Life Interrupted

Intro

As our kids get older, it is fascinating to see their own interests emerge

Particularly, my girls really enjoy music, singing and dancing around the living room

We want to be discerning and wise with the music we let them listen to

Some of the music they listen to is KidzBop

Basically, it’s pop music performed by and for kids

Some of the songs we don’t let them listen to because we think the words or message are inappropriate

Some are silly and obviously I’m just getting old and don’t get

Some are really profound and capture the ethos of a generation

Some just make me really sad

One of those songs that makes me sad is called Stressed Out

Stressed Out

Not going to read all the lyrics, but just give a sample

3rd Verse

We used to play pretend, give each other different names

We would build a rocket ship and then we’d fly it far away

Used to dream of outer space but now they’re laughing at our face

Saying, “Wake up, you need to make money"

Chorus

Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days

When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out

Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days

When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out

This song has been immensely popular with kids over the last couple of years

Some will say kids just like the beat, but I think they resonate very deeply with these themes

I don’t know much about the original artist, but it saddens me that kids resonate with a song like this

So stressed out

Longing for those simpler days when momma would sing them to sleep

Remembering when it was okay to find an old cardboard box and turn it into a spaceship and play for hours

But we have a generation of kids who feel like life interrupted this simple, youthful bliss and now they’re stressed out, wishing for the good old days

Glory Days

Lest we think that is somehow unique to this generation, let’s take a look at the work of The Boss, Bruce Springsteen

2nd Verse

Well there’s a girl that lives up the block

Back in school she could turn all the boys’ heads

Sometimes on a Friday I’ll stop by

And have a few drinks after she put her kids to bed

Her and her husband Bobby well they split up

I guess it’s two years gone by now

We just sit around talking about the old times

She says when she feels like crying

She starts laughing thinking about

Chorus

Glory days well they’ll pass you by

Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye

Glory days, glory days

The upbeat tempo and catchy lyrics betray the underlying message: the good old days are gone

You’ve got a guy whose life doesn’t seem to be headed anywhere and a woman with a couple of kids and her husband is gone

Life interrupted - whether it be a divorce, a chronic sickness, a tragic death

And now the best you can do is sit around telling the stories of glory days gone by when life was happier and times were simpler

Before life interrupted

Transition

Two quick stories

A few years ago, received a phone call from another pastor up in Tampa area

“Steve, some friends of mine are at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and are about to give birth to a still-born baby”

I immediately got up from the table, said goodbye to my kids and headed to the hospital

Spent the rest of the night with a couple I’ve never met on the worst night of their life because life interrupted

Life interrupted in the worst possible way for that couple

And then again, a few years ago, a family is grieving that they are never going to hold their 9 year old boy again after a tragic accident as the kid was riding his bike to school

Life interrupted in the worst possible way for that family

In fact, I want to interrupt my own message right now - let’s pray for that family

Pray for family of Roman Miller - especially sister

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been in a series entitled Encounters with Jesus

This morning we are going to see two people for whom life interrupted in tragic and life altering ways encounter Jesus

And I think you’ll see as we go through how the idea of an interruption even framed the way Mark tells this story

Invite you to open your Bibles to Mark 5 and we are going to start at verse 21

This is a long passage, so instead of reading it all at once, let’s work our way through section by section

Mark 5:21–24 ESV

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. 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 made well and live.” And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.

Context

So immediately before this in Mark 5, Jesus healed a man that had been possessed by demons

Jesus healed the man and then we read in verses 16-17

And those who had seen it [the miracle] described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

People in that region were so amazed, scared and overwhelmed, they asked Jesus to leave

So he gets on a boat and crosses to the other side where instead of being asked to leave, crowds start to swarm to him

Life Interrupted for Jairus

One of the people who came to Jesus is a man named Jairus

Vs 22 tells us that he is “one of the rules of the synagogue"

So we know that Jairus is a man of some stature

He is in a position of prestige and influence

Life was going along pretty well for Jairus

He had a good job, influence, likely wealth… yeah, life was going pretty well...

Pretty well, that is, until life interrupted

Mark 5:22-23 “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 made well and live.””

His little girl - the joy of his life - was sick

The Gospel of Luke, retelling this same story, tells us that she was his only child and that she was about 12 years old

So we don’t know why, but here is this man of prestige and influence… and all of that is for nothing because his only child is sick

We don’t know why - we’re never told what the condition is - but she is about to die

So he goes to Jesus

Let me remind us all, this is near the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry

Word is just starting to spread about this guy named Jesus who is performing miracles and healings

What must Jairus be feeling in this moment?

He is one of the most influential people in Israel, but he is at the point of falling on his knees begging for help for his daughter

So I ask again, what must Jairus be feeling in this moment?

If this was you, how would you be feeling?

Maybe shame at not being able to hide or fix it?

Maybe embarrassment at needing to ask for help?

Maybe humiliated?

Almost certainly he is scared, stomach constantly in knots

He is certainly feeling a level of desperation and urgency

He knows his daughter is about to die

Either this guy Jesus heals her or its over

I wonder what “what if” questions are running through his mind?

Maybe he’s experiencing regret asking why he went to that one meeting instead of her dance recital

Maybe he’s grieving all the lost dreams… things like never being able to walk his daughter down the aisle

Life interrupted and he is broken… nowhere to turn to except for Jesus

So he falls at Jesus feet and implores, 

Mark 5:23 “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 made well and live.””

He takes the biggest risk of his professional career and probably his life

He asks Jesus for help

And if you have studied the Bible for very long, you know that the religious leaders don’t get along with Jesus very well

So this is a huge risk he is taking putting his career on the line

But this is his beloved daughter - his only child - she is worth it

He asks Jesus to come and lay hands on her and heal her.

Imagine, given all many feelings that Jairus is feeling in that moment...

And imagine the jump in his spirit when, in verse 24, “And he went with him."

Pause that - stop right there

Mark 5:25–34 ESV

And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 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.” 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?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 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. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

The Interruption

So Mark is going along, telling us this story about Jairus and his daughter

And then he stops

He interrupts his own story and starts talking about the woman

Let me ask you this: How is Jairus feeling right now?

For the first time in a long time - however long his daughter has been sick - there is a glimmer of hope

Stories of people being healed by Jesus are getting around and he just agreed to go to his daughter

And then this interruption

Is he feeling impatient? He knows time is not on his daughter’s side…

No, we need to get there now

Is he angry?

Uhh, lady, one customer at a time

You’ve been sick for 12 years… you can wait another hour or two

Instead, no matter how impatient or angry he may be feeling, he waits

Life Interrupted for the Woman

The story turns to focus on this woman

All we knows about her is that she has had this disease for 12 years that left her bleeding

Now, we don’t know if that was 12 years straight of nonstop blood loss or if it came and went in some type of flare up

But she was sick, and weak

She had tried everything - every doctor, every homeopathic solution, every old home get well recipe

None of it worked

In fact, it says in Mark 5:26 “and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.”

This is a woman who has lost everything

She has lost her health - sick and weakly

She has lost her wealth - spending everything she had in search of a cure

She has lost her standing in the community - she was ceremonially unclean and an outsider

What must she be feeling in this moment?

Desperate?

Humiliated?

Broken?

Ugly and unbeautiful… and unwanted?

What “what if” questions was she asking?

What about all that lost time? Twelve years of being alive without being able to truly live

What about the family she would never have?

What dreams for the future had been robbed from her when life interrupted with this ugly disease?

She hatches a plan

Mark 5:27 “She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.”

Word of his healings had gotten to her

Maybe she experienced a flicker of hope like Jairus did

She comes up with a plan to sneak up in the middle of the crowd, touch his jacket and get out

She does and immediately knows she is healed

Now that must have been an intense moment wanting to scream in delight and yet biting her tongue so that no one even realizes what happened

But Jesus knows what happened

He stops, in the middle of the crowd, and asks who touched him

This is great - even his disciples look at him incredulously

"Uhh, Jesus, in case you haven’t noticed here, big crowd… HUUGE crowd"

"Everyone is touching you Jesus"

But he is not looking for someone who brushed by him, he is looking for someone who reached out and touched him… in faith

It’s an interesting moment of truth for the woman… sneak out back through the crowd or come forward and speak to Jesus

The woman comes, falls down before him and tells him the truth

Mark 5:34 “And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.””

Mark 5:35–43 ESV

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 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.” 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 cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Story cuts back to Jairus

The moment of truth for Jairus is about to come

He just watched this whole encounter with Jesus healing the bleeding woman

His hopes are probably rising again

But then he gets the message from an assistant that his daughter has died - they are too late

Just as the moment of truth for the woman came when Jesus asked who had touched him, Jairus is at his moment of truth

His daughter is dead but he had just seen one miracle

Could he see yet another today?

Mark 5:36 “But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.””

So Jesus and just a select few follow Jairus back to his house, push pass the weeping crowds and into the house

With just Peter, James and John… and the girl’s mom and dad… in the room, Jesus speaks to her

He speaks words of life to her

He invites her to wake up

Mark 5:41 “Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.””

Don’t you imagine that is the type of thing the mom has said to her daughter every morning, waking her up for school?

And now Jesus speaks those words to her, restoring life to her

Then we get that fun little tag at the end of the story where Jesus

Mark 5:43 “And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.”

Two reasons for that

First, God has a great sense of humor - I suppose nothing makes you hungry quite like being dead for a while

But second, it reinforces that she is truly healed

Someone in a coma doesn’t wake up and immediately start eating

But she gets up, is walking and eating

This is a full and complete healing

She is better

So how are these stories connected?

Well, there is one interesting connection in that the girl was 12 years old and the woman had been bleeding for 12 years

God had been preparing this day - for these two interrupted lives to collide on the same day - for 12 years

Jairus was a wealthy, influential man and the woman was broke with no standing

Yet life had interrupted both of them in harsh ways leaving them desperate and humiliated and asking what if

Jesus cares for both Jairus and the woman

He stops what he is doing for them

He enters into their pain

There is no favoritism for the wealthy, influential guy

Rich and poor, important and unimportant, well known and invisible, Jesus cares for them both

Both exhibit great faith

Both fall on their on knees before Jesus

Mark 5:22 “Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet”

Mark 5:33 “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.”

Both faced a moment of truth whether to walk in faith or walk away

And both exhibited great faith

Jesus is powerful enough to heal

Different life stations, different situations

One an ugly chronic disease and the other the death of a child

But Jesus was both powerful and willing to heal

For all that they had lost, looked what they gained

Life had interrupted each in momentous ways

Both were filled with shame and desperation and humiliation and regret

They would never forget those feelings

But they both, from that day forward, had gained something greater

Because their lives had been interrupted by an encounter with Jesus

Conclusion and Application

How have you experienced life interrupted?

How does that make you feel?

Maybe you are living in the middle of that interruption right now

Maybe you are stressed out by the demands of the world, wishing you could go back to the good old days

Maybe recounting stories of the glory days is all you feel you have because you are left broken and empty by life’s interruptions

We see in these two encounters with Jesus how sickness and death are interrupted by the power of Jesus

How would an encounter with Jesus heal you?

Pray