Mark 5:35-43
“Tears, Laughter, Astonishment”
By: Rev. Kenneth Emerson Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
Here Jesus comes face to face with normal attitudes and conduct in the event of a tragedy.
While Jesus is still speaking to a crowd, one of Jairus’ servants comes to inform him that his daughter has died, and that there is no need for Jesus to trouble himself with coming.
When Jesus hears this, he urges Jairus to have no fear, but only to believe.
When they arrive at the house, “Jesus saw a great commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly.”
And isn’t this the situation that our world is in today?
It often seems hopeless…doesn’t it?
There is a great commotion…people are crying and wailing.
The other night, my son Ben turned to me and said, “There are a lot of horrible things in this world. There’s rape, and murder, child molestation, war…but no peace.”
I replied, “You’re right, except there is the peace that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the Only peace.”
“You’re right,” said Ben,
“But the people who don’t know Jesus don’t have any peace at all!”
So, there is much commotion and weeping and wailing…
…there is so much hopelessness.
That is why we all need Jesus!!!
Without Jesus, there is no hope.
There is no Life, there is no Reason for this life…
…only darkness and despair.
Of course we have all kinds of self-appointed gurus telling us where we can find hope…
…they point to riches, fancy cars, big houses, the so-called carnal pleasures of the flesh…
…but these things…in the end…just leave us with less hope than we had before we went after them or acquired them.
But no matter how dark this world may be…no matter how hopeless it seems…
…there is an answer.
There is a solution to this predicament we find ourselves in…
…this predicament called life.
In the beginning of John’s Gospel we are told that Jesus came into the darkness of this world as the Light.
It could have been very easy for God to give up on us.
After-all, we chose our fate.
We chose sin over holiness.
Just think how great Adam and Eve had it before they decided to follow Satan instead of God.
There was nothing but hope.
There was nothing but bliss…
…complete and holy bliss.
God walked among them in the garden.
Work was not a burden, but a joy.
They had all the food they could want…
…they had access to the Tree of Life…
…they were never going to die.
But humankind chose death over life…hopelessness and despair over bliss.
And we continue this charade every time we reject God…every time we try to find peace and meaning in life without Jesus Christ.
Jairus’ daughter was dead. The men who came to tell Jesus about this saw no hope in the situation.
Don’t bother coming to the house, Jesus, there is no hope.
But as always, God is able to see hope no matter how hopeless the we think a situation is.
Jesus “went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion? The child is not dead but asleep.’ But they laughed at him…but they laughed at him.”
There is always a new situation when Jesus comes into the picture.
We can disbelieve His Words, we can even laugh at Him…but we cannot ignore Him.
When Christianity thrust its way into the Greek and Roman world, there was much laughter.
This strange cult following a crucified ‘criminal’---what is a sophisticated person to do but laugh?
Whenever Jesus, His teaching, His Gospel have gone against the grain of anything the world has thought was settled…there has been laughter.
Even within the early Church, when the foreign missionary movement began, lots of people did not take Jesus’ words seriously…
…the words of “therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Many laughed at the thought of people all over the world accepting Christ as Lord and Savior and becoming Christians…
…but it has happened, it has happened…and it continues to happen wherever Christ is preached.
One of the biggest problems that has taken place over the past fifty years or so is the fact that in many places…even within the church…Christ is not preached.
Many, through the so-called wisdom of the world…laugh at many of Christ’s teachings.
I remember one time, it was advertised that a certain church was going to celebrate the Life of John Wesley by preaching one of his sermons word for word.
Although this was not the church I attended, I was so excited about the idea that I attended that service instead of the one at my home church.
I couldn’t wait to hear the gospel preached in all its power and no-holes-barred Truth!!!
I looked forward to that day all week.
When I got to the church, I saw that the service was not being held in the Sanctuary, but in the Fellowship Hall…on a stage…with people in costumes.
A lay person, dressed in some ‘old fashioned looking clothes’ and wearing a strange white wig stood at a phony pulpit and read, without any enthusiasm whatsoever…one of Wesley’s sermons.
My heart sank, when while reading the sermon word for word as Wesley had written and preached it…the congregation laughed.
“You will go to Hell if you do not accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior!”
The congregation laughed.
I suppose they laughed because they had not heard this preached with seriousness before.
I suppose they laughed because they thought this to be some kind of ‘old-fashioned’ way of thinking that is somehow ‘magically’ no longer true.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.” …says the writer of Hebrews.
“All Scripture is God-breathed…”, Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy…
…But “the time will come when [people] will not put up with sound doctrine.”
In essence, many will laugh at the Gospel of Jesus Christ…even while they are in the pains of loud crying and wailing.
And when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not believed, it is not preached, and people are not saved…
…the church loses its power…
…and it withers and dies.
Many people do and will poke fun at those of us who earnestly do believe the Gospel.
This is one of the devil’s greatest weapons.
It is the reason that many of us do not witness to others about our faith as we should.
It is the reason that many of us are afraid, or shy away from putting up door-hangers, handing out invitation cards, or even putting a bumper sticker on the back of our cars which reads: “Catch the Spirit: Parkview United Methodist Church.”
We are afraid of the laughter.
In reality, laughter is often a nervous reaction. People often laugh when they are nervous about something.
And the gospel of Jesus Christ can make many people feel very nervous or uncomfortable.
Because it is Light shining in the darkness…
…it is the truth in a world of lies…
…it causes one to have to make a decision…
…and it is an eternal decision…
…will I live for this world…
…for what this world has to offer, or will I give up this world for Christ?
Deep down, most people really know that Jesus is right.
The Gospel makes perfect sense.
I can’t count the number of times I have witnessed to people who agreed that it is the Truth…
…but made all kinds of excuses why they were not ready to accept it….and not willing to give their lives over to God.
But you know what?
Even if the world laughs at those of us who proclaim the Truth of Christ…
…in reality…
…they respect a Christian who…with tact of course…tells them how it really is, and is concerned for their very souls.
Do they respect someone who is ashamed of their faith?
Who would?
There is no greater love that a human being can show another human than to share the Gospel of Christ with them.
It takes courage.
It is not easy.
But it is the most loving thing we can do.
If we really care about others…we will warn them of consequences of not accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives!!!
It may cause us to lose our friends…
…we may have to put up with some laughter…
…but it is definitely more than worth it!!!
And when someone whom we witness too does accept Christ…
…well, the change that takes place in their lives as a result…
…causes nothing less than astonishment!!!
When I was in college I was taking a public speaking class.
For our first speech we were given the assignment to make a comparison of two things.
I brought my boom-box to class, and did a speech on ‘good heavy metal rock and roll’ as opposed to ‘wimpy or bad heavy metal rock and roll.”
For our second speech, we were to dress up as our hero, and give a speech from their point of view.
I dressed up as Gene Simmons of the Rock band KISS.
Between the time of my second and third speech I gave my life to Christ.
So, for my third speech, I gave my testimony and preached the Gospel.
I’ve never seen so many mouths drop at a single time in my life.
Astonishment.
After Jesus took the hand of the girl who had been dead…
… “Immediately the girl stood up and walked around…
…at this they were completely astonished.”
The people at Jairus’ house had laughed because Jesus refused to accept death as the last word.
And yet who, but the resurrected Son of God, is more qualified to refuse to accept death as the last word?
Jesus comes to us in our tears…
…we may laugh at His Words…that we can be changed from death to life by just accepting his outstretched hand….
…but if and when we do accept…
…there is no better definition for our condition than utter astonishment!!!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he [or she] is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God…”
