A Contrast In Twelves Series

A Contrast in Twelves

(Mark 5: 21-43)

1. There are quite a few number jokes out there.

• What did the zero say to the 8? Nice belt!

• Why is the number six so scared? Because seven eight nine!

• What has 6 wheels and flies? A garbage truck.

• 6 out of 5 people have difficulty with fractions.

• There are three types of people in the world, those who can count and those who can't.

2.Today’s text is about two twelves: a twelve-year old girl who dies, and a woman who had been ill for twelve years.

3. The Gospel writers were not usually concerned about presenting Jesus’ teachings or miracles in sequence. The text before us could have been broken up into two separate miracles, since they were. Nonetheless….for a reason….

Main Idea: God has an agenda for believers to grow in their trust of him.

I. Two Miraculous Events Are Intertwined to Teach Us About How Faith BUILDS

A. Jairus trusted Jesus to HEAL but needed greater faith (21-24)

1. Back to Galilee where Jesus’ ministry was POPULAR

2. Jairus (Yair) was the synagogue ORGANIZER

3. He believed Jesus could PREVENT her death

B. A sick woman was healed by merely TOUCHING Jesus’ garment (25-24)

Numbers 15:37-40 (tzitzit)

37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.

1. This woman had been afflicted twelve years

2. The Jews referred to the tasskels of the robe as its wings

Malachi 4:2a, “But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings…” (NKJV)

3. The Jews were not concerned about ritual cleanness most days

4. By seeking the hem of his robe, she was confessing her conviction that Jesus was the Messiah

5. Why did Jesus not know what happened exactly?

6. Was the woman healed, saved, or both?

C. Now Jairus was prepared to believe Jesus for a GREATER miracle

1. The situation changed, the girl had died

2. Jairus was ready to give up: the miracle he wanted had been displaced

3. Jesus committed to remedying even this situation and urged faith

4. He took the inner three with him, Peter, James, and John

5. They passed through the mourners

According to the Mishnah, even a poor man had to have at least two flute players and at least one woman wailer when his wife died.

6. Jesus got a laugh when he said the girl was sleeping; no compassion

7. He gave the command in Aramaic and she arose

8. The 12 year old girl got up and walked

9. Jesus urged them not to broadcast this because the Jews believed the real Messiah would not toot his own horn

God has an agenda for believers to grow in their trust of him.

II. What We Can Learn from these INCIDENTS

A. Faith is fluid — it can grow or DECLINE

1. Peter trusted the Lord to walk on the water, for a few moments…

2. Faith is a muscle of sorts; the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets

3. A muscle needs protein, not junk food; you need the Word and solid material to read and study that will stretch you, not only cute illustrations…

4. You develop muscles by stressing or pushing yourself

5. Jairus able to trust Jesus to resurrect the dead after seeing woman healed…

B. Sometimes what seems like DISPLACEMENT is actually God’s providence

1. Jairus probably felt that his daughter died because Jesus was busy

2. Mary and Martha, “Lord, if you had been here, Lazarus would not…”

3. Many dating relationship breakups may amount to dodging a bullet

4. Losing a job may prove a blessing in disguise

5. God’s orchestration of history and of our lives may seem haphazard, but there is divine method to the seeming madness

6. Woman suffered 12 years too long, girl lived only 12 years, too short

C. These miracles are singled out because they were not and are not COMMON

1. These signs pointed to Jesus as Messiah

2. They also are a sample to let us know God is compassionate, but has reasons we do not always understand for our sicknesses and weaknesses.

D. The miracles are not about the miracles, but SIGNS that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God