Desperate Faith
I love a good story. Whether I’m reading or seeing a movie or watching TV or even listening to someone tell about an adventure they had. A great story can be captivating. Funny. Motivating. Moving. Heart pounding. Challenging. Kids especially love stories. Their imaginations are still young and wild and they can be swept away by an adventure that is told to them.
Over the past several years their have been TV programs that are made up of epic stories. With twists and turns and story arches. If you've watched any tv you’ve experienced the twists and turns of stories. They make use of these story arches. Lost was good at this. You’re on the island with a very intense sequence playing out before your eyes and just as the scene shifts towards what will explain everything that is happening they cut into a completely different scene. A whole new story line that is being added in for no apparent reason at the time! Agghhhh!.... But they know that they have my attention and I will watch this story through to the end because sooner or later they will get back to the story that was unfolding earlier.
This story is somewhat like that. There is an intense life or death story about a dad and his daughter and it is interrupted by another story, and then goes back to the original story. This story is in Mark chapter 5 beginning at verse 21.
Let’s jump into this story by getting some background first. We need to get up to speed on what Jesus has been doing. Before this, he has been traveling by boat recently. A few days earlier he had been in this region and had taught through telling stories. We call them parables. Huge crowds gathered to hear him; So many people that at one point he got into a boat to make it easier for people to hear him. The crowd stood along the beach and he taught them. If you’ve ever fishing on a lake you’ve noticed how easily our voices can travel across the top of the water. Jesus made use of this by speaking from a boat. So Jesus had an incredible following. He became, what we would say today, a celebrity. Mobs of people clamored to hear and see him. Some were amazed at his teaching. Some were there to see if he would perform miracles. There were some who distrusted him and were looking to find the dirt in his life. They would heckle him. If it were today He would have a following like a celebrity. He would be featured on Access Hollywood or TMZ. Paparazzi would be everywhere. David Letterman would be trying to get him on his show. The Enquirer would have a cover story about a woman who claimed to be his long lost twin and could do miracles too. All the craziness that we associate with celebrities in today’s world; He was in the middle of that type of craziness.
I could see the paparazzi of the day frantically sketching out images of him- hey they didn’t have cameras back then!
Or…The village story tellers spinning tales of his exploits. Hundreds of stories proliferated around him. News was carried through cities verbally so people would shout out headlines. Hear about the latest claim of Jesus. Jesus has gone too far this time. More miracles are seen … Details at 11.
Can you see the scene that he was in the middle of everyday at this place?
So one evening Jesus lets his guys know that he wants to go over to the other side of the lake. I think he was ready for some peace and quiet. He had an unwanted celebrity status and he needed to hole up somewhere where the paparazzi would leave them all alone. So Jesus and a few of his crew take one of their boats across the lake. Of course, other boats followed them… even in that day the paparazzi were tenacious. This is the boat trip where we get the famous story about him calming the sea. Personally I think the storm was used to drive off the other boats following him. Even paparazzi will only go so far. Storm comes up. Other boats turn tail and run back to shore. Jesus calms to storm. All is well. They get to other shore for some peace and quiet but…. There is a demon possessed man living in the cemetery and Jesus goes back to work. It’s like the Indiana Jones movies where Indiana gets out of one death defying predicament only to step into another. Of course we know Indy always has his trusty whip at his side to save him. Jesus on the other hand always had His trusty authority at his side to save him.
By the way, it’s the same authority we have as believers. Jesus used that authority “Indiana Jones style” and worked those demons over!! When’s the last time you cracked the whip of your Jesus-given authority over the head of a circumstance or problem in your life or the life of another person?? I can’t go there today but just look up Isaiah 61.1 and keep reading through the chapter and you will see what this Jesus-given authority can do and will do in your hands.
So… Now they go back across the lake to the other side again. Remember this is where the mobs are. A mix of devoted followers, groupies, agitators, paparazzi, religious enemies, and curious folks. I’m sure someone spotted the boat as it made it’s way back across the lake. So by the time they dropped anchor the crowd was huge and in an uproar. As the boat approached Jesus and his crew could see the gathering crowd and the plume of dust and noise on the shore. Here is where this story takes off.
Mark 5- Desperate faith
A Risk of Faith-- Message Bible
21-24After Jesus crossed over by boat, a large crowd met him at the seaside. One of the meeting-place leaders named Jairus came. When he saw Jesus, he fell to his knees, beside himself as he begged, "My dear daughter is at death's door. Come and lay hands on her so she will get well and live." Jesus went with him, the whole crowd tagging along, pushing and jostling him.
OK, here’s the scene. Jarius is a dad and he’s desperate. How desperate? His 12year old daughter is on her death bed. Alive, but not by much. Here is where Jesus and Jarius stories come together. Jesus has been traveling, dealing with mobs, teaching, ministering. Right now the two of them are in a mob of people. Jarius on the other hand has been secluded. He is a man who is very active in his synagogue. He part of the established religion that Jesus and his crew tried to minister to but have been rejected time and again. The Jewish synagogue has a lot of issues with Jesus. Jarius has been in his home, at his daughter’s bedside and at the synagogue praying for an answer. He is a man with a broken heart. He has felt desperation set in over the past several days. He is a dad whose daughter is dying and he has no means to help her. What Jarius does know is that he has heard stories about a man who heals. Word gets around fast in his village and he has heard all the secondhand stories. His heart says to him that they are just that…just stories, but there’s something very deep inside of him that draws him towards Jesus. Even though he is a ruler in the synagogue and they are at odds with what Jesus teaches… Suddenly that has no meaning to him. Suddenly those beliefs that he has lived his life on are set aside in his desperation. There’s desperation but it is mixed with a spark of hope that the stories may be true about Jesus. He is willing to do absolutely anything to save his daughter. He has desperate faith.
So here he is; A dad who may never see his daughter alive again. He made the tough decision to risk it, to find this man Jesus, who is purported to be a healer. And to beg for his daughter’s life. He is a dad who left his daughters bedside to find hope for her. He leaves his home- where there is gut wrenching sadness, where people are already waiting to mourn over the death of his daughter. And he searches for this teacher named Jesus. Jesus is easy to find because all the tongues in the village are telling stories about him. Just ask anyone and you’ll hear. Jarius hears that Jesus boat is spotted coming back across the lake. He makes a run for it. He fights his way through the mob of people. He gets to the shore. He hopes that the boat will anchor here. He hopes that he is not too late. All he can think about is his precious daughter. He would trade his own life for hers.
As they waited for the boat some people recognized him. “That’s Jarius, one of the temple leaders, what’s he doing in this mob?” Word gets around quickly about Jarius. Eventually the crowd begins to sense that there will be a confrontation when Jesus steps off onto the beach. Here’s another Jewish leader who will confront Jesus and there will be a great scene. The crowd is thinking that they are in for a great treat. More food for the paparazzi to feed on. They give him room to meet Jesus. There’s a buzz in the air like a fight’s about to break out. This should be good for a lot more stories to be told in the villages and marketplaces! What they didn’t realize was that there was a story about to be told but it was not like anything they were expecting.
Jesus steps onto dry land and Jarius sees him and falls to his knees at the feet of Jesus. The entire mob buzzes with talking. This is not what they were expecting. This may be even better than they thought, imagine one of the temple authorities lying at the feet of Jesus. This controversy is even better than the fight they expected! The talking dies down. The crowd is hushed. Faintly they hear weeping. A man‘s voice -- weeping. The people around the scene bend in to hear what’s happening, what’s being said. They hear Jarius, he is sobbing “my daughter, she’s only twelve and she’s dying. There’s nothing I can do. I have no hope except you. I’ve heard the stories about you. Please, I beg you, come and place your hands on my daughter and heal her. I am a desperate man with this as my only hope. If you do this she will be healed and will live.
Jesus agrees to go with him. As Jarius gets up to lead Jesus to his house the crowd comes alive again with buzzing voices. Quickly the news spreads about what just took place. Hey, nobody wants to miss this! This is the stuff they are here to see. The mob parts to let them through. The nosey and noisy crowd follows them to Jarius house. Pushing and jostling each other to get the best view of what is to take place. Everybody wants to be right where the action is. It is loud and dusty. As much as Jarius was being jostled, the only thought in his mind was his daughter. Are we in time? Can she hold on for a little longer? In the mean time the entire mob knew the story and most of them wanted to see the little girl healed... or did they? As they headed down the road more and more joined in the march to the house.
25-29A woman who had suffered a condition of hemorrhaging for twelve years—a long succession of physicians had treated her, and treated her badly, taking all her money and leaving her worse off than before—had heard about Jesus. She slipped in from behind and touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, "If I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well." The moment she did it, the flow of blood dried up. She could feel the change and knew her plague was over and done with.
The crowd was so thick with people Jesus and Jarius were obscured so word continued to circulate through the crowd about Jesus and Jarius. A woman who just joined the crowd who had been sick for 12 years realized that this was her opportunity to be healed by this man. It didn’t matter that he was on his way to save the life of a 12 year old girl. She was desperate too. She had no money left because the doctors had taken it all trying to cure her. She was weak because of the blood loss and she knew she couldn’t walk the distance to Jarius house. She had one hope. To fight her way through the crowd now and to catch Jesus before her strength ran out. She was very weak, but something inside her pushed her to give it all she had. Desperate faith was pushing her.
She begins to work her way through the crowd. She’s calling on all the strength she has left to get to Jesus. She is jostled and pushed, sworn at but still determined. She catches a glimpse of Jesus. The pace is almost more than she can endure. She works her way closer. She sees him just several people separate them now. She’s breathing so heavily now her throat hurts, her mouth is dry. Her legs are like heavy weights, her feet are dragging forward step by step. The crowd keeps its pace; she’s slowing down, unable to keep the pace, but still separated from Jesus by a couple people. Desperation pushes her to the limit; if she can just get their attention. If Jesus would just stop long enough to lay his healing hands on her… she has no strength left... but is one person away from him now. She is behind him now. And the crowd is moving too fast. She has one chance, one hope. Can she get his attention? Her throat is dry and parched. She can’t be heard above the noise of the crowd. Her only hope is to touch him, because she is now thinking that all she needs to do is touch him and she will be healed. She lunges forward, reaching with one arm extended out between the people in the crowd… her fingers only brush the cloak of Jesus… A surge of healing flows through her.
She is stunned.... She is savoring the moment.... 12 years of suffering and now complete health. The crowd noise fades into the distance. She is alone in her thoughts, in her victory; her heart alive with gratitude. She hears nothing else around her. She is absorbed in what just took place.
30At the same moment, Jesus felt energy discharging from him. He turned around to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my robe?" 31His disciples said, "What are you talking about? With this crowd pushing and jostling you, you're asking, 'Who touched me?' Dozens have touched you!" 32-33But he went on asking, looking around to see who had done it. The woman, knowing what had happened, knowing she was the one, stepped up in fear and trembling, knelt before him, and gave him the whole story. 34Jesus said to her, "Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you're healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague."
The woman is transformed. She is “lost in the moment”. She is overwhelmed. As she stands there she realizes that the whole crowd has stopped. There’s a commotion going on right on front of her. Jesus and his disciples are talking. She sees a man next to Jesus who looks as desperate as she just was. He looks like a man on a mission and something has held him up. This must be the man with the sick daughter, she thinks. Now she hears the question, "who touched me?" Jesus was asking who touched him. The crowd moved back in fear, so many touched him and they were concerned about why Jesus was so adamant to know. There she was looking at Jesus, this man with him, and some of his crew. Everyone else had drawn back away from them. She knew he meant her. Her newly healed body was trembling. She knelt before him and laid out her whole 12 year journey with this sickness. Jesus listened intently as her story unfolded before him. But Jarius, became more desperate because of his daughter’s life and death struggle.
Jesus response to her story was amazing. He called her “daughter”. She was part of the family. Jesus told, “Because you risked following your faith you are whole, your faith has healed you.” But, wasn’t He the one who healed? Yet he declared her faith to be a source of her healing. This is the story within the other story. Here’s the wrap up on this before we continue on to Jarius' house.
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This woman had 12 years of sickness. Literally her lifeblood was being drained out of her a little at a time. Let’s look at this and apply it to us. Compare this to living an unhealthy lifestyle. Maybe you have years and years of following unhealthy compulsions- anything from overeating, to uncontrolled anger, to constant complaining. You can plug in a number of lifestyle activities. Self control issues, living in shame about your past or even hidden activities that you are ashamed of. Compare these to a little of your life blood being lost day after day, week after week, month by month, on and on. You become weak. You love God but are not living a healthy strong life. You don’t know how to approach him. Our weakness drives us to be desperate. When you reach out to touch Jesus it’s as if you’re holding on by a thread…. You can barely get to him through your weakness, but at the same time there’s a desperate faith driving you on to get there. Through all your turmoil and weakness the faith is still there. This story states that many touched him. Only this woman had His healing power charging through her body.
Here are two important notes.
Her faith; which is her expectation that she would be healed, activated Jesus healing power. Many reach out to touch him today, but where is their expectation? You and I can have that expectation without being in a desperate situation. But, sometimes desperation leads us to expectations we would not otherwise have.
When her healing took place she knew it. Immediately she was completely aware that she had been healed. This type of healing, activated by faith and expectation that goes beyond our comfort zone we will be aware of. She had an expectation that leaves no room for anything else. Do we? Are we willing to separate ourselves from the crowd in an act of desperate, risky faith?
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35While he was still talking, some people came from the leader's house and told him, "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?" 36Jesus overheard what they were talking about and said to the leader, "Don't listen to them; just trust me." 37-40He permitted no one to go in with him except Peter, James, and John. They entered the leader's house and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: "Why all this busybody grief and gossip? This child isn't dead; she's sleeping." Provoked to sarcasm, they told him he didn't know what he was talking about.
Now, we story arch back to a dad and his daughter. Jarius mind must be racing. He knows the healing power that Jesus has but can he get there in time? In all the turmoil with this woman he had not noticed that some from his own house had arrived there and made their way through the crowd. The crowd is still hushed. And then the news is told…. She’s dead. It’s no use. You’re too late. Jarius heart must have dropped to his feet. The worst has happened. He stands in stunned silence as his friends and relatives give him advice to give up. Have you ever been there? Maybe it was literally a life or death struggle or maybe with the death of a dream. Or maybe facing the impossible in your finances; or family issues. You’re hearing all around you “it’s too late”. “It’s over”. Your worst nightmare is about to be realized. Your well intentioned friends or family can give you bad advice. Jarius had no verbal response, but Jesus did. Times like these don’t require a verbal response from you. Let Jesus speak the words! It’s so easy for me to open my mouth and instead of faith, I end up agreeing with the one who just spoke the death sentence. I can see the deep love that a father has for his daughter well up in the eyes of this man. This man who has risked it all, who is holding onto that last thread of hope. His response is wordless. He still has hope. And then Jesus takes control of the situation.
Don’t listen to them, trust me- this is Jesus response to them. She is not dead, she is just sleeping. They arrive at his home. Now, if there is one thing that these people know how to do it’s how to make a big deal out of grieving. The house is filled with people; from relatives to nosy neighbors to town gossips. All are worked up, they are in a tizzy, wailing and going on about this tragedy that has happened. Jesus sizes up the situation and hand picks three of his guys to go in with him. He confronted this scene inside Jarius house and told them they were all wrong. This child is not dead but only sleeping. That went over like a lead balloon. They got on Jesus for not seeing the obvious. What’s the matter with you? Are you crazy? Jesus displaced all of them. He got them all out of the house.
40-43But when he had sent them all out, he took the child's father and mother, along with his companions, and entered the child's room. He clasped the girl's hand and said, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, get up." At that, she was up and walking around! This girl was twelve years of age. They, of course, were all beside themselves with joy. He gave them strict orders that no one was to know what had taken place in that room. Then he said, "Give her something to eat."
If you’re gonna do some ministry the first thing that needs to happen is to “clean the house”. Jesus and his crew/ his disciples removed everybody from the house before he brought dad and mom back in. Just like the woman with the blood loss earlier, something was done to separate them from the crowd. Acts of faith will do that. You can hide in a crowd. You can hide how you really are. It can be a comfort zone that becomes familiar and easy to be a part of. The crowd mentality can take over and you will find yourself doing stuff and saying things that you would normally not do. Ask anyone who has had to do any kind of crowd control. The mob mentality can be a dangerous force to be reckoned with. Jesus knew this quite well. Healing requires that we get out of our comfort zone, especially out of the “crowd mentality”.
Jesus and his three companions brought the parents in. The distress of the situation had to be worn upon their faces. The weight hung heavy on their shoulders. All human wisdom was being held in check. Again, nothing is said by either parent. It had to be so very quiet when they all re-entered this house. All the noise was outside. All the turmoil was gone. It was eerily quite. Check out what happened next. No long drawn out prayers. As mom and dad held their breath and clung to one another… In the stillness of this home one hand was held, one voice was heard. Jesus lifted the girl’s small hand in his and said one statement “little girl, get up”.
Immediately the girl was up. Not just standing but walking around. What joy must have burst forth! Tears of joy, screams of joy. Incredible. Can you imagine being there? Being the dad or the mom or one of the three disciples? How about the little girl? At first she wouldn’t understand what all the commotion was about. But as the story is realized unbridled joy would fill that place. They were all beside themselves with joy! I can see some dancing and shouting and whooping it up taking place in there.
Can you imagine with me being one of the groups that got tossed out of there? You think they had left the property? No way. They knew they were right and Jesus was wrong. They were expecting to do the “I told you so” routine all over Jesus and his guys. You know they could hear what was going on. And about the mob that followed Jesus most the way there- I would imagine that there were a few of them hanging out too. All that commotion going on in the house and they didn’t have a clue as to what was happening at first. I would imagine that they eventually figured it out.
Jesus gave strict orders to not speak to anyone about what took place. Remember the mob mentality I spoke of. Don’t get back into that. Don’t immediately go to your old lifestyle and tell all that Jesus did for you. They have nothing better to do than to tear your story of faith apart and trample down the precious work of God. This is a precious time! Savour the moment.
This is what one dad did. Desperation fueled his quest. Determination kept it going. God’s will to see this through no matter what was lived out in his life. So what about us? What is it that is being pronounced dead in your life? Is there a dream for your life that has never been realized? Are you in the position of this dad where you are walking with Jesus back to the house to see someone healed? Can you get out of your comfort zone to do this? Yes you can. You may be like the woman whose life blood was slowly leaving her. You have stuff in your life that is draining you. From overspending to anger issues to overeating or a multitude of unhealthy habits or just a financial crunch that is overcoming you despite your best efforts. This is a universal story of hope that brings victory. Desperation that drives us to faith. Maybe you don’t completely understand what God is all about. You aren’t familiar with Jesus being a friend and savior. Today is the best time for you to know this.
We still find Jesus within reach today. He lives in and through his "Christ followers".
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