Faith and Unbelief in The King

Those who believe in Jesus must live in confidence in His Work and Presence in our lives.

What does faith look like?

Faith requires humility

This man that comes to Jesus is a synagogue leader. He is one of the leaders in the region for the Jewish people. He was the “ruler” of the local synagogue. He came and said his daughter is “at death’s door” or “sinking fast”. She is close to death. It is significant that this man would fall to his feet and beg for Jesus to heal his daughter. This is an act of desperation. An act of knowing that there is a problem only Jesus can fix. That no matter what power or authority you believe you have, you have reached the limit and now it is only Jesus who can do this work.

The thing is, we often think we ARENT desperate, we want to believe we have it all together and that we can find a way to fix it. But there is a problem in our hearts that only Jesus can fix. That is the issue many people have. They think they don’t need Jesus because even though they know they have done some bad things they see themselves as MOSTLY good. That if there is a heaven, and they have lived a good life, then everything will work out for them. But this ignores the serious issue in our hearts.

-We can go to Jesus in our “weak points” but we have to remember that even in our “strong points” we need JEsus

Notice then, that Jesus, even with crowds following him, goes with Jairus to his house. He ignores the large crowd of people to go with the one.

Faith requires courage in the truth

*Another example of the “sandwiching” of stories

Next, we have someone on the opposite side of the social status ladder to Jairus. A woman with an ailment comes to Jesus. This woman is considered unclean. A woman who had suffered, who had dealt with isolation from those she loved, who did not see an end to her challenges. This is seen by the term described for her condition. It describes a “whip” or a “torment”. A combination of both physical suffering and shame. She had spent all of her money trying to find a cure, but with no luck. But Jesus, almost unnoticed by Jesus, heals her.

-In the next story we will see a daughter who has died, it was “unclean” to touch a dead body. So here, Jesus continues to show his ability to cleanse what was once unclean.

-Then it says in v. 27 that she “hears” Jesus, she “comes” to Jesus, and she “touches” His clothing. These are the signs of a disciple.

But, what the woman thinks is happening is a one-way transaction. To be touched by Jesus and healed by him. This happened with greater rulers like Alexander the great, or prophets. They don’t believe they will have a relationship with the person healing them, they just want the benefit of being near them. But this becomes a two-way conversation and brings to light her trouble.

-Often we want to come to Jesus we think it is a one-way transaction. That we can be “secretly” healed by the cross and have our sins washed away. We can have faith in Jesus and be thankful for what he has done but we are scared of having a relationship with him. Notice, she is filled with “fear and trembling”. Have you noticed how often people are filled with fear and trembling by interactions with Jesus? Why? They are confronted with the truth. And being confronted with the truth means confronting our hearts and what we believe. But it means relationship with Jesus, He doesn’t just want to heal us, He wants to know us.

-She now has an opportunity to openly admit that she had touched Jesus, to have faith that Jesus the compassionate healer she heard about. She steps out in faith and says it was her.

-Sometimes we are sacred of what Jesus others will come in contact with if we share with them who Jesus is. We have to be confident that the Jesus we believe in, the Jesus shown to us in His Word, the Jesus who died on the cross for us...is as good as we believe when we share it with them. That if they come in contact with Jesus they will be transformed by Him.

Why is she filled with fear

-Embarrassment in being called out

-She may also be fearful that in touching Jesus she has accidentally made him unclean.

But Jesus says her “faith” healed her. Does this woman understand exactly who Jesus is? No. But she has conviction about Jesus authority, and this is what has saved her.

-This should speak to Jairus as Jesus comes with him to his house

Faith requires believing the unbelievable

Meanwhile, the daughter of Jairus has died while Jesus had this conversation. People came to Jesus and Jairus and says “why bother the teacher anymore?”

-Sometimes we can feel this way with the challenges we face. We can say “why bother”. We can feel like things have gone so bad that it isn’t even worth bringing to Jesus to fix. Including our own lives, the lives of those we care about, and even our enemies!

Jesus makes a statement to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid, only believe”

-We can see circumstances in our life that seems insurmountable. We have to not be afraid that God can’t do it. Sometimes we don’t want to “get our hopes up” that God can do it, because what if it doesn’t work out for us?

“Faith is not something Jairus has but something that HAS Jairus, carrying him from despair to hope. Jesus’ authoritative word to Jairus is not to fear but to believe.”

Then we see people mourning over the death of Jairus’ daughter. But Jesus says she is just sleeping.

Why does Jesus say she is just sleeping?

-Jesus is identifying the girls death as temporary, yet real. We often think of death as “final”. That once death happens there is nothing to be done. Even those of us who are Christians can see death as something to fear. But Jesus shows his power even over death, it foreshadows that Jesus will overcome death for good.

-These mourners represent many who just want to focus on the “facts” and what can be proven rather than believe God can do the miraculous.

What we see is the hope that comes in believing in Jesus and that He can do the miraculous in our lives. That our faith in God should go above and beyond our worries in the world.

Faith requires more than “knowing” Jesus

Jesus then returns to his hometown. He is invited to speak in the synagogue there, showing a level of knowledge of his teaching ability. They are stunned at the level of authority he spoke with.

They call him “the carpenters son”. This means most people don’t know the unusual origin of Jesus’ birth. Because it was a small town, Jesus had probably done much work in repairing and construction things in Nazareth. They know “Jesus the carpenter” so they don’t believe Jesus could be anything more than this.

-The call Jesus the “son of Mary” which would be an insult if Joseph was still alive.

-People were focused too much on his background and not enough on the power that worked through Jesus.

Jesus says that a “prophet is not welcomed in his hometown.” This reminds them of prophets in the OT. Who spoke the truth but many didn’t want to hear the truth from them. Jesus was even “amazed by their unbelief”.

-What they needed was faith, not just proximity. Jesus is amazed they wouldn’t respond to his miracles in any way.

“The greatest obstacle to faith is not the failure of God to act but the unwillingness of the human heart to accept the God who condescends to us in only a carpenter, the son of Mary.”