How Long Is Twelve Years?
That depends on what has happened during those 12 years. If in 2008 you welcomed a new baby girl into your hearts and home,
then those days you held her to your breast,
those days you listened to her first garbled words, those days you watched her take her first faltering steps, are but a fleeting moment in your treasure house of memories. You remember all those happy,
precious times:
The first day of school,
The months of missing teeth,
The days spend learning how to ride a two-wheeler.
The first night she spent away from home.
The day she told you she was going to marry you when she grew up, and you told her she meant she was going to marry somebody just like you, and she said, "NO", she meant you!
and you felt so proud and happy.
If that is how the past twelve years have gone, and your wee girl now stands on the threshold of womanhood,
then those 12 years have been like an evening past.
If, however...
in 2008 you discovered you had some dreaded disease. If those 12 years have meant tests and more tests, countless visits to countless doctors, eleven major operations. If those 12 years have meant the end of normal family life,
the end of work,
the end of shopping,
the end of travel.
If those 12 years have meant pain and suffering and fear and the threat of death at every turn. Then those 12 years have been like an eternity. How long Is 12 Years?
That depends a lot on what's been happening these past 12 years. In our Bible study this morning we encounter such a contrast. Twelve years of joy and happiness that galloped by like an Indian Summer, and twelve years of misery and pain that ground on forever
and ever.
You'll find the story in Mark 5 (Luke 8:40ff). I'm beginning to read at verse 21a.
I. THE CRY
1. Luke's Gospel says that the crowd welcomed Him. If you'll look back just a few verses, you'll discover that Jesus had just been kicked out of the country of the Gadereans
what we know today as the Golan Heights.
Jesus had just healed a demonic man and sent a huge herd of pigs headlong into the Sea of Galilee. And so it says in verse 17:
Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
I tell you friends,
if we push Jesus out of our lives there are a lot of people at the other side of the lake who are anxious to welcome him. Jesus has never been without a people. Even in the darkest days of Church history.
Jesus always had a people
and if we crowd Christ out of our church
or out of our country
He will find a people on the other side of the sea. I suggest that that is what has happened in this century. Did you know that right now the Church is mainly,
for the first time in many centuries
Non English speaking
and non white.
Somehow in Britain, the United States, Canada in our hustle to make another buck we have pushed Christ out of our countries and so now He walks in great power in Africa
and South America
and Korea.
2. Jesus comes where He is made welcome. Our text doesn't say but the town was likely Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea.
Jesus barely got his feet out of the boat when the crowds pressed in upon Him
And in that crowd was a desperate man
a man by the of Jairus. The Bible says he was a ruler of the Synagogue.
He was the man who led the services. He was responsible for the building
the Synagogue's maintenance and repair and since Judaism was the state religion at that time this was a very prestigious job. The social and religious life of the people centered around the Synagogue.
The Synagogue ruler was one of the top men in town
In most cases he was a wealthy man.
But friends, he does not come to Jesus because he's a big shot in town. He does not come to Jesus because he has a fat bank account; he does not come to Jesus because he has an interest in religious things.
Isn't it amazing
these things do not normally bring men to Jesus. Jairus did not come running to Jesus because he was wealthy.
He did not come because he was powerful.
He did not come because he was into religion. He came because he precious, wee girly was dying.
And I tell you friends, trouble has brought far more of us to the Master than success. It has always been that way.
It is not a coincidence that Newfoundland,
which usually has the highest unemployment rate in the nation also has the lowest divorce rate in the Nation and has the highest percentage of Evangelical Christians in Canada.
And Alberta
which has a low rate of unemployment
and a very high per capita income
also has the highest rate of divorce
and the highest suicide rate
and one of the lowest church attendance records in the Nation.
Material success does not normally bring men to Jesus. Trouble brings people to Jesus. Where is the church growing the most in the world today? In those areas where money is scarce, and the government is oppressive.
And in what periods of Church history did the church thrive?
When money was scarce, and the government was oppressive?
Trouble brings people to Jesus.
And look at your own situation. Is it not some trouble in the family
or trouble in business
that drives you to your knees. Of course, it is. Trouble brings people to Jesus.
4. So trouble brought Jairus to Jesus. His little girl was dying. The happy sunshine days were over. The dream was turning into a nightmare. What every parent fears from time to time was happening to Mr. and Mrs. Jairus. Their precious child was dying.
And Luke's account makes it clear that it was their only child.
All those happy plans were shattered. Jairus would never walk down an isle and give has girl away in marriage.
He would never hold a grandchild in his arms.
His only child was dying.
Of course, I doubt if it would have made much difference if they had had ten kids. We love each one so dearly!
5. So his little girl was dying. And Jairus left his wife and sweet daughter to find Jesus. The Bible says that this high profile businessman fell at Jesus' feet and pleaded with him to come to his home.
Now Jesus could have spoken the word
and the little girl would have been instantly healed. He did that once before, you know, when He healed the Centurion’s servant.
But Jairus' faith was such that he felt Jesus had to be there in person
so, Jesus responded to this different kind of faith.
God is not half as inflexible as we are. I am continually amazed at the men and methods that God blesses and uses.
Jesus is not harsh or rigid.
Some of his followers are but Jesus seems to be very flexible in terms of his methods. Sometimes he spoke the Word
sometimes he went to the house
Sometimes he spit in a man's eye and made a mud pie. Sometimes he just told them to go and show themselves to the priest.
Friends let's never get hung up on a certain method. Let us be sensitive to the fresh winds of the Spirit. Let us make sure that we are really in tune with what God is doing in our culture
in our generation. Let us also make sure that we are responding to the cries of our generation. That we not stubbornly hang on to some worn out method of a past generation.
II. THE CRUSH.
1. READ verses 24b - 34.
2. Now I must tell you in all honesty that if I was Jairus I would have gotten Jesus a police escort. I would have cleared those streets,
I would have gotten rid of that pesky crowd. My little girl is dying. Clear the road. My daughter is dying. I don't care if you've been sick for 12 years - be sick another day. Your problem can wait. My baby is dying.
3. But Jesus stops to help another person.
It's tough to watch as Jesus helps another people and leaves you hanging.
Let me ask you a rather blunt question:
How do you feel when people get help from the Lord, and you were in line first? I mean, they're only been saved a few weeks
and you've been in the way for 40 years!
I mean, they hardly know their Bibles and you're been to Bible School. How come God answers their prayers and leaves you hanging?
Back in 1971 Jamie Buckingham, that well-known Baptist pastor and writer went to the Boston Children's Hospital to pray for Catherine Marshall's gravely ill baby granddaughter. He anointed the little one with oil and went on his way.
While in the Hospital he remembered that a friend of a friend had a very sick little dying of cystic fibrosis there as well. So, Jamie made his way to the room. He says, "I gently knocked on the rood. There was no answer, but I could hear activity beyond the door. I eased the door open and realized why no one had heard me. An emergency was taking place. The beautiful little red-haired child was lying on the bed, wired and tubed to all kinds of machines. Two nurses were working feverishly over her. Her mother was standing at the foot of the bed, weeping". The little one had stopped breathing.
Reverent Buckingham introduced himself and then asked if he could pray for the little girl. He prayed a simple prayer: Lord, heal this child in Jesus' name. then he withdrew himself and was gone. A week later upon his return to Florida he got the news: The little girl dying with cystic fibrosis had just been released, allowed to go home. And the child was fine. Healed completely. Yet... the Marshall baby died a few days later.
God's ways are very strange at times, aren't they?
3. In verse 24 it says
A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
If you piece the story together from the other Gospels you realize that the crowds were so great that they almost crushed Jesus. We are very spoiled here in Canada. We have a luxury most people on this planet don't. SPACE.
Try taking a walk around Oxford Circus in London
or Times Square in New York
or try boarding a Subway in Tokyo at rush hour if you want to understand verse 24. It was a river of people
wall to wall
flowing down a narrow street in Capernaum. No physical distancing! And in that crush of people was a lady who had live in hell for the past 12 years.
If the past 12 years had been sunshine
and song in the house of Jairus
these past 12 years had been darkness and dirge for this lady.
She had some undisclosed uterine disease that caused constant bleeding. Not only must she put up with the horrible physical inconvenience of such a disease,
but she must cope with incredible social morays in her culture.
Her culture said that in her condition it was a taboo for her to touch anyone. No physical contact with anyone. She was cut off for everyone. She was ostracized by her family.
Divorced by her husband
Cut off from her friends.
She was totally segregated from society.
And this had gone on for 12 years.
The Talmud recorded 11 possible cures for this aliment and evidently, she had tried them all and was getting worse.
4. What would you do in her shoes if you heard that the Great Physician were coming to town?
I think I would have disguise myself
Risked the chance of getting a fine
in the hopes of getting to the Master. Indeed, Jesus was this lady's last hope.
So in spite of possible fines or imprisonment for breaking the law, she joined the crowd from behind. Her plan was simple:
she would push her way through the herd, come in from Jesus' back, pull the tassel on his robe, and then slink back with her healing.
It was a simple plan and it worked. Instantly the power of God arrested her hemorrhaging. He was healed,
she was whole.
12 years of misery were over.
Now I'm not sure if you'll find this "pull the tassel method" of healing in most healing manuals. We're more into anointing with oil
or laying on hands. But for this little lady of long ago it worked. 12 years of misery were over.
But wait! - 12 years of joy were over in another part of town. Look at verse35.
III. THE CALL.
1. READ 35-43.
2. Your daughter is dead. There is no gentle way to break such news. In all the years that I have pastored I have never had to bear such news. I hope I never do. I was in a home once when such news was delivered.
Three generations of one family all came to my church.
The middle couple had been tragically killed in an automobile accident. Would I be present when the adult grandson told his aged grandmother of her daughter's death?
I sat there in the next room waiting for the hammer to fall. It was terrible. Your daughter is dead. All that sunshine
all that joy,
all that work
all that effort
all those plans
all those years
down the tube. Gone. Gone forever.
Your daughter is dead. Don't bother the teacher anymore. It's too late for the teacher.
Indeed, it is too late for the teacher, but it is never too late for the Son of God.
And I must tell you that for most of our world today it is too late for the teacher. The problems we face are too horrendous to be solved by education. Even within the context of this church
and this community
Solid Bible Preaching
And careful Christian Education programs will not do the job. We are not going to reach this community with education. We need more than a teacher. We need a supernatural Saviour. We need the Son of God.
I get ill every time I hear some do gooder on radio or television suggesting
proclaiming that all we need to solve the drug problem
or the alcohol problem
or the AIDS problem is more education. Friends, our problem isn't that we are too dumb - our problem is that we are too weak. We need more that a teacher
We need a great Saviour.
We need the Son of God.
3. Jesus made his way to the house of Jairus. You should know that they did not waste time in that culture
and in that climate
with funeral arrangements.
But the time Jesus and Jairus got to the house the professional mourners were already on the scene. The funeral would be held later on that same day.
By the way,
these professional wailers seem very strange and phony to us: but back in Jesus' day they were a a bone fide part of Palestinian life. The profession was passed on from mother to daughter. No one would think of putting their dearest to rest without heiring mourners. Just like we send flowers today,
so they packed the funeral chapel with weepers.
The more money you had the more weepers you got. Back in Bible days they said,
Wasn't that a lovely funeral?
I mean, she looked so natural.
And did you count the wailers? I mean, It must have cost them a fortune. She must have had a large insurance policy.
4. By the time Jesus and Jairus arrived the place was packed with these professional mourners. And Jesus turned to them and said,
Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.
We know from the context that the little girl was really dead. Life had gone from her body. No breathing. No heartbeat. No brain waves. Rigor mortis had set in. Everybody there knew she was dead. So how come Jesus would be so cruel and say
The child is not dead but asleep.
Well, you see, death to our Lord, is like sleep to us. It is as easy for Jesus Christ to deal with death as it is for us to deal with sleep. What do you do when one of your children sleeps in on a school day? Do you panic?
Do you scream and wail?
Do you call the police?
More likely you go into the bedroom and say, George, Bob, Mary, It's time to get up.
And that's exactly the way Jesus handled this desperate situation.
Look at verse 41.
He took her by the hand and said to her "Tallitha koum!"
Now there are various ways of translating this Aramaic phrase but Jesus was basically saying what her mother had said 1,000 times before over the past 12 years
Honey, Its Time To Get Up!
Oh friends, there is coming a day when all those who are in their graves shall hear his voice.
Honey, its time to get up!
Those we have loved long since
and lost a while.
A baby,
a son, a daughter,
mom, dad, friends, a beloved spouse. From the North and from the South
from the East and from the West
They shall hear his Voice
that Voice that brought the Cosmos out of Chaos. That Voice shall speak once more and the dead in Christ shall rise
incorruptible.
And so, shall we ever be with the Lord.
5. I must say one more thing about this simple line: Honey, it's time to get up.
Remember, Jesus was raising this girl from the dead. Yet He uses no great incantation.
He offers no long intercession.
He engages in no revved-up, high volume prayer.
Just Honey, it's time to get up.
I suspect that we betray out lack of spiritual power by our long and thunderous prayers for the sick. Perhaps if we walked as close to God as Jesus did, we too could say
Honey, it's time to get up.
and the dead would rise.
Conclusion:
Two final things I want you see in this story before we go home.
In verse 43
the last part
Jesus told them (her parents) to give her something to eat. I suggest that there were two reasons for this:
1. Jesus wanted to teach us that God desires to wed the natural with the supernatural. While the little girl's life was restored supernaturally, it would be sustained naturally.
2. Jesus was concerned for the emotional well-being of these parents, especially the mother. Can you imagine the strain this mother must have gone through watching her baby die and then having to make all of the funeral arrangements by herself? And then within hours to watch this same girl come back to life. This is a bit much for one day, and
Jesus knew that the best way to ward off a nervous breakdown is in serving others. Honest, manual labour in service to others.
So, Jesus got the mother and dad out working in the kitchen. Not only did the girl get her needed nourishment,
but the parents got a much-needed release from tension. Isn't Jesus wonderful?!
What is your need today? Jesus is still with us. He's in this service today. He still helps needy, desperate people. Let's reach out to Him right now.
