Mark 5:21-43
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“Only Believe”
“Only Believe”
Taking a detour from Ezra to Mark
Usually stand and read but today i want you to sit and imagine.
See the scene in your mind’s eye (close eyes?) be a spectator
Read Mark 5:21-43
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. 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.”
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.
Pray
Context: the last couple of days as a disciple
Jesus crosses the sea to escape the frantic crowds, falls asleep in the boat, wakes up & calms a storm by rebuking it, cast a legion of demons out of a man a makes them run scared off a cliff
The disciples have just witnessed Jesus the “powerful”… so much so that it leaves them asking “who is this?”
But Jesus gets back in the boat and comes across the sea back to the crowds
In today’s text mark creates a “sandwich” so to speak
Jairus - Woman - Jairus
A story within another story
The purpose is (one that’s how it happened/authenticity & two is supposed to cause us to compare the two stories
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.”
Jairus enters the scene
He is a “ruler of the synagogue”
He is an important/prominent figure in the city
He is likely wealthy (people associated with God’s favor)
He’s educated
He’s the kind of person people want to be seen with (help your reputation)
From a spiritual sense, it would seem like Jairus has got it all together
But remember, in the Gospels, the religious circles have not been kind to Jesus
Two chapters earlier the Scribes accused Jesus of being Possessed by the devil
For Jairus to come to Jesus for help would be going against the grain of his social circles
But we find Him not only coming to Jesus, but falling on his face before Jesus in humility and desperation
His circumstances have brought him to his knees (literally)
His 12 year daughter is deathly ill/deathbed
His money, his education, his societal status, none of that matters in this moment
Jairus is helpless
Let’s meet another character…
And he went with him.
And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 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.”
Here we have a nameless woman
She is everything that Jairus isn’t
He is a prominent figure of society, she’s a nobody
He is an elite in the synagogue, she’s not even allowed in
Her issue of blood makes her ceremonially unclean
No one wants to be seen with her, you can’t touch her or you would become unclean as well
You can’t even sit in a chair if she’s sat in it
Jairus is wealthy and she’s broke
She’s spent all she has hoping to be healed to be healed and be made clean but she’s only become poorer and her condition has worsened
By all accounts she is a lost cause and an outcast
The past twelve years have been drastically different for Jairus’s daughter and this woman, but circumstances have lead them both to the same point of desperation
Both of them know all to well that there is absolutely nothing that they can do to heal these diseases
Diseases that are a result of sin
Not necessarily their personal sinful choices but the curse of sin all the same “all have sinned”
Their lives are falling apart
We’d be making a big mistake if we were to put their situations beyond the sovereign hand of God
He could have kept Jairus’s daughter from getting sick, ultimately God is the one who allowed this woman to suffer from this internal hemorrhaging
In love, God will tear us down in order to make us whole in Christ.
“Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
It is not outside of God’s character to cause us pain so that we will be humbled enough to throw ourselves at His feet
Is He some heartless deity who enjoys our suffering?
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
God is love, He is good, but His ways are higher and His love goes far beyond the surface of comfort
Papa Bob’s cancer
Your painful circumstances do not mean that God is out to get you, maybe that’s what it takes to get you to look outside of yourself and see your neediness for the savior
And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
Imagine her joy, it’s over! I’m whole! I’m clean!
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.”
She touched His clothes and He healed her.
Physical and spiritual uncleanliness
Remember that to touch her would make you unclean, but our God takes on her uncleanliness, her affliction and makes it His
Even more He takes on her sin and gives her His righteousness before God!
A crowd of people is bumping into Jesus but a simple touch in faith catches His attention
She comes knowing the depth of her need
She puts hope in Him and Him alone (she’s tried everything else)
Don’t let your filthiness keep you from coming to Jesus.
If you will repent and believe, He will receive you freely!
The fact that you’re even desiring to come to Him is evidence of His grace
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
This is glorious, but let’s not forget Jairus
Put yourself in his shoes for a second
He is on a major time crunch
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?”
It’s over….. we didn’t make it
This woman was a “lost cause” sure but Jairus’s daughter is too far gone now
But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”
What do you do with that?
Jesus is asking him to believe the impossible, to believe when all of Jairus’s other senses are screaming “there is no hope!”
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.
It was customary to hire “professional mourners” that would cry and wail for everyone to hear
They had no real attachment to the deceased but were like actors
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.
Don’t let your circumstances keep you from coming to Jesus.
If the Bible teaches us anything it’s that we shouldn’t trust in what we can see but in the might of our God
He saves the “too far gone” again and again
Cry out to Jesus
This text isn’t teaching us a prosperity Gospel of “Jesus makes all the bad times go away”
Jesus may allow/cause the suffering so that we have nothing else to cling to but Him
This suffering is a drama showing us the inward need, our true condition
We are sick, broken, hopeless, unclean
But Jesus is greater than our sinful condition
“There is more mercy in Him than there is sin in you.” Richard Sibbes
Without Christ we are all like the little girl
Spiritually stone cold dead
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.
Jesus words could be translated “Little lamb, I say to you arise”
He makes legions flee and cares for the “little lambs”
Our God is both terrifying and tender, but He is always good.
This passage flips our flimsy view of love on it’s head
Christ love is fierce, sometimes tender, sometimes horribly painful, but exactly what we need
Both Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood were desperately needy for the savior
One was keenly aware of her hopeless state, the other was likely comfortably blind to his need
Jesus perfectly, sovereignly, and lovingly brought them both to faith in His mercy and grace
Maybe you are in this room and know you need to be right with God but feel beyond His grace
If you will come to Jesus in simple submissive faith, trusting in His righteousness earned for you, His sacrifice on your behalf, you will be saved
Maybe you are a believer but you have wandered from your Lord
The grace that saves us is the grace that keeps us
Confess your sin and be forgiven, don’t wait
The application is the same for all of us, do not trust in what you can see, trust in what Jesus has said
Pray
