Turn to Mark chapter 5, please. This past Wednesday night we had a Holy Spirit visitation in our service that was unlike anything I have experienced in a long, long, time. I am praying for that kind of experience with God to be replicated many, many times over as we seek to touch God, to press into Him, and to pursue fellowship with Him. I spoke Wednesday about the Woman with the Issue of Blood. As I revisited that text on Thursday I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me with these words, “Go on.” I felt a stirring in my heart and mind to go on in that text and to finish that chapter with you this morning, so we will obey God and “go on” this morning. Before we do, let’s share our verse for the month together:
Philippians 4:8-Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.
Mark 5:35-43 35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” 36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” 37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
42 Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Silent Prayer
This past week on Facebook, I asked people to chime in with some words to live by, and I was astounded at the number of people who responded in a short period of time. It was over 150 for sure. Here were some of the top answers:
Never buy a car you can’t push.
Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you don’t have a leg to stand on.
Never eat yellow snow.
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Always keep your words soft and sweet just in case you have to eat them.
When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.
Don’t save up love like you are trying to retire. Give it away like you’re made of it.
Never lick an envelope after eating Oreos.
Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up.
Respect those that cross the bridge with you and never burn any bridge because you may need to cross it again.
What you get into gets into you.
You can’t live a positive life with a negative mind.
Never put the key to your happiness in someone else’s pocket.
Broken crayons still color.
Never confuse activity with achievement.
Those are some great words to live by. Jesus gives us wonderful words to live by in this passage about Jairus’ daughter being raised from the dead. It doesn’t matter what our circumstance is, and it doesn’t matter how it eventually turns out, the red letters in this passage, the words of Jesus, give us a template for how to live as Christians in the midst of trying times.
Words of Faith-Don’t be afraid; just believe. (vs. 36)
Often, we find ourselves in fear mode when we aren’t sure what the outcome of a situation will be. We fear the unknown. We worry about and grieve over things that might be and often never happen. We are stressed and anxious about possible outcomes and that leads us to walk in fear.
In this passage, however, Jairus wasn’t wondering what he was facing. He was no longer anxious over what could happen. He had already been given the worst possible news about his daughter. She had already passed away.
Mark 5:35-36 35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” 36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
Just believe? Believe for what? The daughter had passed on. The relationship between the father and daughter as he had known it was over. What was there to believe? Jairus had gone to Jesus in faith and told him about his daughter being sick. He had experienced a relationship between faith and Jesus’ power when Jesus told the woman with the issue of blood that her personal faith in Him had made her well. Jesus was telling him basically, “You came to me in faith. You have witnessed the faith of the woman with the issue of blood which resulted in her healing AND peace. Just keep believing for yourself.” The language here is in the present imperative tense. “Stop fearing and keep on believing.” Okay. What was he supposed to believe?
I don’t know that it was so much about what he was to believe, but in whom he should keep believing. You see, our belief isn’t in a predictable outcome. Our belief is in a Person, Jesus Christ. Jesus, though the news was the worst possible news, though from an earthly standpoint, healing wasn’t possible, Jesus made the journey with Jairus.
Our belief helps us understand that Jesus walks with us through life’s valleys, including the Valley of the Shadow of death. Our belief helps us realize that journeying with Jesus makes anything possible because the presence of Jesus is a game changer. Our belief gives us fortitude to take each day step by step with the calm assurance that no matter what, Jesus will care for us, hold on to us, strengthen us, help us, and provide for us along the way.
Here is the point. We don’t quit exercising faith just because we receive bad, difficult or even heart-wrenching news. Our faith can never be in the circumstances of life because they are ever-changing. Our faith can never be in the people in our life because they will have good days and bad days. But we can exercise faith each day in the God who will stay by our side, be responsive to our needs, exercise power and authority on our behalf and see us through. My faith isn’t in the notion that God will work everything out in my life the way I desire, but my faith is in the reality that I will make it through undesirable circumstances because He walks with me.
We need to believe God is with us and that God will intervene in some powerful way in our lives even if the end result isn’t what we hoped or expected. Listen, Christian belief involves exercising trust in God regardless of evidence or emotion. Do you see? Because our faith is in a Person and not in an end result we are good to go no matter what. My faith doesn’t tell me I am good only if my body is healed, or I am good only if my finances hold up, or I am good to go only if I have my hopes and dreams realized, my faith tells me I am good to go because Jesus walks with me!
Jesus was telling Jairus, “Have faith. I am right here. I am not going anywhere but with you!” Listen, when you get ahold of this reality it will transform your now, it will transform your pain, it will strengthen your heart, it will give you endurance. Oh, how does the old song express it?
I feel the touch of hands so kind and tender.
They’re leading me in the paths that I must trod.
I’ll have no fear for Jesus walks beside me
For I’m sheltered in the arms of God.
So let the storm clouds rage high,
The dark clouds rise,
They won’t worry me;
For I’m sheltered safe within the arms of God.
He walks with me,
And naught of earth shall harm me,
For I’m sheltered in the arms of God.
Child of God, don’t be afraid! Just believe. What great words to live by! God is with you. Present in power. Present in peace. It’s all good because Jesus walks with you. Jairus had to choose to believe and walk with Jesus. Will you?
Words of Hope-The child is not dead but asleep. (vs. 39)
Now, Jairus’ daughter had passed away. Why would Jesus have just said she was asleep? That seemed very insensitive in the face of what appeared to be obvious reality.
I believe Jesus was always teaching truth, even in desperate circumstances. Though her spirit wasn’t animating her body at that point, the little girl never ceased to exist. Her spirit had departed from her body, but she was still very much alive. That is what happens when a person dies in the earthly sense. Their spirit leaves their body. The body sleeps or rests until the moment of the resurrection as is described in I Thes. 4:13-18. So, in one respect, Jesus’ comment about her being asleep was teaching them something about death and the eternal reality of the soul.
I believe Jesus used the word “asleep” to speak words of hope over them because if someone is asleep what is the assumption? That they will wake up, right? Listen, those who die in the Lord won’t die and cease to exist, but we will fall asleep in the Lord and rise again into a glorious existence in Heaven with Him forever. This is the promise of Scripture! That is our eternal hope! When this urgent situation had gone from hopeful to hopeless, Jesus interjected hope.
Jesus has a way of interjecting the brightness of hope into the worst of circumstances whenever He is present. And what was the reaction of the mourners who had gathered there? Look at verse 40: 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was.
The world laughs at the hope we have in Christ because they can’t understand it. They see Jesus as a crutch, a fable, a wishful made-up character to help us reframe life’s hardships and as a way to explain that which we can’t understand. They don’t know what we know. They haven’t seen what we have seen. They haven’t experienced what we have experienced because they have placed their hope in the things of this world and in themselves. Those who don’t live by Christ’s words of hope are then often shut out from the miracles He is working like we see here in verse 40 when Jesus put those who laughed outside of the house.
But for those of us in Christ, we know on whom we have believed (II Timothy 1:12) and we have heard his words of hope in the darkest of nights, and we have witnessed hope coming to life in our personal struggles. The father and mother weren’t laughing. The disciples weren’t laughing. They had exercised belief in an instant in the words of hope Jesus had spoken.
Listen, when God speaks something over our lives, we need to embrace it, believe it and allow it to give us hope over our circumstance no matter how bleak or final the situation appears. If you are a Christian, you have every reason to live in hope. God isn’t called the God of all hope for nothing!
Listen, when God speaks something over our lives, we need to embrace it, believe it and allow it to give us hope over our circumstance no matter how bleak or final the situation appears. If you are a Christian, you have every reason to live in hope. God isn’t called the God of all hope for nothing!
Isn’t that how you want to live? Overflowing in hope and fueled by the Holy Spirit’s power? After Jesus put the mourners, the laughers out, He invited Jairus to walk into the room where the little girl was. Verse 40: 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. Do you understand this morning that Jesus was invited Jairus to walk in hope into a seemingly hopeless situation? He could have said to Jesus, “No, I can’t do it. I can’t see my daughter in that condition.” He could have chosen to believe what the mourners said rather than believe the words of hope that Jesus had just spoken. Jairus had to choose to hope and walk with Jesus. Will you?
Jesus’ words of hope are wonderful words to live by!
Finally, we read:
Words of Power-“Talitha koum!” “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
We know that God’s words are powerful. Scripture tells us in the beginning that at the word of God, “Let there be light” there was light. I can’t imagine how spectacular that was when light was called out of the darkness. Everything that has been created has been created by the word of God. It is powerful.
Sometimes when we think about the power of God we think of lightning bolts and thunder claps, earthquakes and things like the huge, thick veil being torn in the temple when Jesus announced from the cross, “It is finished!” Certainly, there can be demonstrations of God’s power with loud and demonstrative signs and wonders. In this passage, however, we see a different kind of power expressed.
Jesus didn’t walk into the room of the girl and yell. He didn’t start shouting, “I demand you in my name to come to life.” The text says He took her by the hand. He would have gotten close and bent down to touch her. I love that we have the Aramaic words Jesus used. Notice what the words of power included: “Talitha” means “little girl” but it means something more. This is a term of endearment. This is a special word that a parent would use with their child. Perhaps the most faithful translation of the word would be, “Honey.” Honey. That doesn’t sound powerful, does it? It sounds tender. It sounds compassionate. It sounds sensitive
The second word, “koum” means “get up.” “Honey, get up.” “Honey, it’s time to get up.” What does that sound like? It sounds like a parent getting their child up for school. “Honey, it is time now to get up.” Jesus holds so much power, that just the gentle phrase, “Honey, get up” is all that is needed to bring resurrection to her life. Can you picture it with me? Jesus was saying, “If I have you by the hand, death itself is nothing but sleep.” (Tim Keller, King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus, pp. 67-69)
And the little girl got up. Jesus made sure she had something to eat. She had been resurrected, but she needed strength to go on in her physical body. She responded to His words not only to come to life, but to regain her strength.
Here is the truth: Many people would gain a new kind of life if they would follow the words of Jesus and live in obedience to His instruction. So many people want a miracle for a moment, but Jesus wants to infuse life and power into our lives for the course of our lives. He wants to take us by the hand, like He did this little girl, and lift us from a place of spiritual death into a new kind of life in Him.
Some of you today are desperate for a miracle. You need answers for life. What you have tried hasn’t worked. You don’t know where to turn. There is a hand being extended to you this morning. Jesus wants to take you by the hand. He may not have a lightning bolt miracle to zap you with, but His power might be displayed in your life as you respond to His voice today, “Honey, get up.” “Young man, it’s time to get up.” “Sir, it is time to get up.” “Miss, it is time to wake up” and start walking in the newness of life that is available to you.
As we obey the words of Christ, we are healed and we are sustained and nourished to continue in this life as long as God has determined we should be here. What wonderful words to live by!
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