Faith in Need
08/03/08 AM
Text – Mark 5:21-42
Our lesson today deals with two of the very best examples of faith to be found in all the scriptures. We will meet two very different people who have two things in common, both are suffering tragedy, in deep need of help and both look to Jesus to meet their need. Tragedy brings a great dose of reality into our lives. No family is immune to emergencies. We prefer that there be no surprises in life. We love it when the day is bright, beautiful and sunny. But please, no earthquakes. It is not uncommon for people to turn to Jesus when tragedy comes into their lives, what this passage shows it the Jesus in ready and available to meet our needs.
In the gospel of Mark, chapter five, we encounter two stories of faith in need.
I. THE PEOPLE IN OUR STORY (5:22-27)
There are two people we want to get to know in this passage.
A. Jairus the synagogue official
1.The synagogue official held a position of honor, responsibility and power in Israel during the time of Jesus. The ruler of the synagogue was a respected Jewish layman with responsibility for the physical upkeep of the synagogue and the worship services. He was most likely wealthy and a man of influence in the community.
2.This Jewish man came to Jesus out of desperation for his twelve-year-old daughter who was at the point of death. (v. 42)
3.The man was faced with a crisis in his home. It was out of his hands. Not all of his earthly possessions could change his daughter’s health. She lay dying when he left the house to look for his only hope for her.
4.Aware of Jesus’ miraculous powers, Jairus approached Jesus with perhaps the greatest need he had ever faced. He knew that Jesus could meet his need. He was sure that if Jesus would lay hands on his daughter, she would be healed. His faith was absolute.
Almost as soon as we meet Jairus in the crowd following Jesus we are introduced to a nameless woman.
B. An anonymous woman
1.She "had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse" (v. 26). Her illness has lasted the lifetime of Jairus’ daughter.
2.The woman had an incurable hemorrhage that has wasted away her body over the years. Her condition had steadily grown worse.
3.Moreover, according to the Jewish law she was ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15:25–27). She was an outcast. Anyone who came in contact with here was considered "unclean." We see her slipping silently through the crowds trying to get to Jesus.
Both of these individuals need the urgent attention of Jesus.
II. THE PLEA OF FAITH (5:22-24, 27-29)
A. Jairus makes his verbal plea. 5:22-24
Observe the confidence of Jairus. It is the language of assurance. We don’t know when he first encountered Jesus. Perhaps it was in his synagogue. Not all of the religious leaders were hostile toward Jesus. Here is a man of faith coming to Jesus and humbling himself before Him and making his plea for help.
B. The woman’s plea is silent. 5:27-29
This unknown woman interrupted Jesus. Not intentionally, however. She tried her best to keep anonymous. The last thing she wanted to do was attract attention. She had heard about Jesus so she "came up in the crowd behind Him, and touched His cloak" (v. 27).
The Gospel writer lets us listen in on her faith (v. 28). She kept telling herself that if she could "just touch His garments," she would be healed and then she could slip away unobserved. No one would ever know! So she crept up in the crowd and touched his garment.
III. THE POWER OF FAITH (5:29-42)
A. The interruption by the woman
1.Life is full of interruptions. There are always people with needs who reach out and touch someone like Jesus. This woman slipped up behind Him because He was her last hope, Mark writes, (vv. 24-31.)
2.Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” It is almost comical. The question was absurd to the disciples of Jesus. (v. 31). A huge number of people gathered about Him and pressed together.
3.She had tried her best to keep her secret. But Jesus distinguished the touch of faith from the touch of the crowd, (vv. 32-33).
4.The question was asked, not to obtain information, for Jesus had healed her, and must have known to whom His power had gone; but he did it that the woman might herself make a confession of the whole matter, so that the power of her faith and the greatness of the miracle might be manifested to the praise of God.
5.Jesus kept looking into the crowd. She knew from experience what had happened to her body. It was not the touch of His clothing but her faith in Him that healed her. Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction" (v. 34). Jesus rewarded her faith.
B. The interruption of Jairus
1.With Jairus it was a different story. He had made his urgent plea to Jesus to come at once and Jesus "went off with Him" (v. 24).
2.However, during the interruption of the woman even worse news arrived by messengers from his home. (v. 35).
3.They reasoned it was all over; she was dead. Don’t worry Him any longer. They concluded that her death ended all hope. Why trouble Him with your tragedy?
4.How would you have responded to such a message? I can hear the babble in our day saying, "I was here first! Why didn’t He come on? Now it is too late. This outcast has stepped in and now my daughter is dead. I was at the head of the line. She pushed her way in and now she has stolen precious time."
5.However Jesus overheard the conversation and said, "Do not be afraid any longer; only believe." Paraphrase it this way: "You had a certain amount of faith when you came to Me, and your faith was helped when you saw what I did for that woman. Don’t quit! Keep on believing!"
6.When you feel hopeless and afraid, when others claim that “nothing can be done,” remember that Jesus is the source of all hope and promise. You may have to disregard the unbelief of others and hold firmly to Jesus.
7.Again, we hear faith talking. Jesus encourages the man’s faith. It is easy to trust when things are going great but when things are bad is when we need to show our faith the most. We’ve all been there when the circumstances and feelings of crisis are overwhelming.
8.What do you do when God seems to delay His coming? That is when the intimate love relationship with God is needed. When the earthquakes of life shake the ground of our faith, if we are walking with Him we lean upon His breast and draw our strength from Him knowing that He is the sovereign Master of the circumstance.
9.Jairus walked by the side of Jesus in a faith that may have been trembling, imperfect and full of questions. Do you wonder what was going on in the mind of Jairus? "Keep on believing . . . be not afraid . . . you saw what Jesus did to the woman who believed a few minutes ago. If He can do that for her He can do the same thing for my little daughter. ’Don’t be afraid any longer, only keep on believing,’ Jesus said. I saw God do it a while ago, and I shall see Him do it again! . . . Don’t be afraid; only believe. Trust Jesus. Believe on Him."
10.As they arrived they could see the "commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing" (v. 38). The hired professional mourners had already arrived at the home of Jairus and they could hear the monotonous wail at a high level of hysteria a block away. Jesus entered in the home and said to the assembled group, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep" (v. 39). The crowd laughed at Him. Note imperfect tense. They kept it up. They kept on laughing at Him.
11.Jesus "put them all out" of the house, and took the child’s father and mother and His disciples and entered the room where the child lay. Jesus took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha kum!" "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" (vv. 40–41).
12.Jesus did no incantations and spoke no magic words. He simply went to the girl’s bedside and took her by the hand. The fact that Jesus touched the girl’s hand would have amazed the proper synagogue leader and the disciples. Touching a dead body meant to become unclean.
13.But Jesus had already been touched by a woman with an incurable issue of blood and had healed her. Touching the dead girl confirmed once again that to Jesus, compassion was more important than the letter of the law.
14.Jesus took the girl’s hand in his, issued a command, and the dead child awoke as if from sleep, immediately standing up and walking around.
15.Just as the healings Jesus performed were always complete, so the rising of this young girl from the dead was complete. She didn’t come back to life in the sick state in which she left; she came back well, whole, and able to walk around.
16.At this, the three disciples and the girl’s parents were completely astonished. The Greek words mean that they were out of their minds with amazement. One day all those who scoff at Christ’s claims will be astonished at him.
LESSONS FOR THE FAITHFUL
Jesus gave Himself to a world in need.
Jesus gave Himself to both Jairus and that one unknown woman in the crowd. We are quick to attach labels onto people according to their relative importance to us. However, to Jesus both were simply a human soul in need. He loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love. And He has given His life so that anyone who believes on Him might be saved. All it takes is obedient faith.
Jesus is always coming our way and saying, "Fear not, only believe."
We have a choice. We can listen to the unbeliever in us as it is influenced by other unbelievers, or we can let faith do the talking. It is a choice we make daily. Do I choose to focus my faith in Jesus Christ or listen to the negative, defeating unbelieving noise of a faithless wailing crowd? Focus your faith on Christ. Don’t get distracted by the religious fads. Keep your attention on Jesus Christ.
Please don’t wait until a time of crisis to turn to God.
Decide today to establish a mature intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ. It is on a day like today that we decide to follow Jesus into a more intimate fellowship with Him. It may be that you need to believe on Jesus as your personal Savior. Confess to Him your need of His saving grace and believe on Him as the one who died for your sin and rose from the dead. It may be that you already know Christ as your personal Savior and you need to grow in your relationship with Him.
