Resetting Hope

Introduction

If you have your bible, turn to Luke chapter 8 beginning with verse 40 (). Let’s pray.

Jesus heads back to Galilee after his adventures in the Region of the Gerasenes we discussed last week. As expected, Jesus is met by a crowd of people. Among the members of that crowd is the leader of the local synagogue, a man named Jairus. He falls at Jesus’ feet begging him to come and heal his sick twelve year old daughter. Typically the leader of a local synagogue would approach a rabbi like Jesus with more decorum, but he is desperate; his daughter is dying.

Jesus agrees to go to the girl, but the crowd around him almost too difficult to navigate. The people are closing in close to him and he finds it difficult to move through. Somewhere in the middle of that chaos of a crowd, a desperate woman comes close to Jesus. We are told that she has “been subject to bleeding” for 12 years. That means that she has been on her period for 12 years nonstop. This woman has seen every doctor and gone to every person she can think of to help reliever her situation with no luck. Her physical issue continues.

She believed Jesus could heal her. In fact, she is convinced that if she simply touches the hem of Jesus’ cloak, he will miraculously heal her. So, she makes her way through the close knit crowd and somehow finds a way to touch Jesus’ garment. Miraculously, the bleeding stopped and she knows it in her body. Perhaps more amazingly, Jesus realized what she had done. We are told that Jesus felt power leave him. Jesus asked his disciples, “Who touched me?” In Mark’s version of the story, the disciples basically ask Jesus, “Are you serious? A bunch of people have touched you. You’re in a crowd.” Jesus was looking for the person who trusted him for healing. The woman realizes she has been exposed and approaches Jesus and explains the situation to which Jesus replied in verse 48, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. God in peace.”

Jesus then resumes his mission to Jairus’ home. When he gets there, people are grieving because the little girl has died. Jesus gives Jairus and his wife hope when said in verse 50, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” Jesus ordered the mourner to stop crying saying the girl is not dead, but merely asleep. Those gathered actually laughed at Jesus. Jesus then took Peter, James, and John and the parents with him into the room where the girl lay dead. He takes the little girl by the hand and says, “My child, get up!” Immediately she was alive. Sh stood up, at and rejoined her parents, who were astonished probably beyond words.

There are two very powerful healing miracles. It is always easy to be blown away by miracle stories or to write miracle stories off as though they are fairy tales. Miracle stories are not fairy tales. They are testimonies of the redemptive work of Christ Jesus. They teach us important realities about Christ and his mission in the world. Here we are reminded that Jesus brings hope to seemingly hopeless situations. Let’s begin with Jairus.

Jairus was a respected member of the community. He was the leader of the local synagogue. He was the person that you would go if you need care, counsel, or support. His primary job was to direct people to the status quo; the reliance on the Law of Moses and Jewish tradition. Now, his daughter is gravely ill. She in on death’s door, and the situation could be any more dire. The status quo response was to let her die because there really wasn’t anything anyone could do. Remember, medical science in the ancient world was limited as best. More than that, Jewish tradition did spend a lot of time contemplating death. If you were dying young or were seriously ill, you were experiencing pervasive consequence of sin. You were at the mercy of God’s justice. As the leader of the local Jewish community and the sustainer of Jewish tradition, he was to be let her be and see what happens. He was in a hopeless situation.

The woman with the issue of blood was likewise in a hopeless, chronic situation. She had basically been on her period for 12 years. Which meant her blood loss was gradual, but significant. She was probably exhausted all the time of anemia. More than that, she was victimized by the requirements of her culture. When on her period, a Jewish woman was considered ceremonially unclean until menstruation ended the woman went through purification ritual. If you have constant bleeding, you can’t go through with the purification ritual, which meant she was barred from access to God through the religious rituals perpetually. It also meant that her husband could not sleep with her. Sexual intercourse with a woman on her period was forbidden by the Law of Moses, which put her marriage at risk. It was possible her husband could divorce her and she would have nothing. It meant she could not have children, which was a cultural expectation for first century Jewish woman. Barren women were considered shameful. She went to the doctors, but they couldn’t help. Her was a woman in a hopeless situation.

When we find ourselves in seemingly hopeless situations, the temptation is strong to simply give up on things. We say to ourselves, “This is how it is.” We collapse into despair, lethargy, probably into destructive behaviors, and disillusionment. That was probably the case for both Jairus and the woman. They may have already experienced the emotions associated with despair. Then hope appeared in the coming of Jesus. Hope motivates us to live by faith. Listen, Jairus broke with conventional wisdom by going to Jesus. He was the protector of the status quo, which means he would not have normally approached a radical rabbi who was known for incredibly unusual things like healing the sick. Yet, hope broke through to Jairus and he asked Jesus for help; and Jesus raised the little girl from the dead. Similarly, when hope shined in the life of the woman, she was motivated to fight through the crowd, which was probably difficult because of her weakened condition, and terrifying because if anyone found out about her she could face serious repercussions. You see, if you were ceremonially unclean, every person you touched was likewise ceremonially unclean. By fighting through the crowd, she was ceremonially contaminating every person she touched including Jesus. Hope motivated her to go to Jesus.

Listen, hope motivates us to keep moving. Hope motivates us to turn toward Christ in faith. Despair increases lethargy and sloth. If we find ourselves saying, “This is the way things are,” it is very possible we have descended into some level of despair. If we convince ourselves that things cannot get better, we experience some level of despair. Hope directs our attention to Jesus. Hope motivates us to go to him and experience his loving kindness. Hope motivates us to reach out to him for resolution of the things that are derailing our lives. Hope in Christ sustains us when the world seems to be crashing in around us.

The most difficult season of my life was not coronavirus. In the months after my daughter died, I was broken. I was the angriest I had ever been and felt like the anger would never go away. I was tempted to engage in destructive behaviors that had never registered on my mind like drunkeness, adultery, and violence. At the time, I thought the only reason I had not given into those temptations was because I didn’t want to lose everything; after all I had already lost so much. I see now it was because hope had not been completely driven from me. I hoped in Christ. I hoped in the resurrection of the dead. I hoped that one day I would have real traction for my life again. Despite losing Natalie, I still had hope. Listen, I would give anything to have her with me right now, but I can’t have her, so I hope to her alive again in the future. Hope sustains me. More than that, hope in Christ Jesus gives me joy and takes away my fear of the future. The same hope Jairus felt fell at Jesus’ feet begging him to come heal his daughter. The same hope the woman felt when she reached out for the hem of Jesus’ cloak because she believed simply touching him would heal here. The same hope that is available to you this morning, tomorrow morning, the morning after than, and on and on into eternity. We have hope in Christ Jesus.

Paul prayed this for the Christians of Ephesus and it applied to us all,

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

m ; ;

We continue in this season of uncertainty. It would be easy to collapse into at least a temporary state of despair. For some us, we face economic hardship. Others face the reality of limited resources. Others face boredom and stir craziness. And all of us face the ever expanding presence of COVID-19 that is killing people every day. During this time, let us turn to Christ in hope. Let us take advantage of the opportunity to pray and reflect like never before. Let us find confidence in his sustaining present and the richness of serving him faithfully. Let us endure with joyous patience and the attitude of humble surrender. We will get through the immediate days ahead. We will do in enjoying the presence of him who give us hope; the LORD Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray

f Or a spirit

n ; ; ;

o ; ;

p See

q ver 7; See

r ver 11

s

The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.