Tell Me the Story: The Miracles
This is the fifth sermon in the series Tell Me the Story. We have been attempting to introduce you and remind you of who Jesus is and what roles He wants to play in our lives.
Today we look at a couple of miracles preformed by Jesus when He was on this earth. Through these stories we learn about His character and His compassion toward those that need Him.
There are two people in need. They are very different in age and in the nature of their needs but both find Jesus as a source of support and love. There is an old song that ask the question, “Does Jesus Care” and the answer in the chorus resounds with the positive response, “Oh yes He cares, I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief.”
I wonder how many people in this room have pondered that question this week. You may be here today but you are really wondering in Jesus cares about you and your need because you are living through a really rough time. Whatever you are experiencing I want you to know that Jesus does care. He is aware and stand ready to give you grace in your time of need.
Here are the stories:
“Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. 22 Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, 23 pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.”
24 Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. 25 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.
30 Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”
31 His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
32 But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”
35 While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
36 But Jesus overheard[d] them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”
37 Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. 39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”
40 The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. 41 Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” 42 And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. 43 Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.” Mark 5:21-43
Now lot be make some observations:
1. He is available
No sooner had the Lord’s feet touched dry ground then Jairus was there. A father in desperately in need.
“Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, 23 pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.” Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him” Mark 5:22-24
Jairus: “and Jesus went with him.”
Within moments of his encounter with Jairus a woman who has been suffering for 12 years reaches for Jesus in the crowd. Jesus was available even for this woman.
A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Mark 5:25-27
Woman: “. . .she touched his robe.”
Listen to the words of Jesus that He spoke when He walked this earth:
“I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
“I am the Good Shepherd.”
“I am the Bread of Life.”
“I am the Light of the world.”
“I am the way, the truth and the life.”
“I am the true Vine.”
When he walked this earth Jesus was available for the blind, people with leprocy, people possessed by evil, people broken by divorce and adultery, He was available to feed five thousand in one day, He was available for a man named Zacheus who was sitting up in a tree and He was available for Nicodemus who came to Him at night. He was available to the disciples when they wanted to learn to pray and He sat them down and taught them like little children. “When you pray, say. . .”
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come” Luke 4:18-19
He is available for you today. He is in this room today because Jesus is everywhere.
2. He is dependable
There are times when we may be convinced that no one cares. There are times when we may come to realize that we are going to have to just go through the tough time instead of being delivered out of it. It is in those moments that Jesus Christ can become incredibly supportive. It is in our darkest hour that we walk the closest with our Lord. It is in our darkest hours when we are most like Him, to be honest. Jesus often said we were to pick up our crosses and follow Him. No one in their right mind would pick a cross out for themselves would they?
Both of these needs were 12 years old. Jesus meets both needs on the same day. One was an emergency and the other had suffered for 12 years. It is hard to understand the way Christ works but His timing is not our timing. Here you have a little girl that has enjoyed 12 years of growing up and discovering life and a loving family and yet now she is dying. At the same time you have a woman who has spent all of her money on doctors and yet for the same 12 year period she has suffered and has had no relief of her circumstances.
Both of these needs are met on the same day. You may be in a crisis that is very new or you may be walking in something that feels like it will never end. Either way we should express our faith today in Jesus who is dependable to see us through our time of trouble.
“34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” Mark 5:34
3. He is charitable
There is nothing but love in both of these stories. These episodes truly reveal the character and nature of Jesus Christ. They reveal who He wants to be in your life today.
“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.
While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.” But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.” Mark 5:35-36
Do you need Him to touch your circumstances? Do you need Him to come alongside of you and fix what is wrong in your life? The bible teaches over and over that when we walk in His ways He will walk with us wherever we go.
Jesus Christ is in love with every person in this room. He loved you before you ever knew about Him. He came to this earth to bring you life not so much on this earth but eternal life so that you and I may be with Him forever.
I have a feeling that there are people here today that may be thinking that Christ doesn’t care about you. You may think that He is looking the other way or that He is too busy to bother with you.
I want to let you in on something that we should all know but sometimes we forget. As long as we are on this earth, we are faced with bad news. This earth is a place of death. It is a place where disease can have its own way. Bad things do happen sometimes accidentally and sometimes at the hand of evil people who practice bad things. Our bodies were not made to last forever and so we do what we can while they are healthy and make the most out of our lives so that when they wear out we can stand before God someday and hear Him say, “Well done.”
Here’s the bottom line. No matter what you are walking through or no matter how much pressure you are feeling right now, Jesus stands ready to give you the grace you will need to endure the pain and embrace the suffering. He stands ready in some cases to actually bring healing into your life.
Like the woman who touched His robe you can touch Him as well. I would encourage you today, touch Him not just on His robe but touch Him on His shoulders where He carries our burdens. Touch Him on His head where He remembers our sorrows. Touch the heart of Jesus and remember He sits today at the right hand of the Father praying for you and me.
When we touch Christ with our problems and challenges I believe it awakens in Him a remembrance of His own time on this earth.
Are you wrestling with temptation? He was tempted
Are you struggling with sickness? I am sure He felt sickness in His human body.
Are you feeling persecuted? Jesus certainly can relate to that.
Are you full of grief? It was Jesus that stood outside Lazarus grave and wept.
You can touch Him today with whatever your need is:
You can touch Him with your guilt and receive pardon.
You can touch Him with your trouble and receive comfort
You can touch Him with your bondage and receive freedom
You can touch Him with your memories and receive healing
You can touch Him with your domestic troubles and receive understanding and even healing from the pounding you have given yourself and been given by the process.
John Bunyan lived in the 1600’s and his is a name you should be familiar with. He wrote one of the greatest classic Christian stories ever written entitled, Pilgrim’s Progress. What most people don’t know is what he endured to write it.
In 1658, Bunyan was indicted for preaching without a license. He continued, however, and did not suffer imprisonment till November 1660, when he was taken to the county gaol in Silver Street, Bedford. There he was confined at first for three months, but on his refusing to conform or to desist from preaching, his confinement was extended for a period of nearly 12 years (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666). It was during this time that he conceived of his allegorical novel: The Pilgrim’s Progress. He was released in January 1672, when Charles II issued the Declaration of Religious Indulgence.
In that month he became pastor of St. Paul’s Church. In March 1675, he was again imprisoned for preaching (because Charles II withdrew the Declaration of Religious Indulgence), this time in the Bedford town jail on the stone bridge over the Ouse. (The original warrant, discovered in 1887, is published in facsimile by Rush and Warwick, London.) In six months, he was free and, as a result of his popularity, he was not again arrested.
Let me quote from Bunyan today,
“The parting with my Wife and poor Children hath oft been to me in this place as the pulling the flesh from my bones; and that not only because I am somewhat too fond of these great mercies, but also because I should have often brought to my mind the many hardships, miseries, and wants that my poor family was like to meet with, should I be taken from them, especially my poor blind Child, who lay nearer my heart than all I had besides.
His reference to his "poor blind Child" is to Mary, the eldest of Bunyan’s six children. She became affectionately known as "Blind Mary" within the family. The first few years of his imprisonment, Mary brought him soup for supper every night, though the emotional support that her daily presence gave was worth so much more. Despite many hardships, Bunyan was able to deepen his relationship with God during his years in prison. Years later he was able to reflect positively on these difficult times, "In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God."
“I was at home in prison and I sat me down and wrote, for the joy did make me write.”
There is an eye that never sleeps
Beneath the wing of night;
There is an ear that never shuts
When sink the beams of light.
There is an arm that never tires
When human strength gives way;
There is a love that never fails
When earthly loves decay.
