Sermon Cloud

Luke 8: 40-56

Welcome- Bob (?)

Songs- Seth

Reading- Psalm 62:1-8

We have just finished movingthrough the season of Advent, which is, by definition a season of waiting. Somuch of advent is about waiting, hoping, straining to listen, waiting to see…One of the passages we read during our Christmas Eve service was this prophecyabout the coming of the Messiah.

Malachi 4:2-

When Messiah came, He wouldbring good things… The problem,for the people who first heard this… and sometimes for us, is that God seems totake His time…

You have two pieces ofpaper, one in each hand… On one I want you to write something you see God doingin someone else’s life, something you feel like you can be truly thankful for.And on the other, write something you are hoping God will do in your life thiscoming year, something you’ve been waiting for… And then hold them, one in each hand, through the discussion timethis morning.

We’re going to look at astory from Luke 8 this morning…

VS40

So- The crowd had beenwaiting for Jesus. They had probably heard about all the amazing things He hadbeen doing, heard Him speak… and they wanted more. Earlier in this chapter,between Jesus heading to the Gerasene region and then coming back, there hadbeen a storm… so they had probably been there for awhile- cold, wet… waiting.

Whenever we start talkingabout following Jesus, bydefinition we are talking about waiting. This is a life that requires patience… God asks us to be patient, Heasks us to be persistent- and sometimes we find ourselves like those in thiscrowd- tired, cold, miserable- wondering when Jesus is going to show up.

But beyond that, I thinkthere’s another issue that this story is going to speak to us about- what dowe do when it seems as though God is answering everyone else’s prayer- but notours…

Look again at thepassage: 

VS40-42

Who was Jairus? What didhe do for a living? What was thesynagogue? If you read back inchapters 5-6 of Luke, you’d see that the religious leaders had already startedto hate Jesus- He had new ways of thinking, He didn’t color within their lines, He threatened their power, so they werealready plotting against Him.  Doyou think it was risky for Jairus to approach Jesus that way? Why would He dothat?

That’s right- his onlychild; a daughter who was 12 years old. What do you think this man wasfeeling as he fell at Jesus’ feet?

Do you think he cared about his job?

Jesus agrees to go with theman, and look who tags along- the whole crowd. So you have some charactershere- Jesus and His disciples, Jairus, a dying daughter who’s actuallysomewhere offstage, the crowd (How does Luke describe the crowds? They were almost crushing Jesus)… and now there’ssomeone else. While they are making their way to Jairus’ house, somethinghappens.

VS43-44

There’s a woman- notice howlong she has had this hemorrhage- maybe an open bleeding problem- maybe agynecological problem- but there’s a few things to note here:

It made her unclean-according to the OT law; this woman shouldn’t have come anywhere near Jesus- oranyone else. She would make them ceremonially unclean- unable to enter thetemple.

The Book of Mark tells us:It had cost her everything- Luke, being a doctor leaves out Mark’s comment thatshe had spent all she had on doctors and no one had been able to help.

It had been going on for 12years- the same age as Jairus’ daughter.

1.  
   1. There’s a really interesting symmetry here: for 12 years this man had had joy with his daughter, only to have it end in pain, a fatal disease- at Jesus’ feet
   2. For 12 years this woman had been in pain, seeking some relief, only to have her pain end in joy- at Jesus’ feet.
   3. Jairus comes from the front and falls before Him- the woman comes from behind and she too ends up at His feet-
   4. It’s almost as though Jesus was the middle point- the juncture for these two lives to come together

The fringe of His robe… InNumbers 15, God told the people of Israel to make tassels on the corners oftheir garments to remind them of all His commands. So on their shirts, robes,prayer shawls they would attach these tassels. The word for “corners” wherethey were to attach these tassels is “kanaf”. Interestingly enough, the word inthat verse from Malachi we read, where it says that the Sun of Righteousnesswould arrive with healing in his “wings”… the word for wings there is the sameas the word for corners in Numbers…“kanaf.” Because of what Malachi said, thelegend was that when Messiah came, He would have healing power in the fringesand tassles of His robe.

VS45-47

“Who touched me?” Why doyou think Jesus would ask that question? Why is it important?

She, a woman, a woman with aphysical condition that made her unclean… She touched the Rabbi. What willRabbi say? Surely he’s going to put her in her place…What’s His response?

VS 48

Jesus is saying something…He’s pointing at something. Throughout the Gospels Jesus shows how willing Heis to touch the untouchable…

I think here He’sdemonstrating that that works in the other direction as well- that even thosewho were formerly kept away, were “out of bounds” can come and touch andexperience and be healed by Jesus. Those things which made them “unclean” don’thave to keep them “unclean”,because Jesus brings healing, change… wholeness. He’s not saying there’s nosuch thing as uncleaness, as sin, as separation from God. He’s demonstratingthat HE Himself is the cure for that…

So Jesus heals this woman- andI wonder what Jairus is thinking while all this is going on: what do youthink? What do you think Jairus was thinking? What do you think he felt about thecrowd and about this woman?

Look what happens next:

VS49

Again, that awful symmetry: asHe is declaring this woman healed,the messenger arrives with the news that Jairus’ daughter is dead: Now what do you think Jairus felt about the woman andabout the crowd and about JESUS at that very moment? What would you have felt?

I don’t know- it’s justspeculation, but I can imagine that at that moment, Jairus had some pretty hardfeelings about the woman, the crowd and maybe even Jesus-My daughter is dead ifonly you hadn’t bothered Him, if only you hadn’t been in my way, if only Youhad hurried!

And then Jesus says:

VS50

How long do you think that walk back home was? What must havebeen going through Jairus’ head as they made their way down the road?

I think many of us are inthe same place Jairus’ was at in this story: We are looking to God to do amiracle in our lives, to come through for us… and He seems to be taking His ownsweet time about it. Or worse yet, we see Him working in other people’s lives,and we wonder, why not me? What’s wrong with me, God? Did I do something?

When faced with the longwalk between asking God and seeing Him work, between the promise and thefulfillment- we each- Jairus and every one of us have a choice as to how wewill view ourselves, how we will view others and most importantly, how we willview God.

I’m not sure which pathJairus took- I certainly know what I would have been feeling were I in hisplace- But when we feel that God is not hearing us, when we see Him working inother people’s lives- when we pound and pound and pound and still the doordoesn’t open, we might be tempted to feel that we are more kind than God- “God- if I were You I would meet this need rightnow, today.” Or that we are smarter than God. “If I were God, I would work this way in this situation. Or that we are greaterthan God. “God- I have a rightto want things my way and I have a right to be angry at You for not giving themto me.”

The truth is that when Godappears to be doing nothing, sometimes He is really doing something we have notyet learned to value. God was working in Jairus’ life- he had brought him to apoint of crisis and even beyond-but God was still at work. As Jairus’ daughterdied, as Jesus got “sidetracked”, as they took what must have been the longestwalk of Jairus’ life- God was still at work- in fact, He was walking rightbeside Jairus the whole way.

The other path Jairus couldhave taken and the other one we can take is the path of faith- it’s seeing whatGod is doing in the lives of others and saying- SO- God is still at work- I wonder what He’s doing in my life?It’s seeing God answer other’s prayers and redoubling our prayers, notabandoning them. It’s trusting that when I can’t see God working, He simplydoing something that I haven’t yet learned to value. It’s knowing that evenwhile I wait, God has not abandoned me.

Let’s see how the story ends

VS51-52

You’ve probably heardsomeone talk about “professional mourners” in ancient Middle Easternculture…and as odd as it sounds, I think it was probably as really good idea.The point was to fill the house with people who were visibly mourning andgrieving so as to give the family the opportunity to mourn- to let theirfeelings out without being the only ones doing it- to give them a chance toweep and wail and not be conspicuous in their grief. I think it’s actually abeautiful idea…

VS53-56

Jairus had a happy ending,and we might be tempted because the story is relatively short in scripture togloss over what he felt as all this was going on. I think if we were to dothat, we would miss a valuable lesson- some of us are walking down the sameroad Jairus walked- it’s long, we are in pain, and we don’t know how the storywill end. But the truth is, Jesus still walks right beside us saying the samething: “Don’t be afraid, just believe.”

As we approach this newyear, I want it to be filled with two things for each of us- thankfulness forwhere we do see God working, what we do see Him doing… and hopeful expectationthat even those things that don’t make sense right now, those things we’ve beenwaiting, and waiting for- hopeful expectation that even in those things, God isat work.

As we sing this next song,will you take some time to say thank you to God for what you see Him doing, andalso express some of that hopeful expectation? There are two boxes on the backtable…

Please and Thank You

Song: Seth

Placing two pieces ofpaper in boxes

Wrap Up: Bob

Announcements:

Blessing: Chris