lOST & fOUND PART
5: tHE DESPERATE
A deliverer for the
desperate
Luke 8:40-56
We
continue our series this morning entitled Lost & Found: Stories of
Redemption from the Gospel of Luke. In
this series we have an opportunity to see Jesus Christ as the one who came to
seek and save the lost. Again and again
we see him rescuing people in great need.
The point of these stories is not that we think, wow, that guy really
needed Jesus, good thing he rescued him.
No, the point of these stories is that we might see that we are just the
type of people who need to be rescued.
This morning we are going to look at Luke 8 and the story of two very
desperate people. One has experienced
chronic sickness for 12 years and the other has suddenly found himself in a
terrible crisis. For both, we see Jesus
coming to the rescue. As I prepare for
this weeks message I realized that we all find ourselves in the same category
of these two characters in the story today.
We all at one time are either experiencing some chronic trial or we will
at some point find our selves in a sudden trial. We may have health challenges or financial
challenges, we may be struggling with cancer or we might be watching someone we
love struggle with cancer, we may find ourselves separated from God and in
trouble or we may know someone who desperately needs Jesus’ intervention. As we prepare to hear God’s word, lets
recognize that this word is for us today and God has kindly prepared this text
just for you and me – that we might learn that Jesus comes to seek and save the
lost, he comes to rescue the desperate. Are
you desperate? Trust in Christ. Let’s pray.
40
Now when Jesus returned, the
crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41
And there came a man named
Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he
implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve
years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And
there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though
she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She
came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her
discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who
was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the
crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46
But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out
from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not
hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the
presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been
immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” 49 While
he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your
daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” 50
But Jesus on hearing this
answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will
be well.” 51 And when he came to the house, he allowed
no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and
mother of the child. 52 And all were weeping and mourning for her,
but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but
sleeping.” 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she
was dead. 54 But taking her by the hand he called,
saying, “Child, arise.” 55
And her spirit returned, and
she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. 56 And
her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened. Luke
8:40-56 (ESV)[1]
Jesus has just
returned with his disciples form a brief excursion across the sea of Galilee,
that large lake in the semi-arid fertile north part of
You know, there is a lot about the crowd throughout the gospels – the crowd can love Jesus and they also hate him. They welcome him home and receive his miracles and to some degree, his teaching but also later they will be the ones who yell, “crucify, crucify.” The crowd is fickle but it is important. For in this crowd that follows are many who will become true followers – they will go from the crowd to the committed, to true disciples, and some of these will be raised up by God to serve Jesus in a special way – as the core of his committed followers. So the crowd, though fickle, is essential. We as a church must not despise the crowd but seek to interact with it, for among the crowd are many who will become the committed and the core. Let us be a church that invites the crowd to follow that many of their number will become the committed, true followers of the King and not fickle fans of the latest fad.
So we have the
crowd pressing him, desiring his healing and teaching but not truly knowing
what they were dealing with. And from
this crowd Jairus steps forward and falls at Jesus feet. This is Jarius, the synagogue ruler. He is probably the chief elder of the
synagogue responsible for the leadership of their Sabbath worship and the
upkeep of the synagogue building. This
is the synagogue ruler over the same synagogue built with the generous
contributions of the local Centurion – the one who’s servant had already been
healed by Jesus at a mere word, without any contact. This is the same synagogue where Jesus taught
regularly, the same synagogue where the demonized man was delivered from his
oppression right in front of everybody, this is the same synagogue that
witnessed the healing and forgiveness of the paralytic and the entire night of
healing where Jesus healed all who came to him.
Jairus might even have been there to hear the sermon on the mount, right
outside of
Yet, even though
he witnessed all this, he had much to lose in seeking Jesus’ help – for the
leaders in
Have you ever been in that place? I know many of you have. I remember vividly the time our oldest, Daniel, had a severe case of croup. I remember the desperateness and frustration as we frantically tried to get him into the steamy shower, only to find it not helping and then holding him out the window to get some cold air into his lungs hoping that would open up his throat, all the while listening to him struggle more and more to breath. I felt so helpless and so broken. Thank God that as we rushed him to Children’s Hospital his breathing became less labored and he ended up doing okay. But I know a little bit what it is like to be a parent helpless to change a child’s medical condition. I can only imagine what Jairus was feeling. He was truly a desperate man to possibly sacrifice his role as the synagogue ruler to seek help from Jesus. But at this point, nothing else mattered but his little girl.
We don’t know any previous history on his daughters sickness. Most likely this was a sudden illness, maybe some infection or disease she contracted. Most likely it took its course very quickly, for when he finds Jesus his daughter is near death. Had her condition been serious for a while, he would have had opportunity to go to Jesus earlier. Maybe he wasn’t desperate enough till the end. Regardless, she needed a miracle at this point and her Dad was willing to do anything to get it.
As Jesus started to walk from the shore towards Jarius’ home the crowd is pressing all around him. The word used is the same word used for a wine press. The folks of Capernaum and surrounding area are packed in like sardines along the waterfront wanting to get near Jesus, seeking healing, seeking his blessing, waiting to see what he would do next, wondering if this is indeed the King, the Messiah, the deliver of Israel and the promised Prophet of prophets.
In the midst of this crowd is a woman, probably middle aged, looking like other woman from the village. But she was different, in a significant way. She was suffering from a chronic condition. For a matter of fact, it was so severe and persistent that she had spent everything she had trying to find a cure. This condition was serious not only because it involved constant bleeding – probably some sort of uterine hemorrhaging, but also because this condition rendered her ceremonially unclean. And as a Jew she was not allowed to participate in any sort of public worship, even worse, she was not allowed to touch anyone else without transferring her ceremonial uncleanesss to them. So she is isolated, broke, broken in body, embarrassed by her condition and desperate. Her condition has been with her 12 whole years. She has known day after day of pain and suffering. Jairus’ daughter probably had know 12 years of health and vibrancy, love and care in a good family and among a healthy community. Though Jarius’ daughter was not suddenly desperate, this woman had not chronic desperateness.
Do you know anyone like this? Are you someone like this? Our neighborhoods and nursing homes are full of such people who suffer to various degrees, from headaches to degenerative diseases. I watched my father-in-law go through seven years of a condition called Lewy Body Syndrome, a sort of combination of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. I watched not only Bob have to deal with the day-in day-out trial of this sickness, but everyone else around him have to do the hard grinding work of caring for him. Life is altered and abnormal and a daily struggle spiritually, physically and emotionally for someone with a chronic condition and for those around him or her. These folks are all around us. This woman was one of them.
And although she suffered greatly in many many ways, she at this moment knew that there is a deliverer. She knew that this Jesus was not a blasphemer and a cheat, but the promised Messiah and King, the healer of the sick, the King of Israel. And she thought, “If I could just touch his garment, I will be healed.” So as the crowd pressed all about Jesus, one among them touched him in a special way, with the hands and heart of faith.
Now teachers in those days, in addition to sandals, a body length linen tunic and possibly a turban, would wear an outer robe that ended with four flowing tassels at the bottom, to symbolize the commands of God. It is likely one of these flowing tassels that this woman touched. And as she touched this tassel she experienced immediate healing in her body – she felt something drastically different, perhaps warmth or some nerve sensation along with a sense of a refreshed body, and knew that she was healed. Wow! 12 years of suffering and travail ended in an instant of faith and blessing.
Now Jesus immediately knew something had happened, and as the Prophet of prophets and the Son of God he also knew exactly what had happened, yet for the sake of this woman he stopped and loudly asked, “Who touched me?” You see, I believe the Savior is interested in not just healing the sick but knowing the sick and having them know Him as not only the healer of their bodies, but the healer of their souls and their Lord. Without an interaction with Jesus , the beast a physical healing does is help us get though life a little easier or longer only to find ourselves eternally separated from him at the end of it all. I have seen God heal someone miraculously of a medical condition who did not subsequently, form what I can tell, seek any relationship with Jesus. The sad result for this person is remains outside of Christ and now seems to credit her healing to the power of positive thinking, not to the true and only healer, her only hope for eternal life, Jesus.
So Jesus, was not only merciful to heal this woman but also to call her out. He wants her to know that her condition is not a result of some impersonal force but through faith in a living person, Jesus Christ. And she comes trembling to Jesus, most likely somewhat embarrassed and intimidated that the Savior would be confronting her. Yet, she doesn’t hold back, she falls down before Jesus and tells the whole story and how she has been immediately healed. Jesus in turn cites her faith in Him as the reason for her healing. It isn’t because she has extra strong faith, it isn’t faith itself that saves her, but it is faith in Jesus that saves her form her sickness. The source of her healing is Jesus, the means of her healing is her faith. And it only takes a mustard seed of faith to work as a pipeline of God’s infinite grace in Christ. Darrell Bock says about this interchange,
“Faith believes
God’s capability to deliver through Jesus. The healing occurs because she has
faith, not because she has enough faith. In addition, if she thinks that her
attitude was unrelated to what had occurred, Jesus reminds her that her faith
was important to what had taken place. There is no magic here, only belief in
the spiritual action and power of the Almighty God.” [2]
And so Jesus blesses her, calling her daughter and sending her in peace. No longer separated from God, no longer separated from the people of God, cleanse ceremonially and cleansed truly through her faith-filled desperate dependence on the all-sufficient Savior.
Now meanwhile, Jairus has been waiting for Jesus to come to his house, and as he is finishing his interaction with this woman, the terrible news comes. “Your daughter is dead.” And the stinging rebuke, “Do not trouble the teacher any more.” Can you imagine the heartbreak Jairus must have experienced at that moment. Many men would collapse at such a statement. Some might rage. Some might just stand there in stunned silence and despair. Whichever reaction Jairus was experiencing the Savior had something else in view. He says to Jairus, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.”
And those some
words echo down throughout the ages to all of God’s people. “Do not fear; only believe, and all will be
well.” For it might not be a sick
daughter that you are dealing with but there is something or there will be
something in your life that will drive you to equal desperation. And these words to Jairus are to be the words
that we hear from our Savior, not as some religious fantasy or empty positive
thinking, but the command from a God who rules the entire universe and uses all
circumstances to accomplish his perfect plan and the ultimate good of his
people. He tells us not to fear; only
believe. Do not fear, do not give in
letting circumstances dictate your reality.
Do not let the largely godless culture tell you how it is. Do not let your own doubts rule you. Do not fear but remember Jesus –the healer of
all those folks throughout
So Jairus proceeds with Jesus. And they come upon the house and the dramatic scene of a neighborhood and extended family mourning for the death of an only daughter. And Jesus turns everything upside down. They are used to life without Jesus. And life without Jesus means that when someone dies, they are dead. But not with Jesus around. So Jesus tells them not to weep, for the girl only sleeps.
And suddenly the drama of mourning turns into a comedy of laughter as the incredulous crowd of mourners laughs at what they can not believe, much the same as Sarah laughs when the angel promises her a son in her very old age. Yet we serve a God of the impossible who alone defines ultimate reality. And if he wants to raise someone from the dead he will indeed do so. And he willed to raise this girl from the dead and he indeeds will to raise all his children from the dead and he will do so. Let us not laugh when he says that he will clothe us with immortality and grant us eternal new bodies that will never wear out but live with him forever in the new heavens and the new earth. Let us not laugh but believe Him. He is Lord over all reality!
And so he takes the mom and dad along with Peter, James and John into the room and graciously takes a cold dead hand of this little girl in his own and calls loudly “ Talitha, cumi” . That is “sweatheart, arise.” And she does. And her mother bursts into tears again and her father in shock embraces her and Jesus smiles and tells them to get her something to eat. Oh that we could be there to celebrate with them! This is our Savior! The Savior of the whole world!
Before leaving
Jesus says something that may seem strange.
He tells them not to tell anyone what had happened. Why not?
Why not tell everybody? Why not take
the girl and her whole family and pay a visit to the high priest in
Well, I believe
Jesus has a different view of healing than we may have. We think to be healed and have a healthy body
is the best thing we could ever get. We
may think the type of Messiah that we want to serve is one who brings health
and wealth for all of life. But apparently
Jesus didn’t think so and he avoided creating the sort of popular uprising that
would want to recruit him into such a role.
Listen to what Darrell Bock wisely says about this interaction: “But why the request? Jesus knows that he is headed for a different
kind of ministry than people will want from him. Excessive focus on his works
of power will undermine the type of commitment he will ask from people. He does
not need to be raising people on a daily basis. The type of commitment that
will be required of them, should they follow him, is one of suffering, not
comfort (9:22, 36, 57–62; 10:17–20).”[3]
You see, to follow Jesus may mean that we do experience healing and even wealth, these are blessings not to be despised. But these blessings are not the core of following Jesus. To follow Jesus is to find HIM as our greatest blessing. And to know Him and to walk with him this side of heaven means not only experiencing his power and blessing but also sharing in his suffereing. For this same Savior who raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead could not save his own life. This same Jesus who healed the woman of her bleeding, bled himself under the holy wrath of God and died for my sins and yours. He who would bring eternal life to all who trust in him gave up eternal life to die on the cross and be separated from God. And by his wounds we are healed. And he calls us to follow him and this often means that there is suffering instead of healing. Yes, there will be a day soon, when he has finished everything, when we will inherit eternal health and wealth in his perfected kingdom. But for now we live in between two worlds, the world of sin and suffering and eternity. And God has designed times of healing and prosperity and times of sickness and poverty – all to accomplish his purposes, all to bring us blessing, all to bring him glory. So he tells Jairus not to spread the news because people will misinterpret his mission. Yes, he is a healer, but he is also the suffering servant who calls his followers to suffer with him even alongside the healing he brings.
So, what are we to do with this? Where do we go from here? Well, one place we go is to realize that our Savior rescues the desperate. He is able to deliver us from any and all situations, if he so chooses. We are to ask Him for healing and keep on asking Him for healing until we hear him definitively tell us that he has determined to allow this sickness to continue. Paul asked three times for healing before God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So we too are to ask.
But we also are to realize that the ultimate healing comes when he returns and we get new bodies. It has been very difficult for me dealing with a chronic knee injury that hurts me throughout the day and keeps me from running and even sometimes walking. I have been asking God to heal me and it seems that God is using the medicine I have been taking. But you know what, the best scenario is that my knee will be restored back to the condition it was in – a 42 year old jock wannabe’s knee. I have something better in mind and so does God. He has a perfect sinless knee awaiting me on the day our Savior returns – that is my real healing. Now I will continue to ask but I will not put my ultimate hope here but in God’s final healing.
And I believe we are to take the same approach for all our desperate conditions –whether trivial like my knee, or as serious as cancer. D.A. Carson has said: “Christians will take refuge from their questions about suffering not in bitterness, self-pity, resentment against God, or trite clichés and religious cant, but in endurance, perseverance, and faith in the God who has suffered, who has fought with evil and triumphed, and whose power and goodness ensure that faith resting in Him is never finally disappointed." [4]
What are your desperate situations? What are you trusting God for? Our text today shows us that Jesus is more than able to rescue us and the ones we love – whether immediately or ultimately. You see, our worse condition is not the physical ailments we may deal with but the spiritual ailment we all deal with. This ailment is truly terminal. For the wages of sin is death. The penalty for rejecting a perfect friend and rebelling against a glorious Lord is exile. And exile from God is an eternal exile in a place called hell. And there is no cure for hell once you are there. But there is a cure available to all now. The cure that Jesus brought. For he took on himself sin and suffered and died on the cross to pay for your sin, if only you would believe in Him, and he was raised, healed and victorious, on that third day – and he now brings spiritual and eternal healing to all those who would even just touch the tassle of his garment in faith. Won’t you reach out in prayer and trust him with us right now. [Pray]
Finally, I believe that Jesus would continue to minister like he did to this woman and Jairus’ daughter even today. He now does his work through his body on earth, that is the church, comprised of thousands of local churches like ours. We are his hands of mercy and his mouthpieces of truth. And he wants us to reach out to such people with love, care, prayer for healing and the hope of the gospel. There are plenty of desperate folks all around us. You know who they are. Let us be used by God to bring the presence and truth of Christ to them. Before we finish today, take a few seconds to write down the desperate ones around you who you believe God wants to touch.
Benediction and dismissal.
[1]
The Holy Bible : English standard
version. 2001. Standard Bible Society:
[2]Bock,
D. L. 1994. Luke Volume 1: 1:1-9:50. Baker exegetical commentary on the
New Testament (798). Baker Books:
[3]Bock,
D. L. 1994. Luke Volume 1: 1:1-9:50. Baker exegetical commentary on the
New Testament (805). Baker Books:
[4] D.A. Carson, How Long O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil