Jesus in Mark: Wk 7

Intro

Asbury Revival: 2 weeks in. If you haven’t heard about this, or if you have, I just want to give you a little summary of what has been going on there. It is at Asbury University in Kentucky. This is a University that is a Christian University, and they have a seminary program, but that doesn’t mean all the students are Christian. However, it does mean that they have Chapel services. And unfortunately, Chapel requirements in school, whether it is at your christian HS or a Christian university like where I went- when a Chapel service is a requirement- you have to get a certain number of chapel credits each semester to pass and graduate- people often become numb to actually worshipping and wanting to be a part of those services, it becomes a burden or like homework.

Well, on February 8th, they had their normal morning chapel service and there wasn’t anything outstanding about the songs or message, the attendance was average and unimpressive. But, after the service as people were leaving, a few students stayed and sang longer. The band kept going for about 15 students that remained, and they stayed longer so the band kept playing for them. Then, students started coming back in to the chapel, people walking by came in to see what was going on, students who had left felt compelled to returned, and hours later the chapel had completely filled up with people praying, confessing sin, and singing together. This led to by the 5th day, busses and vans from churches around the country travelling to be a part of what they were hearing about. No news crews were allowed to come, no one was live streaming, but people were continuing to come and worship, share stories, struggles, sins, and bring their needs to the chapel. I have heard specifically of people who have come from as far as Brazil and Chile. Stories of miracles and healing have been coming out of these services, tens of thousands of people have travelled to the Asbury campus to see and be a part of this movement of God.

There was no special secret plan by the leadership there, there was no agenda, there were no fancy lights or big names- the students simply responded to God moving in their hearts and led this moment of revival that has swept across the world.

Why do I share this? Because, it is clear the Spirit of God is moving in a special way. Revival is breaking out, meaning the spiritually dead and drifting are coming to life by God’s powerful move in that place. And I want you to be aware of it, take some time to go look up stories from Asbury when you get home, it is encouraging to hear, and inspires us to pray for God to have his way in us, to come move here and bring revival to Greensboro as he is at Asbury.

Revival like this shouldn’t surprise us or confuse us, it should be normal to us. Revival isn’t going from normal to something special, its the Church getting pushed back into where it is meant to be! Jesus came to bring a revival that is never meant to stop! Jesus came to bring the dead to life, in every way possible- the physically dead to physical life, but more importantly the Spiritually dead to spiritual life!

Transition

So, I share this so that we would pray for God to likewise bring that revival to us, that we wouldn’t miss this special moment of God’s movement.

But I also bring it to mind tonight for the sake of the passage that we will be spending time in together.

We are going to be in the second half of Mark 5 tonight and we will be reading a very powerful story of the revival that Jesus bring in a few particular peoples’ lives.

Turn with me to Mark 5, starting in verse 21.

We are going to see, as we have been talking about all series, the power of the Kingdom of God changes everything. Just like this moment of revival is highlighting and reminding us of. The Power of the kingdom unleashed in and through God’s people is EXACTLY what Jesus came to bring and allow us to walk in. But there is something about seeing and hearing about miracles, and powerful life-change that seems unusual and abnormal to us. But the story of Scripture, the story of Jesus, as we will read tonight, is full of these moments, these stories and as we will see tonight- Jesus came to bring new life to the lifeless and hope to the hopeless. When Jesus shows up, that is just what happens.

Let’s read this story together and see what can happen when we actually have faith in this Jesus!

Mark 5:21–24 (CSB)

When Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the sea. One of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet and begged him earnestly, “My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she can get well and live.” So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him.

Let’s pause there for a moment.

Jesus and his disciples, at this point, have crossed back over to the west side of the sea of Galilee- remember they were crossing over to the east side last week to a place called the Gerasenes. This is where Jesus met a man full of many demons, called Legion. And we referenced this last week, the demons immediately recognized Jesus and knew he was the son of God come to bring the Kingdom of God. Jesus casts out the demons and the man is healed and made completely well. But the people in that town see what happened, they freak out, get upset and reject Jesus. They didn’t like what Jesus did, how different and powerful he was and they tell him to leave. They have NO faith in Jesus and don’t want him interrupting their lives and kick him out of the town. Now, they have returned from their trip across the sea back to the west side where many of Jesus’ stories take place.

They are likely near Capernaum again and surrounded by a large crowd, as usual.

Jesus is approached by a man named Jairus and this man comes to him boldly in front of the crowd.

But what do we know about Jairus? Well, he is a synagogue leader- which seems to mean that he was a leader in the local synagogue. This can mean a variety of things, but he wasn’t a priest or pharisee, but he was a recognized leader in the local synagogue who helped with practical and logistical items, along with spiritual leadership. Regardless of the specifics, he was a recognized and respected leader, who likely had a high social and economic standing at that time. But at this moment, this well respected and likely wealthy man falls down at the feet of Jesus as a beggar.

He is not just a big synagogue leader, he is a dad. And at this moment, a desperate dad who afraid of losing his 12 year old daughter.

Imagine for a moment, the person you love most, care about most, do everything for, is on the brink of dying any moment. Imagine the fear, sadness, and desperation. This father is running to Jesus in the most dark and desperate moment of his life.

We don’t know what his experience with Jesus before this moment may have been, but it’s clear that he believes that Jesus can make a difference in his situation. Otherwise, he would’ve have left his dying daughter and wife to come get Jesus. He tells Jesus his daughter is dying and asks him to come, lay his hands on her, so that she will recover and live! He has faith in Jesus to heal his daughter. I want you to remember that, Jairus came with faith that Jesus could HEAL his daughter and prevent her from dying. And of course, we see Jesus stop everything he is doing and follow Jairus home.

But something happens on the way. Let’s keep reading!

Mark 5:25–34 (CSB)

Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse. Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.” Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”

His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But he was looking around to see who had done this. The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”

This is called a Markan Sandwich. Mark wrote with this technique in his Gospel account, where he would start one story, interrupt it with another, then come back to the ending of the first story- see, like a sandwich. He does it for the sake of emphasizing one main point through the two stories playing together in our minds- comparing and contrasting one another.

Mark here uses that technique by introducing Jairus and his faith in Jesus to come save his daughter, but then bringing in the story of the woman in the crowd in the middle of that story.

With Jairus in mind, let’s look at this woman. She has had a disease of some sort for 12 years that has caused her body to continually bleed. I mean, even the oldest student in here is only a couple years older than 12- so imagine if you were plagued by an illness that impacted your life every day since you were BORN! But more than just being medically sick from this, she had an even bigger problem in that society. See, this sickness of bleeding was deemed unclean in the Jewish Law. She was UNCLEAN, meaning she wasn’t allowed to worship in the temple and other people wouldn’t be around her because being close to her could make them ceremonially unclean as well.

So, this woman has a medical disease that likely made her weak and sick, and it led to her never being allowed to worship as a jewish woman, and she would’ve been outcasted by society. She was as low as the dogs in the streets at that time. And she knew and understood this. Look at the way she approached Jesus. She sneaks in through the crowd- remember she shouldn’t have been around people since she was unclean. She approaches Jesus from behind and has one goal- just touch the edge of his clothes. If she can just get a finger on the tassels of his robe she believed she would be healed! That is her faith. Jairus had faith as he approached Jesus in front of the crowd. This woman had faith as she snuck in behind him.

Faith motivates us to get to Jesus.

Genuine faith in Jesus is revealed through getting to him no matter what the cost. You believe Jesus can heal you, restore you, grow you, forgive you, redeem you- you don’t hold back out of fear, or embarrassment, or laziness, or doubt or cost. You go to Jesus! You confess, you worship, you cry out, you get on your knees, you talk to believers! At whatever cost, your faith motivates you to get to Jesus and experience His power!

Jairus’ faith motivated him to get to Jesus despite his daughter dying at home. And even though this woman was quiet, timid, and hidden, her faith motivated her to get to Jesus.

And what happens?

Her faith saves her.

She touches him and Jesus stops everything. He says who just touched me? Which is funny because the disciples are like bro, really? We are surrounded by people and you’re asking who touched you?

But Jesus knew this woman had just been healed by his power and he wanted more than a hidden miracle- he wanted a public testimony!

See, faith leads to healing, faith leads to life, faith leads to hope, and all of that leads to the building up of the faith of those around us as we share our testimonies!

So Jesus wants her to come forward and she does. She confesses everything in her life and what just happened.

It says, she fell at his feet- the same language used to talk about Jairus. And I’m sure she started at day one- I have had this disease for 12 years, doctors couldn’t help me, I’ve spent all I have and I have lost EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in my life. But I believed if I could just get to you and touch your clothes I would be healed.

And he says daughter- like a father talking to his 12 year old little girl, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”

[PAUSE]

She was as good as dead, but she had faith- she believed that Jesus could change her whole life for the better.

Her faith motivated her to get to Jesus. And Jesus says that her faith saved her.

Faith motivates us to get to Jesus.

AND

Faith allows us to experience the power of Jesus.

He says her faith saves her. And yes, that is the same word used for SAVED like salvation throughout the New Testament. She hadn’t just received her health back, she received her life back- her social life, her religious life, but the belief and faith she had in Jesus also clearly led to her spiritual life! Her faith had saved her. And that is the ultimate experience of the power of Jesus. Yes, physical healing, emotional healing, economic healing, all of that is huge and awesome and powerful ways that Jesus can move in your life- but our greatest need is always spiritual- being brought from spiritual DEATH to LIFE by Jesus- which only happens by faith in him!

By faith this woman comes to Jesus and experiences his power to heal her!

Now, let’s get back to Jairus and see what happens to him.

Mark 5:35–43 (CSB)

While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the teacher anymore?”

When Jesus overheard what was said, he told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe.” He did not let anyone accompany him except Peter, James, and John, James’s brother. They came to the leader’s house, and he saw a commotion—people weeping and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him, but he put them all outside. He took the child’s father, mother, and those who were with him, and entered the place where the child was. Then he took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum” (which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, get up”). Immediately the girl got up and began to walk. (She was twelve years old.) At this they were utterly astounded. Then he gave them strict orders that no one should know about this and told them to give her something to eat.

I want you to remember back to the beginning of Jairus’ story for just a moment. Jairus came to Jesus with faith that Jesus would do what? HEAL his daughter. Prevent her from dying! And now, He receives the news that his daughter had already died. And he wasn’t even there.

Up until this moment Jairus and the woman in the crowd had many similarities. They both knew only Jesus could help them; they both knew they were unworthy; they both fell down; and they believed Jesus could heal. She got what she wanted. However, things for Jairus appear to go from bad to worse. His last shred of hope had just evaporated into thin air.

I mean, at this moment, he must have felt every dark emotion in existence. He had failed. He had faith in Jesus to come heal his daughter so she would continue to LIVE. But now she was dead! it was too late. Even the other people, likely religious leaders who didn’t have faith in Jesus, were like yeah see your wild goose chase after Jesus was for NOTHING don’t bother him anymore!

But Jesus hears all this. He watches Jairus, probably crumbling in defeat, and he says no! Don’t be afraid. Only believe. There words were spoken and written in the imperative- a command- KEEP BELIEVING JAIRUS!

And then, they continue to Jairus’ home and are met by a large group of professional mourners. These were peoples that Jewish families were supposed to hire when someone died. They would mourn over the dead as they were trained to. This is odd and we won’t go into why and what for. But this is significant for 2 reasons-

Their presence meant the girl was truly dead, not in a coma, not sleeping really hard, not going in and out of consciousness. The family PAID these people to be here because they knew for certain the girl was dead.

and

2. Their reaction to Jesus is important. They clearly don’t have the same faith as Jairus. Jesus tells them to stop and they LAUGH at him.

Jesus says, stop it, she isn’t dead, she is just asleep. Jesus isn’t making a medical statement, he is making a spiritual statement.

He knows her death is not final. Because Jesus knows he is about to raise her from the dead, he seas that she is basically, just temporarily asleep until he goes and wakes her up!

And then he kicks them out of the house. Their lack of faith prevents them from experiencing the power of Jesus. They don’t even get to witness what Jesus is about to do, they doubt him, they are skeptical and even laugh at his words.

Lack of faith prevents us from experiencing the power of Jesus.

Finally,

Jesus goes into the girl’s room with 3 disciples and the girls parents. Jairus’ faith has carried him to Jesus, he has seen a woman healed of a disease of 12 years and now, he waits over the body of his dead 12 year old daughter with Jesus by their side...

Jesus goes and takes the girl by the hand. Which, by the way, would make him unclean- you don’t touch a dead body at that time. So again, Jesus does not care about the cleanliness of the person in need of healing. HE takes her directly by the hand and, again like a loving father, says to her- “Talitha Koum” which isn’t greek, it’s aramaic which was the common language of that day. It means, “Little lamb, I tell you to get up.”

The loving shepherd sees one of his sheep in need of revival, he grabs her by the hand and lovingly breaths life back into her.

Immediately, just like the woman’s healing, IMMEDIATELY she stood up and began to walk around. Jesus says, don’t tell anyone about this and go get this girl some food.

Jesus gives life to the lifeless and hope to the hopeless.

Both of these stories in Mark 5 are of physical healing but they reveal spiritual healing. They are stories not just of physical revival but spiritual revival.

Neither of these people deserved to be healed, neither had anything to offer Jesus and earn his power. But FAITH saved them both .

Faith motivated the woman to get to Jesus and she was saved.

Faith motivated Jairus to go to Jesus for him to heal his daughter, but instead Jesus SAVED his daughter and brought her to life!

Faith allows us to experience the power of Jesus!

Do you have faith in Jesus? If you’re saved you do, that’s the only way to be saved is through Faith in Jesus! That means you believe that JEsus truly is Lord, over heaven and earth and he can save you from your sins! That is our biggest and most desperate need- to be saved spiritually. To be revived spiritually.

But do you still walk in faith? Do you still believe Jesus saves, do you believe JEsus is LOrd? Because if so you should be taking everything in your life to him daily. You should be worshipping constantly and with all your heart. If we have faith in Jesus our lives are constantly motivated to be near him and experience His power in our lives and those around us.

Do you have an area in your life that you desperately need experience the power of Jesus in?

A sin you are trapped in, a struggle you are a slave to, a brokenness you need to be healed of, a lie you have been believing?

Faith motivates us to get to Jesus. TAKE IT TO HIM! Not later, not one day, TODAY! Go to Jesus and ask him to heal you and he has healed others. Ask him to pour out his power in your life as he did in this woman and this little girl.

Maybe, you are like Jairus and it’s not you that needs the power of Jesus directly but someone you care about, a lost friend, a struggling sibling, a sick family member.

TAKE IT TO JESUS!

Listen, Jesus can heal you. Jesus can change you, Jesus can help your friend, Jesus can save anyone and everyone who comes to Him.

SO COME TO JESUS. For yourself or someone else. Come to Jesus.

Faith motivates us to get to Jesus.

Faith allows us to experience the power of Jesus.

If you have never been saved in this place, you can trust Jesus to save you, come to Jesus today!

If you need Jesus’ power to show up in your life or the life of someone you know- come to Jesus today!

Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a church leader in history and wrote a lot about revival.

He said 2 things that stand out to me.

He said:

You can not stop a Revival, any more than you can start it. It is altogether in the hands of God.

Revival, 236

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

and he also said,

If I may speak for myself, I shall not feel happy and encouraged until I feel that the Church is concentrating on this one thing—prayer for Revival.

Revival, 197

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Can I just tell you that no matter who you are, where you are at, or what’s going on, we all need revival. We need a move of the Spirit of God in our lives, in our church, in our world so desperately. And it’s not in our hands to bring about, it’s in Gods, but FAITH motivates us to get to Jesus and we can come to Jesus and cry out for revival!

Tonight I want us to sing to end our service again, Matt is going to lead us however he feels led, and I want to encourage you, urge you to respond to Jesus. Whatever and however the Spirit leads you-

on your knees in prayer for revival

worshipping with all you’ve got

talking to me or a leader during this time about sin or a struggle in your life

simply listening to the words and letting God speak to you.

Come talk to me if you need to turn to Jesus to be saved from your sins

Whatever it is, during this time DO NOT MISS this moment to respond to God, to COME TO JESUS!

I want to pray and then we will sing together and you can sing and worship and respond however you need to. BUT RESPOND to God CRY OUT TO GOD, get to Jesus. Even if it feels like a battle because you have felt so far from him for so long, come to JESUS with whatever you’ve got tonight!

Let’s pray.