"And when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered about Him; and He stayed by the seashore. And one of the synagogue officials names Jairus came up, and upon seeing Him, fell at His feet, and entreated Him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, that she may get well and live.’ And He went off with him; and a great multitude was following Him and pressing in on Him.
And a women who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse, after hearing about Jesus, came up in the crowd behind Him, and touched His cloak. For she thought, ‘If I just touch His garments, I shall get well.’ And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My garments?’ And His disciples said to Him, ‘You see the multitude pressing in on You, and You say, "Who touched Me?"’ And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her came and fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.’
While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, ‘Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher any more?’ But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, ‘Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.’ And He allowed no one to follow with Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James. And they came to the house of the synagogue official; and He beheld a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. And entering in, He said to them, ‘Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.’ And they were laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was. And taking the child by the hand, He said to her ‘Talitha kim!’ (which translated means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise!’). And immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded. And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this; an He said that something should be given her to eat." (Mark 5:21-43)
People are very interesting. No two of us are exactly alike, and yet there are at times striking similarities in our behavior. People watching is a notably engaging endeavor.
As a pastor I am occupied many times with people watching. I find it fascinating to see how people act and react to situations in life. Though we all handle them differently, certain similarities do emerge. You can tell a lot about people by how they respond in certain situations. It’s true in the church as well.
How do we respond to the difficulties and hard places in life? Do we respond in faith or does our world fall apart? Do we remain calm or do we find ourselves tied up in knots, frantically rushing here and there for the solution? Do we blame others for our situation or do we look to the Lord in humble submission? How we respond will reveal a lot about us.
In our text, we find at least five different responses to situations, and to Jesus. We will call them responses of faith, because they tell us something about the faith of those who reacted in these ways. In studying their responses we may find ourselves there.
Two stories unfold in our text. The story of Jairus’ plea to Jesus on behalf of his dying daughter and the story of the woman with the hemorrhage become the mirror in which we see reflected these responses of faith.
The first response of faith is the response out of concern for another’s need. This is the story of Jairus.
Jairus is described for us as one of the synagogue officials. This means that he held a very prominent position as a leading elder in Israel. But he was a man with a problem, a very pressing one indeed. His daughter had become sick and was dying. She was only twelve years old and I’m sure he loved her deeply. She was his little girl. His heart was torn. Jesus probably represented his last hope. There is no doubt that because of his prominent position in society that he could afford and receive the best medical service available. But all to no avail. His sweet daughter was dying, and he was powerless to do anything about it. So he did the only thing he could, he came to Jesus. He came for someone he loved. He came because he believed.
The second illustration of a faith born out of need is the woman with the hemorrhage of blood. Here we see a faith born out of personal need, her own.
Whereas Jairus’ daughter had been healthy for twelve years, this woman had suffered greatly for twelve years. Her situation was dark. Someone in her condition was considered ceremonially unclean and as such an outcast. She was much like a leper. Anything she touched would become unclean as well, so people would shun her. Apart from the social stigma, she was in pain. So severe was her torment that she had spent her life savings on many physicians only to grow worse. But then she heard about Jesus. In the Greek the definite article is before the name Jesus. Jesus was a common name in Palestine in those days. She had heard about the Jesus. She came to Jesus, the one and only person who could help her.
She came because she had faith. In fact, the Bible says that she believed that all she had to do was to touch the hem of His garment and she would be healed. And that, in fact, is what happened.
We reach beyond ourselves when adversity comes. When authentic need confronts us, and we feel a profound sense of inadequacy, we have a critical decision to make. Will we reach out in faith, or will we give up? True faith can be born out of need … the need of others or our own personal need.
There are many people who claim to have faith but when put it to the test you find it to be a cheap imitation of the real thing. For the sake of our discussion, we will call it a faith which is inadequate. We see here three examples of an inadequate faith. The first is the reaction of the disciples.
When the woman pressed through the crowds and touched Jesus cloak, Jesus felt healing power go forth from Him. He perceived that something special had happened and asked, "Who touched My garments?" But his disciples were too caught up in the crowds to understand. He was in touch with God, they were in touch with the masses pressing in on every side. Here we see faith limited by our physical senses. While the disciples saw only the crowds, Jesus "saw" the woman. They were looking through physical eyes, Jesus was looking through spiritual eyes. They said in essence, "What in the world are you talking about. Don’t you see all these people? How can you know who touched you?"
A faith which is inadequate is also exemplified by Jairus’ servant. Here we have faith limited by "reality." He reported that the girl had died so there was no longer a need to bother Jesus. But Jesus’ reply was to believe in what could be.
We also see an inadequate faith in the response of the mourners to Jesus. There people were professional mourners. In that day they used to hire people to come in and mourn with the family when a loved one died. These people were in the business of grief, and they thought they had a particular insight into death. When Jesus told them that the girl only was asleep, they quit crying and began laughing. Instead of faith we see here a superior prideful attitude. Faith is always hindered by pride. They were closed to a deeper spiritual truth because they thought they had a corner on truth. They were also limited by "reality."
We must guard against these attitudes. We must not let what appears to be keep us from what can be through faith in Jesus Christ.
Notice that Jesus took only certain disciples with Him to Jairus’ house. From the point at which He had been told that the daughter had died He allowed only Peter, James and John to accompany Him. On other occasions He did the same. Why? Was Jesus showing favoritism to an elite group at the expense of the other disciples? No, I don’t believe so, But He needed around Him only those who were open and supportive. That is why he put the mocking mourners out of the room before he raised up the little girl. He did not want certain people around.
Faith works best in certain circumstances. Where there is openness and expectancy, God moves mightily. Where there is unbelief and cynicism, God refuses to move. This was illustrated by Jesus when He came to His own country. The Bible teaches us that He could do no mighty work there because of their unbelief.
This is probably one of the greatest millstones around the Church’s neck today. We have our share of naysayers in the contemporary church. All too often we have those who will react to a new idea with, "Sounds great, but it won’t work here!" By our negative attitudes we put limitations on what God will do for us, in us, and through us.
Does it sound unkind not to invite all people, positive and negative alike, into the room? Well, consider the outcome. Is it not more unkind to limit what God can do to touch someone in need by some misguided sense of fairness?
I was interested to read a section in one of Robert Schuller’s books recently. Normally you would think of Schuller as an extremely affirming kind of guy, and I’m sure he is. But I suppose my impression was that he represented an "I’m OK, You’re OK" style of leadership. So I was intrigued to read his "Tips On Handling Impossibility Thinking Laymen" from his book Your Church Has a Fantastic Future. Here they are: 1. Don’t attract them to the church. 2. Don’t feed them. 3. Don’t build a stage for them. 4. Know when and how to confront obstacle people. 5. Attract possibility thinkers. 6. Put possibility thinkers in power positions. 7. Remember positive ideas are stronger than negative ones. 8. Show love for impossibility thinkers. He adds a final thought, "Now forget about the obstructionists. Go on adding and winning new member to your church. Your new converts will soon outnumber, outvote and overpower the opposition."
Does this sound like Schuller? It is. Whether you agree with him or not, he does understand the point that negative, cynical attitudes limit what God can do. And that is Biblical.
We should be those who enable other to do mighty things for the Lord. We need to be like Aaron and Hur who held up the tiring hands of Moses so that the battle could be won. Some could have criticized Moses for not being stronger, and some probably did. But Aaron and Hur stepped in and provided what was lacking, without complaint. May God make us like Aaron and Hur.
The sobering thought that this passage brings to mind takes the form of a probing question. Would I have been among those faith-filled disciples Jesus asked to go in with Him? Would you have been there? Would all of our deacons been there? Would the chairmen of our committees have been invited? Would our Sunday School teachers have made the list? Here lie many of the problems in our churches today.
Faith can only be for yourself, as in the case of the woman with the hemorrhage of blood, or faith can be for others, to impart blessing to them, as in the case of Jairus’ daughter. This is the kind of faith which imparts. It is the kind of faith which enables others to be what they can be in Jesus Christ.
Lloyd John Ogilvie, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California, tells the story of sitting on the platform with Billy Graham at a celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his crusades. Billy said to him, "I could not preach with power nor lead anyone to Christ if it were not for the positive prayers for the blessing of God by thousands of believing people." Just before Billy got up to preach Ogilvie said to him, "I’m praying for you, Billy!" Graham responded with a flash in his clear blue eyes, "I need that more than anything in all the world!"
May God make us the kind of people who impart faith to others by our response of faith. May we be like the four friends who carried the man with the palsy up on the roof in order to get him to Jesus. Let’s look at what can be done and find reasons to go ahead instead of looking for reasons to quit. Jairus’ daughter received life because of the faith of her father. Others can receive life because of our faith and willingness to act on it.
Finally we come to a faith in its fullness. This type of faith is exemplified by Jesus. Look at His life. Here was a man who was never hurried by the maddening crowd. He was never distracted by anxious men. He never became totally desperate because of the circumstances which He faced. He faced them in the peace of God and in the trust that God was in control. Jesus is our examples of a man who had faith in the sovereignty of God.
From Jesus life flowed healing, wisdom, compassion, caring, vision, hope, and life itself. In Jesus we see an upward look. This is the kind of posture we must seek to develop to its fullness in ourselves if we would be the kind of people who are filled with faith. If we would respond in faith to the circumstances which push in upon us, we must cultivate a complete trust in God.
And we can. We can because Jesus lives in us. He is living His life in us and through us. If you know Jesus, the Bible teaches that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you. As we understand the truth that that is who we are, then we can begin to walk from the perspective.
So surrender to Him. Ask the living Lord to fill you with faith. After all faith is a gift. It comes as the result of living in a right relationship to God. So if you are not satisfied with your responses of faith, then come to Jesus, He is who you need. The better you know Him, the easier it is to trust Him.
Copyright © 1997 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
This data file may not be copied in part (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and e-mailed to J. David Hoke, at David@JDavidHoke.com.