"Kingdom Amazement" Mark 5:35-43

This morning we are looking at the third miracle from Mark chapter 5.

This miracle is dealing with the daughter of Jarius who was a ruler of the Synagogue.

He had come to Jesus on behalf of his sick daughter and Jesus was on his way with him to go to her.

It was during this journey that a woman with an issue of blood for 12 years touched touched His garment and was healed.

It was when Jesus was speaking to the woman that a man arrived from the house of Jarius with news of his daughter’s death. And it is in this context, upon hearing of his daughter’s death, that Jesus makes an appeal to Jarius.

And this appeal is one that takes the dynamic of the Kingdom of God into account in a fallen world. It factors the Kingdom of God into the circumstances of life for the believer. Look back at your text to verses 35-36:

I. The Kingdom Appeal (35-36).

This is again a classic example of “faith over fear” in the life of the believer. This is the kingdom principle that Jesus appeals to in order to direct Jarius to believe instead of collapsing into fear over hearing the news of his daughter’s death.

The man from his house who brought the news reasons that it is too late. His daughter is dead so why trouble the “Teacher” any further. In the normal course of events death would have been finality. The “Teacher” was too late.

But Jesus was not just simply a Rabbi on par with Jarius in His identity as a ruler of the Synagogue. Jesus is not limited by inability when it came to the working of miracles. He had done it before and Jarius was fully aware of this. But death would have been another matter, fear would have crept in at this point.

The man from his house and Jarius would have looked at the situation contextualized by this temporal fallen world of trials, suffering, pain and even death.

But Jesus would have seen all the circumstances in light of the contextual dynamic of the Kingdom of God. A dynamic that appeals to eternal faith over temporal fears in the face of trials in a fallen world.

Jesus doesn’t turn back but He continues on with Jarius and He only allows Peter, James and John to go with Him. And upon arrival Jesus sees all the commotion of people weeping and wailing.

The stage is set for the Kingdom demonstration. And it is not just a demonstration of power alone but one of the mindset of faith. Look back at verses 39-43 which we will take in two bite size pieces.

II. The Kingdom Demonstration (39-43).

A The Mindset (39-40).

Jesus questions the people and says in verse 39: Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.

And the people go from weeping to laughing because He said this. So this raises the question, was she really dead? Or was she just merely in a comatose state?

Understand the people in this day and time understood what death was and they knew what a comatose state was. Today in our day and time, people who are dead don’t breathe. And it was the same back then. Make no mistake, the little 12 year old girl was dead.

So why did Jesus say she was only sleeping? Because Jesus sees the circumstances through the dynamic of the Kingdom of God. Fallen man looks at the fallen world as the absolute and makes a distinction between sleep being temporal and death being final.

The dynamic of the Kingdom understands that sleep and death are both temporal. This is the same mindset as seen in text like:

Daniel 12:2- “2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Psalm 17:15- “15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”

John 11:11 in the New Testament, “11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.””

You may remember that once Jesus arrived at Lazarus and Martha and Mary’s house that Martha came out to meet Jesus and said Lord if only you had been here my brother would not had died but I know even now I know that whatever you ask of God He will give it to you (John 11:21-22).

Martha had the Kingdom mindset even in the midst of her experiencing grief over her brother.

King Jesus, who is the embodiment of the infinite, eternal Son of God made flesh, can raise the dead just as easy as He can wake someone from a Sunday afternoon nap. He has the sovereign authority to exercise the power of the resurrection of the dead according to His providential will. Look at the demonstration of this power in verse 41-43:

B. The Power (41-43).

Notice, that this 12 year old girl was dead and He took her by the hand and He touched her. This would have been something that would have been an act of defilement under the Law.

Unlike the woman with the 12 years issue of blood that we saw last Sunday who reached out and touched Jesus; Jesus here initiated the touch of a dead girl who was incapable of making herself alive.

He spoke, “Talitha cumi” which is Aramaic meaning, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And when the one who spoke the Universe into existence calls you to arise you have no choice but to respond in obedience.

Jesus Christ has always had the authority and the power to raise the dead. Such a miracle is a demonstration of His infinite power. And this was before He went to the Cross and died and rose again on the third day.

Jesus didn’t have to go to the Cross to be able to raise dead people from the dead. He has always been able to do that. You know what eventually happened to the daughter of Jarius?

She lived her life span out according to the providence of God and she died again.

Jesus went to the Cross to accomplish the means of eternal life. That required that sin, which brought death in the first place had to be paid for in order to satisfy the demands of the law so that absolute righteousness and justice of God could be upheld and not compromised.

Jesus went to the Cross not so He could just raise people from the dead but so that He could raise people incorruptible and justify them before the throne of God for all eternity.

The raising of the daughter of Jarius and Lazarus was only a Kingdom preview of what was to come. Kind of like seeing a preview of an upcoming movie coming to theaters soon. A clip to wet your appetite and give you something to cause you to look forward to the films release in theaters.

Have you ever seen a preview for a movie and you were let down when you saw the film? It happens all the time.

Aunt Kay talking about the Wizard of Oz coming out when she was a little girl. It was unbelievable!

But the reality of the Kingdom will far exceed your expectations unless you are looking for the Kingdom tainted by this fallen world. Scripture is calling us to see the Kingdom through the word of God with all of it’s promises and prophetic predictions.

But what we often do is settle for what we know of this fallen world as being the status quo of our faith. It is not faith that is rooted in the word but in the world.

Conclusion:

Unbeliever you will focus on the idea of your best life now and that will be the motive that drives you in all your pursuits in this life. Even in religious practice. But such a mindset is is blind to the eternal implications of the Kingdom. Any religion will do in such cases because the primary emphasis is rooted in the temporal aspects of this world.

You need the mindset of faith rooted in the eternal Kingdom through Jesus Christ. And you need the power in the blood of Christ to cleanse you of all your sins. You need a miracle of Kingdom power where Jesus takes your hand and calls you to arise to saving faith in Him alone.

You are dead in your transgressions and sins. You must be born again first in order to believe in the one who has called you to faith. Believe the gospel!

Believer that is the only reason you have been made alive to saving faith. Are you amazed that the Lord Jesus took your hand and called you to life in Him?

I will never understand why He would save me. I only know it was by His sovereign grace expressed in His great love to me through Christ death on the Cross.

This is why Christian we cling to the Cross in this life because of the coming day when we will all be raised bodily incorruptible. Confess your sin Christian and rest in Him and in the bounty of His grace to you in and through Jesus Christ our Lord! Lets’s pray!