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A sermon is a manner of oral communication and therefore words and sentence structure/order would be added, altered, or deleted at the moment of delivery. + In Nomine Jesu + The Rev. Evan Gaertner 4th Sunday after Pentecost "On His Way" Today I want to talk to you about faith and the crowds that surrounded Jesus. Our story begins with a crowd that greets Jesus as he gets out of a boat. One of the leaders of a synagogue, Jairus, sees Jesus and kneels down at the feet of Jesus. While for the most part religious leaders did not show much affection for Jesus, they did occasionally seek him for help for their personal needs. Nicodemus in secret sought out Jesus to answer his questions. Jarius, a local religious leader goes among the crowds to find Jesus because his daughter is in need. He implores Jesus to come quickly because his daughter was at the point of death. He has confidence that if Jesus would touch her she would be made well and live. But he must come quickly because she is at the point of death. So Jesus went with him. Prayers answered. The Great Physician is on his way. The crowd followed Jesus and filled the space around him. There was one particular woman that stepped through that crowd with faith that if only she could touch Jesus she would be made well. She had suffered with hemorrhaging for the last twelve years. She tried physicians, but instead of getting better she only got poor and still was sick. As word spread about Jesus she knew that she needed to step through that crowd. Normally she would have avoided big crowds worried because spiritually she was unclean and physically she would have been worried about getting bruised. But by faith she stepped through the crowds, confident that by Jesus she would be made well. Immediately when she touched Jesus the flow of blood stopped and she felt in her body that she was healed. Just as the woman felt healing in her body, Jesus felt healing flow out from him to someone in need. He stopped and asked, "Who touched my garments?" His disciples were confounded because Jesus was being swarmed by the crowds and yet he would ask, "Who touched me?" The difference was that the crowds were touching Jesus because that was what everyone else was doing. This woman had touched Jesus with a cry for help in her touch. It was a personal touch that carried with it physical and spiritual needs that only Jesus could meet. It was a touch that carried faith and need wrapped up together. So while Jesus is on his way to see the little girl of the religious leader he stops. I wonder if Jairus became impatient when the parade to his home stopped and Jesus bothered to talk with this unclean, broken woman. When Jesus asked the person who had touched him to come forward, this woman had known for long enough what it was like to be on the outside. She stepped forward and fell down before Jesus. It was an image striking in its similarities to Jarius' approach to Jesus. But also to the crowds probably noticeable in its differences. They both came to Jesus through the crowds with faith that Jesus would make a difference in their lives. They both knelt down at the feet of Jesus and opened up to him their need for him to enter into their lives. But the differences are what we see with our eyes of prejudice and priority. Jairus is a religious leader with a sick little girl. This woman is a sick woman who is spiritually unclean, not to be touched by anyone lest they become unclean themselves. She has gone to doctor after doctor and found no answers along the way. She is now a poor, tired, sick, broken woman. On the way to help Jairus' daughter Jesus stops to talk to this woman. And so this journey becomes a lot like the Great Samaritan Story. When others would keep walking, when others would have stayed focused on the very appropriate priority of the sick little girl, Jesus shows the power of his grace. His grace extends beyond our levels of priority or prejudice. On his way to Jairus’ daughter Jesus made a difference in this woman’s life. The crowd thought everything was in vain when a person came back to say to Jairus, “Your daughter is dead, why don’t you give up and not bother the teacher any further.” The delay to stop and talk with the woman was too much. Just give up was the message of the crowd. Why bother? He is a teacher and able to do amazing things, but this is too much, he wasted his time while on his way to talk with this woman. But Jesus overheard what was said and asked Jairus to step out of the crowd and said, “Do not fear, only believe.” There would have been something worse for Jairus then the death of his daughter and that is to no longer believe in Jesus. This is precisely is what is happening to the crowd as they encourage Jairus to give up. Jesus encourages Jairus to look past the fear of death and to believe in him. He then did not allow the crowd to follow him any further but invited Jairus and the disciples to follow him. The crowds had put themselves outside of Jesus’ grace with their disbelief. When they got to the house there was all of the commotion that occurs with death. Jesus said, “She is not dead, she is only sleeping.” They laughed at Jesus. But Jesus was not dissuaded by the crowd. He asked them to step outside. Again we find with this crowd that they have put themselves outside of Jesus and his grace through their unbelief. But by faith in the promises of Jesus the little girl’s father and mother stepped into their house. Jesus touched the child, the dead child. Death was unclean but with Jesus clean hands of righteousness he took her by the hand and said, “Talitha cum,” which means “little girl get up.” Jesus brought her from the outside, from death, and brought her back into that home and back with her family. She immediately got up and walked around. Jesus told them not to tell anyone but to give her something to eat. The focus was not on the crowds and letting the crowds know what had taken place. The focus for Jesus was on this little girl and bringing her back into the family. Jairus and the woman were different then the crowds. Not just because of their illnesses, suffering, or grief, but because of their faith. In their desperate situations they were willing to risk everything to be at the feet of Jesus. Jairus swallowed his upper class pride as a religious leader and went to Jesus. That older woman exhausted from all of her doctors visits and her fear and trembling of the crowds reaches out to Jesus. They both reached across the crowds to Jesus because they believed that only Jesus could make the difference. Both the little girl and the woman are healed inside and out and brought back into family. The woman was greeted as “daughter.” And where Jairus was prepared to find an empty seat at his dinner table is able to eat with his daughter. This happens because they become intimately connected to Jesus. In contrast to the derisive chuckles of the crowd, those who had faith in Jesus found the peace that surpasses all understanding. While Jesus is on his way to the cross, the grave, and to sit at the right hand of the almighty father in heaven, he does not forget about you or walk past you and ignore you. Have faith that Jesus sees you and all your needs. He is the one that gives the peace that surpasses all understanding. Step in from the outside, step into the grace of Jesus Christ and know that you alive in Christ. Soli Deo Gloria -->> Home |