Mark chapter 5, we live in a world of instant.
! We can text someone and we can expect an instant response.
!
We love instant. I remember just a couple of weeks ago when half of America was under snow and ice, Amazon no longer could deliver in two days.
They estimated my delivery to be in a week. In a week, I needed it before the storm. I didn't need it after it.
I was blown away. Something has to be done about something like that.
We live in a microwave society. We put things in the microwave and we've learned that if you stand in front of it and stare at it, it'll be quicker.
We love things instantly.
Things aren't always instant.
And the reality is that God seldom works instantly.
Very often, there's delay.
Prayers feel unanswered.
Delay feels like denial.
Waiting feels like failure.
I mean, surely if it's going to happen, it would have happened by now.
However, the reality is that God's not bound by our clocks.
And I want you to know He's not intimidated by our persistence.
He works on His time.
He works deliberately.
And He uses waiting and delay and even interruption to accomplish great things in line with His purposes.
In Mark chapter 5, Jairus is in a heavenly holding pattern.
And it's tough when you're in the waiting room of faith.
But that's where He is.
And God seems late.
Prayers seem unanswered.
However, I want us to learn from Him and His experience that silence from heaven is not the same as the absence of God.
And that God often does His greatest work after tough delays.
Let's look at it this morning.
It's in Mark chapter 5, beginning in verse 21.
And remember the preceding passage that we dealt with last week.
When Jesus traveled the six miles over the Sea of Galilee to the land of the Gentiles,
He was met by a demoniac.
A man that was filled with thousands of demons.
And He healed that man and moved those demons into swine.
And those pigs ran off a cliff into the water and died.
And the people that owned the pigs and the people who watched it and got scared by it wanted to believe.
The man who He healed wanted to go with Him.
But He left Him there as what I called last week the first missionary to the Gentiles.
And said, go tell people.
And He did.
He went and told it throughout the Decapolis, Scripture says.
Which are ten Roman cities there.
So now He gets back in the boat.
And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about Him.
And He was beside the sea.
Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name.
And seeing Him, He fell at His feet and implored Him, earnestly saying,
My little girl is at the point of death.
Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live.
And He went with Him.
And a great crowd followed Him and thronged about Him.
Now, verses 25 through 34 give us a divine interruption.
When a woman came to Him with a health issue and stops Jesus.
And she was in such great need.
Christ healed her miraculously.
And the Lord willing, we'll look at that next week.
But I want you to notice what happens as He ministers with her.
It says in verse 35,
While He was still speaking,
There came from the ruler's house some who said,
Your daughter is dead.
Why trouble the teacher any further?
But overhearing what they said,
Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue,
Do not fear, only believe.
And He allowed no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue,
and Jesus saw a commotion.
People weeping and wailing loudly.
And when He entered, He said to them,
Why are you making a commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead, but sleeping.
And they laughed at Him.
But He put them all outside,
And He took the child's father and mother and those who were with Him
and went in with the child, where the child was.
Taking her by the hand,
He said to her,
Talitha com,
which means,
Little girl, I say to you,
Arise.
And immediately,
the girl got up
and began walking,
for she was 12 years of age.
And they were immediately overcome with amazement,
and He strictly told them
that no one should know this
and told them to give her something to eat.
Now, I just want to admit this morning
that I have a hard time waiting.
Waiting is difficult in everyday things,
but it is much harder
when it's not about inconvenience,
but about crisis.
I mean, it's really tough
when your loved ones are hurting,
when your loved ones are struggling,
when your loved ones are dying.
Hope while waiting
can be the hardest kind of hope.
However, I want you to see
what Jesus does
in the midst of those moments.
The first thing I notice
is that Jesus calms.
Now, He's crossed over
six miles across these waters,
and He's welcomed
by a bunch of hurting,
wanting people.
The needs, I am sure,
are varied.
There are some there
who just want attention.
Jesus is getting a lot of attention,
and they want attention from Jesus.
And then there are others
who are just wanting to lay eyes
on a miracle man
because they've heard of what He can do.
Whether they've got word or not
about this particular miracle,
they've got wind
of what He's been able to do,
even among them.
And then some are there
because they desperately
are needing help.
And one of them
that desperately needs help
approaches Jesus.
His name is Jairus,
and Jairus is described
as a ruler of the synagogue.
Now, let me explain
what that means.
They had the temple
in Jerusalem.
And Jewish males
were to go to the temple,
if possible,
three times a year.
They were to go at Passover.
Passover was a celebration
of commemoration
of the deliverance
of the people
from the Egyptians.
It's recorded in Exodus chapter 12,
and they had a celebration
every year
to celebrate
what God did for them
when He released them
from the Egyptians.
That is in,
that's called Passover.
And everybody was expected
to be there for that.
And then there was Pentecost.
Pentecost is 50,
it actually means 50,
and it's 50 days
after Passover,
and Pentecost
was a day
to celebrate
the harvest.
It was when
the wheat harvest
came in.
It was also a celebration
of the giving of the law,
and you were expected
to be at the temple
for Pentecost.
And then there was
the Feast of Tabernacles,
or what's also called
the Feast of Booths.
We would call it
the Feast of Tents,
because that's what
a booth was,
a canvas and stick
held together hut
that they lived in
as they lived in the desert
for 40 years.
They'd move that booth
around and live in it.
So the Festival
of Tabernacles,
which is a temporary shelter,
or the Festival of Booths
were a time
when they would come back
to Jerusalem
and live in a booth
or live in a tent
for seven days.
At the end of those seven days,
they would have a great
sacred celebration
on the eighth day.
Then they'd go back home.
And if you go to Jerusalem
today and you see
the Temple Mount,
where the Dome of the Rock
is now,
you're standing beside
the Jezreel Valley.
And between,
and the Jezreel Valley
goes deep down,
comes back up,
and the Mount of Olives
is on the other side.
And both sides
of that valley
are filled with,
it's a cemetery,
just a huge cemetery
where Jews have strived
to be buried
as close as they can
to the Temple Mount.
And,
but in the first century,
all those graves
weren't there.
There were a few
commemorative graves,
Absalom's pillars there.
And so there were
a few of those,
but those,
that area would have been
covered with booths
during that week.
Every rooftop
would have a booth on it.
Every courtyard
would have a booth on it.
They would find
any place they could.
It was almost like
a big tailgate party,
but for sacred reasons.
And there's a lot
that's not sacred
about tailgate parties
sometimes.
But anyway,
that's basically
what it was like.
And so they were expected,
males were expected,
if they could,
to be at the temple
three times a year
for that.
By the way,
there are Southern Baptists
that follow somewhat
like that pattern.
And they come
at Christmas
and Easter
whether they need to
every year.
Preachers call them
Christers.
And they always wonder
why the preacher
only preaches
on the birth of Christ
and the death
and resurrection of Christ.
He can't move on
to anything else.
They wonder that.
Man, you're here
in February.
Congratulations.
But when they did not
go to the temple
those three times,
they went to the synagogue
every Sabbath.
And as I've told you before,
every town that had
more than 12 Jewish males
had a synagogue.
And they would meet
in that synagogue
and that was the place
where they were fed spiritually.
The temple was the place
for major feasts,
priestly matters,
atoning sacrifices.
The synagogue was the place
of worship
on a regular basis.
And those synagogues
had rulers.
The rulers
were a board of men
that made sure
the synagogue
was managed well.
They were men
that took care
of the scrolls.
They were men
that cared
for the facility.
They were those
that made sure
that everything
went on schedule.
They supervised
the readers
and the teachers.
Typically,
the rulers
of the synagogue
did not do
the teaching
or the reading
of the word.
But they would
supervise those areas.
And I tried
to find
a contemporary example
of what that position
is.
But quite honestly,
as I look at our church,
it is so varied
and we have so many people
in so many different spots
doing so many different things
that's hard to say.
When I got here
this morning,
the welcome board
that normally
is on the sidewalk
out here
was laying down.
And as I walked in,
one of the security guys
was with me
and he picked it up
and put it up.
And the minute
we walked inside,
it blew back down.
And another security guy
came on the scene
and picked it up
and put it up.
And the minute he did,
it blew back down.
Another guy came up
about that time
and set it up.
It was just fun
standing inside
watching it,
you know.
just one right
after another
trying their best
thinking that they
have the magic touch.
I think they finally
just removed it.
I walked in here
and there was somebody
opening these shutters.
If I had walked
to the coffee bar,
there's people
down there working.
There were people
making sure that people
were welcomed
when they would come here.
We had tech guys
working with
the musical staff
to make sure
that everything was,
there were so many
working pieces.
Your children
are invested
to our ministry
as we speak right now.
There are so many
different people
that make sure
things are taken care of.
And I am very appreciative
and I don't like
naming names
because I'll leave
somebody out.
So just do it
for the Lord
and thank you
for what you do.
And if you're not
doing anything,
get busy doing something.
There's places to serve.
That's a whole other sermon.
But anyway,
but the guys
that watched over
all of that
were the rulers
of the synagogue.
And not from that position,
but they were often
very wealthy people,
highly regarded
and very important.
I said all that
to say that
when Jairus walked up,
people would have
got out of his way
because he's the one
that makes sure
everything's taken care
of for us.
And he approached Jesus
and it must have
took him a lot
to approach Jesus
because Jesus
was not highly esteemed
by Jewish leaders.
And now,
Jairus,
I feel sure
being ruler
of a local synagogue,
was not part
of the Sanhedrin,
but because
the Sanhedrin
oversaw
the synagogues,
he would have had
a lot of interaction
with the heads
of Jewish religion
who were pursuing Christ.
And so for Jairus
to come
and approach Christ
with his great need
had to take a lot.
But when your kid's sick,
you'll do whatever
you have to do
to try to fix the problem.
It says that not only
did he approach Christ,
but it said he fell
at his feet,
that term there
speaks of a worshipful fall,
as if he was kissing
the feet of Jesus.
He laid before him.
And by the time
that Jesus
had healed the woman,
they were getting word back
that Jairus'
dying daughter
was dead.
And upon Jairus
hearing the word
that his daughter
had died,
he also heard
Jesus say,
do not fear,
only believe.
So even in the midst
of the crisis,
Jesus speaks words
of comfort
that had to be effective.
And I love how
even when the problem
is not yet solved,
even when the problem
may not even be solved,
Jesus has a way
to calm us.
He says the right things
through the powerful presence
of the Holy Spirit
and through his word
into our lives.
And it just teaches us
that we can trust him
even when we don't understand.
Jesus calms.
Not only does he calm,
but he also corrects.
I want you to notice this.
Christ proceeds
to take the inner three,
that's Peter,
James,
and John
with him
into the house
of Jairus.
Peter,
James,
and John
will also be the ones
that he takes up
on the Mount
of Transfiguration.
Peter,
James,
and John
will also be the one
that he takes deeper
into the Garden
of Gethsemane
on the night
of his arrest.
They were the obvious
leaders of the apostles.
And as they get
to the house,
there is quite a commotion.
Now notice that
this is obvious
because a young lady
has died,
people are going
to be very upset.
Of course they are.
But there's a lot
more going on here
than just the loss
of a life.
For one,
professional mourners
would come
and they would loudly
weep on behalf
of the dead.
Flutists would come
and they would show up
and they would begin
to play
while people
sang dirges
that were deadly
and sorrowful.
The thought was
that it would help
the family
better express themselves
without feeling embarrassed
with their mourning.
It was actually expected
that even the poor,
rabbinical law,
not biblical law,
but that that's added to it,
rabbinical law
stated that even the poor
should have at least
two flutes
and one wailing woman.
That's what it says.
You know,
you've got to mourn the dead.
You've got to let people know.
Therefore,
when word got out,
those mourners
would come lurking.
Now,
I don't mean to be
gross here,
but when somebody dies
in that atmosphere,
if you're going to mourn
the body,
you better hurry
because there's a change
that's going to take place
in that body.
And so,
when they got word
that Jerish's daughter
was dying,
typically,
those mourners
would be waiting outside
like a bunch of vultures
waiting for the dead
so they could toot their flute
and call out their whale.
There's a lot of commotion.
Mourners were expected
to beat their breasts.
Mourners were expected
to tear at their hair.
They were expected
to tear their tunic.
If you were close relatives,
you were to tear it
in the chest.
And you could sew it up
loosely as long as it still
looks like it's been torn,
but you have to wear it
for 30 days
to show that you're mourning.
I mean,
it was an elaborate process.
And it was that kind
of atmosphere
that Christ walked into.
And verse 39 says,
and when he entered,
he said to them,
why are you making
a commotion and weeping?
The child's not dead,
but sleeping.
And they laughed at him.
Now,
once you understand,
when Jesus says
the child is sleeping,
he's not talking about
a soul sleep here.
What he's saying is,
it's going to be easier
for me to rouse this child
than it is your child
on a school day
when you try to get them
up to go to school.
It's going to be
nothing for him.
This state is only
temporary.
They had misunderstood
and Jesus corrects them.
What they think
is permanent
is only temporary.
What they think
can't be changed
will be changed.
What they thought
was dead and gone
would be alive and well.
And it's the kind
of correction
that Jesus makes
in people's lives.
He's much greater
than our anticipations.
And he'll correct us
when he needs to.
Not only does he correct,
but he also answers.
Jesus answers.
He sent them out
and took the parents
and went in
and took the girl
by the hand
and spoke in a language
that he normally spoke
which was Aramaic.
And Mark
in one of those few times
in the Gospel of Mark,
I believe four times,
he uses the original language
of Aramaic
to state what Jesus said
to that little girl.
and he told her to rise
and immediately she did.
There was no CPR.
He didn't yell at her.
He didn't slap her.
He just took her by the hand
and she arose.
And there was no need
for recovery.
She didn't start PT and OT.
She walked across the room
rehabilitated.
Now,
why does Mark
use the original language here?
Well,
I want you to remember
that Mark
was very young
when this happened.
He was probably
about the age
of this 12-year-old.
And I'll say girl,
but at 12 years old
in that culture,
she was on
the verge
of womanhood
and their thoughts.
Mark was about that age.
He wasn't there.
But he got his information
about this
and he got his information
about what we have
in the Gospel of Mark
from Peter.
He penned it
based on Peter's testimony
and Peter was there
and Peter told him
what Jesus said.
And in this event,
the words,
the touch,
the power,
the opening of the eyes,
the answered prayer,
all of it
was so burned
upon the mind
of Peter.
It was so stamped
upon his conscience
that he quoted it
just like he saw it.
He could hear
the words again.
Talitha kum.
When that young lady
walked across that room,
they were absolutely amazed.
And Jesus told them
not to talk about it.
Now,
that tickles me
because the marvel
of this miracle
is not going to be held long.
It's not going to be
secret long.
I mean,
the minute she walks
out the door
and is on the street,
somebody's going to say,
wait a minute,
I thought she died.
It's not going to be long.
But he told them
to get her something
to eat.
Now,
we have no idea
how long her terminal
illness had kept her
from eating.
But they're in shock
looking at
their little girl
who had died
walking around
and Jesus sees them
and says,
would you get her
something to eat?
Would you get her
something to eat?
so what does all that mean for us
why is it here
recorded in scripture
does it just show the miracle of the touch of Jesus
well it does no doubt about that
but I will tell you that all the sick will not be made well
they wasn't in the first century
and all the dying will not be risen up in this life
it's not going to happen
even if we do see miraculous escape from death
it's not going to be in this manner
it's not so what does this mean for us
what it means for us is his delay does not mean that he's failed
that his delay does not mean that he's not true
his delay does mean that he has greater things in store
Jairus suffered a horrible delay
and those that saw Jesus as he approached
the girl that had died
ridiculed him
they laughed at him
they did not believe him
one of the reasons why it's recorded in the gospel of Mark
the way it is
is because it is a foreshadowing
of another time
when they would not believe him
and another time
when they would not ridicule him
there was a worse delay that was coming in the future
there was a Friday
when the Lord died
and to some
it appeared that he had failed
it seemed as if what he said was not true
but in reality
he had greater things in store
and when Saturday came
heaven was silent
and the tomb was sealed
shut
and there were people waiting
wondering
what in the world have we put our faith in
nothing happened that day
and it was a horrible
delay
surely he's failed
did anything he say
was it even true
and sometimes in our lives
when the tomb's been sealed
and the delay's been long
we wonder where's God in all this
is he who he proclaims to be
can I really put my faith in him
and then Sunday morning comes
and without anyone's help
Christ rises from the grave
and those that had ridiculed him
were silent
and those who had hoped in him
was now fulfilled
fulfilled
and I will tell you
that those who put their hope
in Christ
will always be fulfilled
it may not feel like it today
and it may not feel like it tomorrow
and I can't tell you
when your answer is going to come
but I can tell you
what the answer is
the answer is Jesus
and you can put your faith
and hope in him
and trust him
even when there's no way in the world
you understand
what is happening
waiting hope
hope
is the toughest hope
but if that waiting hope
is in Christ
it'll be fulfilled
it's not gonna be on my schedule
it's probably not gonna be
the way I designed it to be
but it really ain't about me
and I hate to be the one
to break it to you
it really ain't about you
it's about him
we can put our hope
and our faith
in him
so I wanna ask you this morning
have you ever done that
have you ever put the hope of your life
in Christ
scripture tells us what that means
is that we acknowledge
that we've sinned against him
that we've done wrong
and that we need a savior
and that we ask him
to not only forgive us
but I want you to hear me
we surrender our lives
to follow his will
and his way
that from this day forward
I'm no longer in charge
he's in charge
I didn't say
that we raise our hand
during a vacation Bible school
when nobody's looking
and repeat a prayer
after somebody
it's not what I said
I think there's been
a lot of confusion
along the way in life
from easy believism
along the way
and a lot of people
have done a lot of things
they never meant
and they think they're okay
that's not putting your hope in Christ
have you ever
surrendered your life to Christ
and put your hope in him
if you never have
I wanna tell you
today's the day of salvation
he'll take you where you are
in your circumstances
and he'll change you
and begin to mold you
and make you to be
what he'd have you to be
you just have to put your hope in him
and if you've done that privately
but you've never
effectively done that publicly
and never told anybody else
what you've done
I'm gonna tell you
private faith is no faith at all
quite honestly
based on scripture
Jesus tells us
not to be ashamed of him
before others
and by his example
and by his commission
he shows us
the first step
to follow
after our salvation
is baptism
and if you've never been
baptized as a believer
I'm gonna tell you
it can cause a great hindrance
in your life
and your faith
and trusting in him
if you've disobeyed him
in that step
and so if that's never happened
to you
I encourage you to come
maybe you're here
and God's leading you
to First Baptist Church
you feel like God's leading you
to be a part of this worship
and if he is
I encourage you to come
I'd love to guide you
in that process
what that means
but I know
there's a lot more people here
this morning
that have weighty matters
in their life
and struggle
with putting their hope
in Christ
in the midst
of the weight
I'm just gonna tell you
you can
he's worthy of it
you lay it down
before him
I'm not telling you
you'll understand
all the way
I'm not telling you
you'll understand
at all
this side of eternity
I will not tell you that
but I will tell you
that you can put your hope
in Christ
and trust him
and so whatever
that burden is
you can do that
where you stand
in just a moment
you can do it
at this altar
you can do it
with me praying for you
and with you
but whatever it is
trust him
even in the delays
even in the wait
put your hope
in Christ
heavenly father
help us today
to simply obey you
as you speak
to our hearts and lives
oh God I pray
in Jesus name
amen