When God Doesn't Move

You can be making your way to the Gospel of Mark chapter 5. We are going to be looking at verses 21-43. You can find it in the New Testament. Open your Bible about 2/3rds of the way through and you will be in the ballpark. You’ll find Mark sandwiched between the books of Matthew and Luke. There are 4 Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Gospel of Matthew is written to the Jews telling them that Jesus is the Messiah King who fulfills the OT prophecies. Luke is written to the Greeks telling them that Jesus is the perfect Son of Man who came to save and minister to all people. John is written to everyone saying that Jesus is the unique God-Man. Both Fully God and Fully Man in whom we must believe to receive eternal life.

The book from which our text comes from today, Mark, is written to the Romans and it looks to present Jesus as the suffering Servant who actively ministers on our behalf and gives His life as a ransom for many. Mark is by far the shortest of the 4 Gospels. It is a fast paced, hard hitting, rapid fire book that looks to prove that Jesus is the Suffering Servant who served, suffered, died, and rose again.

So if you have found your place in Mark Chapter 5 I would like to ask you to stand in honor of the reading of the Word of the Lord this morning. Mark chapter 5 we are going to be reading verses 21-25.

Mark 5:21-25

21 When Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the sea. 22 One of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and begged him earnestly, “My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she can get well and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him.

And all God’s people said, “Amen” and you may be seated.

Intro:

I’d like to label the sermon today “When God Doesn’t Move.” Because there are times when God doesn’t move… at least not when we want Him to. Not on our schedule. Not on our time-frame. Not when we want Him to get things done. There is nothing more frustrating, gut-wrenching, faith-shaking to us when God doesn’t move. When God doesn’t move when we want Him to.. It Hurts. It Stings. It can cause us to doubt. It can cause us to wonder and question if God even cares. And Church let me be honest we will have serious problems in continuing our walk with Christ, in maturing as a Christ-follower, and being able to have joy in the midst of trials.... until we learn how to trust God… when He doesn’t move.

So how do we normally respond when God doesn’t move?… How do you typically respond when God doesn’t move?

Is there fear? Is there doubt? Is there worry? Is there a bitterness that begins to brew because we think that God doesn’t love us or no longer cares about us? Or perhaps we develop this mindset where we say, “I’m done with God. Clearly, He’s not interested in me so I’m no longer interested in HIm.”

These feelings, emotions, and thought processes are real, but they’re destructive to our relationship with God. So how do we overcome them? What can we understand about God that’ll help strengthen our faith in Him, when is seems like He’s not moving?

Today we are looking at a passage that I trust will help answer these questions. Today we are looking at a passage in Mark where Jesus, the suffering servant, reaches out to the incurables. Reaches out to those who have pretty much lost all hope and are hanging on by a thread. It feels as if they are in the final seconds of the game, and all the energy they have left is to throw one final hail Mary, or Hail Jesus in this case.

And what we find, what we can take hold of today is that

Main Idea: Jesus accepts our imperfect faith when our faith is in Him!

Because what we will see throughout our text is that it is not so much about the strength of our faith… as it is about the object of our faith.

Mark in chapter 5 presents 3 cases of social outcasts, incurables if you will, and with the time we have today we are going to be looking at the final two that Mark talks about. So let’s jump into our text.

We just read verses 21-25. Jesus is teaching. Jesus is ministering. Jesus is proclaiming that the kingdom of God is at hand. You can look back at the first chapter of Mark, which again is a fast paced book, and we see this is the first thing that Jesus talks about. and he’s talking about and preaching about the Good News! The good news of what the entire Bible is about is that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Let me put that another way: Jesus Christ came to save people like you and like me. Jesus is saying Repent, turn from pursuing your own agenda, because your own agenda leads to despair. It leads to promises that don’t measure up. It leads to exhaustion , because you’ll never be able to stop performing, you’ll never be able to stop striving. Striving for peace, striving for meaning, striving for value. And what you’ve been looking for your entire life, you don’t know it, but it’s here right in front of you now! And all you have to do is rest in me. Rest in what I’ve done for you on your behalf.

See this is the essential difference between Christianity and every other religion. Every other religion, as Tim Keller rightly points out, is Good advice. Do this. Don’t do that. Go here. Go there. Follow these rules. Every other religion has a workout regiment has a spiritual Diet plan of what we need to do to be spiritually healthy enough, spiritually good enough to earn our way to heaven. But the problem with this is we are always prone to lapse. Prone to miss a spiritual workout, prone to cheat on the spiritual diet plan. And these religions of Good Advice put the burden the responsibility on their followers… and its exhausting, because one can never measure up.

Christianity as Jesus declares is Good News! It’s about something that has been done on our behalf. This word had currency when Mark used it, but it wasn’t religious currency. It meant history-making, life-shaping news, as opposed to just daily news. For example, there is an ancient Roman inscription from about the same time as Jesus and Mark. It starts: “The beginning of the gospel of Caesar Augustus.” It’s the story of the birth and coronation of the Roman emperor. A gospel was news of some event that changed things in a meaningful way. It could be a new king to the throne, or it could be a victory. When Greece was invaded by Persia and the Greeks won the great battles of Marathon and Solnus, they sent heralds (or evangelists) who proclaimed the good news to the cities: “We have fought for you, we have won, and now you’re no longer slaves; you’re free.” A gospel is an announcement of something that has happened in history, something that’s been done for you that changes your status forever. Christianity is essentially news of, not what we have to do for God, but what God has done for us that changes our status forever.

So this is what Jesus was preaching. He was healing and ministering to the people and it drew a crowd. Some potential devout followers, some skeptics, and others who were simply looking for a show. Jesus is ministering. He is teaching. He is healing.... and the word is getting around that this guy can heal.

1. Jesus Hears,

So the Gospel writer Mark tells us that Jesus was beside the Sea of Galilee. He had just left from healing the demon possessed man. This is when he cast the demons into the herd of pigs. And the people begged him to leave. So he crosses over to the west side. Jesus was probably busy teaching when he is approached by a synagogue ruler named Jairus who is in desperate need of His help. Now this ruler was probably in charge, not of priestly tasks, but more so of the administrative ones: looking after the building, supervising the worship. Things of that nature.

And Jairus, a man of respect, of dignity, of standing in the community completely jettisons all sense of social decorum. Remember that there was as growing consensus that the scribes and pharisees didn’t like Jesus for the claims Jesus was making. There was a trend beginning of opposition from the religious establishment against Jesus. And Jairus being from that it’s not hard to imagine that he probably had a similar attitude. But when his baby girl is dying he bucks the trend and falls at the feet of Jesus begging Him to save his baby girl, which Luke tells us that it’s his only daughter. She is 12 years old but he calls her his little girl. Doesn’t matter how old she is. She will always be his little girl. That’s how parents are. they’ll do anything to save their child! Imagine this father’s situation. He’s at his wits end. He’s helpless, unable to help her. He hears stories about this miracle worker who claims to be God, by claiming to forgive sins and so his last resort is to run to Jesus and Beg him to save her.... Jairus doesn’t have perfect faith in Jesus, probably just a little bit of faith, just hoping that by some miracle this teacher lives up to His reputation,… so he takes his imperfect faith and makes this request to Jesus and what does jesus do? Jesus Hears Him.

Main Idea: Jesus accepts Jairus’ imperfect faith when Jairus’ faith is in Him!

We as well can bring our requests to Jesus and we can know that Jesus hears our requests when our faith is in Him… Because it’s not so much about the strength of our faith as it is the object of our faith.

2. Jesus Responds,

The request Jairus made was straight and to the point, and delivered in dependency and urgency and Jesus responds simply and immediately by going with him.

Let’s read what happens next: Picking up in verse 24.

24 So Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following and pressing against him. 25 Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years 26 had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse.

Jesus is heading out to see the sick little girl… when there is someone in the crowd. A woman who has been chronically ill for 12 years. Now we cant quite appreciate what’s going on without understanding the Hebrew laws on being ceremonial unclean. Leviticus and Numbers go into great detail of how one could and could not approach the temple. There were certain things that would make one unclean, unable to have access to the temple, and even unable to not participate in society. And this lady has been ceremonially unclean for 12 years. Some commentators suspect that was probably unmarried and childless, which would be two additional hindrances in this society.

It’s interesting that not only was she suffering from her illness… she also suffered from the cures. Even when qe are sick and destitute the things that are suppose to heal us don’t always do that do they? they can sometimes make whatever we have worse. This was her condition. She’s exhausted every possible resource to get well. She is an outcast of society… but there is one thing that gives her a little bit of hope.

27 Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing.28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.” 29 Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But he was looking around to see who had done this. 33 The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

This woman who has been has been sick for 12 years, ceremonially unclean, unable to have access to the temple, and shunned in society makes a desperate move… Her imperfect faith mixed with some superstition thinks to herself if ic an just touch the robe of Jesus then ill be healed. See this wasn’t a perfect faith she had. it was just a little bit of faith mixed with some bad theology… but she thought if i can just touch His robe then I’ll be healed.

What we see here it is not so much the strength of her faith so much as it is the object of her faith that gives her the healing that she needs. She reaches out. Touches jesus. She knows that she is healed and Jesus feeling healing energy drained from Him looks around and asks who touched Him.

The disciples not understanding whats happening think its an odd question, but Jesus knowing what happens stop and asks the question. Now why did Jesus do this? He does this so that superstition doesn't get the credit. Instead He wants this woman to know that it was God that it was Him who healed her.

So she comes forward, which must have been extremely terrifying for her since she was ceremonially unclean. and Jesus says, “34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”

Jesus calls her Daughter. The same word of endearment that Jairus used when begging Jesus to save his daughter. But what we see is that Jesus is never too busy to stop and help someone who is ready to put their faith in Him. Never too busy to stop and welcome someone into His family as a son or a daughter. He says your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed. And this word saved has both physical healing and salvation in mind. Now that she has physical healing and spiritual healing Jesus says go in peace. This peace that Jesus is talking about is the idea of being at peace of being whole and complete that comes from being in a right relationship with God. She no longer has to perform to earn her standing to her way to heaven, but now she can rest in the good news of what Jesus has done for her.

Main Idea: Jesus accepted her imperfect superstitious faith when her faith is in Him!

3. Jesus Has the Authority and the Power.

Some of yall may be thinking I thought this sermon was titled “When God Doesn’t Move,” but Jesus seems to be moving along just fine. I mean Jesus is on His way to heal someone’s daughter and on the way He’s stopped and healed this woman who has had a chronic problem everything is going good.

But if we are Jairus we are thinking, “Jesus you need to hurry up!” This woman has a chronic problem, but I have an acute problem over here. He is probably beside himself. Sick to his stomach. Thinking that something bad could happen at any moment. What Jesus is doing is irrational. It doesn’t make sense. It’s malpractice. If both the lady and the daughter were in an emergency room they would make the lady wait and tend to the little girl. But Jesus is doing the exact opposite. You can imagine the disciples were trying to hurry Jesus up, but not be rude at the same time.

STORY: I don’t know if y’all are like me, but I imagine it’s like when I was kid trying to hurry my parents up after church. I’ve already sat in church for… forever.... I just want to leave… but mom and dad have to what? They got to stay and talk to every single person… and it literally feels like its gonna kill you when you’re a kid you know? Then you try and get their attention and they give you that look… and id pester my parents enough that i’d end up getting in trouble… but as a kid it’s a big deal… there is something else we have to get to.

And this situation is even more pressing! But Jesus will not be hurried. And as He is standing there the thing that Jairus feared mot happened:

35 While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the teacher anymore?”

We can imagine the emotions beginning to fill Jairus. Fear, sadness, sense of loss. His legs perhaps start to give way… Then maybe he starts feeling anger towards Jesus. Bitterness and resentment. Doubt, frustration. Feeling like Jesus is more concerned blessing others while he gets completely ignored. I imagine Jairus starting to say something and then Jesus turns to Jairus says “Don’t be Afraid. Only believe.”

God’s sense of timing will usually confound ours. God rarely operates according to our schedule. and so we can see Jesus looking over the head of Jairus to us and saying “Dont be afraid! Believe in me.”

And this verb believe that Jesus is using is an imperative. It expresses a command, an intention, or a request. So it’s not an expression of reality, but one of possibility and volition. So Jesus is looking at Jairus and is saying you have a choice you can either choose to believe or not believe.

Church what we see is that God will not be hurried. God is in control. God knows what He is doing and where He is taking us. Quite frankly God is in control and we are not. And if we try to impose our schedule our understanding on God we will struggle to feel loved by HIm. Because things wont happen when we want them to.

So what do we do when God doesn’t move? I think we do what Jairus does. We learn to trust, be patient, and to wait on God’s timing and put whatever imperfect faith we have in Him.

Main Idea: Jesus accepts our imperfect faith when our faith is in Him!

So how does the story end?

37 He did not let anyone accompany him except Peter, James, and John, James’s brother. 38 They came to the leader’s house, and he saw a commotion—people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 They laughed at him, but he put them all outside. He took the child’s father, mother, and those who were with him, and entered the place where the child was. 41 Then he took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum”[g] (which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, get up”). 42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk. (She was twelve years old.) At this they were utterly astounded.43 Then he gave them strict orders that no one should know about this and told them to give her something to eat.

Jesus gets rid of the skeptics and scoffers. Goes into the little girl and to the disbelief of everyone around raises the girl from the dead.

Of course they were astonished. Jairus came to Jesus for a fever, not for a resurrection. When we go to Jesus for help, we get far more than we had in mind. But when we go to Jesus for help, we also end up giving to him far more than we ever expected to give. Jairus came thinking he would have to trust Jesus just enough to get home, hoping that his daughter wouldn’t die before he arrived. But Jesus demanded far more from him: After Jairus’s daughter had died, because of the apparent malpractice, Jesus looked right into his eyes and said, “Trust in me.” Now, that was a test of faith far beyond anything Jairus had anticipated.

Or take the sick woman. She came to Jesus for healing. But she wanted to just touch and run. She wanted to say, “I’m better, now I’m out of here”—simple as that. Jesus wouldn’t have it.

Jesus forced her to go public. Remember that this was very threatening for her. She had been coping with a blood flow, which made her ceremonially unclean. Because of this, to touch a rabbi in public would break a great taboo. And therefore Jesus’s request that she identify herself was a very frightening thing. Why did Jesus insist that she go public? She needed it. You see, she had a somewhat superstitious understanding of Jesus’s power. She thought it was the touch that could heal her. She thought his power was manageable. And Jesus made her identify herself so he could say, “Oh, no, it was faith that healed you.”

CLOSE: Do you think it’s odd that Jesus says that the little girl is sleeping? From the other Gospel accounts of this story they make it clear that Jesus knows she’s dead. But we see the answer in what Jesus did next. Jesus sits down and is facing death. Facing the enemy of the human race and holds this child by the hand and does what any other parent would do on any given morning. He says, says sweetie, honey, darling… it’s time to get up.”

Jesus has the power and the authority, the ability and jurisdiction to simply conquer the thing we fear most, death, with a word. Why would we want to hurry someone who is this powerful who is this loving who is this caring? Why would we want to be impatient with a God like this?

We see a foreshadowing of the cross here. The only way to resurrection was through death. So when he healed the sick woman he lost power so that she could gain strength. On the cross he lost his life so that we could live forever.

Are you trying to hurry Jesus? Are you impatient with Him? Are you frustrated that He’s not doing what you want?Are you having trouble trusting God when He doesn’t seem to be moving? I would say let him take you by the hand and lead you. Let him do what he wants to do. God loves you more than you can fathom. He’s in control! He know’s what He is doing. All we have to do is what Jesus said, “Only Believe.”

To begin a new life following Christ just like Jairus Jesus gives us the choice to believe in Him. To Admit that we are living life as our own God, and that we are ready to turn from that. Believe Jesus is God’s Son the one who died on the cross to pay our sin debt so that we can be restored into a relationship with Him. and to ultimately confess Jesus as our lord and saviour.

The only question is: Will you believe?