Mark
5:21 Once again Jesus got into the boat and
crossed Lake Galilee. Then as he stood on the shore, a large crowd
gathered around him. The person in charge of the Jewish
meeting place was also there. His name was Jairus, and when he saw Jesus, he
went over to him. He knelt at Jesus' feet
and started begging him for help. He said, "My daughter is about to
die! Please come and touch her, so she will get well and live." Jesus went with Jairus. Many people followed
along and kept crowding around. In the
crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had gone to many doctors, and they had
not done anything except cause her a lot of pain. She had paid them all the
money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse. The woman had heard about Jesus, so she came
up behind him in the crowd and barely touched his clothes. She had said to herself, "If I can just
touch his clothes, I will get well."
As soon as she touched them, her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was
well. At that moment Jesus felt power
go out from him. He turned to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my
clothes?" His disciples said to
him, "Look at all these people crowding around you! How can you ask who
touched you?" But Jesus turned to
see who had touched him. The woman knew
what had happened to her. She came shaking with fear and knelt down in front of
Jesus. Then she told him the whole story.
Jesus said to the woman, "You are now well because of your faith.
May God give you peace! You are healed, and you will no longer be in
pain." While Jesus was still
speaking, some men came from Jairus' home and said, "Your daughter has
died! Why bother the teacher anymore?"
Jesus heard what they said, and he said to Jairus, "Don't worry.
Just have faith!" Jesus did not
let anyone go with him except Peter and the two brothers, James and John. They went home with Jairus and saw the
people crying and making a lot of noise.
Then Jesus went inside and said to them, "Why are you crying and
carrying on like this? The child isn't dead. She is just asleep." But the people laughed at him. After Jesus
had sent them all out of the house, he took the girl's father and mother and
his three disciples and went to where she was.
He took the twelve-year-old girl by the hand and said, "Talitha,
koum!" which means, "Little girl, get up!" The girl got right up
and started walking around. Everyone was greatly surprised. But Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone
what had happened. Then he said, "Give her something to eat."
There are a lot of
things that happen in this section of Mark.
First we have a man, Jairus, who was a synagogue official. We know little about him except for this. But he came to Jesus because he believed that
there was something special about him.
Perhaps he believed that Christ was the son of God, perhaps not. We don't know. However I feel pretty sure that after Jesus
visited and raised his daughter from death that he became a believer. The second thing we see here is that a woman
believes God is with Jesus and feels that if she can just touch his clothes she
will be healed. And she is, simply
because of belief in Jesus. We see that
when Jesus turned around and asked “Who touched me?” she is very afraid. You see, because she was bleeding, she was
unclean. It was wrong for a woman to
touch a man, and an unclean woman touching a rabbi was grounds for her to be
stoned. This is why he calls the woman
“daughter”, to keep there from being an uprising against her right then.
The most
interesting part of this account to me, is the reaction of the disciples. We know that the disciples had witnessed
several miracles performed by Jesus. We
know that they truly believed that He was the son of God. Yet, Jesus feels power leave him, He asks,
“Who touched me?” and the disciples are standing there saying, “What do you
mean who touched you, Who didn't touch you”.
This gives me hope. The
disciples, the men who built the church, who walked with Jesus, who saw the
miracles, who saw him resurrected, they showed their humanity. The bible shows us their frailty as men, it
shows their humanity, it gives us hope.
Personally, I
think that my faith is strong. But like
the disciples I have my moments. I look
at the disciples and wonder, “What were they thinking?”, “Where was their
faith” Now, I know this is like an
armchair quarterback who has all the answers, and knows exactly how things
should have been done. But I think that
these bits of frailty and humanity are put in the bible to act as inspiration
for us. Even when we have doubts, even
when we feel that our faith is weak, God shows His grace and strength. He knows we are human, He created us. And because of that He has left the Holy
Spirit with us to guide us through things.
So, the next time
you doubt your faith, or feel that you are missing something, or are just
caught up in the whirlwind of events that life throws at you, talk to God. Ask Him to send His Spirit to be with you, to
guide you, to strengthen you. God has
brought me through some very difficult times.
Even at the time when I was young and doing my best to ignore His
existence, He stayed with me. His grace
goes beyond anything that we as humans can imagine. His love and compassion for us follows.
The Spirit is always
with us. If we recognize this, and
welcome it, we are blessed and invinceable.
In Luke 10 Jesus has selected a group of 72 followers to go out on a
missionary journey. These were ordinary
people, just like us. But the Holy
Spirit was with them. They performed
miracles, drove out demons, and carried the message of God. We are those people. God has called to us, and we have
responded by being members of the United
Methodist Church. Last Sunday I spoke
about the vow that we took when we joined the church. Well, I meant to speak on this. Unfortunately I clumsily dropped my sermon on
the floor and had to improvise a little. Anyway, this year the vow has been modified slightly. Now we vow, to support the church with your prayers,
presence, gifts, service and witness. For most of us, the prayers,
presence, gifts, and service part is easy. We pray for our church, we come to church, we give the tithe that God
has commanded, and we do things to help out. I think for a lot of people, me included, the difficult part can be the
witnessing.
How do you witness? And is your witness positive or
negative. Most of us witness by the way
we live, the attitude that we show to others, and the care that we show to
others. I have known a few good
Christians who gave the most negative witness.
They were always negative, they had bad things to say about those around
them, they talked behind everyone's back, but they loved the Lord. I feel pretty sure that we have none “of
Those people” in our congregation. But
do we all keep the Spirit in our hearts as we go about the day's business. Is the Spirit visible to those around
us?
The pastors of the Mountain Lakes
District met yesterday for a picnic. We
were asked what our objective is. The
objective of the churches in the Mountain Lakes District, and for all churches
is to grow new disciples for Jesus Christ.
How well are you growing new disciples.
How well do you let the love, grace, and mercy of our God show through
in your life?
Jesus has selected
you, each of you. His love and the power
of the Holy Spirit have been extended to you because you believe in Him. Now, He asks that you go forward and share
the knowledge and love of him with all those that you meet. Live as a believer. Let the Spirit be present with you
always. Do these things and you will
have an impact on everyone who meets you.