Does what you believe in make sense? Does it make sense to you? Why? History sometimes acts as a razor against our beliefs. History demonstrates to us what is possible, from what is impossible. When we examine our lives through the lens of History, what do we find? Are our beliefs supported by the facts of History, or by tales we have told so long they have reached mythic proportions but have yet to include any certain demonstrable facts. This is not a 20th century problem or dilemma, this is a phenomenon that has gripped mankind since the fall in the Garden of Eden until now. You only needed to live 1100 years or so after the fall, to have lost the first-person account of what happened there in form of Adam and Eve. By then, only Seth could recount the stories his parents had told him, even though he himself had never been in that famous Garden.
But then, no one had. An angel stood at its entrance, armed with a flaming sword, intent on keeping all interested parties out, so man could not again eat from the Tree of Life and find himself immortal. As a side note, what is the point of guarding this entrance if the soul of man is immortal anyway? It was guarded because upon death we sleep, knowing nothing, until our Lord returns to us and pulls us out of our rotten slumber and in to a life only He could create, re-create, or restore. In this context, an angelic guard is needed, and was present. Mankind could see this angel all the way up until the flood (when it is likely the Garden was relocated to heaven, until it could be returned to a New Earth after the end of all evil). What you believed was not important. Go to the entrance of the Garden and what you found was an armed angel to keep you out. Nearly 4,000 years pass by this way.
But a demonstration of the divine does not repel evil. During the 4,000 years man became so evil, it made God sorry He made us; excepting for Noah, and Noah far from perfect. Pass by another few centuries after the flood to the time of Moses. The children of Israel witness miracles beyond what History could have ever dictated. They pass through the Red Sea, and have a cloud of perfect temperature in a desert of normally scorching heat. The snakes and creatures of the desert remain hidden in their dens while Israelite feet are nearby. At night, the cloud turns into a pillar of fire, providing light, and heat in a desert that is otherwise very cold and dark. And nocturnal wildlife stay home while Israelite feet are nearby. Forty years of these conditions, but evil arises from time to time, sometimes in nearly absolute rebellion. What you believed did not matter, over your head was a cloud, or a pillar of fire, depending on the time of day. But pass by only a century later, and all that remains are the written accounts of Moses. A century more, and writings are everything.
And now Jesus has reached the scene. He is preaching and teaching. He is healing, loving, and restoring us. And the leadership of His church rejects Him for want of power over the people. Was it stupid to believe in a still coming Messiah that Jesus now embodies? Was it stupid to believe in Adam and Eve, and a talking snake? Was it stupid to believe in Moses, and the miracles of the sky that happened every day while in the deserts of the Middle East? Crowds of Israelites now wrestle with these beliefs because once again there is a material witness to the facts of History, instead of just the stories of History. The leadership tell the people that Jesus is a blasphemer. They tell the people that Jesus is a false prophet, possessed of the Devil himself. To listen to Jesus is to be expelled from the Temple, cast away from the sacrificial system whereby salvation can be achieved. To be expelled is to cut one’s self off from the forgiveness of sins. Or is it?
Matthew now recounts in his gospel a story in three parts. In act one, the context is set. It picks up in chapter nine beginning in verse 18 it says … “While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. [verse 19] And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.” So many things to unpack in only two verses. First, at the beginning of this chapter, Jesus told a man his sins were forgiven him, then proved it by healing him from a lifelong debilitating disease. This meant, that being cut off from the Temple was no longer a death sentence of retaining one’s sins. Being attached to Jesus was to find the only real outlet for the forgiveness of one’s sins. The threat of the Temple leadership is no longer what it once might have been. But this is what happens when God replaces men at the center of our religion.
Next, understand the position this supplicant maintains before this encounter. He is a ruler. This would mean that up until this request of Jesus he was in the Sanhedrin or ruling class. He did not suffer from poverty, or even oppression by the Romans. He was respected. He likely had servants, nearly all rulers did. In worshipping Jesus publicly, he would be putting everything he had at risk. The Romans were not certain of Jesus yet, but He was being watched. Anyone associated with Jesus would join that watch list, but anyone rich doing it would draw intense scrutiny. The Romans did not need a worshipper capable of funding a war against them. Poor folks were only desperate. The rich could accomplish quite a bit more. Worshipping Jesus publicly declared to his family and friends where his allegiances would lie. He was out. He was public. He would be immediately cast aside by the Temple leadership, and you can believe, lies would be crafted about him right away to make this “sin” worse.
And finally, he was stupid. What else do you call it, when someone believes something that History has never demonstrated is possible? What else do you call it, when you search for life from a condition beyond the grave where death has already set in? Is that resurrection, or is it salvation? Do you see the condition of death you abide in today? Your heart beats, your lungs move, but your “life” is one of pain, death, and mediocrity. You “live” only a tenth of what you could. Not because of poor health, or poor means, but because of poor thinking. You trust to the habit of trying to save yourself from your sins, trying to gut-it-out and not commit certain things you know are wrong. But all the while the desire to do those things is as strong as it ever was. Failure heaped upon failure. And History acts as a razor against your beliefs. But it is not Jesus that is wrong about what you believe, it is what you think the role of Jesus is. Jesus is the source of whatever new life you are bound to have. Jesus cleans you up. Jesus takes away the desires you cannot remove. And salvation from the “death” you abide in, begins to take place. Now who is the stupid one?
And note the response of Jesus to this request to breathe life back into what is now dead. Jesus does not ponder the idea. Jesus does not send it out to committee to insure there is a consensus before He takes action. Jesus drops what He is doing and immediately leaves to find the home of this little girl, because of the request of her father. It is not the faith of the dead one that will be tested here. It is only her father that through his humility and submission to Jesus has sparked what will happen next. Let the world think of him what they will, this father has a plan to see love restored. This father has a plan to see the love of his little girl burn bright in her eyes once again. This father has buried his hope and his faith in the person of Jesus Christ. Whether we think that stupid or not. And Jesus is moving, moving right away. Those who will follow Jesus are indeed following after Him. For Jesus always moves decisively towards seeing life return to the dead, even when that condition is only spiritual.
What this ruler did, is what you and I do, asking for life in the context of our death, each and every day. If we have never witnessed salvation against death, it is because we have never really allowed Jesus to fix what is dead within us. This was not a story of a father raising his daughter from the grave. This was a request by a father for Jesus to do, what only Jesus can do, bring life. This father makes that request, no matter how stupid it sounds to those around him. No matter what history has demonstrated, History is about to be up-ended. There will be a new History after this. There will be a new set of facts from which we can derive a belief. There will be a new set of eye-witnesses. But then over time, all that will remain again is the written word of this account. And centuries past that, the written word will be everything. The story will not prevent all evil, but it will demonstrate the power of Jesus against evil and the death it brings.
Is it stupid to believe what you have not seen yourself? Is it stupid to rely upon the witnesses of others? What about believing something you do not at heart think is possible. The power of Jesus is beyond what you could ever imagine. No matter what others believed, there was an Angel in front of the Garden for 4,000 years. There was a cloud over the desert, and a pillar of fire at night for 40 years. There was our God on earth in the form of Jesus Christ for 33.5 years. And now, there is a tried and true way, for you to see the death of your life ended, and a real “life” beyond the imagination of this existence waiting for you in the here and now, not just in some far removed afterwards. Find Jesus, give to him what you call your life, and watch what He does with it.
And this was only the first act of three in this story …
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