Don't be afraid; only believe
Notes
Transcript
reading
reading
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Text
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Sermon
Sermon
Last time, the woman’s story.
This time, another person - completely different than the woman.
He was a ruler. A man. A householder. He had income, servants.
He was also completely desperate.
He pleads with Jesus. He has no other hope. His money can’t help.
There was a Hebrew word that means “sick and about to die with no hope possible”
It is the word used for the heart in Jeremiah - the heart is deceitful and desperately sick. There is no cure. It is about to die.
Who can heal it?
This is the same dilemma here. Who can heal it?
Notice how this man and Jesus value this little girl. That, in itself, would have been shocking to those around. This girl had value, she was an image-bearer of the almighty, with dignity and worth...
And was about to die.
If only Jesus would hurry...
And Jesus is hindered by circumstances. And he stops.
And then the worst thing that a father can hear: Your little girl is dead.
The woman tried to sneak up and sneak away. Now this man’s servants also try to sneak Jairus away. They whisper to him - “Don’t bother the teacher. The little one has died.”
The shock would have set in. He would have numbly allowed his men to lead him home.
But just as Jesus called the woman to express her faith, so now with Jairus.
Don’t be afraid. Only believe.
Can Jesus do anything about death?
Death in the bible means far more than simply the body going into the dust. Yes as tragic as that is, it is far worse than we imagine. When death entered the world, Satan’s kingdom reigned.
He was given the power of death and held the whole world in bondage.
Fear, guilt, shame, misery, sin, sickness, war, famine, disease, pain, suffering - the curse.
Or - death.
It has won, Jairus. Not even Jesus can fix that. If only he were there, maybe she wouldn’t have died.
How many times do we say the same thing:
Not even Jesus can fix this.
Misery will have the final word. Evil will win.
The power of the devil is here. A man will give all that he has to save his own skin.
But the skin of a child? What will he do to save a child?
And then there is the reality that hits hard.
There is a problem in the world that no amount of money, no respect, no dignity, no position, will ever be able to fix.
In fact, it is such a great problem that nothing else really matters.
You can be rich or poor; you can be wise or foolish; you can be righteous or a sinner; you can be religious or irreligious.
You will die. Your loved ones will be buried.
Grief is the flip side of love. You cannot grieve if you have never loved. And if you have loved, it will always end in a broken heart.
And no amount of money or power can do anything about it.
And it is tempting to think that Jesus can’t do anything about it either.
But the almighty, eternal, creator of heaven and earth, who upholds and governs all things, took upon himself human flesh to walk with us - to go with this man. And he is going to do something remarkable.
And for a quick minute the curtain is pulled back, and we can see his glory.
Our problem with faith is that we think that this world that we can see is the only reality there is. We have no idea how to view life when we are immersed in death and misery.
We cannot even fathom what eternal life is like, because death and misery is what we know. Until the curtain is pulled just a little bit.
“Don’t be afraid. Only believe”.
It is this message that is mocked by the world.
You think you can do something? You don’t understand life. You don’t understand this world. You are just a pollyanna. Are you some kind of idiot.
everything ends in misery. Didn’t you know that?
“Only sleeping” Jesus says.
He came to the Red Sea of death, and said, “Don’t be afraid. Soon you will see the salvation of the Lord.”
And like the ancient Israelites, their descendents also mocked.
And he takes the girl by the hand.
He will show a glimpse of his glory, but the time isn’t yet. The time will come when all of the dead will be raised.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
The day is coming when there will be no more curse. No more saying goodbye. No more burial services.
The day is coming when every tear will be wiped away, and every injustice will be taken away, and every sickness cured - wars will cease and there will be no more famines and no more plagues or tornadoes.
In other words, death will be taken away.
Because when Jesus touched the little girl, he took that death upon himself. It was not possible that death should just go away.
The sword over the head must fall.
Jesus takes that sword. He touched that little one and takes her death.
Pretty soon, he will be led outside the city, where he will be nailed to a cross, with the sins of the whole world, and the deaths of the whole world and the miseries of the whole world, nailed to him. And he will carry all of it to the grave.
And this little girl gets up.
And we want to rush him.
We want him to lift up all of our loved ones and take away everything right now - but it isn’t the time.
He is making his way through the crowd, touching and healing, raising and speaking. Listening and watching - and soon the day will come when we will all hear his voice.
Not one will perish. All who come to him and hear his voice will be raised.
On the last day, it will be made right.
Remember the eagles?
Don’t wear yourself out trying to rush everything.
Little one. Get up.