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Philadelphia First Church of the Brethren

"Raising the Dead"

  1. The gospel of Mark presents the passage of time here in a rather specific pattern.  Jesus had been on the Jewish side of the sea of Galilee, and at night crossed the sea, encountering a storm, then upon reaching the other side, the gentile side encountered a demon possessed man, and after his exorcism, the people of the region asked Jesus to leave, and he did.  He then crossed over the sea again.  There is no indication that what transpires in today’s text is not just later in the day after the encounter with the demonic man.
    1. It is important to see the progression that we have here:
      1.                                                     i.     Jesus heals and teaches
      2.                                                   ii.     Jesus gets into a boat to cross the sea of Galilee and calms a storm
      3.                                                 iii.     Jesus encounters a man possessed by a legion of demons, and he exorcises them, upon the request of the people of the region he leaves
      4.                                                 iv.     He is not back in Jewish territory where he is
        1. asked to heal the daughter of Jairus
        2. While in route to heal the daughter, a woman with an issue of blood, touches him and is healed
        3. Jesus receives news that the girl has died
          1. Jesus  tells Jairus that she is fine
          2. Jesus restores the girl to life.
    2. This would make for a long couple of days, but it displays Jesus authority to teach and to challenge the status quo of his day, he has authority over
      1.                                                     i.     Teaching
      2.                                                   ii.     Wind and waves
      3.                                                 iii.     Demons
      4.                                                 iv.     Illness
      5.                                                   v.     Death
    3. Mark is telling us that Jesus is very clearly powerful, he scares even his closest disciples, and yet the follow him, some people ask him to leave because he scares them to much.  Now it is revealed that he even has power over death.  It is a very impressive resume.
    4. Our text for this morning begins, 21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 
      1.                                                     i.     Jesus is back on the Capernaumside of the sea of Galilee
        1. Predictably a crowd has gathered.  The people of Capernaum are not afraid of Jesus like the Gentiles were.  It is an interesting thing in and off itself, that the people of Capernaum are not afraid of Jesus.  It may suggest that they had a familiarity with Jesus that removed some of the fear, of this powerful person.
        2. One of the keystones of Jesus’ ministry is compassion, while he is powerful and dangerous, he is also compassionate.  Mark tells of Jairus coming to see Jesus, .  22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live."  24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
          1. One of the men, who were involved in the synagogue leadership, comes to Jesus.  He is likely a devout man, but not a religious professional by training.
            1.                                                                                                                 i.     He recognizes that Jesus can and does heal.
            2.                                                                                                               ii.     It is implied that he thinks Jesus is from the Father, but if your child was dying what would you do to same them?
              1. Would you go see a healer who healed by the power of Beelzebub?
              2. I don’t know what kind of man Jairus was, would he make a deal with the devil to save his daughter?
          2. Jairus comes to Jesus and pleads
            1.                                                                                                                 i.     My little daughter is dying, come, put your hands on her and heal her so she will live.
            2.                                                                                                               ii.     Jesus goes with him, no questions asked, Jesus had compassion on this man, on his daughter.
  2. Faith is a powerful thing, and it works in a number of ways, if you believe you cannot do something, you will not do it.  It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.  Yet at the same time if you think you can do something it opens the doors for all sorts of thing to happen. 
    1. Mark tells us of a woman who believed that something amazing could happen.  25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.  26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.  27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."  29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
      1.                                                     i.     There is a lot of conjecture as to what the cause of the bleeding was, and there are a number of possibilities, but the issue of blood is not the primary concern here.
        1. She had sought out the best medical care of her day, but to no avail, there was no healing, she only got worse.
        2. She had spent all she had to be made well, but only got worse.
      2.                                                   ii.     Now, here is the reason this text is important, she had faith.
        1. She heard about Jesus and she believed that he could heal her.
        2. She was convinced that if she touched Jesus’ clothes she would be healed.
          1. This is why she took the action that she did, she got close to Jesus in the crowed and touched him.
          2. Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she was freed from suffering
            1.                                                                                                                 i.     Notice the language here, it is oppression language, she was not healed but freed from her suffering.
            2.                                                                                                               ii.     Physical illness can be a form of oppression, this was a woman who needed justice
            3.                                                                                                             iii.     Many said they could heal her, she paid all she had, and only got worse, and she was oppressed, but now is free.
    2. Jesus routinely asks unreasonable questions, or seemingly so, this occasion is no different.  30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"  31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'"  32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.  33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
      1.                                                     i.     Jesus knew something happened, that someone had been healed.
        1. It is interesting, she had been healed, freed even though she never asked, she just had faith, and what is a seemingly irrational faith. 
        2. She believed that if she touched Jesus’ clothes she’d be freed from this suffering.
      2.                                                   ii.     Jesus asks, “Who touched my clothes?”
        1. The disciples object to the questions, “You see the people crowding against you, and yet you can ask, ‘who has touched me?’”
        2. They are saying Jesus don’t be silly, how can you ask such a question.
      3.                                                 iii.     Jesus begins looking at those around him, perhaps making eye contact with people
        1. Then he comes to the woman who touched him
        2. She falls to her knees, an act of submission and yielding to his authority, but unlike the demon possessed man she does not yell, she does not make demands, she makes confession.
        3. She tells him the whole story,
        4. Jesus says something very interesting, “Daughter, your faith has healed you, Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
          1. Jesus didn’t say that he healed her, but that her faith had healed her.
          2. Faith moved this woman to action, and that action resulted in her being healed and released from suffering, but she had to take action for this to happen.
            1.                                                                                                                 i.     Had she believed that if she touched Jesus clothes, but never moved to touch his clothes the faith would have made little difference.
            2.                                                                                                               ii.     Faith leads us to action, at times on our behalf, and at times on behalf of others.
  3. As we return to the original story of this passage it becomes one of faith or belief as well.  Mark writes, "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."
    1. While Jesus was speaking with the woman who was healed, men came for Jairus’ house to say, your daughter has died, let the teacher be.
      1.                                                     i.     Jesus ignored these messengers and he told Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
        1. Don’t be afraid, don’t let fear fuel your decision making process, and here that would be fear that his daughter had died.
        2. Believe that Jesus has power not only over issues of healing and illness, but also over life and death.
          1. If we know that Jesus has dominion over life and death what is there for us to fear?
    2. Jesus forbids the crowd to follow him; he takes only Jairus, Peter, James and John, James’ brother.
      1.                                                     i.     When they get to the house, it is exactly what you would expect, there are the wailing women, and people are grieving.
        1. In the midst of this, Jesus says, “Why all this commotion and wailing?  The Child is not dead but asleep!”
        2. These people knew death; it was part of their world in a very significant way.  Funerals were often in homes, the family prepared the body for burial, they had all lost children, parents, friends, and it was common.
        3. So when Jesus makes his pronouncement, you can imagine what people do and say.  They think he is crazy.
    3. Mark continues to recount the events, he writes, 40But 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. 
      1.                                                     i.     Jesus puts all the people out of the house, he takes only the girls father and mother, his disciples and when in where the child was.
        1. Jesus takes the child by the hand, and tells her to get up.
        2. Immediately she got up and began to walk around.
      2.                                                   ii.     The girls parents, and Jesus’ disciples were astonished
        1. He tells them to give her something to eat, so that everyone knows she is not a ghost.  Disembodied sprits do not eat, but little girls do.
        2. Now Jesus does one of those things which again makes no sense, he tells them to not say anything about this to anyone.
          1. Now the house had been full of mourners, they are going to know that the little girl is no longer dead.
          2. So, why does Jesus tell them to keep it to themselves?
  4. This Jesus made visible to us by Mark, can forgive sin, heal the sick and injured, control the wind and waves, cast out demons, and bring the dead back to life.  We have seen that Jesus is immensely powerful, and yet compassionate, righteous and yet approachable.  He has terrified those who know him and those who don’t.  This is the Jesus that we follow, he has called us to be his messengers, his witnesses, from here to the ends of the earth, this is our God.
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