Not Dead, but Sleeping
Bible Passage: Mark 5:21-24a, 35-43
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: June 30, 2024
In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,
You have all likely heard of “euphemisms.” Euphemisms are nice, polite ways to say things that might sound harsh or unpleasant. For example, companies speak of “downsizing” rather than firing people. A person is said to be “vertically challenged” instead of “short.” Something strange is said to be “interesting.” And one I heard recently: “death” was called “successfully completing retirement.”
Sometimes euphemisms are funny and make us laugh. Jesus once used a term for death that made the people laugh. Except they weren’t laughing because they thought Jesus was pleasantly funny. They were laughing because they thought Jesus was patently ridiculous. He said that a dead girl was “sleeping!” Who does such a thing? But they soon found out that Jesus truly is the one who can speak about death and say Not Dead, but Sleeping.
A little girl in Capernaum was very sick. We don’t know what sickness she had. We don’t know if it came on suddenly or if it was the final stage of something terminal. Finally, that’s unimportant. What we do know is the end was very near. The little girl’s father, a man named Jairus, ran to find Jesus.
Jesus has just arrived back in town from the other side of the sea of Galilee where he had cast the legion of demons out of that man in the Gadarene region. Jairus runs up to Jesus. What we see next breaks your heart! The highly-respected man of Capernaum, this synagogue ruler, this dad, falls down on his knees in front of Jesus and begins begging! “My little girl is sick and hanging on by a thread! Come, touch her! Heal her! Save her!”
There is something about death that makes us all desperate. There is something about death that brings us all to our knees. Doesn’t matter if you’re the mayor of town or the dog-catcher, or the synagogue ruler. Dads are not exempt; not when their daughters are dying. And there is something especially desperate about the situation in our text. Old men are supposed to die. Children are not. Sudden death. Death that comes “out of nowhere.” These ones
especially bring us to our knees. Jairus is on his knees. He kneels before Jesus! He will beg in the right place.
At this very moment a delegation arrives from Jairus’ house. Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher anymore? (v. 35) Like the doctor who finally pulls the sheet up to cover the deceased, these people tell Jairus it’s time “to call it.” Any further time with Jesus would just be a “bother.” But Jairus has come to Jesus! He has come begging for help! He has come believing Jesus can help! He will not be disappointed! Jesus says, Don’t be afraid. Only believe. (v. 36)
They arrive at the house. It is noisy. It is the sound of weeping and wailing. Many have come to mourn. Of course they have! A 12-year old has died! Their mourning is interrupted by what may have seemed to them to be a “tone-deaf” comment by Jesus. Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping. They laughed at him. (v. 39-40)
Jesus shoos away the mourners; their services will no longer be necessary. Then he leads Jairus and his wife, and Peter, and James, and John to the room where the child was. This is the part of the story that often gets me. There is something about the moment you first see a loved one after they have died. I cannot even begin to know what mom and dad were feeling at this moment. Certainly a 12-year-old’s bedroom is not supposed to double as the place for a funeral visitation! Jesus goes to the girl, takes her gently by the hand, and simply says, “Little girl, wake up!” Immediately the girl stood up. (v. 42) The way you might wake your child from a nap, or wake them up for school, just so easily did Jesus bring this little girl back to life!
After Jesus calmed the storm in the boat, the disciples asked in wonder, Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him! (Mark 4:41) Today we might well ask with even greater wonder, “Who is this who even wakes the dead?” Friends, this is Jesus Christ! This is he who came to a sister who just lost her brother and proclaimed, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25-26) This is the one who broke death’s strangle-hold. By his own death on the cross for sin, Jesus takes the sting out of death. Because of his resurrection from the dead, death must now “give us back” too! Paul wrote, Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:20)
Friends, you and I right now are living in that “don’t be afraid, only believe” phase. What I mean is this: When Jesus said those words to Jairus, his daughter had died, but had not yet been raised. Jairus was living in that moment with the grief of death. The death of someone he loved dearly. Many of you are living in that moment. A death has happened. Maybe a spouse. A parent. Some of you are Jairus; you have lost a child. We are waiting for Jesus to come and wake the dead. In this moment we must live on his words, Don’t be afraid. Only believe. Believe what? Believe that Jesus hears your broken begging for help. Believe that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life! Believe that the soul of your loved one who has fallen asleep in Jesus is even now with Jesus in Paradise! Believe that the day is coming when Jesus will take the hands of all his sleeping sons and daughters and say, “Little child, wake up!”
And don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to fall asleep in Jesus. Kneel at Jesus’ feet like Jairus of old, and pray: “O Jesus, draw near my dying bed/And take me into your keeping/And say when my spirit hence is fled/ “This child is not dead, but sleeping!”/And leave me not, Savior, till Irise/To praise you in life eternal.” (CW 211:4)
Amen.
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