What it Takes to Believe ...

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?

 

Bleeding and Dying No More [part two] ...

We define our own limits.  We tell ourselves what is “possible” and then live our lives within the confines of the limitations we have set for ourselves.  But our definition of “possible” has been set by a very human perspective, and perspective is not the same as reality.  Because you have never seen a thing, or heard a thing, does not mean that thing does not exist … it is merely something you have never seen or heard.  Others may have experienced it.  So for a witness to this event, it is very real … for the person who has never encountered it, it remains only theoretical.  Our imaginations are the gift that enable us to briefly look beyond the limitations we set for ourselves, and dream or imagine what might be possible beyond the reality our minds have proscribed for us.  Our imagination questions our limitations, and poses the most important query to our self-imposed limitations … what if? 

For the Christian, for the believer in a God of infinite Love, a God who wrote the rules of science, any “limitation” at all, is an oxymoron.  Indeed self-imposed limitations are nothing more than chains that bind and limit the potential of a life that might otherwise be an existence our dreams could hardly keep up with.  What we define as limits, were never really limits at all.  They were self-imagined constrictions “we” placed on ourselves, not impositions our God placed upon us.  We are the ones who tell ourselves “no”, and “it cannot be done” and “there is no way”.  Like a contagious disease, we allow our lack of personal witness, and the limitations others have proscribed, to join and form our own ideas.  We adopt the limits others have dictated until we join them like mindless Borg drones, unable to break free of the collective.  Our educational systems are built around the idea of conformity, not individuality.  Our society is based on cooperation, and perpetuates “group think” over “unique think”.  So mostly every influencing factor around us from our media to our pulpits encourages us to be part of something larger, and if that means we limit ourselves and our potential, in order to stay in line with the rest of the drones, then so be it.

But for the believer in a God of infinite Love, why do we continually “limit” what infinite must mean?  Does our uniquely human power to say “no” to God and thus thwart what He would otherwise do for us make us think we have some power of our own?  Our sole ability to refuse love has been translated into thinking that saying no equals the end of possibility and potential.  But it does not.  What happens when we change our “no” answer to a “yes” answer to God’s love?  The change in our response becomes and is a life altering experience.  When we look from His perspective at our own limitations we begin to understand they were never limitations in the first place.  They were only ever the result of saying “no” to God over and over again.  When “yes” is our response to His love, what we thought was impossible becomes possible, achievable, then history, then even routine.  All of the sudden, miracles are not the unusual, they can become the common place.  Our imaginations must then work harder to dream beyond what the reality of our lives are.  For what we imagine Love to be, is never really enough to define, what Love can truly be.

And you or I, will not be the first believer to discover this truth.  Peter refers to another, he lists her only as “a certain woman”.  She has no name that he can recall, perhaps he never heard it, or knew it.  In recalling the story of Jesus’ third hit in the spiritual grand-slam going on near the edge of the Sea of Galilee to John Mark in his gospel in chapter five, Peter does not know the identity of this woman.  Perhaps this was by intent from God to you and I.  Perhaps Peter is unable to personalize this story by listing the woman’s name, because God wanted for you to substitute your name where Peter and John Mark say simply the words “a certain woman”.  If only our own imaginations could allow us to dream past our limitations the story of this woman might actually be the same as our own.  Imagine for a brief moment, that you are her.  Imagine for a brief moment, that the biggest challenge of your life could be substituted for the one she was facing.  Then using your imagination, see if how she conquered her own problems, might not be exactly the same as how you see your biggest challenge overcome in an instant.  How hard it is to imagine, might be an indication of how deeply you have limited your ability to really live.

John Mark picks up the story in verse 25 saying … “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, [verse 26] And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,”  This woman was likely a hemophiliac.  She had a degenerative health condition which in her time had no cure, nor effective treatment.  She was losing blood constantly over a twelve year block of time.  She did not take this ailment without attempting to fix it.  She did what all of us do, she went to the doctor for it.  But when the first doctor failed, she got a second opinion, and then a third, until she had seen every doctor she could find.  And in the end, all of her best efforts, all the best of humanity had to offer, was only a further level of misery from the original condition she faced.  How many times, have you faced a challenge in your life, and done your best efforts to meet it, only to find you have actually made things worse?  The temptation to give up all hope becomes even stronger when everything you do, only makes it worse.  But for her to give up, meant to die, so giving up was not an option for this certain woman … or perhaps for you.

Mark continues in verse 27 writing … “When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. [verse 28] For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.”  Here is where a certain woman puts me to shame.  No one told her this would work.  No one had ever tried it.  No one had ever experienced it.  In point of fact, she concocted this idea completely in her own imagination, and set about to carry it out.  There were no sermons outlining a 5 part plan that begins with her own acknowledgement of her need, a donation into the offertory, and then an effort to touch the hem of Jesus’ clothing.  This idea was crazy, and had never been done.  It was going to be a first.  It was the product of her imagination.  But it was something more than that.  This woman did, what you and I, have refused to do.  She let go of her limitations.  She determined that her problem not only could be solved by Jesus, but that it was going to be solved by Jesus, and all she had to do was imagine that truth. 

If she had shared her plans with the other drones in her life, they would have surely and universally, condemned it.  Just like your family and friends would do to you, if you came up with such a clearly hair-brained scheme.  Her pastor or Rabbi, would have pointed out to her, that NOWHERE in scripture (at least up to now) has this EVER been tried, let alone been successful.  There were ZERO documented cases of people walking around that had personally experienced any such thing, and many, many, people had touched Christ before on their own, without any such results.  Up to now, Christ had to make some sort of effort to heal people.  They did not just encounter him anonymously and walk away healed.  They had to interact with Christ, talk to Him, ask Him for what they wanted, and then wait for Him to respond.  Her plan was completely different.  She would not bother Him to talk to Him.  She would not even ask Him to stop doing what He was doing, or going where He was going.  She would just attack Him from behind, get a quick anonymous touch of His clothes, and then resume her life in complete secrecy. 

Her challenge, or issue, was a lethal one, and she had already exhausted all her money, time, and effort on conventional means with only worsening results.  Human limits had been fully employed and fully failed.  Perhaps it was only in this condition, that she was able to imagine a solution beyond human limits.  Must it be so with us?  Must we face a life threatening issue before we even begin to imagine a solution to our problems beyond the limits of humanity?  What if the fact that there is NO money, and NO prospects to finding any, or finding enough; was NOT the limitation we chose to impose on ourselves when it comes to spending on a ministry for others?  Or putting what we have in the offering plate.  What if our very real looking human limitations, could be seen through the lens of imagination, and faith in a God of infinite Love.  Could we too come up with a plan where God solves our problems without so much as a formal request to do so.  The plans of this certain woman were banking on God’s love and ability to solve a problem He would not even have to slow down to do.  That is some radical faith folks.  That is some life altering ideas there, and reflects a complete lack of self-imposed limitations.

So how does it turn out?  Mark continues transcribing in verse 29 saying … “And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.”  It worked.  This crazy plan worked.  Her challenge was overcome by a Divine power of infinite Love, that could work even without a formal request for it.  A miracle could happen just by following the crazy plans of her imagination, combined with a belief that “no” was not the answer from God in this situation.  She did not do this plan thinking “maybe” it would work.  She did it, believing there was NO limit to the love of God, that God’s Love could flow to her just by touching clothing anonymously in the crowd.  And it worked.  What if we put the money we cannot afford to give in the offering plate when it passes by?  Would we find ourselves destitute as a result, or perhaps blessed beyond what we could have imagined instead?  What if our church spent money it does not have on missions for the poor and those in need, instead of heeding the limits of frugality and financial responsibility it self-imposes?  What if, instead of being devastated by our diagnosis, we imagined that just a mere prayer to our Lord, could heal us of whatever illness we faced, with 100% certainty?  Would we find our crazy imagination was more real than our limited and self-imposed reality we too had constructed?

It is our limitations, that cause us to think, there is only one way we can be healed by God.  It is our limitations that cause us to think, that God often says “no” to us when we face a challenge instead of “knowing” He has an answer for what our collective human might could not solve.  The entire Bible is a series of stories of how God solves problems we could not, including our redemption and reclamation.  Yet we believers are content to construct limits on how God can and will interact with us.  We see limits in our lives when no such limits even exist.  We construct limits, instead of seeing beyond our perspective, that from His viewpoint no such limit exists.  What for us is difficult, is for Him child’s play.  But Jesus did not want this incident to be a private one.  He wanted you and I to know that crazy imaginations can and will be real.  He wanted you and I to know that “we” can be a certain woman who ignores her own limitations and those of her family and friends and see done, what no one believed could be done.  So Jesus decides to see this story recorded.

Mark continues in verse 30 saying … “And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?”  So one crazy plan deserves another.  The very nature of a press, is that people are pressing in on you, they are touching you, crowding you, and in effect are all over you.  They are patting Jesus on the back, trying to hug Him, trying to be as close to Him as a person can be.  They touch His arms, try to hold His hands.  They just want to be close to Him.  This is what a press is by definition in this instance.  And in the midst of His walking with Jairus to the home of Jairus to heal His daughter, Jesus pauses to ask who touched His clothing?  The question makes NO sense to anyone there … except this woman.  She knows, that Jesus knows, what she has done.  But the disciples have no clue.

John Mark continues in verse 31 saying … “And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?”  The disciples decide to take on the role of Captain Obvious, and ask the question, “what are You talking about?”  A thousand people are trying to get close to you and touch you, and you want us to identify everyone who might have been close enough to do so, a moment ago?  But the disciples are viewing this question through the lens of humanity, Jesus is viewing it through something wider than just this view.  Mark continues in verse 32 transcribing events … “And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. [verse 33] But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.”  Jesus begins looking at the crowd to find this woman.  It won’t take Him long.  But the woman realizes her anonymity is not going to last.  The idea that God did not need to be bothered to see her healed was actually not as true as she had imagined.  God wanted to be bothered.  God wanted her to know, He had the time to make time, just for her.  She too was special to Him.  She too mattered.  Just like you do.  Just like I do.  He wants to slow down to meet our needs, He is willing to be delayed in going where He is going, to take a minute for us.  She needed to know this.

So Jesus reveals a deeper truth to her and us about the nature of His infinite love to her beginning in verse 34 saying … “And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”  He does not refer to her as “a certain woman”, nor does He state her name.  Instead He has a much more intimate term for her.  He calls her Daughter.  He has made her family.  He has rewarded her imagination with more than just a physical healing, He is adopting her into His family, and making her know just how important she is to Him.  He is not humiliating her, He is uplifting her.  He lets her know that He knows exactly what she was healed of.  He lets her know that He wanted all along to bring her and you and I this kind of healing.  We too can be healed of our plagues.  We too can see our challenges melt away, if we are willing to embrace the crazy.  If we are willing to let our imaginations become our reality, instead of denying His love and power because of our ideas of facts.  We need to be like a certain woman, who recognized the power and magnitude of His love was big enough to reach her in an unconventional means.  It did not take a pastors intercession, or a group of prayer warriors, or a donation into the plate.  It only took a crazy scheme she made up in her head, that banked on the size of His love for her.  Perhaps our own crazy ideas about how much God loves us, are not so crazy after all.

But the spiritual series of miracles had one more hit to yet put on display …

 

Bleeding and Dying No More [part one] ...

In a spiritual grand-slam, Jesus was about to complete 2 more miracles that combined with His first 2 would produce 4 sequential “proofs” of His identity as the literal Son of God.  In just the space of a few days, Jesus opens with commanding nature and it obeys.  In this He proved He is our Creator, and the Creator of this world, no matter what evolutionists would like to say about the rules of science.  For wind, wave, and storm though inanimate, hear the voice of He who made them and do His will in an instant.  The distance across the lake is transcended in the blink of an eye, thus bending time and space, all within the first hit of this spiritual grand-slam … nature, time and space bend to the will of God alone.  Next He commands nearly two thousand demons to leave the body of a man beyond human ability to help.  Satan and his many hosts cannot stand in front of the light of love that emanates from Jesus Christ.  Nearly 2 legions of the supernatural are dismissed in a single command.  Satan and his followers do not cede to the commands of men, but in front of Christ are powerless to resist.  In his second hit, Jesus demonstrates no enemy can stand before Him, truly Love conquers all.

As Peter continues recounting the story in the gospel of John Mark in chapter 5, Jesus will end a lifelong disease and fatal in His time of (hemophilia); which was again beyond human capacity to heal.  No illness was beyond His ability to heal, no affliction including that of our deep-rooted addiction to sin, was or is beyond His reach to heal even now.  Then finally as the fourth act in this sequence, Jesus would bring back to life she who was dead.  Not even death was beyond the scope of He who was and is the author of all life.  Four times in a row, Jesus would demonstrate time and time again, that He was and IS our Creator.  He can bring back to life that which was dead and dying.  He can restore what we cannot.  He can heal what is beyond our reach.  Perhaps it is our reach itself, that interferes with His ability to do just that for us here and now.  Perhaps if we were to be satisfied with the role of stunned observer, relying solely on Him to do what He has demonstrated He can do, our lives would be entirely different here and now.  The lessons of these stories were not meant to be those of history alone, but object lessons of what is possible in His name today.  Perhaps we should ponder this perspective as we examine the opening of His third and fourth acts in this sequence.

Peter picks up the recollection in verse 21 as John Mark transcribes saying … “And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.”  Jesus had accomplished His mission to free the demoniac and now returned back to the other side of the sea where He had recently been preaching.  There was no point to attempting another storm to kill Him, as His command over nature had been firmly established.  The disciples did not need a repeat encounter to remember what would forever be etched into their memory.  A lesson perhaps for us; we sometimes encounter the miracles of Christ in our lives.  They are great, mysterious, and have a profound impact on us.  But as time passes we tend to forget how great His love to us truly was.  It fades, and we begin to ask, where God is, as if He had never interacted with us at all.  Yet what happened, happened.  It does not have to be repeated to be as real.  No matter how often, or seldom (due to our convenient memories), our God interacts with us, He does in fact, interact with us.

Peter then recalls a surprising encounter as John Mark writes in verse 22 saying … “And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,”  A closer examination of this truth is warranted here.  In our day there is movement entitled Black lives matter.  It is a slogan based on the point of view of oppression.  Our black brothers and sisters attempt to call out the injustice they experience from our policing organizations sometimes based solely in the difference in skin color.  Our black family calls for an end to injustice and oppression from those who have no basis for this treatment - though not all police are guilty of it.  The broader prevailing view is to extend the sentiment to encompass not only our black family members, but ALL our family members.  To say ALL lives matter is to say that injustice and oppression are experienced more by the poor than by those of means.  Poverty is often more the recipient of injustice and extends not just to those of black skin color, but of Hispanic, Asian, Native Americans, and White.  The idea of ALL lives matter extends even to our policing organizations as their service is critical to our social order and well-being, and not all policemen are corrupt or inflict injustice to those who are poor, or of darker skin tone.

But what Peter describes here is a level beyond that.  The Pharisees and Sadducees, the “rulers of the synagogue” were committed to killing Jesus Christ.  This was not just injustice and oppression by the powers of the day, by the policing force of the day, it was an intention to kill innocence with the full knowledge of innocence.  This ruling group was unlike our police force.  Our police force has a small minority of participants who wreak injustice, and reveal corruption, but the majority of it are well intentioned and trying to do their best for our society.  The facts bear this out, as crime is not out of control and it would be, if the majority of police officers were corrupt themselves and also engaging in it.  But the rulers of the temple can barely count three or four of the hundreds in charge who were not actively trying to kill Christ.  Nicodemus, Lazarus, Joseph of Arimathea, and here Jairus are some of the only names not directly tied to killing Christ.  Talk about corruption.  If this were our condition, it would be like having 98% of our police force, who by the way were well armed, organized, and trained … intent on killing us … who are poor, untrained, and undefended.  Not one of us based on these conditions would start a movement to declare that the lives of our ENEMIES matter.  Justice would demand we condemn this group.  Anyone with ties to it would be universally guilty of its sins.  People would have to resign from this group in order to be treated better by us, or fairly by us, as a group this completely corrupt would have “no redeeming value”.

Jesus is aware of the intentions of this ruling class.  He already knows what He will suffer because of this group and it will be injustice in the highest form.  “None” of these enemies “should” be given the time of day.  But this is far from what happens next as Mark continues recording Peter’s account in verse 23 saying … “And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.”  One of these enemies has done the unthinkable.  He has come to Christ and fallen at His feet.  He begins to beg Jesus Christ to come to his home and heal his daughter who is gravely ill.  In front of a great crowd who has assembled to hear Jesus preach and watch Him do His miracles … comes a sworn enemy of Christ.  This enemy who by reputation alone is supposed to have nothing to do with “this carpenter from Nazareth” where nothing good comes from; has come anyway, and has prostrated himself in humility before the feet of Jesus Christ.  He begs for the life of his daughter.  This is the motivation for the actions of Jairus, but in these actions are revealed a few facts.

Jairus “knows” Jesus Christ “can” heal his daughter.  He is not there on a maybe.  If Jesus were just another physician, Jairus would not have ruined his own reputation to seek Him out.  The miracles of healing of Jesus Christ are so widely publicized by this time, and so widely witnessed, they have been established as “facts” by the people who live in this day.  The ruling class can deny these miracles all they want, but like the atheists of our day, it is a choice NOT to believe, where for others who have personally witnessed the transforming power of God, there is “proof” of His existence and power and love.  Despite all the denials of the ruling class, when push comes to shove, Jairus knows the miracles are in fact true.  Jesus can heal his daughter when no other doctor will be able to.  But then why should He?  Jesus has no logical incentive to help one of the members of His enemies.  Jairus was not breaking ties with the ruling class, in order to heal his daughter.  He remained one of the rulers of the temple.  In point of fact, even as he throws himself at the feet of Jesus, he remains tied to the group who is bent on killing Christ.

Jairus, like us, is not yet ready to give up everything for the sake of his daughter.  He could have abandoned the temple and committed there to become a disciple of Christ.  He could have given away his wealth and become the thirteenth disciple, but he was not ready to go that far yet.  So why should Christ help this man, if spiritually this man was not ready to be a disciple?  Why should Christ help us, if like Jairus, we are not even ready to give our all to Him in exchange for His help?  For Jairus to come to Jesus reveals yet another “fact” he was counting on … namely the love of Jesus Christ.  Jairus knew of Jesus’ love for His enemies.  This was not just a slogan, or a myth.  He had heard enough about it, and seen it perhaps for himself, in how Jesus responds to those who mean Him harm, to have faith and confidence to come to Jesus and beg for help.  Jairus trusts that Jesus will love him, even though he is a sworn enemy as tied to this group.  Jairus is banking on the love of Jesus, if not for himself, then for his daughter.

But the response of Jesus was consistent with who Jesus is.  Our God loves us.  Not just some of us.  Not because of our skin color, or level of wealth, or job we cling to in our society … instead He loves ALL of us, because to Him even the lives of His enemies matter.  In fact, our God would rather die for His enemy, than see an enemy suffer that fate.  So perhaps predictably Peter recounts the response in verse 24 saying … “And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.”  Jesus does not argue with Jairus, He does not delay him to debate the merits of going with him.  He does not demand that Jairus publicly denounce the evil intentions of the ruling class, before he is worthy of assistance.  Jesus just goes with him, without a single precondition.  He asks Jairus for nothing.  He does not ask for money, or future fairness and consideration.  He does not ask him to think about the group of folks he is working with, or to reconsider killing Him later on.  He does not ask Jairus to be part of a reform movement that might work to correct the corruption of the ruling class.  In short, he does not ask Jairus to change in any way, shape, or form, before he goes to help him and his daughter.  He meets Jairus just where he is, hears his request, and is answering it, without a single precondition.

It would be like the cop who pulls the trigger completely unwarranted and without cause, coming to the mother of the deceased, and asking for help … without being willing to apologize, change his profession, or even stop doing what he did that caused her so much pain.  And the mom going without a word, to help the cop out.  This is the level of love Jesus has for the life of His enemies.  He does not try to change His enemies by demand, or as precondition.  Instead He lets His love speak for itself.  Instead He shows His enemy how He loves them, and how much He loves them, and the power of love melts the heart steeped in evil.  There is no heart of stone that cannot be reached by the depth of the love of Jesus Christ.  Love does not need to command obedience.  When Love is truly witnessed, when Love is truly experienced, obedience is the natural response.  It is automatic.  Jairus will be changed by these events, but not because he was commanded to be changed, but because he witnesses the power of love in his life and the life of his family.

But the second half of this spiritual grand-slam had only begun, on the way to the final act to demonstrate the identity of Christ, was the third miraculous story which will continue in our next installment …