Dear Preacher, I am a member of your audience and I sit before you in silent desperation. I am a mother of a good Christian teen-age girl who just told me that she is pregnant. I am a husband whose marriage is falling apart and no matter what I do I can’t seem to stop it. I’m a child who has tried so hard to win the affection of my Dad, but all I hear from him is how many times I screw up. I’m a senior citizen who sees that my life is coming to a close and I’m worried and scared…not knowing if my life has made a difference or if my future is secure. I’m a father of three kids and the doctor just told me that my wife can’t possibly live more than a couple of months. I am a widow who sits alone in my home so lonely yet no one seems to care. I’m by all accounts a successful man who has gotten everything he has wanted in life, but it hasn’t been enough.
I am blue and depressed and I don’t even know why, but I can’t go on living like this any longer. I am a parent who raised my kid in the church but now my child is so far away from the Lord we can’t even discuss it anymore. I am single and have just invested all I had in a relationship and the person walked away without ever looking back. I’m a wife whose husband rarely speaks to me, and I can’t remember the last time he held me. I feel so lonely and abandoned, even in my own home.
Oh, you can’t see my desperation by looking at me. I’ve learned to hide my feelings so deeply that sometimes I can even fool myself. The people who sit on either side of me would be surprised to know that I walk the floor each night and cry. I can imagine the shocked surprise of those sitting with me in the pew if I told them that I had considered committing suicide… Or maybe they wouldn’t be shocked at all, maybe they have too.
So preacher, when I sit in front of you on Sunday morning, I don’t want to hear your thoughts on transactional analysis or theological exertations. I don’t want to hear the latest readers digest joke…and I don’t want you to share a few thoughts that you gleamed from the night before. I don’t want to hear about the latest book on pastoral counseling and I don‘t want to be begged for money for a new church building or for the world’s hungry. Preacher, I hurt. I feel empty and useless, with no where to go. My question to you is the same that the king asked God’s prophet Jeremiah, “ Is there any word from the Lord?”
Almost all of us have experienced times of hopelessness. Many men and women in our midst are living a life of quiet desperation. Their life is not perfect and they are in dire need of something, anything that might reassure them, comfort them, consol, or encourage. Maybe that’s you. Your life as we speak seems to be coming unraveled. Everything you have hoped for, everything you dreamed for is fading away, and now you hurt.
Now if you have never been there I guarantee you that one day you will be there and you will want some word from the Lord. Here in our text are two people who were desperate and in need of healing. They were very different people but had this one thing in common, they were both hurting. Now as we look at these two stories today, my prayer is that a Word will be spoken that will help you in your situation.
The first person is a man named Jairus whose daughter was ill, and he was frantic and came to Jesus. Luke 8:40-42 “Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.”
Now when Jairus came and humbly fell at Jesus feet I think that his peers were probably embarrassed. At this time the Jewish leaders had already said that Jesus was a fraud and that people should have nothing to do with Him. The things that Jesus had done and taught in the synagogues had aroused the anger of the scribes and Pharisees, some of whom were probably Jairus’ friends. But Jairus was desperate, and desperate times call for desperate measures. He would rather risk losing all his friends if it meant he would save the daughter he loved. He was desperate and you know that nothing will cause us to panic more than when your child is sick.
When my little nephew Daniel, who many of you have met, was born, it was on Daytona Sunday, so we quickly nicknamed him “Hot-Rod”. Yet, when he was born he was given little chance to survive. They had to revive him numerous times that first night, and my sister and her husband never prayed as much as they did that first night while their son was struggling to survive.
When a child you love is sick and getting worse, you get desperate and Jarius had to do something because his daughter was about to die. And Jarius had heard about the miracle working power of Jesus and he had to go find Him. And Jesus, who loves little children was touched by his need so he headed immediately toward Jarius’ home.
But on the way Jesus was met by a woman who was also desperate. Max Lucado wrote that this woman’s chronic menstrual disorder would be difficult for any woman but especially for a Jewish woman. No part of her life would be left unaffected. Sexually, she could not touch her husband. Maternally she could not have children. Domestically, everything she touched in the house was considered unclean. Spiritually, she was not allowed into the temple to worship. Physically, she was exhausted and socially she was ostracized. So this woman like Jarius was desperate.
Warren Wiersbe points out in his commentary the interesting differences between these two individuals. He writes, “It is interesting that Jairus and this woman—two opposite people—met at the feet of Jesus. Jairus was a leading Jewish man; she was an anonymous woman with no prestige or resources. He was a synagogue leader, while her affliction kept her from worship. Jairus came pleading for his daughter; the woman came with a need of her own. The girl had been healthy for 12 years, and then died; the woman had been ill for 12 years and was now made whole. Jairus’ need was public—all knew it; but the woman’s need was private—only Jesus understood. Both Jairus and the woman trusted Christ, and He met their needs.”
Now this woman had a problem but it wasn’t nearly as serious as the that of Jarius. Yet she still came to Christ. You know, often times someone will go into the hospital to have some sort of surgery and I will never know about it. When I approach that person about why they didn’t tell me, they will say, “Oh, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I didn’t want to bother you with it.” But even if it is a stumped toe, I want to know about it.
Many of us approach God in the same way. We think that God is only concerned with the big important problems in this world. We will pray for cancer, but not a canker sore. That’s why I love to hear little kids pray. They will pray for anything and everything. Here are some examples: Dear God, Please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter. There is nothing good in there now. Dear God, Thank you for the baby brother but what I asked for was a puppy. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up. Dear God, Please send Dennis Clark to a different camp this year. Now God is not up there saying, “Don’t bother me with what school Dennis Clark is going to, I’ve got world hunger to deal with…,” no God is concerned with all of our concerns. Kids are so honest, and we need to be honest and God wants us to pray for all things.
Now, Jarius’ daughter was dying…this was major, this was big…and Jesus was hurrying to her side but still He stopped to assist a nameless woman with a somewhat less serious problem and she found out that Jesus cares for every person in the crowd, no matter there status or their need.
And this woman seeing the crowd, perhaps not wanting to be pointed out or maybe thinking that Jesus was to busy to notice her said to herself, “If I could just touch His garment.” Ray Vander Lann, who many of you know from the video series “That the World May Know”, in his book “Echoes of His Presence” says that it was a common belief that when the Messiah came He would have healing powers in the tassels of His robe and he points out that this woman’s act was an act of faith and her recognition that Jesus was the Messiah. Perhaps that’s why Jesus commended her on her faith.
When she touched Him, Jesus automatically felt the power go from Him. He said “Who touched Me!” Now remember that the crowds were so great that they almost crushed Him. Have you ever been to a ball game and when the game is over everybody is leaving and its like a herd of cows. Could you imagine someone standing there and saying, “All right who touched me!” Everybody is! And this was Peter’s reaction. (Vs 45) Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you." Everybody’s touching You. But this woman’s touch was different. She touched Him with faith and was instantly healed. (Vs 44) She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. You see you can be a part of the crowd and never get any blessing from being near Jesus! Some of you have been in Church your entire life and have never been touched by Jesus. It is one thing to “press Him” and another thing to “touch Him” by faith. I encourage you not to just be here, but to reach out and touch Jesus! We may not have strong faith, but we do have a strong Savior, and He responds even to a touch at the hem of His garment. And Jesus knew it was a touch of faith.
Luke 8:46-47 says, “But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me." Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.”
Now Jesus knew she had touched Him, and since Jesus knew all things He knew who she was, so why did Jesus make the woman come forward and admit it. Why not just let her go on her way better? Why make her come before this large crowd and admit to what had happened? Was it because He wanted to embarrass her? I don’t think so.
I think there are at least 4 reasons. First He wanted the relationship to be personal relationship and not a nameless act. Jesus just doesn’t want to heal you, He wants to be your best friend. It was so much better for her to look Jesus in the eye and to talk with Him instead. Second, He wanted her faith to be in Him and not in His robe. You know its so amazing how quick some folks can get attached to objects and attribute power to it. We had a thing back when I was wrestling in high school that if we got onto a winning streak, we wouldn’t wash our practice clothes because we thought that it was the dirty clothes that was helping us to win. So we had one of the stinkiest locker rooms in the entire state of Kentucky, but our faith was not in ourselves, but in our dirty clothes.
Now this is not only true with athletes but it can happen with religion as well. For example, remember back in the book of Numbers, the people of Israel had had sinned so God sent some venomous snakes to strike them, and then God told Moses to erect a bronze snake and whoever looked upon the snake would be healed. Sounds good, but we read that in later years, the people thought that the power came from the bronze staff itself. 2 Kings 18:4 says, ‘He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it.”
You see our faith is not in faith itself, it’s not in a symbol, or a ritual…our faith is in the person of Jesus Christ. We don’t need to wear a lucky charm, or have a special scarf prayed for by a preacher, our faith is not based on an object but in Jesus Christ. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him…shall not perish but will have everlasting life.” Our trust lies with Jesus.
Now the next reason was that she also needed her healing to be public. People needed to know she was better so she could return back to a normal way of life. That’s why it is so important for you to make your faith public so that everyone knows who you are and what God has done for you. But an Another reason which is often overlooked is that He dealt with her publicly not only for her sake, but also for the sake of Jairus. His daughter was close to death, and he needed all the encouragement he could get. It was bad enough that the crowd was impeding their progress, but now this woman had to interfere and stop Jesus! He had to be getting impatient by this time. And then the bad news came.
Luke 8:49 “While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don’t bother the teacher any more." What an awful thing to happen. What awful news. Jairus must have been crushed. If Jesus had only hurried. If this woman hadn’t gotten in the way. Have you ever felt like maybe God wasn’t in quite as big of a rush as you are. Like there were times when God and you aren’t on the exact time table. You want it now, God says wait. And if your not strong in your faith, this can be a trying time.
When the man arrived and announced that the girl had died, no doubt Jairus felt that the end had come. It was to late. But Jesus reassured him. Luke 8:50 “Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed." I imagine this was perhaps the longest walk home Jairus ever took. It was one thing to have faith when his daughter was alive but now she was dead.
Luke 8:51-52 “When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. "Stop wailing," Jesus said. "She is not dead but asleep." They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.”
Isn’t interesting the number of times that the Bible refers to death as sleep. When Steven was stoned by the angry mob, it says that he fell asleep. When Lazarus died, Jesus said that he was asleep. Paul told the Thessalonians church, “Brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant of those who have fallen asleep. Death is like falling asleep, and for God to resurrect us will be as easy as arousing someone from sleep.
Now when Jesus told the crowd this they all laughed. (Vs 53) They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.” And they’ll be some who will scoff at you for believing in eternal life and a resurrection. But the day will come when our faith will be proved right. We will rise again. At death we will know that there is a heaven…or perhaps a hell.
Luke 8:54-56 "“But he took her by the hand and said, "My child, get up!" (Mark’s gospel adds the words Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). 55 Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.”
Now there are two lessons I want you to learn from this. First one is this… Reach out to Jesus even through the crowd. Sometimes there may be a crowd that prevents you from coming to Jesus…maybe that crowd may be your friends, or maybe it’s even the church. You see a member of the church say one thing and do another. The preacher seems unsympathetic to your plight. Friend, Even if the church seems to be hypocritical or self-centered, look beyond that and look to Jesus. Zacchues was a tax collector who wanted to see Jesus but because he was a short man he couldn’t see over the crowd so he had to climb a sycamore tree to get above the crowd. If the crowd is blocking your view you get above the crowd. Jesus didn’t say look upon the church and be saved. He didn’t say look upon the hypocrite and be saved…no he said look upon Jesus Christ and be saved.
The second lesson is this: Keep trusting Jesus even through disaster. Jairus’ situation temporarily got worse. And you may place your trust in Christ and things may get worse. You might not get better. Your spouse may still die. Your kid may still be rebellious, but stick with God and he will see you through. Mr. Eddy James Peterson has a phrase that he says all the time, and it is keep on keeping on. Even when it hurts.
Now I know you hurt. But realize that they are others who are hurting as well. So we need to hear jokes because laughter is good for the soul. We need to hear about counseling because there are those who are hurting and need help. We need to hear about theology because we are to be sound in doctrine and firm in beliefs. We need to raise money for good causes at times to meet our role as being the salt of this world. So what is the word from the Lord today….It’s best summed up like this… “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him shall never perish but will have ever lasting life.”
