This section of Mark’s gospel is filled with what many perceive to be impossible situations. We’ve seen how Jesus has overcome storms, demons, and now death! Each case seemed to be hopeless. The disciples thought they were going to die in the storm, no one was able to control the demon-possessed man, but Jesus was able to solve both cases with a simple command.
As we move through this next section of Mark’s gospel, we will discover that Jesus is more than enough for any and every situation that this life has to offer. There is no such thing as impossible with Jesus. There are no hopeless situations when it comes to our Lord and Savior. Whatever you or your loved one might be going through, your situation is not hopeless!
Read Mark 5:21-24; 35-42
Last week, we saw one crowd that couldn’t wait for Jesus to leave. This week, we find another crowd that couldn’t wait for Him to arrive. The first thing we can learn from this situation is…
God shows mercy to people of humility and sincere faith.
Jairus – A man of humility
It must have been difficult for Jairus to come to Jesus. He was a synagogue leader and synagogues were typically closed to Jesus because of His activities on the Sabbath and His opposition to the Pharisees. Such a man coming to Jesus proves that he had a humble heart.
Read Mark 5:22-23
The text tells us in v.22 that he fell at Jesus’ feet. Although Jairus was a man of authority, he acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus.
A lot of times we have our own ideas about what is good for us. We have selfish desires and ambitions, and we stubbornly insist on pursuing them in our own way, even though we have an advocate who knows a better way. God pleads with us all throughout scripture to stop undermining ourselves and to let Him lead us on a path of higher purpose. Until we surrender our will with His, we will be confidently strutting down a path of self-destruction.
Don’t be a Pharisee. Pharisees are hard on others and easy on themselves. A spiritual person, however, is hard on themselves and easy on others. When we think too highly of ourselves, we are creating a barrier that separates us from God. By assuming the worst in others and the best in ourselves, we’re actually blinding ourselves to our need for a savior. Too many times, we think that the good we occasionally do is enough, but the truth is, we can line up every good thing we’ve ever done in our entire life and a Holy God says that they’re “like filthy rags.”
Nothing we do will ever be good enough, we are broken; we need Jesus. Before we can be reconciled with Him, we need to take long, hard, and honest look at ourselves and admit that they only thing exceptional about us is our spiritual shortcomings.
Matthew 23:12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Not only was Jairus a man of humility, he was…
A man of sincere faith
The 7th chapter of Luke tells us about a centurion who believed that all Jesus had to do in order for his servant to be healed was to say the word from a distance and it would be done. Unlike the centurion, Jairus begged Jesus to come to his house. But Christ, although he applauds strong faith (like that of the centurion) doesn’t discourage or reject weak faith (like that of Jairus) as long as it is sincere.
Therefore, we must go to God with all of our troubles. This doesn’t mean that God will always change our circumstances to suit us, but more times than not He will change us to suit our circumstances. Faith doesn’t operate in the realm of human possibility because then there’s no glory for God. Faith doesn’t have to be complicated; it doesn’t require a seminary degree. A sincere faith begins where our power ends.
One of the most important things that we can pass on to others is a sincere faith. If we’re not passing on a sincere faith, often times we’re passing on a love for other things as opposed to a love for God without even realizing it. As we discussed last week, it is impossible to pass on something that we don’t have ourselves. So what makes our faith sincere? The best place to start is to look at the definitions for sincere and faith.
Sincere – to not pretend; Faith – a firm and confident belief
Do we really have a firm and confident belief in Jesus and His gospel, or are we just pretending that we have one? God wants us to be Christians all the time, not just on Sunday mornings when we’re surrounded by other Christians. God works on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights just as much as He does on Sunday mornings but somehow we’ve gotten to the point where Sunday night service and prayer meeting have almost become non-existent. Some churches don’t even have a Sunday evening service anymore. We claim to have sincere faith but we only make room for God on our calendars on Sunday mornings. But it’s not just about church attendance.
The world desperately needs Christians that are on fire for Jesus out in the community, it starts with a sincere faith. This place we’re in now is just a building. You and I, as Christians, are the real church. We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus among those that don’t know Him.
I want to share a quote with you from Francis Chan. I absolutely love Francis Chan. If you haven’t checked out any of his books I would strongly recommend that you do, he has some really good stuff. I find this quote to be humorous yet convicting at the same time.
“Christians are like manure: spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly.”
Corporate worship is good but we need to spread out and carry His message to the lost. Not only does God show mercy to people of humility and sincere faith, the second thing we can gain from this passage is that…
God is never too early; neither is He too late (Mark 5:35-36).
Nothing is beyond God’s control
The section we skipped over in this passage talks about a woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. As soon as Jesus healed and dismissed this woman, messengers came from Jairus’ home. They said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” They didn’t believe that even death is under Jesus’ control.
Nothing is too big for God to handle, and nothing is too small to escape His attention. It’s not so much that we don’t trust God, where we struggle is when our trust in Him requires risk. By human nature, we feel better when we are in control.
“Slow down! You missed the turn! Oh, that’s my favorite song, change it back!” Does this sound familiar? If so, chances are these complaints are coming from that very special someone in your life. A recent study by insurance.com reveals that husbands and wives irritate each other the most while driving. Why? Because we like to be in control.
When the problem is out of our hands, there’s a fear factor that takes over. We need to purposefully and prayerfully turn our need for control over to God. That takes faith, sincere faith.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct[a] your paths.
b. We have God’s assurance regardless of our situations
Notice Jesus’ words in verse 36: “Do not be afraid; only believe”. We shouldn’t let our fear of the unknown rise against our faith in God, who assures us that the future is in His hands. We need to remember that He works in His own, perfect timing.
God has a plan! He has a plan for you; He has a plan for me. What’s important for us to know is that there is certain timing for what the Lord does. His timing doesn’t usually line up with our timing.
Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
We should be thankful for God’s timing. Even though we may not understand it, we should be glad that He sometimes makes us wait before He accomplishes His will in our lives. There are reasons for the way God works in our lives and for what He does on our behalf.
So far we’ve learned that God shows mercy to people of humility and sincere faith; God is never too early – neither is He too late. The third and final thing we need to understand is this…
God sees differently than we do (Mark 5:37-40).
Are we able to see things from God’s point of view?
In those days, it was customary to hire professional mourners to express sorrow over the death of an individual. They would put on quite a show. They would actually rip their clothes apart, tear out their hair, and cry out with loud shrieks and howls.
“Why make this commotion and weep?” Jesus said, “The child is not dead, but sleeping.” Instantly the mood changed from grief to ridicule. Those same people who couldn’t wait for Jesus to get off the boat now considered Him to be foolish and ignorant. The crowd thought they knew better than Him. They had evidence they could see and to them, He was only speaking words. Besides, the mourners wouldn’t get paid if the girl weren’t really dead. However, as we learn in the next few verses, the words of Jesus proved to be much more powerful than the evidence of a lifeless corpse.
Jairus was challenged to see differently. Not even the disciples believed. Most of them, with all their learning- didn’t have sincere faith. Did you notice how Jesus only called three of them in to the house to act as witnesses? We know what happened next, the dead girl was brought back to life.
Sometimes our faith is controlled by what we see.
The core of our sinful nature is believing that we know better than God. Just like the people in our passage this morning, we can always find evidence to prove that we are right, even when we are wrong! Because it’s impossible to know the future we usually try and predict things to come based off our past experiences. We don’t always allow the possibility that God will change the course of our present circumstances.
Many times when we are stuck in an uncomfortable situation, we perceive it as a problem. But God looks at it as an opportunity to represent Him. Yes, some of these situations may be horrible and we often times wonder why God would allow such pain. It’s not easy being in a rough place in life. It’s not easy being stuck in poverty. It’s not easy being a single parent. It’s not easy being in a loveless marriage. It’s not easy serving God in these kinds of circumstances when we believe in a gospel that says God will rescue us and place us in a better situation. But, we also don’t ever stop to consider that those situations may be God’s purpose for us.
You can visit just about any Christian bookstore and find a lot of books that contain many wonderful stories of Christians who faced terrible things and came out of them still believing. There are many powerful testimonies of how God preserves our spirit when we remain in fellowship with Him. When I look at these stories I’m amazed at how God delivers. But what about all those others who were not delivered? What about those who were not rescued from the lion’s den? What about those who remained faithful, demonstrated those virtues to their dying breath, and were not rescued? God’s purpose for them was to remain in those circumstances and represent Him to their death. If you have any doubts about whether or not what I’m saying is true or if you think that this is something new, then why was John the only one of the original 12 disciples to die of old age? What about the thousands of believers, like Jim Elliott and his four friends, who die every year because of their faith?
We look at stories like these and wonder why God’s people are afflicted. Why does a gardener trim and prune their rosebushes, sometimes cutting away productive branches? Because it makes room for growth; to keep the bush productive for the greater good. In the same way, God’s hand never slips; He never makes a mistake. His every move is for the greater good.
Our purpose is to be witnesses of Jesus’ character and especially His love, regardless of our position in life. We are to demonstrate His love to the people we come into contact with everyday. It doesn’t matter if your boss is a jerk and treats you poorly; our responsibility is to be kind, compassionate, forgiving, and loving.
In everything that Jesus taught during His time on earth, He said to get our eyes off ourselves and look around at the needs of others. There are many people we pass by everyday that need a demonstration of God’s love. As Christians, regardless of our situation, we already have everything we need from our deep relationship with Jesus. That’s why, despite being dealt with some pretty devastating circumstances, Paul was able to rejoice in the ministry that God had given him.
Matthew 11:28: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
God will continue to look after our spiritual needs as long as we stay and rest in that fellowship with the Father. So this week, I want to challenge you to look around for opportunities to be kind, compassionate, patient, forgiving, and most of all loving. Be His witness today, especially in the darkest moments of today.
Conclusion
We are called to better things! God has the power to change anything that is outside His will, so He asks us to put our faith in Him, to believe His promises and to live in the confidence that He is in control of the future – because His Word is all mighty. Many will discourage you from doing so, but it is only the Lord’s voice we need to hear above all the noise of worldly hopelessness.
