June 2004; I was given the privilege to be the
narrator during the 60th Anniversary of the D-Day event at Pointe du
Hoc in Normandy, France. While there I had received word that my father who was
about 70 at the time was working at the church, had fallen and was in a coma
with brain swelling and things were not looking good for him to survive. I ask
my mom if she wanted me to come home. Well she said to wait and see how things
were going to transpire. Well I did the only thing I knew to do; hit the beach.
So on the sands of Normandy beach I’m CRYING out to God. It wasn’t some mamby
pamby little prayer; I wasn’t ready to lose my dad. Sure he was in his 70s and
I’ve got a family of my own, but I just wasn’t ready to let my dad go and I’m
crying out to God as loud as I could as if it would make a difference to Him or
not whether He heard me because of the volume of my voice.
What about you, have you ever faced a crisis
in your life that you didn’t care who saw or who heard. The only thing in your
thought pattern was that you needed God to move yesterday and if He didn’t move
it was going to be all over with so you had to get to Him, you needed Him to
know; to understand your plight and when you did get to Him it didn’t matter
what it looked like all you know is that you needed.
Often times it is in the middle of our
adversity when we have revealed to us that strong, perfect peace deposited
within each of us by the Father. It is a peace surrounded by faith. We discover
things not only about ourselves but more so about the God we serve and that
He’s more than willing to raise those dead things, those things that have
fallen asleep in our lives to bring glory to His Name. Because sometimes …
It is in adversity where we perfect our faith.
So let's jump into the
text if you'd join me and let's turn to Mark 5
Mark 5:22 Then
came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he
fell at his feet 23 and
implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death.
Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” 24 And he went with him. And
a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.[1]
Jairus is the leader of the local synagogue, perhaps even
the one in Capernaum. We don’t have any indication of how he felt about Jesus
but if he was like any of the other leaders in the church of that day most of
them didn’t take to kindly to Jesus. But now that his daughter is dying and he
is desperate, He comes to Jesus. I wonder if it was difficult for him to kneel
before Jesus? We can only speculate, but I don’t even know if he really knew
that Jesus was the Messiah—but what He did know is that He could heal people
and might be able to heal his daughter. [2]Jarius isn’t just a some random
guy, he’s got some clout in the synagogue. Sometimes, ok religion isn’t enough
y’all. We can dress it up and put perfume on it but if isn’t breathing it isn’t
living and far too often many have relied on religion to get them through
various types of trials and have discovered that the only answer to a true
trial is the manifest presence of Jesus. Have you ever been there? Ever have
too much month at the end of your money and you needed a miracle? Ever faced
sickness or known someone facing sickness to the point of death that if Jesus
didn’t do something nothing was going to get done? It’s in these moments where
we’ve got to buckle up, hold on, trust and believe because
It is in adversity where we perfect our faith.
25 And
there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had
suffered
much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better
but rather
grew
worse. 27 She had heard
the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and
touched
his garment. 28 For she
said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29And
immediately
the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her
disease.
30 And
Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately
turned about in
the crowd
and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31
And his disciples said to him, “You see the
crowd
pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 And he looked around to see
who had
done it. 33 But the
woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling
and fell
down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith
has made
you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” [3]
I’m only going to stay here for a
quick moment because there’s more to this portion of the passage than meets the
eye, so you’re going to have come back to get, in the
words of the once great radio announcer Paul Harvey; the “rest of the story.”
Throng of people; whole lotta folks
…pushing and pressing in on Jesus most of them unintentionally but we have
presented to us a woman with an issue of blood that for 12 years has been
looking for a cure in all the wrong places. She’s heard stories of this great
Man who heals and has been dreaming of the day when it will be her turn. So
today is the day; she’s been rejected time and time again; for the age that
most women lived too, she probably has lived half her life with this issue, but
it doesn’t matter. Even in doing what she’s doing she’s risking ridicule and
shame because she’s a woman in this Jewish society with a blood problem. Because
of her condition, this woman was continuously unclean according to Lev 15:25-31.
She could not go to the temple to worship. She could not touch anyone or they
would be unclean for the rest of the day. If she sat in a chair, it was unclean
for the rest of the day, etc. So she was basically cut off from normal
fellowship with others and with God; but she doesn’t care Jesus is in the
neighborhood and she’s going to get hers. Wouldn’t you? So she gets to where He
is and somehow touches the hem and immediately He knows it. Why because the
essence of who He is has been affected by the faith of someone in the midst of
huge adversity and when it happens Jesus wants to know who it is. The disciples
are struggling to figure out what Jesus means because of all the commotion and
folks around. But perhaps in a moment of Red Sea proportions the throngs of
people probably not wanting anything to happen to them perhaps point the
finger. See even those who don’t understand Jesus for who He is, don’t even
understand what He can do for them. So here goes Jesus going against everything
customary and not only that but taking time away from getting to Jarius’
daughter to heal her. So as she has already been healed by her faith Jesus does
something ever so quickly because the enemy loves to steal the blessings that
we don’t grasp firmly too, so Jesus confirms the healing and reminds the woman
that it was her faith in not only what He could do but who He was. Superstition
said that power was in the robe of a great man, priest, rabbi, etc. Her belief
was that touching the fabric would make her well. In fact, when she did touch
His garment, she was healed.
It is in adversity where we perfect our faith.
Something else for us to walk away
with in this woman’s healing was also an example of faith being perfected
through adversity. It was also a demonstration of the fact that God is no
respecter of person’s. Sure Jarius was an influential, even rich man, but Jesus
who has no issue with anything or anyone took a moment to heal someone who was
less than second class but had just as much faith, if not more than Jarius. I
also think it was an opportunity to test Jarius’ faith and even increase in the
words that Jesus spoke to the woman about it being her faith versus
superstition and man driven ideals that healed her. But in the midst of the
healing of one we find the opposite has just taken place.
35 While
he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your
daughter is
dead. Why
trouble the Teacher any further?” 36
But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the
ruler of
the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 And he allowed no one to follow him except
Peter and
James and John the brother of James.
So during this whole process I can
imagine Jarius’ thoughts. He’s probably trying to look the part of a concerned
clergy; but the other side of the coin is he’s a human being, and his daughter
is dying. Probably thinking are you serious Jesus come on, let’s go … and in
the midst of all this someone comes from his home and gives him the report.
Have you recently received some bad news; something contrary to what you know
to be true or want to believe to be true? So I ask you whose report you are
going to believe? Perhaps Jesus knowing that Jarius’ isn’t on rock solid ground
in the faith of who He is department reassures that all that he has seen thus
far and what he has asked for himself is right and true. And so that there
wouldn’t be any further negative vibe flowing Jesus doesn’t allow any unbelief
follow them as they continue to the home. So even though Jesus has given him
reassurance Jarius’ adversity level has just increased again but hold on just
one minute because…
It is in adversity where we perfect our faith.
And I don’t know if
the adversity can get any harder as he prepares to walk into his home where
his“dead” daughter lay.
38 They
came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion,
people
weeping
and wailing loudly. 39 And
when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a
commotion
and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. But he put
them all
outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and
went in
where the
child was. 41Taking her
by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little
girl, I
say to you, arise.” 42 And
immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve
years of
age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And he strictly charged them
that no
one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. [4]
So here we have a house full of
folks wailing and crying for the girl has died. Some of these people may not
have even known who she was, but because bodies began to decompose so quickly
during these times they had professional mourners at the ready to assist the
family in this process. Booting these folks out wasn’t in a polite manner it
was rather decisive and firm and referred to all those who assembled purely to
make noise or having sympathy for the family; rather Jesus wanted only the
mother and father and his disciples present in the room. He then speaks in
Aramaic which would have been the language Spokane in that region. This is
significant because it was widely known that the magicians would speak
something unintelligible but Jesus wanted those with ears to hear what He said.
And now this dead girl rises and walks. If she wasn’t dead I don’t think there
would have been the amount of amazement surrounding the circumstance and just
to confirm the total restoration of the girl, Jesus calls for something to eat
for her. A confirmation to those who “knew” she was dead that she is now alive
and a cause to change their perspective on who He was. Jesus didn’t fix Jarius’
situation he freed his daughter from the grips of death, he freed Jarius and
all those around from the traditions of religion. And continue to perfect the
faith of Jarius in his adversity.
So what about you? Is there something in your life that needs
resurrecting and you aren’t quite sure, but yet you know where to go and who
has the answers? However, there’s a bit of trepidation in the midst of that
understanding. I’ve come to tell you today be not afraid, only believe because
it’s in our adversity where our faith is perfected.
As our faith is
perfected we’ve got to remove those things even those people in our lives that
have nothing to offer. They only want to make noise and sympathize with our
failures. They’d rather mourn it, bury it and get on with it instead of holding
out hope. The report of the doctors for my family on my dad weren’t good. He wasn’t
going to make it and we should start preparing what to do afterwards. But it
was in this adversity and crying out on the beaches of Normandy of my need for
God to intervene for my dad. Does that mean it turns out the way we want things
to turn out all the time? No there are going to be times when loved ones pass
away but are we still going to not be afraid and only believe? Or are we simply
going to trust that the Sovereign God of the universe knows what He’s doing.
Perfected faith doesn’t mean we get what we want; it just means our hope is
something bigger than we are. And we will find that our faith can be made
perfect through adversity.
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