1.
In the name of
Jesus. Amen. In this message today we pray that God will
enable each of us to see the hand of Jesus in our lives. Through faith in Him He takes us by the hand
each day so that we can face life with confidence, even in the midst of our
troubles and pain. The message for today
is entitled, “Holding the Hand of Jesus.” It’s taken from the Gospel lesson that was
read a moment ago, from Mark 5:21-24a & 35-43. Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
A lot of people are taking their summer vacations right now. Maybe some of you have taken a vacation to
the Grand Canyon? Well I’ve got a story
for you. A tourist wandered too close to the edge
of the Grand Canyon, lost his footing and plunged over the side, clawing and
scratching to save himself. Just before
he fell into space, he encountered a shrubby bush which he frantically grabbed
with both hands. Filled with terror he
called out towards heaven, “Is there anyone up there?” A calm powerful voice came out of the sky,
“Yes, there is.” The tourist pleaded,
“Can you help me?” The calm voice replied,
“Yes I can. Do you have faith?” “Yes, yes.
I have strong faith.” The calm
voice said, “Well, in that case, simply let go of the bush, and everything will
turn out fine.” There was a tense
pause. Then the tourist yelled, “Is
there anyone else up there?”
3.
Sounds like that
tourist was in need of some badly needed faith.
Sometimes in our lives as Christians it can be hard to see the hand of
Jesus walking alongside us. Like that
tourist who fell off the cliff in the Grand Canyon, we don’t always trust God
to be near us in times of turmoil and chaos.
Because of sin there are times where doubt can sink in and we may think
that God has abandoned us in our hour of deepest need. But, the truth of the matter is that even
when times get rough Jesus is still there to hold our hand and to give us
confidence and faith that we can get through the storms that this life can bring.
4.
But, how do
people often respond when trouble and the consequences of sin are knocking on
their door? One response is to laugh at
trouble in the face. Sometimes people
laugh at sickness and death, even tell jokes about it, but neither sickness nor
death is a laughing matter. Maybe we have to laugh sometimes so that we don't
cry all of the time. Laughter and a
sense of humor are great things God has given to us in order to get through the
storms of life. In our Gospel lesson
taken from Mark 5 the story begins with sickness and death. Places where none of us want to go, but all
of us have been and will be again. Scary and sad places, whether it’s we who
are sick or dying or, like Jairus, as we anxiously keep watch over loved ones,
hoping and praying that our anxiety won't end up in grief, as his did.
5.
The Gospel story
of Mark 5 ends with a great miracle, but as much as we prefer happy
endings, I don't want to get there just
yet, because many of our illnesses and our dying don’t end with an eleventh
hour intervention. For us, sicknesses have to run their courses and dying,
well, everybody has a date with death.
The term Miracle is such a
loaded word in our society today. In
fact, many of the preachers on TV tell us to demand them. In fact
there’s a story of a tourist who was found by a US Customs agent to be carrying
a half-gallon bottle from Mexico. The official asked the man what it contained.
The traveler replied, "It's just holy water. I took it from the shrine I
visited. They say it causes miracles."
The inspector was suspicious and opened the bottle and took a sniff. He
shouted, "This isn't holy water, it's tequila!" The traveler lifted his eyes to the sky and
cried out, "Good heavens! Another miracle!" So it’s true! The term miracle is thrown around a lot in
our society today. Sometimes even in a
laughing matter.
6.
But, did you know
that the word miracle doesn’t appear in any of the Gospel accounts of Matthew,
Mark, Luke or John in the original Greek language? In the Gospels they’re
called “signs.” And while it may seem like a point in looking up the
meaning of the word, there really is a difference: a miracle exists for its own sake and on its own terms, but a
"sign" is always pointing – pointing to someone greater than
ourselves. When the Scriptures call these wondrous acts
"signs," they’re pointing an arrow and shining a spotlight on the One
who accomplishes, who gives the sign. Namely
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
7.
But, in our
Gospel lesson taken from Mark 5 we can’t ignore the people or their
situation. The situation that requires
the “sign” – the person in need of a miracle.
In our story for today Jairus is a desperate man with a dying 12 year
old daughter. He’s a leader of the
synagogue, a man of influence and power.
Jairus was a wealthy man since "leaders" of the synagogue were
chosen based on their ability to support, maintain and even pay for the
synagogue and its upkeep. And, if you were in the crowds that day you would be impressed
that Jesus consented to come with him to his dying daughter's bedside. Jairus was in great need to hold the hand of
Jesus, especially at this point in his life.
8.
Mark 5:22-23 says, Then one of
the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his
feet and 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." There's a clue in Jairus' request. A request to "come and lay your hands on her." In Jesus’ day the Jews
believed that you shouldn’t touch sick people.
In fact, you didn't ask people to touch sick people and you didn't touch
people who had touched sick people. So
Jairus and his family were outcasts, because his daughter was dying. They were not to be touched at this point in
their lives. And here he’s asking Jesus
to help him. Jesus is his last and only
hope. That’s why it’s so amazing that he
asks Him to lay his hands on her. This
is how a miracle turns into a sign. A sign that grew more powerful when Jesus
arrived too late to save a dying daughter. Any other healer would have stopped
right there, not just because death was beyond their ability to fix, but
because death made people untouchable, unclean and unacceptable.
9.
Our story continues with Jesus speaking near Jairus’ house, but then being
interrupted by Jairus’ servants. They
tell Jesus and Jairus something awful in Mark 5:35-40, "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher
any more?" Ignoring what they
said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just
believe." He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John
the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus
saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to
them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but
asleep." But 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.”
10.
Thanks be to God
that Jesus went in! Like people who laugh and mock when trouble comes in their
lives, the people who were standing outside Jarius’ house laughed when Jesus
said his daughter was only sleeping. When
the laughter died, the people went back to their weeping and wailing. That's
what people do in the face of death. We weep, we wail. I used to think that was
the point of the story, something like "Don't
laugh at Jesus." But it's not.
The point is, the sign shouts, Jesus went in.
He went into a grieving mother, a devastated father and a dead daughter
and He touched them all. At this point
He was walking with them, hand in hand, even when they were untouchable and
unclean. When Jesus touched them, He took their ungodly uncleanness on Himself.
He got dirty before God and everybody.
11.
And the sign
says, when Jesus gets dirty, the people He touches and the people who touch Him
get clean, because Jesus walks with us hand in hand even when we’re wounded by
the pain that this life can bring. Jesus
brought joy to Jairus’ house that day.
He took his
daughter by the hand and said to her, "Talitha
koum!" (which in Aramaic means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). Immediately the girl stood up and walked
around. How awesome our God truly is.
12.
So where are you wounded? Where do you need Jesus to take you by the
hand? Maybe in places no one but you and God know. Maybe you’re wounded by anger or sorrow or
disappointment, grief or fear. Sometimes by sicknesses no doctor can cure. Maybe you’ve been let go from your job and
you don’t know how you’re going to make ends meet. Some of you have had to say
good-bye to your loved ones this year. Some of you have seen the love of your spouse
become cold and you can’t sleep for fear of what tomorrow will bring. Some of
you have had your children grow disrespectful. The list of heartache and woe
never ends. Some of you teens feel alone and only your best friend, on a good
day, understands your uncertainty. We need not list every one of your problems
and pains for you to know that Jesus speaks to you today. Compare your
difficulties to the sorrow of Jairus. Can any one of us say, “My problems are greater than watching a
12-year-old daughter die”? But we can believe, with confidence, the power
of Jesus’ words: “Don’t be afraid; just
believe.” Jesus comes to the houses
of our lives dusty, dirty and disheveled and He goes in. He goes in with "steadfast love", mercies never
ending and new every morning. He comes to
spend the night with our weeping so that His joy will arrive in the morning.
13.
Even today some
2000 years later Jesus touches us. He’s
right next to each one of us as grace turns strangers into friends and friends
into family. He touched a gross and grubby humanity with a bloody, splintered,
sin-stained cross to take those stains away. He wrote His touch into a book we
call the Bible and His Spirit wrote that touch upon our hearts. That's the sign
that says Jesus walks with the wounded until the wounded are made well. Today He’ll walk with us hand in hand until
the day we die and are taken up to heaven to see Him face to face. Through Jesus we can say with confidence as
the author of Lamentations 3:31-33 says, “For men are not
cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or
grief to the children of men.” Through Jesus’ death on the cross we have a sure and
confident hope that He’ll walk with us every day of our lives. Thanks be to God that He’s given us this
faith and the assurance that He’s with us no matter what happens to us in our
lives! Amen.
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