Bible Passage: Mark 5:21-24a, 35-43
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: July 4, 2021

Bulletin July 4, 2021

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Every fiber of his being must have been screaming, “This can’t be happening!  She’s only 12!  Twelve year olds are supposed to be healthy and full of life!  But now life is slipping away from my little girl!”  But there was hope.  Jesus of Nazareth was in town, not far away at all!  He had heard about Jesus.  This is the one who touches blind eyes and they see, touches deaf ears and they hear, touches leprous skin and it is healthy and whole, touches bent and crippled limbs and they are strong and good.  He could go to Jesus now.  If Jesus would just touch his little girl she would be healed and would live.  But he must go fast.  Not a second to wait!

It wasn’t hard to find Jesus.  A huge crowd had gathered; people were pushing and pressing and jostling to get close to him.  Jairus got his chance.  He got close to Jesus.  Now!  He falls at Jesus’ feet.  The posture of a broken and desperate man.  He manages to choke out the words, My little daughter is near death.  Please come and place your hands on her so that she may be healed and live. (v. 23)  And we are told, Jesus went with him (v. 24)  There’s reason to hope!  Jesus is coming to do what he had asked.  He’s coming to place his hands on the little girl so she will be healed!  But will they get there in time?

But then the unthinkable happens.  Jesus stops.  He turns around and asks, Who touched my robe? (Mark 5:30)  Who touched his robe??  A mob of people is pushing and shoving.  Who hasn’t touched it or brushed up against it?  But Jesus won’t let it go.  He keeps looking around to see who did it.  A woman finally comes forward and admits it was she.  And then she tells Jesus the WHOLE story of how she had been hemorrhaging for 12 years and how she had spent all her money running to doctors who only made her situation worse.  Jesus listened patiently to every word.  Jairus waited.  Now every fiber of his being must have been screaming inside him, “Please, Jesus, please hurry!  We don’t have time for this now!”

Then what he feared most of all.  News from home.  Your daughter is dead.  Why bother the Teacher anymore? (5:35)   It’s over.  What’s the point of Jesus coming to the house now?  It’s too late for the healing touch.  Jesus locks eyes with Jairus:  Don’t be afraid.  Only believe. (v. 36)  “Only believe.”  “Jairus, you need to do ONE thing right now and ONE thing only, keep trusting in me!”

Peter, James, and John are allowed to come along with Jesus to the house.  The house is sad and noisy.  Word of the little girl’s death has spread.  The mourners are there.  They are howling and wailing.  It’s not an act; a child has died.  Jesus addresses the mourners:  Why are you making a commotion and weeping?  The child is not dead but sleeping. (v. 39)  They laugh at Jesus.  And it’s not the nervous, courteous laughter people sometimes offer when someone says something really cringey or awkward.  The Greek verb is literally “they laughed him down.”  This was mean laughter.  They thought what Jesus said was stupid.  Jesus has them leave.  No more mourners will be needed.

Off in a separate room, she lay, quiet and still.  Jesus, mom and dad, and the three disciples enter the room.  Then, Jairus gets what he asked of Jesus.  He had asked Jesus to come and lay his hands on his daughter.  And Jesus does.  He takes the hand of the little girl.  There is something very interesting about the word in our text for “grasping.”  The common word for “holding” is not used.  A word is used that has at its root the idea of raw, brute strength.  It’s the word that’s used to describe what the guards did to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  They grabbed Jesus with power and strength.  There was power beyond imagination in the hand that took hers!

Jesus speaks.  Talitha, koum.  Jesus calls her “talitha.”  It’s an Aramaic term.  It’s not just the vocable for “girl.”  It’s tender and affectionate.  It’s what a Hebrew mom or dad – a Jairus, might call his daughter.  It’s more like “dear little girl” or “sweet little girl.”  It comes from the root that means “little lamb.”  What a moment!  God incarnate sits on the bedside of a dead child, holds her hand in his almighty hand, and says, “Sweet little girl, dear little lamb, time to get up.”  She opens her eyes to see Jesus by her side, holding her hand.  She gets up and walks around.  Jesus tells them to feed the girl.  She’s healthy! She’s hungry!  Appetite’s back and everything.

Mark records this detail:  They were completely and utterly amazed. (v. 42)  Can you even imagine!  Can you imagine how Jairus and his wife felt?  They’d have been happy to have her back half-dead; Jesus gives her back healthy and hungry!  Can you imagine how Peter, James, and John felt? Stupefied!  This Jesus just showed that in his hand, death is but a sleep.

Friends, be completely and utterly amazed at this Jesus!  Be completely and utterly amazed that this Jesus is YOUR Jesus.  Your Jesus is the one who can sit on a bedside and treat death like sleep.  This is the Jesus who has taken hold of your hand and gives you life!  Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord has said:  I am the Lord your God. I am the one who is holding on to your right hand. (Isaiah 41:13)  The one who holds your hand is the one who said, Talitha, koum, and I am the resurrection and the life. (John 11:25)  And in his hand, death is but a sleep.  This Jesus took your little girl or your little boy by the hand in the water of baptism, and now death is but sleep for your babies.  Be completely and utterly amazed.

But to become the Resurrection and the Life for us, he became “the dead and buried.”  He took our sin.  He took our death.  The cross of Calvary was in a way the complete opposite of this little girl’s bedroom.  In the bedroom, he GAVE life instead of death.  On the cross Jesus TOOK death instead of life. But his death paid the debt.  It satisfied the justice of God.  His hands absorbed nails and death so that they might give resurrection and life!

One of the most astounding miracles in all of Scripture is one we hardly ever spend any time on.  But the Bible tells us that in the moment Jesus died for us, Tombs were opened, and many bodies of saints who had asleep were raised to life. (Matthew 27:52)   Not just one little girl, but many bodies were raised to life when Jesus died!  The moment of Jesus’ death became the moment of life for these others.  Do you think God was sending a message?  The message was clear:  this death undoes death.  This death unmakes death.  This death means Resurrection and Life!  Of course, Jesus didn’t just talk a good game about resurrection and life, he himself rose from the dead and lives never to die again.

Friends, this is the happy ending we all want, isn’t it?  We want the little girl to live, and she does!  It makes us hope for even more.  We want Jesus to sit on our beds, and on the bedsides of our loved ones in Christ – our moms and dads, our little girls and boys – to take our hands in his powerful grasp and give us life.  And he does.  It’s just that in many cases we are living right now in the moment of “walking to Jairus’ house.”  We’re living in the moment of Jesus’ words:  Don’t be afraid.  Only believe. We’re waiting for Jesus to arrive and come into the bedroom.  He will.  On the Last Day, he will say, “My dear little lamb, get up,” and we will.  We know it will be so.  For he rose from the dead, and in his hand, death is but sleep!

Amen.

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