Jump Start # 1122

Mark 5:35 “While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, ‘Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore.”

  Faith—it’s easy to talk about it. Faith—it’s fine on a sunny day. But faith when everything about you says give up, quit, throw in the towel, it’s over—that’s something else. Many can talk a good story, but faith is much harder than it seems. It was in the first century world and it is today.

Our verse comes from that action packed, event layered Mark 5, where we find a miracle within a miracle. Jesus had just calmed a storm on the sea that was so serve that the disciples thought they were going to die. The chapter begins with a demon possessed man rushing toward Jesus, screaming. He’s naked, bloody and feared by most. Jesus sends the demons into pigs that race off a cliff and drown. Two thousand hogs. Jesus is escorted out of town. He crosses the sea, the same one He had just calmed. Upon reaching the shore, a synagogue official makes his way through the throng of people to find Jesus. He has a 9-1-1 crisis. His twelve year old daughter is dying. This is not supposed to happen. He throws away all prejudice, protocol and pride for his little girl. Who cares what fellow Jews say. His little girl is dying. He reaches out to the one person who can save her. He didn’t go to the temple. He didn’t go to his rabbi. He’s not in his synagogue. It’s Jesus he wants. No one but Jesus. Will you come, Jesus. He falls at Jesus’ feet. He begs. He pleads. Come lay your hands upon her. He believes. He knows she will get well if Jesus will come. This is a most urgent situation. It’s time to drop everything and go.

Jesus does. There is a ton of people. It’s crowded. I can just see the panic in this father. As they push through the crowd, a woman touches Jesus. She too needs Him. She’s had a problem for twelve years, the exact age of the dying girl. Embarrassed and quiet, she touches Jesus from behind. Instantly, immediately, she is cured. Jesus knows. He turns to question her. A conversation takes place. She tells her story. No longer is she in the shadows. Jesus wants her to realize that it wasn’t His garments, but the power of God that healed her. While this is going on, the frantic father must have tried to pull Jesus away. There is an emergency here. We must go, NOW.

Then our verse. Word comes. It’s too late. The little girl has died. The father must have collapsed in anguish. Hope gone. We took too long. I have seen this grief too many times. I know what it looks like. It’s a very sad scene. The messengers add a word of “disbelief.” They say, ‘why trouble the teacher anymore.’ The girl is dead. It’s too late. Even Jesus can’t do anything now.

I wonder if Jesus smiled. This is similar to what happened with Lazarus in John 11. His dear friend was dying. Word was sent. They wanted Jesus to come. He waited. He waited two days. He waited on purpose. On the fourth day He showed up. Sisters, Mary and Martha, say the same thing. Had you been here…The thoughts of this father in our story today. Had you been here. But you weren’t.

Here we see faith with limitations. They believed there was a ceiling to what even Jesus could do. Too late. Death, the ultimate enemy, claimed more victims. Death, it was believed, could not be conquered, not even by Jesus. Faith is hard. Faith comes up to obstacles and too often it ends. We no longer believe or, possibly worse, we set limitations upon what God can do. Don’t trouble Jesus anymore. He can’t do anything now. We’re too late.

The death of a parent…a disaster…feeling abandoned—is all it takes for some to give up on God. Their faith has run it’s course and came to a dead end. God let them down. God wasn’t there. Jesus allowed the little girl to die. Jesus allowed Lazarus to die. He did that so faith would ignite again. He wanted people to see that God can do all things. There is nothing too great for God. God has no ceilings. There are no limitations to God.

What a surprise to the synagogue official when Jesus still wanted to go to his home. Why? The girl is dead. He went. He talked to her, just as He talked to Lazarus. The dead hear Jesus. The dead obey Jesus. He has all authority—even in the spirit world. She came back. Rejoicing replaced tears. Faith overcame doubt. Love triumphs. What a great lesson.

What a surprise it is to us to learn that we are not too dirty for God to cleanse. We are not too broken for God to fix. We are not too far gone for God to reach. We are not too guilty for God to forgive. We are not too worthless for God to love. Sometimes we doubt that. Sometimes we give up on ourselves and on God. Our faith quits. We allow death to win. The death of a relationship. Death in the form of guilt, anger, brokenness to prevail. We believe that even Jesus can’t do anything. Like the messengers, we say, “Why trouble the Teacher anymore?” Why? He won’t care. He can’t do anything. He doesn’t want a mess like me. Oh, the sad and mournful tune we sing. The problem is faith. Just as the messengers didn’t believe, sometimes we don’t. We sit in church houses mumbling words to hymns but leaving with hearts filled with worry, fear and guilt. It’s too late, we believe. A younger me, possibly, but not now. It’s too late. Even Jesus can’t. Why trouble Him?

I’m finding more and more folks who are like this. We feel our past, our baggage, our issues, our sins are just too much for Jesus. Even Jesus can’t help us. I don’t believe that for a moment. That’s the gospel of Satan. He wants you to sink back into the bottle, the self-pity, the lifeless, going no where life. He wants you to be conquered. He wants you to be defeated. He wants you to believe that Jesus can’t.

Nothing is impossible with God. Jesus showed Mary and Martha. Jesus showed Jairus. Jesus shows you through the gospel.

Don’t give up on God because He certainly hasn’t given up on you. He can cleanse you. He can forgive you. He can fix you. He can reach you. He does love you. He always has.

Faith is hard…

Roger