It is so much easier to go along with the crowd, than to
stand out alone. When a group of your
friends or co-workers all share the same opinions, it is easier to share them,
than to oppose them. Opposing, or just
holding a different view, can get you ostracized or worse. People can start referring to you as “that
guy”, the one who just can’t get along, or is not a team-player. You may find yourself out on your own,
excluded from gatherings or meetings, because your contemporaries are not eager
to entertain the different views you hold.
All of this is understandable if the different thing you cling to is
based in some level of hate, or prejudice against others. But it is weirdly less understandable when
what you cling to is a firm love for others, even when they are your
“enemies”. You would think people would
welcome a loving person into their midst, even if that loving stuff, was not
normal or part of the standard group think.
They don’t. When a group of folks
don’t like something, or someone, they are not eager to entertain someone
sympathetic to the thing they don’t like either. The force of the group is supposed to dictate
the thinking. When it conflicts, the
offender is just thrown out of the group, rather than change the course of the group
thinking.
It gets even harder to understand when this phenomenon is
examined within church walls. Imagine
being the only one in your church who holds to some particular view or
interpretation of scripture that conflicts with all the other members (or the
proscribed set of doctrines of your denomination). You will be confronted with your differences,
asked to set them aside. Failing that
you will be thrown out of the body of Christ because you do not conform. Again, this is easier to understand when what
you cling to winds up reflecting some level of hate or prejudice against others. But even more weird when what you cling to is
an intense love for others. Harder still
to imagine Christians casting out one of their own because they love too
much. But they do. There are some doctrines that groups of
Christians prefer to cling to rather than be swayed in any new point of faith
that some rando comes up with on his/her own.
Doctrine often builds the walls of the church; and lovers like Jesus
find themselves on the outside of them.
And this dates back a very long time. Even when the history of it shows, that very
often that “rando” guy was right, and the group think was in error. In the time of Christ, the entire church
leadership (short a very few number of folks) believed Jesus was NOT the
Messiah. And they were willing to cast
folks out of the church, if they disagreed.
During the long dark ages, the Catholic church believed people were not
qualified to read the Bible on their own, and fought hard to keep the
scriptures written only in Latin, and distributed only to the clergy. When Luther and other reformers began to
translate scriptures into common understandable languages the church went
nuts. They cast them out, and did far
worse, claiming many were heretics and burning them at the stake. Imagine, being called a heretic and risk
burning alive for the belief that people should be able to read the word of God
for themselves. Today that would be
unthinkable, but not so long ago, it was the norm.
So perhaps you can imagine what it would have been like for
a church leader, to not only disagree with the standard thinking in the time of
Christ, but to place great faith in Jesus to heal what could not otherwise be
healed. That kind of display of faith
was bound to get you in trouble, big trouble.
It would be like being the first person in your Christian church to
stand up and announce we need to love our Muslim brothers, and do good to our
Homosexual and Atheist friends. Most
Christians are fine with loving others at a distance, but to make loving others
personal and tangible, would be about as popular as what Nicodemus or Jairus
would go through in their day. You would
be lucky to be thrown out without further damage done to your person. Today’s Christians demand change before love
can be shown, instead of offering love freely first whether change ever comes
around or not. Sometimes it is not only
hard to believe, or be the first to believe, but it may take everything the
world values to do so.
This was a struggle Luke was familiar with. As he pens his gospel letter to his friend
Theophilus, Luke recounts two examples of what it took to believe so greatly no
matter the cost, or be the first to believe something that no one else ever did
(until that point). Faith, in the love
of Jesus, may not sound so unusual today – until you suggest we apply it to
enemies we care so little for. But in
the time of Christ, to have faith in Jesus, was to buck the traditions and
edicts of a church and bloodline that dated back nearly 2000 years. For you to think you knew something that the
church did not, was just crazy. Who are
you to think you know better than rabbis schooled since birth to know the very
heart of the scriptures? Who are you to
cast aside the Torah and the Laws in favor of some upstart who seems to believe
He wrote the Laws in the first place? And
to fast-forward to our day; who are you to believe sinners need your love in
spite of their sin, even while they are yet sinning, even when they do not seem
to ever want to give it up and believe like you do. In today’s vernacular we call those folks a
lost cause, and do not waste any time on them.
But Jesus does, and He still loves them.
And perhaps most discomforting of all, if you really thought about it,
you might find Jesus numbers you in that group of sinners as well; yet refuses
to give up loving you too. It may not be
popular to love today either, but so great is the need even now.
Luke begins his recollection in the eighth chapter in verse 40
saying … “And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly
received him: for they were all waiting for him. [verse 41] And, behold, there
came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down
at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: [verse 42] For
he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But
as he went the people thronged him.” The
evangelism of the former demoniac who had a Legion of demons in him until he
encountered Jesus had worked. When Jesus
returned to this region, He was no longer feared, but desired and accepted by
the people. So much so, that Jairus who
was a ruler of the synagogue in this area had become a convert sight unseen. When Jesus returns, Jairus remembers the
testimony of the demoniac and how Jesus was able to heal him despite the power
of evil. And Jairus like any good father
loves his daughter above all else.
Jairus loves her more than any censure he may endure for his faith in
Jesus. No matter what the church
leadership may do to him for this, Jairus is determined to believe, and to seek
help where help can only be found.
Luke knows the heart of Jesus so loves all of us, that he
does not even take the time to recount the answer of Jesus to this plea
directly. We find it out in a few verses
down. But Jesus determines to go to the
home of Jairus and heal his daughter (though Jesus knows there will be more to
His answer, than even Jairus has asked for).
When we reach out to Jesus in need, our God answers in love. Sometimes in ways we could have never
imagined, but always with our eternal best interests in mind. For Jairus to believe and express his faith,
was certain to cost him. But this story
was more than just about being part of a group that believes. It was also about being the first to believe
something no-one else ever had.
Luke continues in verse 43 saying … “And a woman having an
issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians,
neither could be healed of any, [verse 44] Came behind him, and touched the
border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.” This was the first person to ever do this in
His day. This poor woman not only had
faith in Jesus to heal her, she may not have felt worthy of distracting the
attention of Jesus to take the time to deal with her. So she reasoned she would but touch the hem
of His garment and it would get done.
This was original thinking. If
she announced this idea in today’s church we would have laughed her out in
scorn. Back then it would have been no
different. Just because her idea was
new, did not mean it was wrong. This was
her faith in action, and who are we to question it just because it was
different. There was no hate in her new
idea. There was rather a faith in the
Love of Jesus to heal her, even if a poor idea of her own unworthiness. And for all the nay-sayers, it worked.
Luke continues in verse 45 saying … “And Jesus said, Who
touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master,
the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? [verse
46] And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is
gone out of me.” This woman’s idea
worked, but it was not perfect. A part
of it needed correction. Her faith would
heal her, but her idea that she was unworthy, or that Jesus should not take the
time to love her, was in error. So Jesus
was going to address that. He asks in a
crowd full of people pressing Him from every side and angle – who touched
me? At this I am certain everyone
immediately backs off and says “not me”, when it is certain it was them only
seconds before. Then Peter figures it
out in his head that this question just does not make sense, a ton of people
were pressing in on Jesus, what kind of a question was that. So he asks Jesus what He meant.
Luke continues in verse 47 saying … “And when the woman saw
that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she
declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and
how she was healed immediately. [verse 48] And he said unto her, Daughter, be
of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.” The woman planned to be anonymous, but it did
not work. Jesus was calling her out in
front of an entire crowd of people. She
was worthy of His love. She was important
to Jesus as we all are, each of us, all of us, enemies and heretics included. She comes forward now trembling in fear at
having been caught by God. But Jesus was
not interested in humiliating her, He was interested in loving her like the
Father He is. His words to her, were
“Daughter”, be of good comfort, thy faith has made you whole, go in peace. She was whole and healed. But she needed to know she was loved as
well. The healing without the loving was
not the lesson Jesus needed her to learn. Health without love is never worth as
much. This was the part of her original
thinking that needed correction. But it
still worked. And from then on, the copy-catters
would be repeating this wherever Jesus went.
All of the sick reaching out to simply touch the hem of His garment as
He walked by. And it still worked.
Being the first to believe is not a bad thing. When your belief is centered in faith in
Jesus, and faith in His love, it is a tremendous thing. But Luke quickly returns to the story of Jairus
for as Jesus was still addressing the poor woman a servant from the household
of Jairus appeared. Luke continues in
verse 49 saying … “While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the
synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.
[verse 50] But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe
only, and she shall be made whole.” Now this
was the acid test of faith in Jesus. To
heal was one thing, but the dead were dead.
Dead was a permanent thing. No
prophet could fix that, at least not without a special connection to God. But in spite of the circumstances Jesus asks
us to fear not, only to believe, and we will be made whole. Is this any different than how our salvation
works?
We are effectively dead in our sins, bound to them, chained
to them, unable to free ourselves from them.
And our sins choke the life out of us, at least any kind of life worth
having. Our sins do more than separate
us from our God, they inflict real pain on us, and on those we claim to love,
right here and right now. We do not need
to wait to be punished for our sins, for our sin are indeed already our
punishment. And it is in this completely
helpless dead state, that Jesus promises to make us whole, if we only
believe. Imagine that, Jesus will free
us from our sins, if we only believe. He
does not say we need to go take care of it ourselves first before He will love
us. He knows that is impossible. He asks only for us to believe, to believe in
His love. For all my contemporaries who
are reluctant to show the love of Christ to those still steeped in sin, I ask,
how will sinners ever come to see Jesus, if not through the love you show
them. How will we ever effectively point
them to Christ, if we are unwilling to love them first.
Notice too, Jesus does not offer any doctrinal condition, or
state of beliefs before He intends to do what He intends. Jairus, nor his daughter, nor his wife –
needed to recite the Torah, or explain Isaiah, or determine if the book of
Enoch was legit or not first. The
particulars of the Bible were not the pre-requisite. But believing in Jesus was. If we believe Jesus can save us, He will save
us. Not because we can explain the Bible
backwards and forwards first, but because we only believe with the faith of a
small child in Jesus first. The rest of
it. The doctrines. All that other stuff that comes from the
study of the word is supposed to increase our faith, and our belief, and most
importantly our love for others. If it
does not accomplish that, we are doing it wrong. Jairus’ daughter was dead. That was a fact. So are you.
So am I. If not today, then
someday soon. But life after death is
also not only possible in Jesus, it is a fact in Jesus.
Luke continues in verse 51 saying … “And when he came into
the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and
the father and the mother of the maiden. [verse 52] And all wept, and bewailed
her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. [verse 53] And they
laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.” Given the status and position of Jairus,
there are professional mourners in the home, weeping over the daughter’s
death. Jesus takes only 3 disciples with
Him, and the parents and enters the home, telling the mourners she is only
sleeping. Here is where it gets
interesting. Was Jesus lying? Has He ever?
Now was she dead or not? If
Luke’s account is to be believed she was both dead and “sleeping”. That is to say, she was sleeping the sleep of
death. In that state we know nothing. Time passes with no concept of time. We have no memory. We are just gone, not transformed into some
out-of-body ghost still roaming around with full consciousness. But instead asleep. She was also neither in heaven (yet) or in
hell, just because she died. She was
only asleep. And when Jesus returns her
to life in this early resurrection, He neither pulls her out of the flames, or
rips her out of eternal bliss, but simply wakes her up from her sleep. The mourners are put out of the house, so things
can progress.
Luke continues in verse 54 saying … “And he put them all
out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. [verse 55] And
her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her
meat. [verse 56] And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they
should tell no man what was done.” The
breath of life that belongs only to God, is returned to the body of the girl,
and she is called back to life. Jesus
asks for her to eat meat, so that everyone knows she is not some sort of ghost,
but a real person, a real girl. Then He
tells the parents not to publicize this to anyone. Several probable reasons here; the enemies of
Jesus might seek to kill the girl once again to prevent living proof of Jesus
being the literal resurrection and the life.
In addition, having undisputed proof that Jesus can raise the dead would
have cut short his ministry by a church leadership already bent on killing
Him. Jesus wanted as much time as He
could get to love us, before we killed Him.
And finally once Jesus was raised from the dead, the story would serve
as additional proof this resurrection was indeed possible.
Jairus was willing to believe no matter what the cost, and
life was returned to his daughter as a result.
Are we willing to believe this intently today? When our co-workers question the very
existence of any God, or they claim any deity will do, are we willing to stand
out and stand alone if need-be for a faith in the love of Jesus alone despite
any surrounding group think? If nothing
else, Jesus wants so badly to return life to us today, in the here and
now. He wants to take the sin, pain, and
death out of our lives and show us what life is really supposed to look like. Are we willing to take Him up on it? And while the interpretation of scripture has
become so fragmented across so many denominations; the application of love for
others is just as simple as it has always been.
To be first in the belief we need to love, might make you the first in
your church to really believe that. It
might get you kicked out, or worse. But
that does not make you wrong, it just makes you a believer in His love. There is wisdom in the body of Christ, but
not so much wisdom it should choke out the love for others. When it goes that far it is has gone too far. What are you willing to believe?
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