Jesus Cares For The Hurting Series

GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION

JESUS CARES FOR THE HURTING

A. Mark 5:34- “Jesus said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from

your suffering.’”

ILLUSTRATION:

Driving through Texas, a New Yorker COLLIDED with a truck carrying a HORSE. A few weeks later he CONTACTED the truck driver’s INSURANCE and tried to collect damages for his INJURIES.

“How can you now claim to have all these injuries?” asked the insurance company’s lawyer. “According to the POLICE REPORT, at the time you said you were not HURT.”

“Look,” replied the New Yorker. “I was lying on the road in a lot of PAIN, and I heard someone say the HORSE had a broken leg. The next thing I know this Texas Highway Patrolman pulls out his gun and shoots the horse in the head. Then he turns to me and asks, ‘Are you okay?’”

B. How many of you have ever SUFFERED with PAIN? How many of you are SUFFERING with PAIN

this very moment?

1. The truth is, everyone experiences PAIN either PHYSICALLY, EMOTIONALLY, SPIRITUALLY,

or all the above.

a. There are DAYS when there seems to be more PAIN than RELIEF, more HARDSHIP than HELP,

and more SUFFERING than SUPPORT.

ILLUSTRATION:

My older brother Alvin (yes, the same brother who tried to leave me and our younger brother in the CEMETERY one night that I talked about last Sunday) used to share a bit of WISDOM with me: “Freddie, if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.” Then he would PUNCH me in the SHOULDER and tell me that he was

making me STRONGER. (RUB SHOULDER, “IT DIDN’T WORK!)

b. PAIN doesn’t WORK that way. PAIN has a tendency to EBB AWAY our STRENGTH. It slowly

eats away at our PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL and SPIRITUAL defenses until it breaks through.

2. During times of PAIN and SUFFERING, we sometimes wonder where is God in all of this. Does He

even CARE when we HURT?

a. Please understand that PAIN and SUFFERING were never PART of God’s PLAN. (The perfect

tranquility of the Garden of Eden is what God had planned for MANKIND.)

b. However, when Adam and Eve SINNED, it changed everything. SUFFERING, SORROW and

DEATH entered the WORLD.

3. God WARNED Adam and Eve it would happen if they DISOBEYED.

a. But even in the midst of their DISOBEDIENCE, “God introduced HOPE in the coming of His Son

Jesus”- Genesis 3:15.

b. Yes, we still LIVE in a FALLEN WORLD.

COMMENT:

Jesus reminds us of that truth when He said in John 16:33, just right before He went to the cross, “In this world you will have trouble.” We know that painfully well, don’t we? (PRAYER LIST)

But then Jesus reminds us that we are not ALONE in this world to deal with its PAIN and SUFFERING. He adds: “But take heart! I have overcome the World.”

MESSAGE:

COMMENT:

Throughout the Gospel of Mark the disciples had witnessed the compassion of Jesus, GOD’S SERVANT, caring for HURTING people. “He has CAST-OUT DEMONS, HEALED the SICK, CLEANSED a LEPER, ENABLED a CRIPPLED man to WALK, and RESTORED another

man’s SHRIVELED HAND.”

But now they are about to WITNESS something that they had never SEEN before as Jesus comes upon three more HURTING people.

I. A DESPERATE FATHER- Mark 5:21-24a

A. After casting out 6,000 demons from a man living among the TOMBS in the region of the Gerasenes, Jesus and his disciples cross the Sea of Galilee to the other side where, once again, they are met by

CROWD of people.

1. Among the crowd is a RULER of the Synagogue who, as soon as he sees Jesus, falls to His feet.

a. I believe the reason Mark reveals this man’s POSITION is because, although he is an

IMPORTANT man among the Jews, he HUMBLES himself before Jesus.

COMMENT:

A SYNAGOGUE RULER was an ELECTED position by the Jewish ELDERS. He often served with at least one other RULER, and his responsibilities were to oversee the MATTERS of

the SYNAGOGUE and officiate over WORSHIP conducted during the SABBATH.

b. “It was a SYNAGOGUE RULER who was OUTRAGED with Jesus when He healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath”- Luke 13:10ff.

2. The ruler’s name is Jairus, which means: “Jehovah Enlightens”.

a. This man is in CRISIS who desperately TURNS to the only One whom he believes can help.

b. On his knees he PLEADS with Jesus, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your

hands on her so that she will be healed and live!”- v. 23.

COMMENT:

“Jairus’ daughter was only 12-years-old”- v. 42. From Mark’s description we can tell that this is a Dad who deeply loves his little girl. Undoubtedly, he and his wife have tried everything to make their daughter well, but nothing has worked.