faith.
[00:31:57] And that rather weak, fearful, anemic faith, that weak faith was enough for Jesus.
[00:32:07] Faith is the conduit of Jesus healing in our lives. Faith is the conduit by which Jesus pours out his grace on us. Faith is the conduit by which we can experience, experience wholeness and peace, even in the midst of the difficulties of life. Like Jovan has talked about the last two weeks.
[00:32:26] It's not a magic touch. It's a calm and certain assurance that despite how fearful and broken we are, Jesus himself is breaking into our lives with power and love and peace.
[00:32:40] We reach out to him with open hands in faith. But it doesn't have to be faith that's dialed up to 11.
[00:32:47] Thank you. That it doesn't have to be faith that's dialed up to 11. It doesn't have to be faith that's so great and so grand that people will write books about it one day.
[00:32:56] Even faith that says, I hope I don't get caught, that faith is more than enough for Jesus. Because when we reach out with faith, Jesus meets us where we are.
[00:33:08] He meets us where we are with everything we need, not necessarily everything we want, that is something else entirely. But he meets us with everything we need.
[00:33:20] And then there's Jairus.
[00:33:24] Too much time has passed. Someone comes and tells him his daughter died. His worst fears has overtaken him.
[00:33:32] And all of us who are parents know how deep those fears run. And maybe some of us have. Parents have experienced this moment and the full weight of this tragedy.
[00:33:44] But Jesus overhears and he gives such a strange command. In verse 36, he says to Jairus, who has just heard this news, do not fear, only believe.
[00:33:59] And I have to say that if I were Jairus, I don't know how I would have reacted to this completely tone deaf comment by Jesus. This completely tone deaf command from Jesus. It's almost an impossible command to consider, let alone follow. But somehow Jairus does, Somehow they continue.
[00:34:20] And then when they get into the house, into his house, there's a crowd already mourning and grieving. And Jesus questions them. And they, quite understandably, and I'm sure bitterly and brokenheartedly, they mock Jesus, they laugh at him.
[00:34:35] But Jesus takes the father, Jairus the mother, and for whatever reason, Peter, James, and John. And they go to the little girl.
[00:34:42] And Jesus takes her by the hand and he says, little girl, get up.
[00:34:48] He uses the words her parents may well have used to gently wake her up in the morning.
[00:34:53] Little girl, get up.
[00:34:56] And I have a son, and I have never said, little boy, get up. He is standing beside my bed way too early, already alive and ready to go.
[00:35:09] So I've never had to use those words. But Jesus just uses the same words the parents would have used. Little girl, get up. And Jesus reaches down into the fear and the darkness and the chaos and the loss and the seeming finality of death. And with the power of his words that calmed the storm and with the power of his words that drove out the army of demons and completely conquered them, with the power of his words, he calls this little girl back from death to life.
[00:35:41] And while everyone in the room is completely overcome and completely undone, understandably, of course, Jesus told them in verse 43 to get her a bite to eat.
[00:35:51] While everyone is wild and amazed with the power that Jesus has just demonstrated over death, he says she could probably use some breakfast.
[00:36:05] We see in verse 41 that Jesus reaches down and touches this girl, and he is not afraid of becoming unclean. We see elsewhere that he has no fear of touching and healing Someone with leprosy. He has no fear of walking into a graveyard. He has no fear of being touched by this woman who had the bleeding issue. He has no fear of walking in and speaking words of power and of healing and touching this girl who had died and is now alive. And each of those things would have been something that made him ceremonially unclean. Not sinful, evil or bad, but just unclean.
[00:36:41] So why does Jesus do this? Why does he continually put himself in these situations?
[00:36:48] Because he's still demonstrating his power and his place. Jesus calmed the storm and showed himself God over all creation. He cast out the army of demons and showed Himself God over all spiritual forces. And now Jesus touches these two women, these two daughters, and he shows himself God over our very bodies and God over life and death.
[00:37:11] And he touches them. And this is not a detail to miss, because in addition to being God over nature and spiritual forces and human health and life and death, he is God of salvation.
[00:37:26] When Jesus touches or Jesus is touched, he is not defiled. Jesus touch brings cleansing. Jesus touch changes that which is unclean and makes it clean.
[00:37:37] Jesus is not defiled. He is not made unclean. Jesus is God over the very laws that were given to Israel that determined what was clean and what was unclean. And while the laws were given to show Israel how to live, yes, more importantly, the laws were given to show Israel how to be in a relationship with God.
[00:37:57] And Jesus comes in as God over those laws, as the one who makes them clean and brings them life, as the one whose touch cleanses and heals and raises and empowers, as the one who, because of who he is, because he is the architect and creator and sustainer of everything, because he is God in flesh, he breaks the power of death itself and shows him to be truly and wonderfully the God of salvation.
[00:38:27] So in his journey to the other side, Jesus calmed the storm that inspired terror in his closest friends and followers.
[00:38:34] When he reached the other side, Jesus drove out an army of demons and that inspired fear in everyone that witnessed the effects of it.
[00:38:41] But here, with these two women, these two daughters, Jesus exercises life saving and life bestowing grace on them, demonstrating power over death and power over hell.
[00:38:54] So what is our response to meeting Jesus at the intersection of fear and faith? That has to be our question at this point. What is our response? And I wish I had a clear and an easy answer for you.
[00:39:06] Oh, the answer, of course, is to choose faith, right? But I wish I had a way to make that clear and easy and so doable for Us.
[00:39:15] So I just think about my own life. In the past three months, our family has had three unexpected out of state funerals for aunts and uncles. And it has taken an emotional and a physical and a financial toll on us.
[00:39:29] And the hard part, as I think about these circumstances, is it's nothing like some of the other seasons that we as a family have been through. And it's likely not as hard as some of the circumstances that you've been through or you're even going through right now.
[00:39:44] But suffering and trials, they're not a competition. Well, yeah, you have it bad, but I have it worse. That's not how we operate. That's not how we interact with each other. We mourn with those who mourn, we grieve with those who grieve, and we rejoice with those who rejoice.
[00:40:00] The reality is, none of us gets an easy ride in this life. And as I've already said, Jesus knows this.
[00:40:06] He meets us where we are, at the intersection of fear and faith. And his touch brings us from brokenness to wholeness, from fear to peace.
[00:40:19] And like the daughter freed to life after 12 years of suffering, our faith doesn't need to be great.
[00:40:25] It just needs to be in Jesus.
[00:40:29] And so, time and time again, I have turned to him with a simple prayer. Lord, I believe.
[00:40:35] Help my unbelief.
[00:40:37] Listen, I know the words. I know the scriptures. I could say it all, I could teach it. Well, not all, that's a bit much. But I know the words and I know the truth behind them and I believe.
[00:40:48] But there are times when I just need to say, God, you gotta help me believe what I believe.
[00:40:56] And here's a beautiful thing.
[00:40:59] I don't always choose faith when I'm at the intersection of fear and faith. I don't always choose faith.
[00:41:09] And there are times when I do choose faith that it's weak, anemic and fearful.
[00:41:17] I'd be willing to guess that I'm probably not alone in that.
[00:41:22] The beauty is, the more that I do do choose faith, even it's in fits and starts. Even if it's a mess of faith, the more I come to know and trust the goodness of God, the easier it is to choose faith the next time I find myself at that intersection of fear and faith. And so gradually, the trajectory of my life is moving more towards Jesus.
[00:41:47] Even with all those downturns, the trajectory of my life is moving more towards Jesus.
[00:41:52] And I come to experience greater wholeness and peace through him and through him alone.
[00:41:58] Let's pray.
[00:42:03] Lord God, you are good.
[00:42:09] I love you. And I thank you that I know you and that you know me and that you accept me now. Nonetheless, Lord, I pray that today, as we find ourselves in the intersection of fear and faith, I pray today that we might be able to somehow, in our weakness and in our fear and in our anxiety, we might be able to choose faith. Give us that grace, give us that goodness, and help us to follow you more closely. This I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
