Introduction:
I am a father of two children, and my kids believe I can fix everything. When my daughter gets hungry, she crawls to me and expects me to have food. When my son breaks a toy, he comes to me and expects me to fix it (no matter how broken the toy is). When either of them get hurt, they want me to make them feel better. Whatever the issue, they have beautiful, child-like faith that I can somehow make a bad situation better.
Fortunately, they’re still young, which means their problems are still fairly manageable, but as we get older, we learn that life can, and usually gets harder. Problems feel bigger, and sometimes solutions seem harder to find. So, who do we turn to if/when our problems feel too big; where do we go if/when we can’t find a solution? Fortunately, Jesus speaks to this in John 16:33. He says,
“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
Jesus promised us that life is going to be hard, even for those who follow Him. But, in spite of life’s difficulties, Jesus tells us to have “courage” and “peace”. This raises an important question though. Why should we have courage when life becomes difficult? Why should we have peace when our circumstances seem impossible? The answer isn’t that Jesus promised to make every problem disappear, but that He has authority over the problems we cannot control.
Today, we’re going to be looking at a passage that shows just how far His authority extends. We’re going to be in Mark 5:21-43, and the title of today’s sermon is “Faith in Every Situation”. In this passage, we’re going to look at several individuals with situations beyond their control. So, let’s read through this passage and take a close look at how Jesus addresses these individuals, and He demonstrates authority over each situation.
(read the passage, and pray)
This is an incredible account of Jesus responding in compassion to everyday people who find themselves in desperate, and even hopeless situations. As we study this passage, I would like us to consider the severity of each situation, how Jesus responds to them, and how His response highlights His authority and compassion. So, let’s begin with this first point: An Urgent Situation.
Point I: An Urgent Situation (v.21-24)
For the sake of context, I want us to understand something about Jesus’ ministry. Jesus made a practice of travelling to different communities to preach, teach, and perform miracles among people with varying ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Jesus met people where they were, provided hope and healing, and then left them (hopefully) changed.
At the beginning of Mark 5, we see Jesus doing exactly that. He was in a region that belonged primarily to the Gentiles (anyone who isn’t jewish), and there He met a man possessed by demons. He cast the demons away, changed that man’s life, and then sailed across the Sea of Galilee to a different community of primarily Jewish people.
If there was a man who could demonstrate authority over sickness, disease, nature, and even evil itself, He would certainly draw a large crowd, and that’s exactly what we see at the beginning of our passage. Jesus was met by a “large crowd (who) gathered around Him…by the sea”. Then, from this crowd, a prominent man in the jewish community, a religious leader named Jairus came to Jesus with His urgent situation: “My little daughter is dying. Come and lay your hands on her so that she can get well and live”.
As a parent, if my family were ever in that situation, I would spend every resource and all my energy to find a solution. Jesus had proved He was capable of providing that solution. So, Jairus went to Jesus, “fell at His feet, and begged” Him for help. If we were faced with an urgent issue like this, would we turn to Jesus, and place our hope in His ability to meet our needs?
Our passage affirms that Jairus’ hope was not misplaced; Jesus went with him, and the large crowd followed. It’s worth pointing out that, in a crowd of people, Jesus would take time to address an individual need. What would motivate Jesus to make such a choice? If we look at the next chapter of Mark, we see a similar setting of crowds gathering around Jesus (some of us may recognize this story as being the event when Jesus fed 5,000 people). Mark 6:34 says,
“When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
When crowds came to Jesus, He saw their needs (whether those needs were communicated or not), and the Bible says He had compassion for them. Google defines compassion as “…a deep awareness of another person’s suffering, combined with an active desire to ease that suffering”. A core aspect of Jesus’ character is His awareness of our need, and an intense love that drives Him to address our need.
In a crowd of people, Jesus noticed the need of an individual, and went to meet that need because of His love. However, in a crowd of people, there’s seldom only one need, which leads us to our next point: An Exhausted Situation.
Point 2: An Exhausted Situation (v. 25-34)
As Jesus and Jairus traveled with the crowd in tow, our passage reveals a new character with a completely different need: a woman who suffered from internal bleeding. Unlike Jairus’ situation, which seemed to be fairly time-sensative, this lady’s issue was long-standing. Verse 25-26 tells us she suffered from bleeding for 12 years, spent all her money on doctors and treatments, and instead of getting better, she only got worse.
This woman had exhausted every avenue, spent every resource, and instead of finding a solution, her situation only got worse. The passage doesn’t directly say this, but I would hazard a guess that this woman was past the point of looking for a professional to fix her situation; she seemed to be looking for a miracle instead. And, if the reports about Jesus were true, He was more than capable of providing that miracle.
Verse 27-28 gives us a pretty clear picture of her thought process. “Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. 28For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.” She wasn’t even trying to get Jesus’ attention. She just wanted a small piece of the power she heard about because she believed even the smallest fragment of Jesus was enough. Again, we see that hope in Jesus was not misplaced.
She pressed through the crowd, touched His clothes, and verse 29 tells us that she was “…instantly…healed of her affliction.” Now, Jesus could have kept walking, because this lady was healed, and Jarius’ daughter was still on her deathbed. But Jesus decided to do more than offhandedly heal this lady. He stopped, and asked a ridiculous question; “Who touched me?”.
The disciples tried to dismiss His question. They said, “you see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” Jesus persisted though, until the woman finally came to Him “trembling” as if she had done something wrong. For whatever reason, this woman didn’t seem to want attention. Perhaps she was embarrassed; perhaps she felt she wasn’t worth Jesus’ time. Whatever her reasoning, the point of this interaction remains the same: in a crowd of people, Jesus stopped everything to address the needs of an individual.
Instead of the rebuke she anticipated, Jesus addressed the woman with a term of endearment. In verse 34, He called her “daughter”, and told her “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction”. When all other avenues had failed this lady, a simple, minuscule act of faith led to peace, healing, and salvation from a compassionate Savior she had only heard rumors about.
Unfortunately, this beautiful moment between Jesus and this woman was quickly overshadowed by some extremely discouraging news, which leads us to our third point: An Impossible Situation.
Point 3: An Impossible Situation (v.35-43)
The moment peace and healing had been given to this woman, Jarius received news that his daughter had died. His urgent situation had gone from hopeful to hopeless. Death had taken its course, and there was nothing left to do. So, in verse 35, the messengers told Jairus not to “…bother (Jesus) anymore”.
As an aside, we should never be afraid to “bother” Jesus. So many Bible verses encourage us to do the exact opposite. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tell us to “pray without ceasing”. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to “cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you”. The Bible reiterates the fact that we should bring every situation to Jesus because He cares for us.
Before we go on, I want us to consider two things from our outside perspective. First of all, we have the whole Bible, and we know that Jesus could and did raise the dead on several different occasions in the other Gospels. In fact, the Gospel of Luke also records Jesus raising a widow’s son from the dead—literally, in the middle of a funeral procession. However, this is the first time in Mark’s presentation of Jesus that we see Him address the issue of death. It’s possible that Mark describes this progression of events purposefully: people had seen Jesus heal the sick, cast out demons, and even calm a storm with mere words. But what happens when Jesus calls someone to trust Him after death has taken its toll?
Second, we know from the whole story that Jesus’ plan was to raise this girl from the dead. However, there is no mention of Jesus revealing that plan to Jairus. He made no promise to Jairus that his daughter would live, and He had not told him what He was about to do. The only thing Jesus tells Jairus is found in verse 36: “Don’t be afraid. Only believe.” Put this all together, and we’re left with a man facing an impossible situation with no explanation, no promised outcome, and no indication of what Jesus is going to do. All Jairus has is the word of Jesus: “Only believe.”
So, leaving the crowd behind, Jesus took Jairus, His three closest disciples (Peter, James, and John) and continued to Jairus’ house. When they arrived, our passage describes exactly what we would expect to find: “people weeping and wailing loudly”. Then in verse 39, Jesus asked another seemingly ridiculous question: “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep”.
We have no indication of how Jairus actually felt at this moment, but verse 40 tells us that no one else was taking Jesus seriously; everyone “laughed at (Jesus)”. So, Jesus promptly put everyone out of the house with the exception of Jairus, his wife, and the three disciples. Then, as easily as waking someone from sleep, Jesus spoke to the dead girl, brought her back to life, and told her parents to feed her. Verse 42 says they were “utterly astounded”.
As this passage comes to a close, we see that through the progression of these events, Jesus did what He always does: He met people in their need, addressed those needs, and brought hope and healing to individuals in otherwise impossible situations. So, let this bottom line summarize this entire passage: No situation is beyond Jesus.
Bottom Line: No situation is beyond Jesus.
This passage shows us a series of unfortunate events that progress from bad, to worse, to impossible. However, each situation is laid out for us to learn this very important truth: Jesus has the authority and compassion to address any and every issue, no matter how hopeless it may seem. No crowd is too big, no person is too unnoticed, and no order of nature, death or otherwise is beyond His authority.
However, these amazing miracles point us to an even greater truth: if Jesus has authority over death itself, what does this mean for those who trust Jesus? He spoke to this in another account of Him raising someone from the dead. In John 11:25-26, Jesus says,
“…I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
In Jesus’ love and compassion for us, He promises us that those who believe in Him, even if they experience death, will have eternal life with Him. So, let Jesus’ words to Jairus encourage us in the situations we face: “Don’t be afraid. Only believe”. Let this passage challenge us in the following ways this week:
Weekly Challenge(s):
- Trust Jesus with your situation.
- Perhaps you’re experiencing a situation that needs immediate attention.
- Perhaps you’ve been dealing with a situation that seems to have no solution.
- Whatever the case, don’t be afraid; trust Jesus.
- Tell someone about your Savior.
- The very end of our passage tells us that Jesus told Jairus NOT to tell anyone about the miracle of raising his daughter from the dead.
- Jesus did not want His miracles to create a distorted public understanding of His mission: Jesus came to save sinners
- Death is just one of the many results of sin, and Jesus came that we might have life, and that abundantly. He came to redeem us from sin so death would not have the final word, and THAT is what we need to share with others: victory over sin, and hope beyond death.
Closing:
(Gospel presentation & closing prayer)
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