July 16, 2023

The following transcript has been electronically transcribed. Any errors in spelling, syntax, or grammar should be attributed to the electronic method of transcription and its inherent limitations.

 We began last week by looking at Jairus. We saw something about the man. He has this desperate plea as he comes to Jesus. His daughter is on her deathbed, Jesus. Thronged and mobbed by the crowds now has this serious note come over him. He says to Jairus, take me to her right now. And so they start making their way to try to get to the daughter, but on the way they're interrupted with this woman who has the flow of blood, who reaches out and touches him, we talked, looked at this last week as she reaches out to touch his garment, she has a true and a genuine faith.

Her heart is the heart of true good soil. Yet her faith is so mixed up. Her perception of Jesus is so misguided. She's, she thinks that the healing that she wants from Jesus can come through a garment. She's mixed up with these pagan sorts of beliefs from her culture and from the area in which she lives.

And so she's mixed together her true and genuine faith in Jesus as something more than a healer that's mixed together with this idea that his garment can actually do this healing. But she reaches out and she touches the garment. Healing takes place. She knows it. Jesus knows it. But then Jesus makes this big deal that she needs to come forward.

Her faith in order for her faith to be genuine and saving must be a faith that professes Jesus. So she has to claim him. But then more so than that, Jesus wants this face-to-face encounter. He wants to know her. He doesn't want her to just reach through a crowd in secrecy and receive some sort of secret healing because there is no such thing as a secret disciple that remains secret.

So Jesus wants her to come forward. He wants her to. He wants to know her. Her faith must lead to relationship, which it does. So on the way to healing or raising from the dead, this 12 year old daughter of Jairus. Jesus now gets interrupted to make another daughter. He says, daughter, your faith has now made you well.

He now makes another daughter who has had a 12-year problem. Now that brings us all to the second account of this miracle. This is the final of chapter five. And so we'll finish this today. So let's, let's begin this morning by breeding from verse 35, down through the end of the chapter, verse 43. So let's read together.

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 and James and John, the brother of James.

And they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when they had 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 took the fa, the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was taking her by the hand.

He said to her, Talitha koum, 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 charged them that no one should know this. And he told them to give her something to eat.

So these final two miracles, as we mentioned just a moment ago, there's this, these common themes that run through all four of these miracle stories. But these last two miracle stories in particular have something in common, which is why they're put together like this. They're put together like this because this how they happen.

They, they occurred in this order. Matthew, mark, and Luke all recount these two miracle stories just like this. There's the interruption on the way to Jairus's house, but these miracle stories are put together by the sovereign Lord who arranged, the crowd, arranged the woman's coming arranged Jairus, or he arranged all of this.

Because these two stories have more in common than the others. In fact, the common theme that we see in these is not only the desperation of each individual, the desperation of the woman who desperately reaches through the crowd to touch the garment. Desperately wishing to not only be healed but not be discovered, but also the desperation of Jairus.

All of us can easily relate to a father and his desperation as his 12-year-old daughter is on her death bed. Literally, the text reads that she is near the end or at the end, but the desperation combined together with the. Tininess, the minuscule amount of genuine faith. It is true faith. It is real faith.

Each of the hearts of the woman with the flow of blood and iris, their hearts are good soil hearts. Thinking back to the parable of the soils in chapter four, their hearts of the are the good soil. Their faith is genuine. Their faith will save them. However, their faith is small and weak and fragile, and misguided, and wrapped up in misunderstandings.

Jairus believes that he must get Jesus to his house in order for the healing to take place. The woman, of course, as we said last week, believes that just touching some cloth that Jesus is wearing will bring the healing to her. Now, in each of these instance, the Lord responds. However, we can just see the, the, the smallness and the confusion in both of their faith, although their faith is genuine.

But, and then the third commonality that we see that ties these two stories together is not only the desperation, the smallness, and, and the misunderstandings in their faith, faith, but also Jesus's wooing of them, Jesus's guiding of them, or if you will, Jesus is putting into them what their faith needs to be completed and to be a saving faith.

We saw that clearly last week with the woman's faith. We'll see this again this week with Jairus's faith. So now let's begin walking through this from verse 35. Once again, from verse 35. While he was still speaking there came from the ruler's house, some who said, your daughter is dead. So imagine the interruption.

Literally, mark, mark says, while they were still speaking, daughter, your faith has saved you go in peace and be healed and continue being healed. And while he was saying those words, here comes yet another interruption. The others have come from Jairus's house and they're giving the news to Jairus.

I take it that Jairus is still standing right beside Jesus at this point. And here comes yet another interruption. This is just Jesus's life. Jesus's life at this point is a life of constantly being mobbed by the crowds and constantly being interrupted. So here comes this, this bold interruption, this brash interruption while he was still speaking.

And then notice, if you will, if you can pick up on what seems to me the, the callousness of the wording here that came from the ruler's house. Some who said, your daughter is dead. Now that is the worst possible news that any parent could receive. Your daughter is dead, but you sense something. Now, perhaps Mark is just making the account short.

I don't know. But I sense something of the callousness, of the hardness, of the way that the message seems to be delivered. Your daughter is dead. And then they say, why trouble the teacher any further? Your daughter is dead. The worst possible news that you could receive. So something about the, the sense of of hardness, the, the callousness here, but also something else really comes through for us.

Something of a, of a sense of anger or even rage or just desperation of this whole thing. Because all of us know, we instinctively know that death is wrong. Physical death was not part of the original creation. Physical death. All of us sense it deep in our souls that when the time comes that our spirit is separated from our body.

That's just not how it's supposed to be. But when we talk about the death of a child, there is, I think, a universal sense that that is just very wrong. There's something of a robbery there. When a child loses a life, there's something that speaks to us there of, of, of potential that will never be realized, of a spouse that will never be met, of children that will never be born, or a family that will never exist.

Now we know that God's sovereign over all these things, but still our hearts feel that with the death of a child, something just speaks deep into our soul saying, this is wrong. This should not be. But nevertheless, it is. The most horrible possible news that could have possibly come to Jairus. Now, I would imagine that Jairus, as he stands here beside Jesus right now, this news has hit him like a load of bricks, but it hasn't yet hit him.

You know what it's like to get some really bad news and, and on one level you hear it and you understand it, but on a whole different level, it hasn't quite placed its weight onto you yet. I think that's where he's at right now. He understands what they've said, but the weight of this hasn't yet come down upon him.

And so I think as he's standing here, what must be going through his mind, he's got to be thinking things like, well, I don't know―questioning Jesus' priorities?

I mean, the woman has had this flow of blood for 12 years. Would one more hour have mattered? Could not Jesus have told her to follow me? And I will finish this with you afterwards. Would 30 more minutes have really made that much of a di? Surely Jairus's head is spinning right now thinking, why could this not have waited?

We were on the way, we were almost there. So his head is spinning, he is questioning Jesus. But at the same time, what also hits not only Jairus but us as we read this passage, what hits us like a load of bricks is just the reality of the inescapable of our greatest enemy. The greatest enemy of death we know comes to all.

It comes to all who take breath. It comes to the rich, it comes to the poor. And Jairus's position has put him in no position to avoid this. Jairus is probably the most important man in Capernaum. He's probably a man of resources, a man of wealth, a man of, of standing, a man of reputation. Neither he nor the unnamed woman who is unclean from a 12-year flow of blood.

Neither one of them were in any different of a position. Jairus's wealth could not spare his daughter. His, his influence in the city could not gain her. One more minute, as Hebrews nine in verse 27 say, it is appointed unto man wants to die and no earthly resource can possibly abo avoid that. Death is no respecter of persons.

There's no respecter of age. Death is no respecter of position. Death is no respecter of wealth. And Jairus, this lesson is now coming upon his soul with all of the weight and all of the force that it's bringing upon him. Your daughter is dead. So now let's talk about Jairus's Faith, because that's really what the story is.

Teaching us is about GI Iris's faith. Gi Iris has shown faith already. How has, how has he shown faith? He has shown faith by acting upon his faith. Remember, that's what James tells us in James two. Let me see your faith by your actions. And so GI Iris has shown a true ingenuous genuine faith by acting upon that faith, by going to Jesus.

And as we saw last time falling at his feet, the ruler of the synagogue falling at the feet of a Jewish carpenter. That is a showing, a displaying of faith. Here in this public setting, everyone sees Jairus bowing at Jesus' feet and pleading with Jesus to come. So he's acted upon his faith and he's shown his faith.

Or to go back to the language of the parable of the soils, which was the most instrumental parable of chapter four, to go back to the language of chapter four, the Parable of the Soils. Jairus has made a declaration of faith. And remember what we said happens immediately after a declaration of faith.

What comes out? The sun. The sun immediately comes out upon every declaration of faith, the sun and the parable representing the pressure of the world, the pressure of the culture, the pressure of life, that sun will immediately come out. Every declaration of faith, God wants to test it and he wants to test it right away.

He wants to test its genuineness. He wants the one who declares that faith to know whether that faith is genuine or not. And so the faith immediate or the son immediately comes out so de, so Iris has just made a declaration of faith and what just came out? A great big blazing hot son. He just declared faith in Jesus with the whole city of Capernaum watching, and now his circumstance just got a whole lot worse.

Isn't that the way it goes? Isn't that the consistent way of the, of the Christian life that a declaration of faith, particularly the first one, particularly that initial declaration of faith, almost always, or we could probably say always at least, almost always brings a turn of events, brings a change of situation that is not favorable.

Iris's situation has just turned much worse immediately on the heels of his public declaration of faith. Remember what Peter says in one Peter chapter four and verse 12, beloved, do not be surprised when the fiery trial comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. Peter says, this is normal.

This is, in other words, what should be expected. Declarations of faith will be followed by blazing hot sons. Why trouble the teacher any further? They say Your daughter is dead. Why trouble him any further? In other words, there are at least two implications in that statement. Why trouble the teacher any further?

Two implications that we should see. First of all, implication. Number one, he's just a teacher. Everybody knows death is final. I mean, he's a great teacher. The ones bringing the word. Perhaps they also were workers at the synagogue. Remember Jairus is the ruler of the synagogue. And remember this is the same synagogue that in chapter one, Jesus cast out the demon in the man who stood up and said, I know who you are.

So perhaps these bringers of the word were there when Jesus did that powerful teaching in the synagogue. Synagogue. Remember when all the people said, we've never heard teaching like this. Perhaps they were there. Perhaps they heard it. Perhaps they believe fully that this man is the greatest teacher we've ever heard.

But that's, that's what he is. He's a great teacher and everybody knows death is final. Why bother the teacher anymore that that's who he is? He can't do any more than teach. That's implication number one. Number two, and this is I think, the most helpful one to see. Why trouble the teacher anymore as though it's trouble to Jesus as though it's trouble for him to be interrupted.

From my perspective, it probably is, but as though it's trouble to interrupt Jesus and take Jesus, the Godhead has arranged all of this. It's Jesus's desire. Now. Jesus desires Jairus to have a purity of faith and a strength of faith that understands God doesn't have to be in the room. To heal the daughter.

But nevertheless, Jesus wants to go to Jairus's house. He wants to know. Jairus is a sheep. He is a sheep of Jesus's fold. And Jesus wants to know him. It is no trouble for him to go, but you see the assumption why trouble him? And isn't that the same assumption that we often wrestle with? We know that the scriptures tell us, for example, first Peter, chapter five are commanded to cast our cares upon him, for he cares for us, but nevertheless, don't our fallen, weak, frail hearts.

Don't we just fall into that way of thinking that, oh, here I am again, God, with the same failure, the same one as last week, the same request as last week, the same request as last month, the same plea. And don't you just have this deep sense that you have to fight against with your spirit, that the sense that's telling you, you're just bothering God.

He doesn't want to hear this same, he wants you to come back and report some sort of victory that you've had. He doesn't want to just constantly hear of all your needs. The same thing with these synagogue or, or these, , friends of, supposedly friends of Jairus who come and say, don't trouble him anymore.

You're bothering him enough. Just leave him alone. Don't trouble him any further. Now, why trouble the teacher any further they say, and now begins further testing of Jairus's Faith. Remember, the Declaration of Faith will be followed by the heat of the son. The first testing of his faith was, there's Jesus, my daughter is dying.

Will I go to him with everybody watching and will I fall at his feet or not? So he goes and falls at his feet. Now comes the second testing. Your daughter's dead. There's no need to trouble this man any further. Your daughter's dead. Nobody can do anything. Now, will Jairus listen to them? Or will he listen to Jesus?

Now comes the second phase of his test, but verse 36, but overhearing what they said in other word, overhearing has three different meanings. You know, oftentimes words in our language will have multiple meanings. This word has three meanings. It could mean hearing something that you weren't intended to hear, overhearing, or it could mean hearing something and ignoring what you hear.

Or it could mean hearing something and refusing to believe that what you hear is true. Those are the three meanings that apply to the word. Which one is the meaning? In this case, probably all three, and it really doesn't matter. But either Jesus overheard what they said to Jairus, or Jesus heard it and ignored it, and then he says what he's about to say to Jairus or Jesus heard it and didn't believe there was a word of truth to it, probably all three.

So overhearing what they said. Jesus then said to the ruler of the synagogue, do not fear only believe. Do not fear, only believe, literally stop fearing. And then it's a present active imperative, which means it's a command to continue doing something. So literally stop fearing and keep on believing. So there Jesus confirms that Jairus has a faith.

Keep on believing. Jesus doesn't say start believing. He says, stop fearing and keep on believing. So there we see, of course, the tension, the, the contradiction there between fear and faith. Jesus says, stop the fearing and keep on believing. So Jairus here is to shift his focus, to shift his thoughts purposely and intentionally.

He's to shift his focus from, from what's right in front of him, which are these people that are here to say, we got bad news. Your, we just lost your daughter. He's gone. She's gone. To shift the focus from that to what Jesus is now saying. Do not fear. Stop fearing only believe. So the contrast here between fear and faith, we recognize that Jesus's command here is to continue believing, stop fearing, but instead continue believing.

Stop focusing on this, this over here, which is bringing fear and instead believe, continue believing. You know, in all of the all four gospels, there is not a single account in all four gospels of Jesus ever coddling, unbelief, or tolerating unbelief or excusing unbelief. Jesus was firm and sure and direct regarding unbelief.

Jesus was always quick to point out unbelief and to call people always to believe even in the most extreme of situations. This is a pretty extreme situation. Your daughter's dead. Jesus says to him, stop fearing, but believe. That's a pretty extreme situation, but there's even a more extreme situation. We just read about it a few weeks ago.

The boat's going down. We've been on the Sea of Galilee our whole lives. We are sailors and fishermen. We know the sea. This boat is going down. Why were you afraid? Why did you stop believing? That's a pretty extreme situation. But notice Jesus never in no matter re regardless of the extremity of the situation, Jesus never excused.

Unbelief. His call was always to believe over fear. So this disposition, this heart disposition, this mindset of believing what God says over what appears to be contradictory to what God says, and not allowing the thing that's right in front of you, which is contradictory to what God says, not allowing that to instill fear.

This is the essence of the faith that Jesus is getting in now. We just really are kind of emerging from a time in which our culture around us has really been on this hyper sort of mode of fear. Fear, fear. Fear. Fear, right? I mean, we live in a culture that feeds off of fear. The culture all around you wants you to fear everything.

And we just had what, a two- or three-year period in which that was just really heightened to a whole new level. Fear. Fear, fear. You've got a lot to be afraid of. And so what this should do is this should speak to our hearts. You know what? We live in a world that's a very dangerous world. We live in a world of, of sicknesses and viruses.

We live in a world of, of political enemies, of Chinas, and North Koreas, and Russia’s, who would love to do us harm, and they got lots of nasty weapons. We live in a world of terrorism. We live in a world of violence. So there we live in a world of real, true actual danger. But this world of actual danger wants your heart to fear it more than you trust God.

And this is the essence. This is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, of faith over fear. This disposition in the mind, in the soul, in the heart that sees a reality and that reality says to you, be afraid. And God says to you, Why are you afraid? Are you not my child? Do I not know all of your needs?

Do I not control all things in this world? Have I not promised you that I will be with you, that I will never leave? You never forsake you. Have I not promised you that? Everything that I allow to touch you will be for your good? Why are you so afraid? And so this is the essence of what Jairus is facing here now.

But notice Jesus not only commands him to stop fearing and keep believing, but I want to notice something else about Jesus' command to him, or should we say plea. Jesus is not only commanding of him to stop fearing and keep believing Jesus is also gentle and in encouraging. In Luke's account of this, Luke gives us one extra piece of information that really is helpful in Luke chapter eight, verse 50.

We read this Jesus on hearing this meaning the, the news of the daughter that has now died. Jesus, upon hearing this answered him saying, do not fear only believe, and she will be well. You hear what Jesus did there? He gave one more piece for Jairus, just, just to say, believe, believe, believe Jairus and she will be Well.

Jesus is trying, if you will, to put into Jairus the faith that he needs to overcome. This fear that he faces and the gentleness and the encouraging nature of Jesus are remarkable at this point. It reminds me of what's said about our savior in Isaiah chapter 42, where we're told that a bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick.

He will not extinguish. Now what that's speaking of, that's speaking of the heart that has a fragile, weak faith, and that's the bruised reed and the passage says, even the bruised reed, he won't break it. He's gentle with it. He is not coddling or accepting of unbelief, yet he is gentle with the one whose faith is new and weak and shallow and misguided, if you will, and misinformed if you will, a bruised weed reed.

He will not break a faintly burning wick, he will not quench. And so in his tender mercy Jairus, stop being afraid. Don't stop believing. Continue believing. And she will be well, verse 37. And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. Now, so, so now we go back once again to a common theme in Mark, and that's the theme of the outsiders and the insiders.

Remember, this was big in chapter four. Those on the inside, chapter four, verse 10, 11, 12, those on the inside to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of heaven. To those on the outside, it's just in parables. Chapter three, Jesus and His called-out ones are inside the house, sitting at Jesus' feet, receiving the teaching.

His family comes, they're on the outside. His called-out Ones are on the inside. This theme of the inside, in the outside. So here we see Peter, James, and John singled out. There'll be two more times that these same three disciples are singled out. Jesus invites them up the Mount of Transfiguration, and then in chapter 14, Jesus invites them to go along further in the Garden of Gethsemane on that fateful night and invite them to prayer.

So he singles these out and we're, we read that he allowed no one to follow him except these three. Now wait a minute. I thought the crowd was just thronging around Jesus. Didn't we just read that last week that the crowd was mobbing Jesus and Luke's word, Luke, remember he used the word for choke. The crowd was choking Jesus.

Yet here Jesus won't allow anyone to follow him except for these three in Iris. You see, even in all the mobbing crowd, let's not lose sight of the fact Jesus is not controlled by the crowd. He Jesus controls the crowd not the other way around. So even though the mob seems huge and even outta control, even when Jesus said to his disciples, make sure you have a boat in case I need to escape this crowd unless they crush me.

Even so, Jesus controls the crowd not the other way around. And when Jesus wants to be done with the crowd, He won't allow them to follow him. So he allows no one to follow him except Peter, James and John, the brother of James. Verse 38. And they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue. So notice what Jairus is still doing.

Jairus is still believing and he's still acting on faith. Why? Because they've now arrived at his house. The son of God knows where Jairus lives. He, he doesn't need Jairus to lead him there, but nevertheless, Jairus takes Jesus to his house. Meaning in the face of the news, your daughter's dead. Jairus is still believing and he still takes Jesus to the house.

His faith has been challenged by the crowd. His faith has been challenged by the people with the news. Now his faith is going to be challenged once again. Verse 38, they come to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So here he arrives at the scene of death.

The initial moments you should, you could say of a funeral. You know, one thing I've observed about cultures, different cultures, we all know cultures have lots of differences, but there are two ways in which I feel like you can really put a finger on all the major differences or at least many of the major differences between cultures.

And that's simply by looking at two things, weddings and funerals. You ever notice that if you look at weddings and funerals, that tells you a lot about the differences in culture, the way one culture celebrates the beginning of a new family, and the way a culture says goodbye to their loved ones. Those two ways can tell you a lot about a culture.

And so when we come to this aspect of culture of saying goodbye to a loved one, Let's just notice some of the differences here. We're told that Jesus comes upon this commotion. Now that's the word, this often translated riot in Acts chapter 20, right after the big riot in Ephesus that breaks out Acts Chapter 20 uses this word to describe the riot.

So this is a, this is a big, loud, chaotic commotion that Jesus comes upon. We're told that people are weeping and wailing loudly. So a Hebrew funeral, a Jewish funeral, was a very loud, chaotic, cacophony type of affair. How are our funerals? Quiet, subdued, and very quiet and very respectful. You know, when you go to the wake, how does everybody talk like this?

You know? Cause you don't want to talk too loud. Everybody's talking in hush tones. When you go to the funeral, what's the music like? Oh, it's beautiful, lovely music. Not loud, but it's beautiful music. A Jewish funeral could not be more opposite than that. A Jewish funeral was filled with loud crying and loud wailing.

Lots of tearing of the clothes and lots of screaming out. In fact, Jewish funerals were famous for what's known as paid mourners, paid mourners. It was, it was actually a gilded occupation, paid mourners, which were almost always women, were women that, I mean, that's how they made their living. You paid a, a mourner to come to the wake and to the funeral, and their job was to be in the most distressed they could possibly be in loud, wailing, loud, crying, anguish, that sort of thing.

So the paid mourners, I'll show you in the text a little bit later how we know that they were paid mourners, but the paid mourners are here and they're wailing loudly. But not only that, there's also music, but you think of music and you think, well, music is pleasing. Not in this case. Matthew tells us that the flute players were already there.

And once again, I mean, I think about flute music. What do you think of with flute music? Nice sort of quiet, sort of pleasing sort of music, not this kind of flu flute music. The flute music that was played at funerals was intentionally shrill and harsh and full of discordant notes, which means just simply notes that don't match the song on purpose.

The intention was to hurt the ears. The intention was to be painful to the ears and to the eyes. Why? Well think about the theology behind this. There's something wrong here. There's something very wrong. Death is wrong and death has just happened. And so that was the culture. They showed this passing of a loved one by the loud wailing in the mourning, in the discordant note.

Maybe this helps you make a little bit more sense of when Jesus says of John the Baptist, he says, We played a funeral dirge, and you didn't react the proper way. So this music, this loud, harsh noise, was intended to be unsettling, to say to you, this is wrong. Death is wrong. The passing of the loved, especially in this case, the passing of a 12-year-old girl.

Something's just wrong about that. We shouldn't hear beautiful pleasing music. We should hear wailing and lots of it. We should hear awful music that hurts our ears. And that's exactly what Jesus comes upon. People weeping and wailing loudly. Verse 39. And when he had entered, he said to them, why are you making a commotion and weeping?

The child is not dead, but sleeping. In other words, this is the wrong reaction. You're doing this funeral dirge for someone who's asleep. Child's not dead, but the child is asleep. Why are you doing this? So the question must be asked, well, As we know that the story's going to play out, Jesus will raise the girl from death.

But the question must be asked. Jesus himself just said, she's not dead. Jesus himself just said she's sleeping. Could it be that she was just really sick and just appeared to be dead? And Jesus revives her? After all. He himself said that he's not. She's not dead. She's sleeping. Well, I think that we can immediately discount that for a couple reasons.

One, there are professional mourners here mourning the girl's death, and that's sort of their business. I, I think they know a dead body when they see it. You know, people that live 2000 years ago weren't stupid. And sometimes we can fall into that trap of just thinking that just because somebody lived 2000 years ago, they were naive and easy to fool and stupid, and they weren't.

They knew a dead person and they knew a sick person. Furthermore, Luke in his account says that they were weeping and wailing, or I'm sorry, not that when, when Jesus tells them she's asleep, they, Luke says that they laugh at him knowing she was dead. So Luke says, explicitly the physician, Luke says, explicitly knowing she was dead, they laughed at him.

So the girl is good and dead and on the way to being cold, but Jesus says she's not dead. She's only sleeping. What does Jesus mean by this? Well, he doesn't explain, but I think there's a couple of things that we can gather from this. First, I think that we can gather this, Jesus is raising of the girl back to life.

For him is no harder than waking someone up from asleep. Jesus is going to raise her back to life. It will be this effortless raising, restoring of life to the girl. And for him it'll be like waking someone up from a deep sleep. But perhaps the, the more important thing to see here is that the scriptures, particularly the New Testament, will frequently describe physical death for the believer as sleeping.

I go to awake Lazarus for he's asleep. Or at Jesus' resurrection, the many tombs were opened and those who were asleep came out of the tombs or the words of Paul, those who are asleep in Christ. Right? So we see this too many kind times to, to really number here this metaphor of asleep in Christ when it's dis describing the Christian who has experienced physical death.

And I think the reason for that is let's be careful not to think that there is actually this type of sleep that we're engaged in that, that after physical death happens to us, that we're actually. Asleep in some sort of way, or unconscious in some sort of way. That's not what the scriptures teach at all.

The scriptures teach that the soul is always conscious. The soul is always aware. When physical death occurs, the soul remains aware of where it is, what's happening, what's around it. The soul remains aware, so we're not asleep in sort of a unconscious sort of way, but instead the scriptures want us to see physical death for the Christian in that peace like restful analogy of sleep.

That's how we're supposed to think of physical death as a restful sleep, as a a peaceful type of sleep. Now, no, not all sleeps are peaceful, right? Sometimes they're fitful, sometimes they're filled with bad dreams and different things. But isn't that what you think of when the word sleep is said? Sleep, don't you think peace, rest, and that's how we're to think.

Sleep, peace, rest. She's not dead. She's asleep. Verse 40, and they laughed at him. That's what tells us that they were paid mourners right there. How do you go from loud wailing to laughing instantly if the wailing was real? You don't, they're paid to. They're paid to cry. They weren't paid to laugh because what Jesus just said, just set them off.

They laughed at him. Now, if you think about this, I, I don't think that there is a more frightening or sad verse in all of scripture than what just happened. They laughed at their creator. They mocked their maker.

Oh, what a frightening thing that is.

But all the. Patience, the supernatural self-control of Jesus to not incinerate them immediately. How does it make you feel for someone to laugh at you? How does it make you feel for someone to see something that you do or hear something you say, and they find that so ridiculous that they're moved to laughter.

How does that make you feel?

The son of God was just laughed at and he exhibits the most extreme self-control in the face of the mocking. But yet, once again, Jairus is faced with the decision. Those around Jesus are laughing at what he just said. Will he continue to believe? Or will he fall prey to the crowd that's laughing at him?

Do you know how his faith is now being tested? Do you know how difficult it would've been for Jairus to stand beside Jesus and continue to believe in the face of those who are laughing at him? After all, he is the ruler of the synagogue. He does have a name to protect. He does have a status, a position to respect to, to, to, , to maintain.

So he's forced with yet another decision, the decision will I continue to believe while he's being laughed at. Peter says in second Peter chapter three, verse three, that in the last days, we know that scoffers will come. Will he continue to believe as his master is being laughed at? And it reminds me of another story of when another was asked to believe the seemingly impossible.

In the face of laughter. And I'm thinking of course about scripture's, model Scripture's. Example Scripture's. Human example for faith, who was of course Abraham. And do you remember the promise made to Abraham? Abraham, I'll make a nation of you. And that was a wonderful promise. When Abraham was 35, but now Abraham's a hundred and though they tried to help God out, they just, just wouldn't work.

Now Abraham's a hundred, Sarah's 90, still no child. And then remember when God visits and he says, when I come back next year, you'll have a son. You remember what his wife does? Falls on the ground laughing. Same situation. In fact, it's the same situation all of us face. Every disciple faces that, faces that Will you believe when the world mocks?

Will you believe when the world ridicules will you believe when the world says, What they believe is so ridiculous. It's laughable. Scripture calls genuine faith. That type of faith, which believes the seemingly impossible in the faith of that, which seems to say there's no way. That's what scripture calls genuine faith.

Scripture doesn't call genuine faith believing in something that's really close to what the culture believes anyway, believing in a God who rewards the good and punishes the wicked. And so if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, then you stand to gain. If not is the reverse or when you believe in some sort of God this, this heavenly passer out of blessings.

All your blessings, all your best lives now, right? When we believe in those sorts of things, we're not believing in something that's so contrary to the culture that scripture calls that actual genuine faith. What scripture calls true and genuine faith is when we believe the seemingly impossible because God has said it.

So back to Abraham, our example of faith. Abraham is told, I will make you the father of nations. You remember that night when God comes to Abraham and says, Abraham, come on outside. Abraham comes outside. Look up. Can you imagine what the sky looked like in 3000 bc? Look up for those stars, Abraham. If you can number them.

Then you can also number your children. Not speaking of political Israel, but speaking of the Church of God's people, of God's nation, if you can number those and then you can number those whom you'll be the father of…and Abraham is a hundred,

God is asking him to believe the seemingly possible. God is asking Abraham to look two realities in the face, one reality, you see, that's his wrinkled hands, his bent over body, his aching knees. And the other reality is God said it, which will you believe, Abraham? That's what scripture calls genuine saving faith.

And that's what Jairus is faced with here. So what does Jairus do? Let's find out. They laughed at him and he put, but he put them all outside. He there is Jesus. He put them all outside, so their skepticism earns them a trip out the door. He puts all them outside their disbelief. Their mocking means that they will not witness the most extraordinary miracle that Jesus has performed to date up to this point.

This will be the most extraordinary miracle that Jesus has ever performed. They were in the same house. They were right beside the room in which Jesus will perform the greatest miracle he has yet done. And they could have been there, but their skepticism caused them to get kicked out. There will be no miracles for the scornful throng because Jesus's greatest works are not.

For the eyes of unfaith to behold Jesus' greatest works are for the eyes of faith. To behold. We'll see this very plainly in the next chapter. Mark chapter six. So Jesus puts them out. But wait a minute, why does Jesus put them out? They're laughing at Jesus. What? What would serve them better than for them to have to eat their words or to eat their laughter?

What would serve them better than for them with their very own eyes? To see this girl get up? I mean, wouldn't that just be a fitting end to all of this? Wouldn't that put an end to their laughing and their skepticism? After all, isn't Jesus here to start a movement? Isn't Jesus here to start a church?

Isn't Jesus here to, to call people to believe in him? Why wouldn't he just let them witness the miracle as well? And here is one of the most important points for us to see, and that is this mighty works by God will never change anyone's mind about him. Never. Mighty works that God performs will never change anyone's mind.

If you, in your mind and in your heart, disbelieve no mighty work will ever change, that God's mighty works are done for validating his words, validating who he is. That's what we're told in Acts chapter two. God did these mighty works through Jesus to validate who he was and to validate his words. And so if you disbelieve his words, it doesn't matter how many, many mighty works you see, Jesus just said, the girl is not dead.

She's sleeping. They laughed. They didn't believe him out. They go, why? Because even if you see her rise from the dead, that's not going to change your mind. There's nowhere that illustrates this more plainly than this parable that Jesus told in Luke chapter 16. We all know the parables of Parable of Lazarus and another rich man.

Here known as just the rich man. Remember the parable of the Lazarus and the rich man? And remember how that parable goes? There's this man, Lazarus, and in life he receives all bad things and there's a rich man who in life, he receives all good things. And then just like Jo Iris's daughter, death comes to them both.

And death is the great reversal. And so the rich man who received all good things finds himself in torment. Lazarus in the poetic metaphorical language of the parable is found in the bosom of Abraham. And then there's this interchange between the two. The rich man asked for mercy. Is there no reprieve?

Is there no relief from this torment? No, there's not. Well at least send somebody to tell my brothers about this place so they don't have to come here. And do you remember in the parable how Jesus answered that they have Moses and the prophets? But if they refuse to believe them, neither will they be convinced.

Even if someone were to return from the dead,

you know what? Someone's about to return from the dead and neither we believe what Jesus said or we don't. He said, if they refuse to believe the words of Moses and the prophets, lemme put this another way, you've got Bibles. If you refuse to believe those, then it doesn't matter. Even if someone comes back from the dead, you're not going to have your mind changed because Mighty works from God changes.

No one's mind. They validate faith or they disprove it, but they never change anyone's mind. It's completely upside down to think. That if these laughing scoffers had witnessed the miracle, they would've said, oh, we were wrong about you. You really are the son of God. The soil in the heart is either good or it's thorny, shallow or hard.

And so we either believe Jesus's words about this or we don't. Even if someone rises from the dead, they won't be convinced. And so he took the child's father, he puts them out. He takes the child's father and mother, and those who were with him, meaning Peter, James, and John, and he went in where the child were, was verse 41, taking her by the hand.

Now, in your mind, we, we should probably not picture Jesus walking up to the girl and, and sort of gently taking her hand. Instead, the word that Mark uses here is the, this word is most often translated seizes. We see the same word Herod seized John the Baptist, or we see the same word in the parable of the unforgiving servant who seized the man who owed him money.

But we see in Matthew chapter 12, verse 11, what I think is a really close con contextual interpretation of this word. Look at Matthew 12, verse 11. He said to them, which of you has a, who has a sheep if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not, here's the word. Take hold of it and lift it out. That's the word.

Take hold of it. So Jesus doesn't sort of gently take her hand. You know, if I, if I might be, , politically incorrect here, you, you know the difference between a woman's handshake and a man's handshake. You know, sort of when a woman gives her hand and then a man clasps hands. That's the difference here.

So Jesus comes up and he doesn't just gently pick up her hand, he clasps her hand firmly. Jesus touches death, so death won't touch us. And when Jesus touches death, he doesn't just stroke it, he doesn't just lay his hand, he seizes it. He grabs hold of death and he holds it because you know what? Death couldn't hold him.

I lay down my life. No one takes my life from me. I lay it down. Jesus seized death, and Jesus held it so death wouldn't hold us. So taking her by the hand, he said to Hertha, COUM, which means little girl, I say to you, arise. Notice just the tenderness, the care, and the tenderness right beside the power, the authority.

Jesus, just put the, the scoffers outside. Get out. Jesus just arrested the crowd. No further, Jesus is about to restore a dead corpse to life. But yet right beside that is the most tender. Talitha koum. Let's think about these words, Talitha koum. Now I know if you're reading in the English standard as I am, or the King James, you have Talitha kumi.

And, , that is a variant read, a variant spelling of the Aramaic, , more tested, better manuscripts will give us a different spelling. That is Talitha koum. So we'll go, we'll just go with that. I don't want to say any more about that. We'll just go with that. Talitha koum, let's think about these words.

Talitha koum In the English, the, the best transliteration would be Talitha, T A L I T H A, koum, k o u m. Talitha koum. And the Aramaic. You know, this shows us something that is unique to Mark and something that is precious in Mark's gospel. And that is that Mark is the only one who gives us these Aramaic words because Jesus spoke Aramaic.

Aramaic, you may know Aramaic was a, I guess you could think of it as a perversion of the Hebrew language. It came about as the Hebrew speaking, people were invaded by foreigners, by the Babylonians and the Persians and languages sort of got mixed and conglomerated together. And the result of that was the Aramaic that Jesus spoke very, very closely associated with Hebrew, very close to Hebrew, but not Hebrew.

So Jesus was an Aramaic speaker. And so Mark is the only one that gives us these Aramaic words. Six times. Six times in Mark's gospel. He will give us this Aramaic word and then he translates it, which tells us that Mark is writing to non-Aramaic speakers who wouldn't know what Koon means. So Mark had to tell him what it means.

They were Latin speakers or Greek speakers. So Mark would then give the interpretation. So this unique thing that Mark does in giving us these actual Aramaic words, six times five of those times are aromatic words that came from Jesus' lips. Think about that. These are the words that he spoke. Now sometimes we sort of lightheartedly, we have this little inside joke about Red letter edition Bibles.

And don't be offended. I if you've got a red-letter edition Bible, I have many red-letter edition Bibles, but we sort of have a, a little inside joke about Red letter edition Bibles. But if you want an authentic red-letter edition Bible with the words of Christ in red, it would have exactly six words in red from five places, because that's all we have of the precise words.

Jesus spoke Jesus when, when we read Jesus' words, we're understand. We're reading the Greek writing that's now translated to our English of what he spoke. Here we have his actual word.

We don't know what Jesus looked like. We don't know how tall he was. We don't know how short he was. We don't know if his eyes were close, set or far set. We don't know if his nose was big or small. We don't know if his forehead was long and sloping or short and stubby, but we have this, he spoke these words, Talitha koum.

So what do these words mean? Is this some sort of magic incantation that Jesus speaks over a dead corpse and so we can just do the same Talitha koum and somebody will come back to life? Of course not. Mark translates it for us. Little girl. Get up. Or little girl I say, arise. So in the Aramaic language, if you were a boy, you would be known as a tali.

And the female, the feminine version of that. If you were a girl, you'll be known as a talitha. The word literally means lamb or little lamb. But it had come be to be used so frequently and so prolifically to describe a child that the meanings had really become merged into one. And so nobody went around calling little boys, little boy lambs.

And then they thought, oh, they just called me a lamb. It was just a natural thing because that's in the, in the, in this culture, that's just what you called little ones. You called them tali, which meant little boy lamb or Talitha, which meant little girl lamb. So he comes and he says to her, Talitha koum, and the word koum just means get up,

Little girl, get up.

Scholars tell us that this is almost certainly the very words that this girl's mother used every morning of her life to come and wake her. Little girl, get up.

Your rest is over.

We have things to do. Little girl, little lamb. Get up

The tender, tender preciousness in Jesus's voice. He just calls her little lamb. It's time to get up.

It's not time for a rest.

It's time to get up.

And as he speaks to her, these words that this girl has no doubt heard every morning of her life, these very words that called her out of a restful, deep sleep into another day of consciousness. These same words ring into her ears, as Jesus says to her, the most ordinary, common words Little girl, get up.

Isn't it just like God to take something so ordinary and do something so supernatural with it? Isn't that what he does with everything, with people, with things, with situations, with everything? Isn't the God the one who just takes the most ordinary, mundane things and turns them into something?

Supernatural little girl, come on, wake up.

We got a day ahead of us. And immediately the girl got up. So there's Mark's favorite word again immediately. So here's the picture. Everyone who is a parent in the room knows exactly what this picture is like. It's the picture of looking at your child's face in a deep sleep. You know that look, that there's just nothing.

It's just there's nothing there. And then you go and you wake them up, and then you see the eyes open. And when the eyes open, there's no light on yet, and then the light comes on and there's consciousness and awareness as they wake up. That's the picture here. Little girl wake up, she opens her eyes, and then the light comes back on.

Luke says her spirit returned to her, which is the biblically precise way to understand physical death. Physical death is when the spirit is separated from the body. Jesus returns the state of physical life and her spirit returns to her, and immediately the girl got up. Once again, all of Jesus's healings are immediate.

All of Jesus' healings are total. She immediately got up. So here's the main point of the passage. If you missed this, then you wasted your time this morning. The main point is Jesus Christ has the power over death. The greatest enemy that we face, Jesus Christ, has full and total power. Is there an enemy greater than death?

Isn't there a sense in which whatever you face, you can humor yourself somewhere in the back of your mind that you can do something about? Just about anything except death? There is nothing to do about that because once you're dead, you can't call for help. You can't ask for resources. You can't exert any effort.

You can do nothing. You're dead. It is the greatest enemy, and Jesus Christ has total complete power over it. Revelation one, verse 18. Behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Immediately the girl got up and began walking for, she was 12 years old. So once again, she's not having to be woken, to be resurrected.

And then she's still suffering from whatever sickness took her life. And she's sort of in this recovery period, just like Peter's mother-in-law from chapter one who gets up and starts serving people. She gets up, starts walking around, and they were immediately overcome with amazement. The they is the mother, the fa, or Iris, and the mother, Peter, James, and John.

Five people. They were immediately overcome with amazement. Luke literally says they were amazed with great amazement. They were amazed with mega amazement, verse 43. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this. Why? Because as soon as she goes out to play, everybody's going to know. It's not like they can keep this thing a secret.

She's not the baby Moses, after all, they can be hidden in a ark. She's 12 years old, everybody's going to know and they're going to know pretty quick. Why the command to silence? Well, I think mainly it's as simple as crowd control. We've already seen just what a problem the crowds are for Jesus. And I think mainly if this really not a whole lot more than just crowd control.

Plus with the fact add. To add to the fact that if we believe what the Bible says, that no one's mind about Jesus will be changed by mighty works, then we have no problem with his command to secrecy. We have no problem with his commanding them to strictly charge no one or tell no one about this and told them to give her something to eat.

So this is the final thing. We'll see that Jesus told them to give her something to eat. What's that all about? Well, naturally this is also saying to us that Jesus cares for the whole person. She's hungry. She's been probably been sick for a while, probably hadn't eaten in a while. Give the girl something to eat.

He cares for her spirit and for her soul, but he also cares for her body and that's true. However, I think there's more to it than that. So I'm going to going to speculate a little bit and I want you to tell me if, if this sounds like it would hold biblical water. One of the things that strikes me is how often resurrections are connected together with eating.

I don’t know if you've ever noticed that, but three times. Jesus is said to be eating after his resurrection. So there's Luke 24, the road to to am Emmaus. They get to am Emmaus and they go inside the house. And then we're told that not only is Jesus sharing table, we're told what he eats. Then later that night, he goes back to the upper room.

Comes into the upper room, everybody's shocked. And Jesus says, you have any broad fish here? No. You have anything to eat, they give him some broiled fish. And then later, John ch , 22, the risen Christ on the shore. There, the disciples are out fishing and we're told that Jesus says, come and have breakfast.

I got breakfast cooking, and we're told they come and that Jesus serves them bread and fish three times. You know, that's more than the entirety of the rest of Jesus' life that we're told that he eats. We're told that he shared a table with Simon, the Pharisee, and we're told about, of course, the instituting of the Passover.

But we're told more about Jesus's eating after his resurrection than before. And here he raises this girl back to life and says, let's eat. Could it be? Could it be that God wants to hearken our thoughts to our resurrection? And how our resurrection will be followed by a meal, that marriage feast. That marriage supper in which we will sit down on that day. On that day when he says to us, tally or tally thigh. Okay, come on. This is the day. This is the day that I've come for you. You have never left me. I've never, I've never left you. Your spirit has been with me, but I've now come for your body.

So wake up little girl. Wake up little boy. And on that day, we sit down to that table in which Jesus says, that's the day. That he will again, drink of the fruit of the vine with us. Could it possibly be that when Jesus says, give her something to eat, he's placing just a hint there that he wants us to be reminded of that day.

When he says to us, Talitha koum. When he says to us, Lazarus, come out.

I've prepared a meal. Let us sit down to table.