Sermon Tone Analysis

Bible Verse

Context

As we celebrate Easter today, we are particularly drawn to the resurrection of Jesus.

But today would not have been possible if events went the other way.

I would like to present another dimension to this day.

To demonstrate the boundless loves of Jesus

This story presents us with significant insights into who Jesus is

There are many questions this text presents to us but for today's teaching, there are two I like to investigate

What led to the death of Jarius's daughter and what was the significance of her death?

What did Jesus mean by the command “…no one should know it…” (Mark 5:43) and what was the significance of this command?

The Emergency

When an ambulance is called out to an emergency, it will race to that emergency without stopping.

It will ignore any imminent danger or cry for help on its way to the emergency.

It will weave its way through traffic, ignoring all traffic signs and rules.

It will put on its blue light to indicate it is on an emergency call.

Now imagine your child is sick and just hanging on to life.

You ring the ambulance service on time and you expect them to get to you within minutes of your call.

But you wait an hour and they had not arrived.

While waiting, your child calls out to you asking you; ‘mummy, am I going to die?’.

You take the time to comfort the child and reassure the child that all will be well and the ambulance is coming.

However, as you wait, the child’s life slowly fades away.

You do all you can e.g.

CPR etc, to keep the child alive.

An hour later, the ambulance arrives and they meet the lifeless body of a child.

They tell you sorry as they tried to get here on time.

You later realize that the ambulance you called, but for a moment, stopped to treat an old man who was having an epileptic seizure and dying from it.

Fortunately, the man recovered, but your child is now dead.

You begin to rationalize.

The old man just had a few days or months to live and my child had many years ahead.

Why didn’t the ambulance leave this man to die and save my child?

You go into a tirade and begin to curse, abuse, and sue the ambulance service.

You stop paying your tax.

And demand damages.

This is the challenge this text presents to us.

Jesus is called on time to meet and heal a little child.

He sets out on time, He is on his way on time, and the blue lights are on.

He, for a while, ignores the traffic but then there is a delay.

Another emergency has just happened and He stops to attend to that emergency.

In the midst of all this, comes death, and there is ridicule, abuse, weeping, wailing, disputation, dissuasion

Jesus, if only you had come early, my daughter would not have died.

Now see!

I trusted you.

I came to you.

I begged you.

I worshipped you (Matthew 9:18), yet you disappointed me.

Now please leave me alone so I can bury my daughter in peace.

You are fake, a liar, a deceiver.

Truly speaking, you like sinners above holy and righteous people.

I have kept all the rules of God and yet you treat me this way.

Now leave!

Until now Jesus had not raised the dead so no one thought it would be possible, let alone being done!

So what is the text telling us today and what can we learn from this text?

DELAY IS NOT DENIAL

Why did the girl die?

Because of the delay caused by the healing of the woman with the issue of blood

Sandwiched between this text is the story of the woman with the issue of blood.

As Jesus makes His way to Jarius's house, He is delayed by an act of faith.

He stops and demands to know who touched Him.

Jesus asked the disciples, who touched me, and the disciples were baffled.

There were thousands there.

But there are touches and there is a touch!

When Jesus is touched, He will pay attention to that which touched Him.

When He finds this woman, He has a conversation with her and He blesses her.

But this stopping causes a delay.

The disciples were quite right to try and rush Jesus along and not bother about who or what touched Him.

Jesus’ conversation with the sick woman meant that he was delayed in reaching Jairus’s house, and news came that his daughter had died

However, Jesus being Jesus is interested in every act of faith!

Jesus was dealing with a faith situation to increase another faith situation

Jesus was dealing with the faith of the woman in order to increase the faith of Jarius because the impossible was about to happen.

THE IMPOSSIBLE IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFE! X 3

What seems like a delay in our lives is only building up our faith

There are tiny faith instances where Jesus has come through for us that builds up to the bigger faith instance

SO IT MIGHT SEEM LIKE A DELAY BUT IT NOT A DENIAL!

ONLY YOU KNOW

If your faith is not strong enough, just say “ONLY YOU KNOW” (Mark 5:35–36)

Jairus could already believe the difficult; could he now believe the impossible?

That is what Jesus asked him to do, despite all the worldly wisdom of the hired mourners who filled the house.

Their scornful laughter shows the absurdity of the view that the girl was only unconscious because they knew death well

Jarius must have been indignant at Jesus for the delay that could have been avoided.

But witnessing the healing of the woman, he could not dismiss Jesus that easily.

So he keeps quiet!

As humans, we have the proclivity to lean towards the side of doubt.

We want to err on the side of caution but we restrict ourselves from voicing or uttering our doubt in case we disappoint or become disappointed

Did Jarius believe, doubt or remained on the fence?

When you see a situation that baffles you, bewilders you, or confounds you, you can only sit on the fence of belief.

You want to believe God but you are faced with the reality on the ground (Ezekiel 37:1–3)

When Ezekiel saw the bones in the valley; when he had done an assessment of those bones; when God put him in a difficult situation of asserting the providence and omnipotence of God; he did not answer YES or NO but ONLY YOU KNOW!

Jarius did not and could not give an answer to that difficult situation.

So Jesus eased his doubt by saying “Do not be afraid; only believe”

So when we are faced with a difficult situation, just say ONLY YOU KNOW

When the going and the doing seem impossible, just say ONLY YOU KNOW

When you have done everything, just say ONLY YOU KNOW

When you feel in doubt just say ONLY YOU KNOW

RELIANCE ON GOD'S FINAL WORD

Faith does not come by what you do outwardly to please others or fulfil a tick box of righteous deeds but by a total and complete belief and RELIANCE ON GOD'S FINAL WORD

This text tells us that Jarius was a leader of the synagogue

Jarius was the archetype Jew, righteous, and law-abiding.

To be this type of Jew, you would have to follow strictly the Jewish law as set out in Leviticus.

One of those laws is called the ceremonial law which governs the state of cleanness.

At this point, I want to thank the women who intelligently elucidated this point in the women’s program.