WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.879 We're going to turn back this morning to the passage that Alistair read for us in Mark 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:14.439 chapter 5 and from verse 21 on page 840 if you've got the church Bible or it's on your 00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:15.439 bulletin sheet also. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:23.199 If you're visiting with us today, we've been looking through at quite a slow pace Mark's 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:29.960 gospel, taking it a little section at a time because it's worth doing that at such a great 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:37.840 gospel and speaks about the beginnings of the gospel. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:43.960 And we've seen, I hope most weeks we've seen anyway that Mark is in the gospel in his own 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:50.000 way, he's setting out a Christ character, a Christ authority and also the nature of 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:51.500 true faith. 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:59.400 He's talking about discipleship as well as revealing the character of Jesus himself. 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:05.400 And we've been looking over these last couple of weeks at a variety of different miracles 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:09.560 that Jesus has been doing, miraculous healings. 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:12.959 And in many ways that's what the gospel is all about. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:18.079 It's all about Jesus' miraculous healings. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:24.840 And not primarily physical, at least not in the short term, but what we find is that Jesus 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:35.120 is revealing his own lordship and pointing towards the end game of who he is and what 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.000 he has come to do on our behalf. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:38.000 And that's an end game. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:42.439 Actually last week we looked at that in the evening in Isaiah where we saw that great 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:50.840 prophecy that we looked forward with the Old Testament believers beyond our own day even 00:01:50.840 --> 00:01:53.920 to the new heavens and the new earth. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:59.920 So what we also find is when Jesus, when Matthew, Mark reveals Jesus here, he's revealing a 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:08.520 Savior who deals incredibly personally and in a very real way with individuals. 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:15.920 So there's, in this account there's physical healing, but there's also spiritual healing 00:02:15.920 --> 00:02:19.719 and pointing forward to future restoration. 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:26.719 Because all the healings that Jesus did, the physical healings that Jesus did still 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:34.079 meant that those who had been healed, grew old, or maybe didn't grow old, but some of 00:02:34.079 --> 00:02:38.199 them would have grown old and aged and died physically again. 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:43.439 Because we know that they're pointing forward that the physical healing isn't the end of 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:51.439 the story and isn't the purpose in many ways of what Jesus was doing, however miraculous 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:55.439 and how significant it was individually. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:59.400 So I know these stories are well known to us, but it's always good to look at God's 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:01.159 living word with fresh eyes. 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:07.919 And what I want to focus on mainly today is the individuality of the way Jesus deals with 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:16.319 people and remind ourselves that that is how He deals with us and not just see Him as a 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:24.199 generic Savior or not just see Him as someone who is interested in, as it were, people groups, 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:30.319 but He's interested and loves and is concerned for each of us as individuals. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:36.159 And as we sit here this morning, He's the one who knows exactly what you're thinking 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:43.560 and exactly your state of mind and exactly your needs, and He seeks through His Word 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:55.680 to bring a message and a truth, a revelation and His own love into our existence. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:00.400 And it therefore is also, I think, important for us to learn from Jesus to see people as 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:07.000 individuals as well, just as He deals with people as individuals. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:11.400 Remind ourselves that the people sitting next to us and the people we work with, our colleagues 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:18.040 and our neighbors and our family members, are image bearers of the living God themselves. 00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:21.759 They are valuable as people in and of themselves. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:28.920 And let us not be those who make assumptions about people based on their looks and make 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:37.960 assumptions based on anything that doesn't come from a real and interested knowledge 00:04:37.960 --> 00:04:38.960 of them. 00:04:38.960 --> 00:04:42.400 It's very easy for us to do that. 00:04:42.400 --> 00:04:46.800 Because here in this story, we have at least a couple of individuals. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.520 We have Jairus, synagogue leader, someone of significance in the community in which 00:04:53.520 --> 00:04:54.520 he lived. 00:04:54.520 --> 00:04:55.520 He would have had status. 00:04:55.520 --> 00:04:58.280 He would have been well known. 00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:01.839 And he comes to Jesus as a synagogue ruler. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:05.079 Not many of them were that sympathetic with Jesus. 00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:09.839 But he came and fell down at Jesus' feet because he had a daughter, a twelve-year-old 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:12.719 daughter who was dying. 00:05:12.719 --> 00:05:15.319 And he was in desperate need. 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:16.519 He'd heard about Jesus. 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:17.919 He must have known about Jesus. 00:05:17.919 --> 00:05:19.559 He knew about the miracles. 00:05:19.559 --> 00:05:27.359 And this was his last opportunity, his dying daughter. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:30.360 And here, got a twelve-year-old daughter. 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:31.360 Think of that. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:35.319 He's desperate, desperate need. 00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:40.040 And because of what's happening, there's a large crowd that's gathered. 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:41.720 Jesus has become well known. 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:42.800 He's being followed. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:46.400 There's people jostling to get nearer him this minute. 00:05:46.400 --> 00:05:48.680 Saviour, this is the one who's coming. 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:50.240 And they come close to him. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:06:00.560 And as Jesus is going to Jairus' house, there's an anonymous lady who has got an illness, 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:05.879 a condition of bleeding that makes her ceremonially unclean. 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:14.920 In many ways, an outcast probably from society, unable to work, poverty, stricken, desperate, 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:21.280 and all the money she had trying to get healed, unable to find healing, who also comes to 00:06:21.280 --> 00:06:32.439 Jesus because she believes that Jesus can do something for her. 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:37.160 So I want to look at the story and the people in it just for a few moments this morning. 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:43.960 Because I think one thing we notice is that I believe that these events were twelve years 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:46.439 in the making. 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:55.639 This grown woman, we're told, had been suffering from this miserable condition and pain and 00:06:55.639 --> 00:07:02.959 being ostracized in many ways and unclean, regarded as unclean in the society in which 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:06.120 she lived for twelve years. 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:13.279 Twelve years, maybe twelve years of, as she saw, unanswered prayers, twelve years of loneliness 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:17.119 and isolation and broken dreams. 00:07:17.119 --> 00:07:21.519 She was probably even breaking the law, the religious law, by even being part of that 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:28.639 crowd where she would have been touched and as an unclean person that was a breaking of 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:32.479 the religious laws of the day. 00:07:32.479 --> 00:07:39.479 Twelve years, the little girl, twelve years old. 00:07:39.479 --> 00:07:41.879 We don't know anything about her condition. 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:43.719 We don't know whether it was sudden. 00:07:43.719 --> 00:07:50.159 Maybe we can presume that she had been maybe quite well and had a happy childhood in a 00:07:50.159 --> 00:07:54.319 home where she was loved and cared for. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:08:00.000 But she took a very serious illness and was struck down and was dying and we don't know 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:02.480 what her condition was. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:09.319 But in the urgency of the moment, and we've seen Jesus doing this before, He stops. 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:14.480 He doesn't go immediately to Jairus' house where the little girl was dying and was urgently 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:15.480 in need. 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:22.279 He stops to focus on this woman who touches him and who is in great need. 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:26.240 And we'll see a little bit more about that in a moment. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:30.959 But what we see, I believe what we see in that, I think that the fact that the years 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:35.080 are mentioned is not just because it's true, it is true. 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:42.040 She was twelve and the woman had been suffering for twelve years. 00:08:42.040 --> 00:08:47.440 But twelve and numbers in the Bible are significant also, and twelve is very much the symbol of 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:48.440 perfection. 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:50.400 And what is it? 00:08:50.400 --> 00:08:52.680 Is there any meaning in that? 00:08:52.680 --> 00:09:03.160 Well, I would suggest that it reminds us that this time was absolutely right in God's sovereign 00:09:03.159 --> 00:09:07.279 power and authority for them to be healed. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:15.360 It might have seemed unreasonable for Jesus to stop when Jairus' daughter was so ill. 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:19.079 It might have seemed unreasonable to let this woman suffer for twelve years. 00:09:19.079 --> 00:09:23.000 Who can know the answer to suffering when we call out to God? 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:27.559 Why doesn't answer quicker and sooner according to our needs? 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:33.959 Not as we pray to Him in faith, there's a recognition that His timing is always right. 00:09:33.959 --> 00:09:37.039 He's never late and He's never early. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:40.839 He's always in time in our lives. 00:09:40.839 --> 00:09:48.359 And as we seek for and look for His answers in our lives, for Him to display His power 00:09:48.359 --> 00:09:55.199 in our lives, in our weakness, we simply trust that His timing is perfect, even though we 00:09:55.199 --> 00:09:57.039 might not understand it. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:02.559 And we cry out about the suffering and the difficulties and the trouble that people have 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.639 to face and the sadness of the world in which we live. 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:08.399 And we say, how long, Lord? 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:12.079 We're saying how long, not because we think, get your time right, God. 00:10:12.079 --> 00:10:14.319 Come on, finish. 00:10:14.319 --> 00:10:18.599 It's because we're crying out for justice and we're crying out for the suffering to 00:10:18.599 --> 00:10:25.159 end, but we also, in praying to Him, are saying that He knows and His timing is perfect and 00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:33.959 there is a future that even these events that we read about here is pointing towards. 00:10:33.959 --> 00:10:41.639 And we recognize that that future, perfect healing, will be a healing that will encompass 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:48.159 a new heavens and a new earth and destruction, not only the defeat of evil which we've seen 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:53.679 in the cross, but it's utter and complete destruction. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:11:00.879 So we recognize and see that even a story like this has 12 years in the making and sometimes 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:03.679 we need a lot of patience. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:06.319 And sometimes maybe you need a lot of patience. 00:11:06.319 --> 00:11:11.839 And I need a lot of patience as we pray and as we seek God's healing and God's hand in 00:11:11.839 --> 00:11:14.519 our lives. 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:21.479 But also I think this story is interesting because we don't know in whom God is working. 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:25.639 And as a reminder to us that we don't really know what is happening in people's lives and 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:27.200 in whom God is working. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:30.399 The woman was very anonymous in the crowd. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:33.639 Nobody seemed to notice her or care about her. 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:36.360 She had no one to bring her to Jesus. 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:37.639 She came on her own. 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:39.840 She had no one to plead on her behalf. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:44.480 She in desperation comes because there's nowhere else to go. 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:47.440 Jairus, the synagogue ruler, was completely different. 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:50.960 He's named in the account for a start. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:55.440 He is a very public figure among those not known for their sympathy with Jesus. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:59.720 But both of them, both on the outside looked very different. 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:03.240 We wouldn't have gauged or understood what was the issue. 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:08.280 But both a deep heart-rending need for divine help. 00:12:08.280 --> 00:12:11.639 Both of them had that great need. 00:12:11.639 --> 00:12:16.560 Who knew between these two people, the anonymous women in the crowd and Jairus, the synagogue 00:12:16.560 --> 00:12:18.879 ruler, a respected family man? 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:27.080 Who knew that both of them were crying out desperate for Jesus to work in their lives? 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:30.360 And I prayed this because I think sometimes it's important, who is it in the crowd that 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:35.080 we don't notice? 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:38.879 Who is it that we presume won't be interested in the gospel? 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:39.879 They'll never be interested. 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:44.039 I'm never going to speak to them about my faith because they are never going to be interested 00:12:44.039 --> 00:12:45.799 in seeking Christ. 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:50.599 Who do we think has it all together outwardly, like Jairus, the synagogue ruler, who would 00:12:50.599 --> 00:12:53.159 think everything's all together? 00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:56.120 We think they're fine spiritually. 00:12:56.120 --> 00:13:02.679 We come to church, we wear the clothes, we look decent, we go away. 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:05.000 Nobody inquires about our heart. 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:08.439 Nobody inquires or asks about our spiritual condition. 00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:17.400 Nobody knows that we are crying out inside in desperate loss and emptiness spiritually. 00:13:17.400 --> 00:13:21.720 And therefore, I think it's important for us as Christians to pray for the discernment 00:13:21.720 --> 00:13:30.440 of Christ and to have an interest in people's lives spiritually so that we take that time 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:40.440 to look beyond what are the outward appearances sometimes of people and be willing to seek 00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:41.960 their spiritual good. 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:42.960 Such an important... 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:47.520 I mean, grace groups are such a great thing because it gets beyond the surface of just 00:13:47.520 --> 00:13:54.960 turning up in church, doing the religious thing and going away untouched. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:00.400 No one coming there, no one asking any question, no one seeking our spiritual good. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:06.959 We don't know in whom God is working or who is desperately in need for Christ. 00:14:06.959 --> 00:14:12.519 But we also do see in this story that faith in Christ changes everything. 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:16.319 And I don't want you to be unaware of that this morning because we come to church this 00:14:16.319 --> 00:14:18.679 morning, we might not have put a lot of thought into it. 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:23.840 We might not be thinking much about our Christian lives or Christian walk with Jesus. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:27.279 Our faith might be in a sense even incidental to us. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:29.559 It doesn't really impact our lives. 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:35.159 And yet it's good to be reminded that faith in Christ changes everything for us. 00:14:35.159 --> 00:14:42.439 It makes life very different for us even though sometimes it doesn't feel maybe very different. 00:14:42.439 --> 00:14:49.319 We recognize and see from this story that when we have faith in Christ, there is a divine 00:14:49.319 --> 00:14:51.759 family reconciliation. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:53.119 We're reconciled with God. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:59.360 We know that's a basic foundational truth of what we believe as Christians. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:06.840 And we see that in verse 34 here, when Jesus speaks to the woman who he eventually calls 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:13.720 out, she tries to kind of hide away as it were, he calls out and he says, daughter, your 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:14.840 faith has made you well. 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:17.840 Go in peace and be healed of your disease. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:25.280 And he speaks lovingly to Jairus' daughter also. 00:15:25.280 --> 00:15:31.680 And in fatherly terms, he kind of takes Jairus' role in a sense and says, Talitha, come get 00:15:31.680 --> 00:15:32.680 up. 00:15:32.680 --> 00:15:37.399 Just like a father would tell a young girl who's getting out of bed, his young daughter 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:39.960 waking up in the morning. 00:15:39.960 --> 00:15:45.160 And there's almost this sense of which Jesus, the Son, takes on Jesus, the Father, God, 00:15:45.160 --> 00:15:46.160 the Father's role. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:56.879 He takes a fatherly role and he pronounces on this poor, isolated woman great identity. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:01.159 He reminds her, you're a daughter of the King. 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:11.120 And the story of two daughters, a loving, intimate and gentle word from Jesus Christ. 00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:18.080 These fatherly glimpses, the authority of His love, and it's key. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:23.120 It's key to our understanding of faith is that we are brought into the family of the 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:24.120 King. 00:16:24.120 --> 00:16:29.679 We're reconciled with our Creator, with our God, and with our Father in heaven so that 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:30.679 we can pray. 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:31.679 Jesus taught us to pray. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:34.000 Our Father is in heaven. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:44.240 And a good father just cares, doesn't he, protects his children, loves them, looks after them. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:46.200 How much more are heavenly Father? 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:51.600 We are sons and daughters of the King of Kings. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:17:01.559 And His touch has, it's a physical touch here, both the woman who touches Him and He who 00:17:01.559 --> 00:17:05.079 holds the young girl's hand and tells her to rise. 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:09.759 But we have the spiritual, it touches so important physically for us. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:13.599 So I hope it wasn't an irreverent picture. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:18.879 But I saw a really great, I thought it was a really great picture on Facebook this week. 00:17:18.879 --> 00:17:24.879 I stalk my wife's Facebook, I don't have my own, because I never want to make any identity 00:17:24.879 --> 00:17:29.319 on Facebook or say anything, like be anonymous. 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:33.200 Just find out what's happening in the world, Katrina's world. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:35.240 And it's all very boring, usually. 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:38.799 Facebook, not Katrina. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:40.960 But there was a great, great picture this week. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:51.319 I hope it wasn't irreverent in terms of image, but it was about someone entering heaven, 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:57.759 a woman entering heaven, just throwing her arms around Jesus. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:03.000 You know like a child would do when they haven't seen their parent for ages, they just run 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:08.480 up to them, they come up from downstairs and they run up and they just put their arms around 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.279 their parent or a friend or whoever. 00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:16.440 And just this amazingly powerful picture of someone entering heaven. 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:21.160 You didn't see Jesus' face, it's okay, it wasn't an image. 00:18:21.160 --> 00:18:24.440 And just hugging Him, powerfully, just all in. 00:18:24.440 --> 00:18:31.080 And I thought what a great picture of reconciliation that finds its fulfillment in heaven for us, 00:18:31.080 --> 00:18:39.759 ultimately, when we'll run up to Jesus and hug Him for what He's done. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:43.200 So faith is a family, that's what we have. 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:46.160 We have family reconciliation with God. 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:50.080 That's the greatest thing we could ever have. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:57.599 But also faith is something that I think we find in this story overcomes our fears. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:00.919 This woman who comes to Jesus, she's afraid. 00:19:00.919 --> 00:19:04.240 She's afraid probably of just being out in a crowd. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:06.439 She's afraid of what might happen. 00:19:06.439 --> 00:19:10.879 And she touches Jesus, great faith she had. 00:19:10.879 --> 00:19:14.559 If it only touched the hem of His garment, she says, I'll be healed. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:18.639 Now, there's nothing magical in His garment. 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:24.440 It was faith in Jesus that she had. 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:30.240 It wasn't like, you know, everything that He touched turned to gold. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:33.360 It's not like, you know, there's lots of people touching Jesus that day in the crowd. 00:19:33.360 --> 00:19:37.000 They were all pretty, the disciples say, well, why are you asking that question? 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:38.000 Who touched you? 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:39.000 Everyone's touching you. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.720 You're being crowded out here. 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:42.720 It wasn't the touch. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:46.920 All the people who touched Jesus that day weren't miraculously healed. 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:52.200 Look at this woman had faith in Him, in who He was, amazing faith actually, in who He 00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:55.240 was, but she was still afraid, tremendously afraid. 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:59.440 She wanted to touch Him, be healed and slip away in the crowd again. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.480 That was her default position. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:06.320 That's what she did in life. 00:20:06.320 --> 00:20:07.320 She had no self-worth. 00:20:07.320 --> 00:20:10.519 She simply wanted to slip away. 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:16.000 But Jesus had other plans because He wanted to expose that misunderstanding, giving her 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:26.160 that amazing welcome as daughter as she confessed that it was her who touched Him. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:30.039 She said, daughter, He said, your faith has made you well. 00:20:30.039 --> 00:20:32.240 Go in peace. 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:35.119 Amazing words, you're healed of your disease. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:41.559 Nothing about sin in this story, although it's the presumption and our knowledge of 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:45.599 the rest of Scripture obviously makes that clear. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:54.519 She came to Him for healing and He announces on her peace, great peace, that enabled her 00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:56.919 fears to be overcome. 00:20:56.919 --> 00:21:09.039 It was that public willingness to confess Him and to own Him as Jesus overcame, helped 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:11.839 her overcome her fears. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:17.639 And of course, Jairus was afraid as well because people came from his house and said, don't 00:21:17.639 --> 00:21:21.159 bother the Savior anymore. 00:21:21.159 --> 00:21:23.000 Don't bother the teacher anymore. 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:25.159 Your daughter's already dead. 00:21:25.159 --> 00:21:32.959 But Jesus knows Him and knows His heart and He says, look, Jairus, He says, don't be afraid. 00:21:32.959 --> 00:21:36.000 Do not fear, only believe. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:40.559 So there's that great sense in which in both of these stories, both of these individuals, 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:45.399 faith is overcoming different types of fear. 00:21:45.399 --> 00:21:50.720 And Jesus encourages both of them to overcome fear. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:52.720 And He brings His great shalom. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:58.480 Isn't that again, it's the Old Testament picture we looked at last Sunday night, a shalom. 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:00.519 I bring you my peace. 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:01.720 It overcomes your fears. 00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:05.720 Now you may have all kinds of fears today, I don't know. 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:09.399 Many times we have fears about being found out that we're Christians. 00:22:09.400 --> 00:22:12.759 And that was part of the fear that the woman had. 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:16.480 Just fear of being found out, exposed. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:20.880 Fear about the message, fear about our lives, fear about death, fear about illness, fear 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:21.880 about old age. 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:30.640 There's all kinds of fears that may entrap us and that may crush us. 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:35.759 And it's important for us to hear as people of faith, Christ's words of love and words 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:44.640 of encouragement and words of belonging and words of delight in us and in the faith that 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:48.319 allows us not to be afraid. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:50.000 Don't be a secret believer. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.119 Maybe you've never confessed Jesus as Christ and Lord. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:58.279 Can I encourage you not to remain in that position but to be bold with the boldness 00:22:58.279 --> 00:23:02.640 that comes from trusting and looking to and depending on Jesus. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:07.880 Let Christ draw you out of the shadows because it's a great thing to belong. 00:23:07.880 --> 00:23:12.960 Don't be a secret believer in your workplace, a secret believer, an unconfessed believer 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:19.720 here in church so you'll not sit at the Lord's table and acknowledge Him as your Savior. 00:23:19.720 --> 00:23:23.120 Allow Him to overcome your fears. 00:23:23.120 --> 00:23:25.640 So faith in Christ we see here is family reconciliation. 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:27.160 It helps us overcome our fears. 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:29.040 It leads to worship. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:37.319 In verse 22 and in verse 33 we have the same response from the women who has been healed 00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:44.799 and from Jairus they both fall on their knees before the living God, before Jesus Christ. 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:50.799 And fear and trembling they fell down before Him and told Him, she told Him the whole truth. 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:52.519 And also He is the same. 00:23:52.519 --> 00:24:00.240 He comes to Jesus, synagogue ruler and falls down at His feet. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:03.279 Adoration, desperation. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:07.240 And faith for us will always lead to worship. 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:10.920 Faith always leads us to that place of worship. 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:15.480 And sometimes it's desperation that leads us to that place where we cry out, we need 00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:17.039 to live in God. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:21.960 And we need to remember as we come today that our faith in Jesus Christ is not a philosophy 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:22.960 or a morality. 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:26.880 Primarily, it's an act of worship. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:29.160 Coming to Christ is an act of worship. 00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:34.720 It's a recognition of our desperation, different from the desperation of Jairus and the women, 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:37.640 but nonetheless a spiritual desperation. 00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:42.279 And we need, it is the first mark of faith is that we become worshipers. 00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:51.880 And I want us to think about that as we gather each week in St. Columbus, that it is an important 00:24:51.880 --> 00:24:52.880 public act of worship. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:58.120 I know Romans 12 reminds us that our whole lives are living sacrifices, holy and acceptable 00:24:58.120 --> 00:24:59.120 to God. 00:24:59.120 --> 00:25:03.960 But remember as we saw last Sunday evening that we are part of this city of God, part 00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:09.760 of the people of God, and we're a worshiping community, a worshiping people, so that this 00:25:09.760 --> 00:25:15.400 time of gathering, publicly, that the world sees and can come and be part of if they so 00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:20.920 desire and watch is significant and important because it's part of who we are. 00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:26.640 Not just this public act of worship, but as a community of people that we work out our 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:35.279 love and our Christ-centeredness with and among each other, that we are people who are 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:44.519 daily following it, following on our knees and setting aside time for worship, both explicit 00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:49.840 worship but also the giving of our days and our lives to Jesus Christ, praying without 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:54.199 ceasing and keeping Him at the center of everything. 00:25:54.199 --> 00:25:59.919 And so public church, I think it matters greatly. 00:25:59.919 --> 00:26:01.359 It's important. 00:26:01.359 --> 00:26:06.079 It shouldn't be for us a, well, whatever, there's nothing better to do. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:13.480 It should matter greatly for us to declare our worship publicly together as a body of 00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:17.919 people committed to Jesus Christ. 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:24.039 It leads to worship, and then I think we also see, at least in Jaius's case, that faith 00:26:24.039 --> 00:26:27.080 enables us to plead on behalf of others. 00:26:27.080 --> 00:26:29.279 Jaius's daughter couldn't plead for herself. 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:35.279 She was dying, and she didn't, but Jaius did on her behalf. 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:45.200 It's a great reminder to us of the concern, the wider concern and care that we have covenantly 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:52.600 as parents, covenantly as a church, we take vows, we did last Sunday, remember, for our 00:26:52.600 --> 00:26:59.680 children, but that we have this great concern for brothers and sisters, for friends and colleagues 00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:05.080 that we prey on for them, that we use our faith on behalf of others, our covenantal 00:27:05.080 --> 00:27:10.480 faith on behalf of our children, but also our faith in general, that we recognize and 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:14.680 plead on behalf of other people. 00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:22.400 So, lastly, we've seen different aspects of faith that are highlighted in the story, 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:27.120 but lastly, I want to read a couple of verses from Hebrews chapter 12, because I think this 00:27:27.120 --> 00:27:35.200 is very important as a conclusion to the timing of this event and the inclusion of this event 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:36.640 in Mark's Gospel. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:42.480 Hebrews 12, we are therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:48.240 let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, and let us run with 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:54.400 endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter 00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:59.720 of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising its 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:06.400 shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:15.200 And I think this is a joy set before Him moment for Jesus Christ. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:23.680 He speaks here before the cross, before the crucifixion, with unparalleled power and confidence. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:28.519 Daughter, be at peace. 00:28:28.519 --> 00:28:32.080 Toletha koum, rise up from the dead. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:40.319 Great confidence, great power, and He saw in their healings some of the joy that enduring 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:44.960 the cross, some of the results of enduring the cross would bring. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:51.519 See, Jesus Christ from the moment of His public ministry and long before knew exactly what 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:53.439 He came to do. 00:28:53.439 --> 00:28:58.879 And these two characters, I believe in this account, represent the spiritual need that 00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:07.120 every single human being has before the living God, that we are in spiritual despair or spiritually 00:29:07.120 --> 00:29:11.360 dead without Christ, in great need. 00:29:11.360 --> 00:29:13.240 It might not seem like that. 00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:18.520 You may be someone who has got life together, and we may know lots of people who have got 00:29:18.520 --> 00:29:25.400 life together and who morally might be better than us in many ways outwardly. 00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:31.320 But we always have to remind ourselves, because Jesus is reminding us here, that these two 00:29:31.320 --> 00:29:39.400 people represent the spiritual reality of what Jesus came to deal with. 00:29:39.400 --> 00:29:48.960 Isolation, forsakenness, and spiritual death, and sin has brought us into that condition. 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:57.720 And He came knowing exactly what He had to do, and He knew the joy that was guaranteed 00:29:57.720 --> 00:30:00.400 by the work that He had come to do. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:05.240 Because I think both these healings not only speak of the condition of humanity, but speak 00:30:05.240 --> 00:30:11.559 of the results of His salvation, His great shalom, His great peace, and the healing that 00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:15.039 it brings, and resurrection life. 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:21.480 I think the story of the little girl getting up is a great picture of resurrection life, 00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:27.359 even to the point of Jesus saying, she's not dead, she's just asleep, which becomes 00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:31.440 a New Testament way of talking about believers who die in Christ. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:34.039 They are falling asleep in Jesus. 00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:38.680 And she's resurrected from that sleep to new life, so that even though we die, yet shall 00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:47.640 we live, and He gives her something to eat, because He ate after His own resurrection. 00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:52.680 And it reminds us of the physicality of His resurrection, and of our resurrection to look 00:30:52.680 --> 00:30:53.960 forward to. 00:30:53.960 --> 00:31:03.840 And these healings speak of the joy that was lying ahead for Him. 00:31:03.840 --> 00:31:06.039 Tremendous reality. 00:31:06.039 --> 00:31:14.480 And because He fed on that, because it reminded Him of the joy of His finished work, because 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:19.799 He knew what He was coming to do, therefore He could endure the cross. 00:31:19.799 --> 00:31:22.159 He could endure the cross. 00:31:22.159 --> 00:31:26.440 Surely with each step that Jesus took towards Jairus' house, and then from Jairus' house 00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:33.799 towards Jerusalem, there was a deepening shadow with each step, as He came towards the cross, 00:31:33.799 --> 00:31:46.240 where He would undertake the dispiece of sin, our sin, outside the city, forsaken, unclean, 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:53.919 our hell on the cross, and tasting death on our behalf, so that we might never taste that 00:31:53.919 --> 00:31:54.919 death. 00:31:54.919 --> 00:32:01.119 That is why He endured the cross, His great love and the joy of a people that He would 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:08.239 celebrate with, that would run up to Him and just hug Him when they got to glory. 00:32:08.239 --> 00:32:11.119 That's why He was able to do what He was able to do. 00:32:11.119 --> 00:32:21.199 And this story, this event, this reality would have enabled Him, given Him strength to face 00:32:21.199 --> 00:32:26.399 the cross as He thought about the joy that lay ahead. 00:32:26.399 --> 00:32:28.919 Therefore we persevere, don't we? 00:32:28.919 --> 00:32:30.719 That's why we keep going. 00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:32.960 That's why Hebrews 12 is important to us. 00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:34.640 That's why we don't give up. 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:43.720 That's why we're to share His joy in our Christian lives, not slap happiness, but joy, deep seated 00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:49.240 joy, and it's my prayer that I and you all share that joy. 00:32:49.240 --> 00:32:50.740 Let's pray. 00:32:50.740 --> 00:32:58.440 Father God, help us to live in the reality of who You are and what You've come to do. 00:32:58.440 --> 00:33:04.039 May it not be blasé for us, may it not be distant, may it not be disconnected to our 00:33:04.039 --> 00:33:10.400 own situations and our own lives, but may we stay close with You, may we sense that 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:16.600 spiritual touch and that closeness to Jesus Christ and that belief in His power and in 00:33:16.600 --> 00:33:24.920 His grace and in His impossible, miraculous strength to give us new hearts, to give us 00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:31.120 hearts that care about people and care about God and love God first and foremost and deny 00:33:31.120 --> 00:33:39.600 ourselves and serve with humble hearts and all the invisible things that we can hide 00:33:39.600 --> 00:33:47.800 from others, that internal morality, that internal spiritual life that can only comes 00:33:47.800 --> 00:33:53.680 through our being rooted and nourished in relationship with Jesus. 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:59.560 So may we be in prayerful relationship with you, may we read and learn and know and grow 00:33:59.560 --> 00:34:06.600 and understand in wisdom and in so doing we know the tastes of that healing and of that 00:34:06.600 --> 00:34:15.720 wholeness and of that life to the full which we see in measure now which we can enjoy beyond 00:34:15.720 --> 00:34:18.800 our wildest imagination in glory. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:20.360 We ask it in His precious name. 00:34:20.360 --> 00:34:27.360 Amen.