In this series, perhaps the World Series of establishing the
identity of Jesus Christ, the first three events had happened in fairly quick
succession. In the space of only a few
days, Jesus had commanded nature, and bent time and space. In this first act, He established Himself as
our world’s Creator, and the Author of physics (not its slave). Next, the infinite power of His Love,
commanded an entire host of nearly 2,000 demons to leave a tortured possessed
man with a single command. In this
second act, He established that no amount of enemies could stand before His
Love, they were compelled to heed the voice of the Son of God who they
acknowledged despite what the Pharisees were saying about Him. In the third act, a woman whose desperation
led her to lift her self-imposed limitations and imagine a cure was possible if
only she could secretly touch the hem of His garment, and her crazy scheme
worked. But in the third act, Christ
wanted this woman to know that she and her terminal disease were important to
Him. He called her His Daughter, blessed
her, and sent her home safe in the knowledge that she would never be
unimportant to Him. Now we resume an
examination of his fourth and final act to establish and affirm His identity.
Peter recalls to John Mark in his Gospel in chapter five how
the fourth act would proceed. Jesus was
still en-route to the home of Jairus to heal his daughter. Jairus remained a part of the ruling class of
Israel, part of the Sanhedrin that was already deep into conspiring to see
Jesus killed. Jairus maintained his
association with the very group of men bent on killing Christ. Justice would demand a life for a life. Justice would demand that someone bent on
killing Christ, should himself suffer the fate he intended for Jesus. Even if Jairus was not personally a part of
the group intent on killing Christ, he had done nothing to distance himself
from them until this day, when he submitted in humility before Christ in order
to see his own daughter healed from yet another terminal illness. Justice is and remains the battle cry … of
Satan. It is Satan who cries for justice
in the hallowed courts of heaven. It is
Satan that demands that we pay for our sins, for a penalty must surely be
paid. Those who demand justice, echo the
demands of Satan. Our God is not
interested in ensuring equality, fairness, and justice; for His Love offers so
MUCH more than mere equality and fairness.
His Love is willing to forgive what otherwise Justice could not forgive. His Love is willing to serve that which does
not deserve service. His Love is willing
to reclaim, re-create, and restore that which by self-decision had abased
itself beyond comprehension. There is no
Justice in our redemption … there is only Love.
But the decision to humble himself before Christ must have
been a hard one for Jairus. When his
daughter fell ill, Jairus must have done what all of us do, what the woman who
was just healed did. He called in the
doctors, and physicians. Money was no
object to Jairus, he would gladly spend it all to see his daughter healed. But alas the best of human wisdom is still
often not enough. And his daughter’s
condition got worse instead of better.
Unlike the Roman commander, who “knew” Jesus could heal with a simple
command, and did not need to be there to see it done … Jairus had made a
different request. Jairus had asked for
Jesus to come to heal his daughter. The
faith of Jairus in Christ was there, but not as great as that of the Roman, who
did not have to personally witness what Christ did, the Roman was content to
hear the words from His mouth, and to know it would be done. Jairus needed to see. But the time Jairus had spent in seeking a
cure outside of Jesus Christ, had proven to be time wasted. Is it any different for us?
How often, in our desire to be redeemed, do we seek a cure
for our sins, outside of the transforming power of Jesus Christ? We look to find spiritual growth in the
things we do. We read the Bible. We study our weekly lessons for church
classes. We attend services. We sing our songs of praise, and pray our
prayers for blessings (for us). We give
what we can afford to give, be it time or money, to those who are “less
fortunate” than ourselves. In short, we
are like the rich young ruler of scriptures, who when he encounters Christ,
states that from his youth he has “kept all the commandments” of our God. But what we spend little time contemplating
in our spiritual lives, and spiritual “accomplishments” is “why” we do what we
do. The list cited above is not a bad
list. In point of fact, the transformed
heart does all of these things, but it does them for a different reason, and it
experiences a different outcome. Those
who pursue doing these activities “in order to see themselves rid of sin” do
not see their goals achieved. It is not
our actions that rid us of the desire to sin … it is our surrender to Jesus
Christ alone. It is only the power of
Christ who can remove within us, what we cannot remove, no matter how many
spiritual things we attempt to do. It is
not our power that can remove our sinful desires, it is the power of Christ
alone. When we seek another remedy for
sin, outside of surrendering to Christ, we see only continued failure.
When however, like Jairus, in desperation, we finally decide
to humble ourselves and admit we cannot do what must be done … taking our sin,
and our sinful desires to the feet of Jesus Christ … we finally experience what
His power alone can do for us; whether our disease is in a terminal state, or
whether we have already died in it.
Jesus can revive not only those who are spiritually wounded and
suffering from a terminal disease, He can revive a heart that has experienced
spiritual death and up to now has wanted nothing to do with spiritual things. The transformed heart, learns to love like
Christ loves. The transformed and
resurrected heart learns to love others like Christ loves others. In so doing, the transformed heart looks for
truth in the pages of Truth, and studies through the lens of Jesus Christ
leading. The transformed heart gladly
goes to church because it longs for the joy of association and the opportunity
to serve others, not to be served. The
transformed heart sings songs of praise, not just in sanctuaries dedicated to
that purpose, but in the car, on the street, at the office desk, and in the
home; because it CANNOT keep silent.
Gratitude overflows and leads to continual praise. The transformed heart prays only for others,
because it knows its own needs have been far exceeded in being met. The transformed heart gives everything it has
to others, and holds nothing back for itself, because it cannot afford to pass
up an opportunity to give. And in
humility it never claims to have kept the commandments, but rather re-directs
any notion of goodness, back to the source of Christ, for nothing within it is
good without Him. Why we do what we do
matters.
But alas, the time Jairus (and us) spent in looking for a
solution outside of Christ was time wasted.
And in this case, it was too much time wasted. Peter recalls to John Mark beginning in verse
35 saying … “While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's
house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master
any further?” Game over. You waited too long, wasted too much time,
and failed. It was too late. She died.
There is no further point. Once
you were dead, you were dead. Half the
Sanhedrin did not believe in any form of resurrection even at the end of all
things. Jairus and his household may
have been of that inclination. But
whether he was or not, the time to heal a terminal disease was done. Might as well, let God move on to other
priorities, help those who still have time to be helped, help those who have
not wasted ALL of their time just yet.
Death was a bell that could not be un-rung. In all of the scriptures Jairus was deeply
familiar with, there had never been a story of the dead coming back to
life. They ALL slept, awaiting the final
day of God’s Kingdom being established on earth. There may have been ghost stories from
witches who derived their power from Satan, but demons impersonating dead men,
were still a far cry from an actual dead person getting a second chance. So far, death was an absolute ruler over the
fate of mankind. It did not matter
whether you were good or bad, faithful or not, everyone died. So the game needed to be called for an
expired time clock. Death had claimed
the players, and there was nothing left … or was there?
John Mark records the reaction of Christ in verse 36 saying
… “As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of
the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.”
This was asking the impossible.
Jesus, was asking Jairus, to do something to believe something, that
there was no precedent for. He was
asking Jairus to believe in spite of the facts, in spite of scripture, in spite
of his beliefs, in spite of his education, upbringing, and tenants of his job. This was not a combination of scripture and
God. This was a request to believe only
in Jesus Christ. The interpretations of
the Sanhedrin where it came to the Messiah were largely mistaken. They had confused the second coming and final
establishment of God’s kingdom with the first coming where the lamb would be
slain. They had scripture all jumbled
up. And in none of scripture was there
hope of an early resurrection, and nothing about the Messiah doing one of
those. So the request of Christ required
faith in only one thing … in the person of Jesus Christ standing before him
right then, and right there. Is it any
different for us? To have faith that
Christ can do for you, what you have been unable to do, takes faith in only thing
… in Jesus Christ. It is not your
understanding of scripture that can see you rid of your desire to sin, it is
Jesus Christ alone. Your doctrines will
not do it, but your Savior will, if you let Him.
Then Jesus did something that is at first a little hard for
us to understand, Mark records it in verse 37 saying … “And he suffered no man
to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.” Jesus dismissed the crowd. Even within His own disciples, only three
were selected to see what was about to occur.
The obvious question was “why”.
The gospel of John we studied earlier offers us perhaps a little insight
here. John’s gospel highlights several
occasions where the crowd was bent on forcing Christ to become their earthly
king. He had to use miraculous powers to
escape those crowds or they would have succeeded. The people at this time, and in our own,
often look only at Christ through the lens of what is in it for them. They seek Christ, like we seek Santa Claus
and Bill Gates, to see what they might do for us. We want, we want, we want. Our prayers are like laundry lists of what we
need God to do for us.
Knowing He could heal, nearly the entire nation sought a
health upgrade, and they got it. Dealing
with a matter of life and death, or more precisely, that death was no longer a
barrier, might encourage a revolution against Rome where people would gladly
kill themselves on Roman spears and swords, expecting to be raised up by their
newly crowned Messiah. If death itself
could not stop their army, they would indeed be the greatest force on earth,
and all the world including Rome would have to submit. Even His own disciples harbored some of these
feelings. So the group of witnesses had
to be smaller, in order to see this blessing occur. Our inclination to selfishness necessitated a
restriction of the vision of the power of God, as it does today. How many believers today, if endowed with the
ability to heal the sick without exception, would be able to withstand the
temptation to take the credit for themselves, to accept the celebrity our
society would heap upon them, to become a leader in the eyes of the nation, and
in some ways be worshipped as a demi-god?
How many believers today, could refuse the praise of those impacted, and
remain humble, dependent, and ever seeking ONLY the will of the Father as Jesus
did. Our inclination to selfishness,
necessitates the restriction of the outpouring of the true power of the Holy
Spirit.
Peter then recalls his own personal witness to what
transpired next as John Mark continues writing in verse 38 saying … “And he cometh
to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that
wept and wailed greatly. [verse 39] And when he was come in, he saith unto
them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” There are several things to note here. First the perspective of God is not like our
own. We see death as a barrier from
which there is no return, Jesus and God see it only as a nap, or night’s sleep,
like we take every day. Time passes
while we are unconscious, but when we wake up, we pick up where we left off,
and resume doing what needs to be done.
From the perspective of Christ this remains true of death. Adam is still sleeping. Adam has no concept of the nearly 5000+ years
that have passed since he fell asleep in death.
He is napping. When Christ
returns he will be woken up, and resume a life he is familiar with, but without
the stain of sin any more. When we
sleep, we are unconscious. We are not
still living in some sort of ghost like state, we are simply asleep, unaware of
time, or any other concerns. The
declaration of Christ is not just trying to get the crowd here to feel better
about the girl’s condition, it is about getting all of us to understand better
what death itself is actually like.
The second thing to note here, is that if death is actually
not the end of our existence, if there is actually life possible after our
earthly sleep of death … then what kind of life would that be? Satan encourages us to sin like there is no
tomorrow, because we only have “one life” and time is short. But what if he is only half right? What if time is truly short here, and our
opportunity to make a difference, to lead someone else to the real eternal life
is wasted? A life after this one,
intended to be permanent, and lived in loving others can actually begin here
through the power of Christ. But to
waste that, is to waste the chance to help another see what you have seen, and
learn from Christ, what you have learned.
If we spend all of this life focusing on only our own temporal needs,
when in our next life, none of those things truly matter, do we not waste our
lives entirely? Whether you live 10
years, or 20, or 80, it is a drop in the bucket next to eternal life. Would it not be better to live whatever time
you have left fully, and intensely, with the primary mission of bringing others
with you into the next life of eternity with Christ? To connect them with the same Jesus who is
saving and transforming you, is the ONLY goal that counts with whatever time
you have left here. To love others, like
Jesus loves others, is truly living.
Everything else, is such as waste.
The perspective of those grieving people was a lot like our
own, we do not see past the limits we have set for ourselves, past our ideas of
the facts as John Mark records in verse 40 saying … “And they laughed him to
scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of
the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was
lying.” The people in their grief,
“laughed Him to scorn”. They took their
limited vision, and assumed that Jesus was making an alternate medical
assessment of the condition of the child.
They could not see something broader, perhaps nor do we. Jesus was talking about life and death, and
what is truly important. And what we see
is limited by our own ideas of the facts, history, and certainty in our
knowledge. But we are wrong, misguided,
and will not see what Jesus is truly saying.
So Jesus does what must be done, undeterred and non-responsive to their
criticism and ridicule, He simply escorts all of them all out of the house.
Even though Jesus is in the right, even though Jesus alone
understands life and death better than anyone there, He does NOT force others
to accept His own thinking. He does not
compel them to change what they believe or what they say. He does not laugh back at them, and call them
out for the fools they truly are. He
does not humiliate them for being wrong, and not understanding what He is
saying. But how often do Christians
treat each other this way? How often in
our certainty about scripture and its interpretation do we use it as a weapon
to punish those with less knowledge than ourselves? How often do we “defend” ourselves against
ridicule and scorn, by inflicting ridicule and scorn on those who “deserve it”? Jesus does not react this way, ever. He never “gets even”. He never looks for justice against those who
keep wrongly inflicting their own pain and ridicule on Him. Instead He continues in acts of Love,
undeterred by those who do not understand it yet.
Peter continues the story in verse 41 saying … “And he took
the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being
interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. [verse 42] And straightway the
damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were
astonished with a great astonishment.”
Perhaps Jesus took this girl by the hand before He offered that command,
because without directing it specifically at her, the entire fallen mankind
might have arisen at that moment in time.
A single command had only recently expelled nearly 2,000 demons at once,
so we know what He says carries great weight in a world beyond our vision and
self-imposed limitations. The girl of
course, did what Adam did when Jesus had breathed life into him, she
arose. Jesus was not calling this girl
back from the paradise of heaven her disembodied soul would have surely
preferred to stay in. Instead He was
doing what He had already explained, He was waking her from the sleep of death,
and from her nap. She had no concept of
the passing of time, of the weeping and wailing that had been going on for her
departure. She was asleep. And now through the power of Christ, life had
entered her again, and she was awake.
For the first time the 5 souls in attendance had their self-imposed
blinders lifted. They were astonished.
John Mark concludes this series in verse 43 saying … “And he
charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something
should be given her to eat.” What was
being done, was to be witnessed by 5 people in person, and recorded not for
them (they saw it), but for us. The
identity of Jesus Christ should have been firmly affixed in the eyes of three
of His disciples, but all the more so for you and I. What had just transpired was concrete proof
that for those who believe in Jesus Christ, not even death was any kind of
barrier to what He can do for us. Our
Creator has the power to re-create what we have by choice killed. Our Creator can call life back into us, no
matter how badly we have driven out every spiritual impulse in our lives. But it is our Creator alone who can do this
for us, not the power we mistakenly believe we have. The dead girl was not a partner with Christ
in her own resurrection, she was only a beneficiary of it. Jairus did not “do” anything to see his own
daughter raised, he was only a witness to it.
The disciples and closest followers of Christ, were not participant or
partners in this ministry, they were only as witnesses. A grieving mother, a hopeful father, a
curious set of dedicated believers; all had different perspectives on what
occurred and differing points of view.
But what was solely consistent was that Jesus Christ did ALL the work of
raising the dead back to life.
It is exactly so in our Christian experience. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who plants
the seed of faith in us, we do not even do that much. Jesus is the one who does ALL the work of
bringing us back from spiritual death to spiritual life in Him. We do nothing but let Him. The dead girl could not refuse the command of
Christ, nature could not refuse, disease could not refuse, the demons could not
refuse the command of Christ; and our desires to sin will be unable to stand
before the commands of Christ if we are but willing to let Him utter them on
our behalf. None of the opposition to
Christ were working with Him to see change, all were working against Him. But change occurred because He commanded
it. Your sinful nature is not going to
just go away on its own. Your love of
sin, is not just going to be erased by the power of your will, or ability to
deny yourself that which you love. But a
single command of Christ, can knock that desire out of your life for good. A transformed heart, can lead you to focus on
new priorities, until acts for others become “normal” and acts for self are
never needed again.
The identity of Jesus Christ should be most affirmed in your
mind and in mine. The revelation of this
gospel is a revelation of Jesus Christ to you and I. It is an unveiling of the truth to us. The stories are not mere history, they are
predictive for our lives. They are
applicable in our here and now. Disease
is not our master, nor are the rules of nature and physics, we serve the Lord
who is over all of them. Not even death
is a barrier to our God of Love who sees infinitely beyond the night’s sleep of
death we may take, or the brief nap we enjoy between our last day, and His
first day at His second coming. What
matters, is how we love. What matters is
who we love, in that it is others, and not ourselves. We waste time when we love ourselves, and we
enjoy life when we spend it loving others.
The identity of our God is a deep association with a love for
others. He won His world series. We should enjoy that victory, and let Him win
one in our lives, for us, that we too can benefit from …
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