The Story of Jairus | Mark 5:21-43 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

It was John, Flavell who said about Jesus. He is bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty. He is a garment to the naked, healing to the wounded, and whatever a soul can desire is found in him. Whatever a soul can desire is found in him. And my prayer is that as we continue in this gospel, the gospel of Mark, that would become a greater reality to you.

That would be a discovery that you would know week after week, whatever this soul needs and longs for is ultimately found in this person, Jesus Christ. And so let's do that together. Let's go to Mark chapter five and meet me there at verse 21. Mark five twenty one. Thank you for that prayer, brother.

I wanna just pray again and ask God for very similar things that you just asked for on behalf of this congregation. Lord, we do come again. Your word is before us, and it could be very true that some here love your word with everything in their hearts and some who might be very indifferent to the word. But we just pray that in your good mercy, you would overwhelm you would overwhelm all apathy and distraction, carelessness, and, Lord, that you would dominate every heart by your great love. Help, Lord, the delivery of this message and even in the way we receive it.

Lord, through all our weakness, we ask that you would make your power perfect. You promised that that would be the case. So we trust in you today in Jesus' name. Amen. For the remainder of this chapter in Mark, Mark chapter five, you and I are given a lengthy account of two, not one, but two incredible miracles that Jesus performed before making his way back to his hometown to minister there as you will see together with me in Mark chapter six.

Now it would make sense for us to take these two amazing testimonies and deal with them separately, but that is not how the Holy Spirit authored these two miracles to be explained and to be shared and to be told. The bible student will remember, if you remember Mark chapter five, that these two testimonies of two different people who desperately needed a touch from Jesus are woven together. And so these events actually intersect in real time. They're not blocked out in different occurrences. They are actually shared.

And that is a particular blessing on its own because you and I understand something about life. Do we not? Yes. This this is gonna be beautifully suspenseful, but it also speaks about a familiar picture of the interferences, the obstacles, the hindrances, the surprises, and the turbulences that you and I know in real life. And so what will make this very special today is that there is a very realistic rhythm to this testimony, and we can identify with that.

Life is layered. Things happen at the same time, and things can sometimes be overwhelming, or they can accelerate more than we planned or delay more than we would like to. And that is precisely one of the themes of what we're going to see here. This is a very identifiable human experience with this story. Now, as we come to it, we can look at it from different vantage points.

Right? We can look at it from the the view of our Lord Jesus. We can see it from the view of Jairus. We can even look at it through the woman who needed a touch from this great physician. But instead of just looking at one or through one lens, why don't you just take advantage of all of them and see what it is that God has to say through these characters in this complex interaction between all of them because each of them have something of great value, great value in our understanding of who Christ is and how we can and should relate to him.

And so read with me the first few verses beginning in verse 21. And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came out one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly saying, my little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live.

And he went with him, And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. The reason why Jesus, as we see here in the first verse, crossed to the other side of Galilee was because he was begged to leave by the inhabitants of the country in the King James of the Gadarenes or Gadarenes. So many ways of saying these different words. And even after the Lord performed such a spectacular act of mercy for that demoniac that was terrorizing their region, the neighboring citizens were not slow to conclude that they wanted nothing to do with Jesus. And so they drove him out.

They begged him to leave because at the loss of 2,000 pigs, they calculated very early on that maintaining the presence of Christ in our midst might actually be very costly. And he might be the cause of much more loss, and we can't afford that, of course. And so without hesitation, they told him to leave. And he did. He got in the same boat, and he went on his way to what we just read now.

And considering that background in preparation for the miracles at hand, I could not help but think that the people that told them to leave, who thought that they would profit by rejecting Christ, would actually forfeit so much for their unbelief. Right? When we realize what Jesus is about to do in this area, in this region, in this neighborhood, It makes you wonder what could have happened. What other blessings those people who vehemently told them to back away and turn around will miss out on. We'll miss out on.

We often talk about this, don't we? The cost of following Jesus. The cost of following there is a cost to follow Jesus. There's a greater cost of not following him. Greater cost.

Not just in the next life, in this life, In this life. I do not envy the man who walks about as a shell no matter what he adorns himself with. He is the only one that can fill you and change you and renew you and give you that peace that you are searching for. And here's Jesus now. On a new scene surrounded by fresh group of people.

They are eager, hungry, longing. They've heard the reports, and now they want to experience it for themselves. And all for a sudden, this very familiar sight of Jesus being surrounded by men and women and children is suddenly interrupted by the presence of a man named Jairus. And the spotlight falls on him, not just in our text, but even then, because clearly for this crowd and the commotion to settle implies that this man is special. There is something about him.

He has a certain reputation, surely. He was known, surely. And what it requires for us to do at this point is to pause and meditate on the descriptions that are connected to this gyrus in order to appreciate in a greater way what is about to take place. And so I want you to consider with me briefly as we come to the word of God again to look at three important aspects about Jairus, this man, that will help us understand the greatness of this story. The first thing we have to look at is Jairus' reputation, as I mentioned.

Before we even told his name, what you and I have been informed about was what he did. He was a ruler of the synagogue. And if you've been with us long enough, you should hopefully know that that is significant in itself. We've already been convinced that the religious leadership of Jesus' day have had a consensus that this man is to be condemned. It was public, it was open, and so vicious was their hostility towards Jesus.

That while our precious master was traveling about and healing and teaching, they were in the dark plotting his destruction, and whenever they had a chance to openly resist him. It was not a secret to understand that the religious elite hated Jesus. And here now we're told about a ruler of the synagogue. And though Jairus is not explicitly a Pharisee, we're not told that, there is no doubt that he is connected to the other leaders. And there is no doubt that he was fully aware of their antagonism, of their hatred, maybe even of their plot.

Jairus was familiar with who this Jesus was, and the nature of his work made him accountable to those others who were enemies of Jesus. And you can just imagine then how this is so exceptional even so early on in this story because it's obvious that Jairus was not influenced by that at all. At all. He could care less. He comes here publicly, and not only does he address Jesus, not only does he put himself at risk with his peers and his companions and his partners.

He falls on his face and he begs Jesus. He begs Jesus. You're gonna come before public enemy number one and expose yourself with so much to lose just for that very act. Makes me think about Nicodemus in comparison who was a Pharisee, who was in the same camp as Jairus, though maybe in a higher position of course. But what did he do when he wanted to meet with Jesus?

He waited till there was no light. He waited till people went to bed, and he made his way to this controversial rabbi to have some kind of a conversation. This was not Jairus. Jairus comes, on the other hand, unaffected by the potential risk of what this very move would cause in his life. And it makes me wonder what happened to this man Jairus for him to be so open with his association with Jesus, which brings us to the second point.

Not just Jairus' reputation, but Jairus' crisis. We saw it, did we not? In verse 23, he implored him earnestly saying, my little daughter is at the point of death. Come, lay your hands on her that she might be made well and live. Okay.

It makes sense now. It makes sense. Your little baby is dying. Your little girl, her life is vanishing right before your eyes. Pay attention to what I'm about to say and lean in as much as possible despite maybe the little chirping that you hear around.

Devastation is often the wrecking ball that obliterates one's hesitation or carelessness in coming to Christ. Devastation is often the wrecking ball that brings down the walls of hesitation and carelessness of one coming to Christ. It is not a mystery how God becomes very attractive when someone becomes severely afflicted. There is no mention of Jairus before this moment. There is no inclination that he ever interacted with Jesus, inquired of Jesus.

If anything, even more evidence that he stayed away from Jesus concerning his occupation. And yet here we realize that there is a motivation. Alas, his his daughter now is on the brink of death and he hears of a man who is able to heal all kinds of illnesses. And now he has this strong, strong motivation, a reason to come. And so strong was it that he comes to the Lord and every potential fear of losing fellowship with the elite or his well respected job is gone.

And we see even here in his plea, the tenderness, the brokenness, the desperation of this request. He didn't just say my daughter, my little daughter, my little daughter. She's young. Suffering at any point of life is is traumatic, but there's something especially heart wrenching when we see a little child fighting for their life. That is exactly what we see here, a man desperate for a baby who hasn't even seen the dawn of adulthood yet.

And so he pleads, my my little girl, my little baby, my little daughter. Now Luke emphasizes a different aspect of this account. In verse 42 of chapter eight, he informs us that she was his only daughter. Mark tells us through his own lips, Jairus' own lips, my little daughter. When Luke narrates the story, he says, she was his only daughter.

Oh, that adds another aspect to it. Does it not? This is all Jairus had. This is all Jairus had. This precious little girl, no one else.

Think about the dreams and the aspirations he had for her. Think about the prayers as a devout man that he prayed to God on her behalf. Think about the memories that he had with her. No son, no other kids, just this one little daughter. So near and dear to his heart and now within a few moments, all of that can disappear.

All of that can just just be gone. And so he has no issue pushing through this crowd. He does not care of the presence of Pharisees or Sadducees or Herodians, and he comes to this Jesus and he falls on his knees and he says, would you come please? My my little daughter needs divine intervention. Suffering can do that.

Suffering has a way of bending your will. Suffering has a way of prioritizing your life and bringing you to the one who can only bring solutions and salvations unlike any other. This man comes and he needs the miracle worker to step in, which brings us to the third aspect of Jairus that we must consider. Not just his reputation, not just his crisis, but his faith. His faith.

It's so obvious and clear, is it not? And Matthew's emphasis of the same story, because we find it in Luke, we find it in Matthew, Matthew's emphasis shows us just how great this faith is, and I would encourage you to turn there to see it with your own eyes. In Matthew nine, we read here in verse 18. Matthew nine verse 18. It's a much more condensed version of the story, but it sheds a specific light that helps us know the the faith of this man.

While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him saying, my daughter has just died. But come and lay your hand on her, and she will live. Well, don't think that there's a contradiction here. I'm sure it looks like it at face value. It's just that Matthew is interested here to focus on the fact that the daughter did in fact die.

Mark tells us later on in his own story. So she did die. There's no contradiction. But instead of looking at the stretched out appeal and interaction, he just wants to get straight to the point. The hopelessness of the situation, the no turning back aspect of it.

She died. My daughter has just died. And so if you look at Matthew's account, then you understand that Jairus did not just believe Jesus to heal his daughter, but to raise her from the dead. You can actually bring her back to life. And if you're there in Matthew, it's even a greater blessing to see that as he makes this appeal, it is placed in the part of Matthew's text that should compare to something else that happened.

Something else that happened in Matthew chapter eight with a very similar situation and another great demonstration of trust in who Jesus was and what he can do. Do you remember of that man who came to Jesus on behalf of his servant? And he asked him, my servant is suffering terribly. And he asked if if the Lord could heal him. And the Lord assured him, I will come with you.

And the centurion stops him before he takes another step. And he says there in Matthew eight verse seven, Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him. And verse eight of Matthew eight, but the centurion replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed. This centurion had such a revelation of the authority of Jesus Christ that he firmly believed that the Lord did not even need to come into close proximity. All he had to do was send forth his word and the word would suffice.

Jairus had faith, not that kind of faith. Not to this extent. And we don't want to condemn Jairus, but it's worth looking at the contrast to see what does this mean for us. Jairus was a ruler in the synagogue. He was constantly in the presence of God's people like you are here week after week, under and supervising and organizing the readings of the scrolls and God's word being proclaimed, declared, studied, rehearsed, memorized, sung.

He had some kind of understanding, I'm sure, of God in his own life, and yet with all of that exposure, with all of that experience, he lacked the quality of faith of someone who was a complete foreigner to these things. This this centurion is a Roman. He's a gentile. He is totally disconnected from Jairus' background, and yet he exercised greater faith in the person of Jesus Christ. Why am I bringing this up to you?

To encourage you. To encourage you in this way that you and I don't need a superb education, or occupation, or reputation, or position, doesn't matter, to touch the heart of Jesus Christ? See, what often impresses man doesn't move God. And sometimes we feel like we can't come to the place of of moving the heart of our God because we lack what man says you need to be a true spiritual intimate servant of Jesus Christ. This centurion had nothing of the sort.

No letters by his name. No backing. Nothing other than the faith to believe that this Jesus that he's heard about can do all things and that move the heart of Christ. Do you not remember where he praises his faith and he says, there isn't anything like this that I've seen in Israel? And so stop striving for the things of the flesh.

Stop thinking that you'll be at a distance with this Christ in comparison to so and so because of superficial things. No. The Lord is willing to open his arms up to those who have simple faith, simple trust, though they lack maybe so much else. But what a gracious God we serve. What a gracious God.

Even though Jairus' faith was not as strong as the centurion's, he was willing to say, let's go. I'm coming with you. He went with him. That's what we read. That once the request was made, Christ went with him as did the crowd.

And I look at that and I think, Lord, thank you. Whether my faith is weak or it is strong, you are willing to work with me. You are willing to walk with me. Along the way, you are such a patient teacher. Such a loving shepherd.

And the natural sequence of these events supposes that we are now going to be transported in the next verse into Jairus' home. And Jesus is gonna do this. Right? Not so. Because everything now will be suddenly interrupted by someone else.

And we read back in Mark chapter five verse 25. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years and who had suffered much under many physicians. And had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, if I touch even his garments, I will be made well.

This woman, unnamed, we are told suffered. She suffered for twelve years. Twelve years. Jesus was on his way to heal a little girl. And in verse 42 of our chapter, we are told that she was 12 years old.

Jesus was on his way to hear a 12 year old girl and his plan was briefly interrupted by a woman who was suffering for twelve years. Interesting similarity. And when you connect those things together, you realize that these two stories have something to make of a powerful point. Think about it. The number 12 here of both of these individuals, we're not gonna do strange interpretations with numbers.

It's their history. It's their biography. It's their situation. Whether you're young or old, whether you've been suffering for a short time for a long time, whether you are a seasoned sinner or a fresh mind being awakened to a new world of temptation, Christ is your only hope. Christ is your savior still.

He is a refuge to children, and he is a shield to the weathered soul. For twelve years, we don't know how long or when this little girl suffered, but we know that during those twelve years of her life, there was a woman who was being beat up by a disease. And here's this little girl, 12 years old, quickly deteriorating, and this woman who is only growing worse and worse and worse, and here's the point, Christ can come to you at the budding of life, or he can rescue you after you have over the years experimented with one failed solution after the other. He is the same savior. He is an available savior.

And the biography of all kinds of suffering and sin are not limited to his power. What was it that she suffered with? What was it that was eating her up? What was it that drained her in so many ways? We're told it was a discharge of blood.

Some kind of hemorrhaging that was deemed incurable. And twelve years of going from one physician to the next, one doctor, one opinion after the other, and it was all zeros. Nothing. No hint of hope. No clarity.

You can imagine how emotionally exhausting this is. You can imagine that she was obviously uncomfortable with this. Because when she ends up getting her healing from the Lord, she can feel that she was healed. She could feel it. It was measurable by her feeling.

So she is afflicted. And and just, you can imagine how drained she was again. Where do I go now? And more than her emotions, her bank account was brought to nothing as well. All the money that she invested, all her savings, all her future.

To make matters worse, according to the law, there was so much more that was taken from her because of her condition. In Leviticus fifteen twenty five, we're given instructions in the old covenant of what someone was to do if they had any kind of discharge of blood. And let me read this verse to you to give you an idea of the way she had to live for twelve years. We're told in Leviticus fifteen twenty five, and if a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, so apart from her menstrual impurity, Or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of her discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean.

Okay. So you have suffering for over a decade, discomfort, psychological pain, emotional distress, and more than that because of her state of uncleanness, she can't go worship God in the temple. She can't go to the synagogue and sit and be with other believers and be encouraged. More than that, if she was married, that would make things difficult with her own husband. Why?

Because even the very bed she would lay on was unclean, and the seat that she would sit on would be impure. And so now her day to day interactions, her conversations, her activities are severely hindered because of this law. And so, she's almost like a leper. Ostracized and pushed away. People wanting to avoid her because if they come into contact with her, they are impure and they have to go through that ritual, and and they're not willing to have such kind of obstacles.

They already have enough issues of their own. This is the kind of woman that we're dealing with. And though the number 12 might be similar, her background couldn't have been any more different than Jairus'. Jairus could go to the synagogue, he could go to the temple, he could be with the people of God, he could sit under the word of God. Here's this woman just stuck in some dark corner day after day, night after night, trying to gather together coins to figure out if she can make another appointment maybe with another doctor who can give her some kind of some kind of light for her future.

Which tells me something else about Jesus, though she and Jairus' situation and background and history and day to day living was so far apart from being similar, Christ can restore a variety of brokenness. A variety of brokenness. He's not only an expert with one or two sins. He he doesn't just save those who grew up in the church but went away, but he has a little bit more difficulty saving those who did not grow up in the church. No.

He's able to sympathize and he's able to save with, again, a great roster of degeneracy and despair. You know what second Corinthians five seventeen says, you know it very well, therefore if, and I love this part, therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. New creation, I understand. I love. Praise God for the power of the gospel.

But you know what blesses me? The King James says, if any man, if any any man, if anyone, any man at any time, anywhere, any who, any when. If any man be in Christ, Christ can transform him. And here's a woman who is far apart from Jairus in so many ways, but she fits in the category of anyone. Anyone.

You know, this is an important point because you have some people who are so dysfunctional, so broken, so battered, so beat up, so scarred that they can sit in a place like this, hear a message like this, and be like, that's nice for the guy in the suit or the kid that grew up with a mom and dad that brought him to Awana. I don't think this works for me, and I'm here to tell you it works for you. I'm here to tell you that he can deliver you. And what I'm asking you to do with the authority of Jesus Christ and his word is what this woman did, believe. Believe.

She heard the reports of what Christ has done and this is what she came to the conclusion. If he can do it for them, including Jairus, he can do it for me. He can do it for me. I wanna make sure that he does it for me. I'm not leaving here empty handed.

I'm not leaving here the same way that I came in. That kind of desperation is lacking in our appeal when it comes to the gospel. I can't put a desire in you. I can only present the object of what your desire should be, and it's up to you how you flee to him. This woman sees this Jesus, and there's somebody else now in the crowd who is about to make her way towards the Lord like Jairus did.

And what we are about to read is that Christ is gonna do in one moment one moment what physicians gonna do over twelve years. In one second, in one grasp of his garment, that healing virtue will come and dry up and heal and restore with so many remedies, so many reports, so many investigations, so many studies could not even come close to. And though that is true for sickness, because we believe Jesus can heal everything, he's still a healer. It is especially true when it comes to your soul, my friend. The sickness of the soul because of sin.

One moment, it can all change. And in the words of JC Ryle concerning the story, he says, what we see here is an emblem of the relief that the gospel confers on the soul. In other words, in the same way that there was immediate restoration and healing and wholeness in that touch for her body, So much more for your spirit. So much more for that part that is going to be immortal. So much more for that thing that affects everything else.

And that is more important than any body being healed temporarily. And that's the point. Christ, unlike these physicians, can do what nobody else can do, because he created you, and he died for you. And here's the warning with all of that encouragement that's being showered on us this afternoon. Here's the warning.

In the same way that this woman was running from one solution to the next, one possible remedy to the next, but could not find it and we're told was only getting worse, so will it be with you the longer you delay coming to Jesus Christ. Like, why are you even waiting anymore? What are you waiting for? What do you like, what is it that you're looking forward to so much that you think Jesus is gonna interrupt? You have some pigs that you're worried to lose?

What is it? When will you stop chasing vain idols, vain philosophies, vain pleasures, silly solutions that attempt to bring you into a place of wholeness and completion and sense of purpose and love? When will you just give up? Save your time, save your resources, save your energy, and fall at the foot of the cross. And in one moment, what you've been chasing around like a chicken with its heads cut off, what you've been spending, what you've been trying to escape from, what you've been trying to run to or run away, whatever the case may be, right here is your answer.

So stop sticking your head in empty cisterns and trying to draw some kind of value from it when the fountain of life is gushing forth. Exactly what you need and it's right there before you. That's what this woman shows us to some extent, I'm sure. And look what she says in verse 28. For she said, if I if I touch even his garments, I'll be made well.

Now this is quick thinking. This is a strategy on the spot. Remember, Jesus is making his way to Jairus' home and there is a crowd that's pressing against him. And this woman is there, I don't know if she's in the third row, the fifth row, I don't know if she's pushed all the way in the back, but she singled out where Jesus was. And this is what she came to in her in her thinking.

If I just I'm just gonna grab him. But you gotta link that with what we what we learned here in verse 27. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him. So in her thinking, I'm gonna touch him but I'm gonna have to come behind him. Why not before him?

Why not face him like Jairus did? Well, because of what she has. It's too risky. She can't touch anyone. She can't be in close proximity to anyone.

And if she stands before Jesus and explains her situation, then that might just turn him off and push him away, and they just move on. And so I'm just gonna make this a drive through experience. I'm just gonna go by, grab him, and then just whisk away into the crowd, and he won't even know about it. Oh, how cute. He won't know about it.

This is her plan. And guess what? It worked. It worked. Verse 29.

And immediately the flow of blood dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. This is a unique story for many reasons. And one of those reasons is how Jesus's response and his reaction here stands out from many other miracles. Because we read here in verse 30, and Jesus perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him. That's an interesting commentary.

Don't confuse those words with the notion that Jesus can be depleted of supernatural ability like a battery would lose power the more you use it. None of us in here, I'm sure, would ever think that though we exert the power of the sun that that great ball of light and heat is ever exhausted of its strength. Christ here is infinite in his power and his might and his glory and his strength. Yes, he is human and there are other limitations there, but when it comes to the virtue that heals, he is limitless. What we're being told here is that Jesus was now made aware, not that he was unaware of what was gonna happen, but he's going to express that he was now aware of what this lady did and he's not gonna let her get away with it.

And so he knew power had gone out from him and he does something right after. Immediately turned about in the crowd and said, who touched my garments? Did Jesus not know? Oh, he knew. Then why ask the question?

It's not issued from ignorance. Jesus is asking a question because he's implementing something that we've seen God do from beginning to end in this book. Are you not familiar with God's implementation of rhetorical questions? Even from the beginning asking Adam where he was. God knew exactly where Adam was.

And Jesus, who is God, knows exactly who touched his garments. Because the question is not to receive clarity, it's to encourage confession. Who touched my garments? Who touched my garments? And now we see that this woman has been identified to Jesus at least.

And he's not doing this to embarrass her. He's not doing this to try to shame her or scorn her. Nothing of the sort. It's actually a very very beautiful picture of the heart of Christ for us. Think about it.

Jesus is not interested. This is so profound to me. He's not interested in dispensing his power to individuals without them coming to him personally. The very design of his power that it would draw you to himself. You know, I've met some people throughout my walk with the Lord that have no problem coming to Jesus with a problem or two, hoping that he will fix it, and only making their way back to their lives, and going about as though nothing had happened.

And like this woman, they just wanna touch Jesus from behind. They don't wanna see him face to face. They don't want that fellowship. They don't want that intimacy. They don't want that relationship.

They just want something from him. Let me touch him. Let me grab it. My kid is in trouble. My finances are in trouble.

My body is in trouble. I heard about this Jesus. Let me just take what he has to offer and move about my life. That's not what God wants though. I've seen it with my own eyes.

You're saying, how does this miracle relate? I've seen it with my own eyes. Let me just touch his garment and go about my way. But Christ wants your heart. You want something from Christ.

You know what Christ wants? You. You. Do you want Christ? That's the whole difference.

I'm telling you what Christ wants, he wants you. You want something from him or do you want him? That's the gospel. Coming to God, not escaping this or inheriting that, God. And Jesus pauses on his quest to Jairus' home.

Who touched my garments? The disciples didn't understand this. There's a lot of things that the disciples didn't understand, but let me read. If you don't believe that this is what Jesus is about, let me read to you what he prayed for you. Let me read what he prayed for you in John seventeen twenty four.

You don't even have to turn there unless you wanna highlight it, but I want you to give every faculty of your being over to what I'm about to say and really chew on it and understand what Jesus is asking the father for in John seventeen twenty four. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am. To see my glory that you have given me, because you love me before the foundation of the world. Father, I'm asking that those that you have given me, oh, I want them to be with me. Where I am.

Where I am. But then he speaks about that they may see my glory. So he's obviously referring to the future where he will be. There's something of the present too. Right?

And that's a mysterious thing that we don't have time to unpack. Where I am, I I want them to see my glory. I want them to be near me. Father, that's my request. That's how I'm ending this high priestly prayer.

And there is not one request that the father will ever deny the son. You know what that means? It means that if you have been given, if you are his, then you will be with him to see his glory forever and ever. I can't wait for that day. He wants us.

He prayed to the father and the holy spirit recorded so that when you ever doubt the reality of his love, you would realize the son prayed to the father for me to be with him and the father will never deny the son. Therefore, I will not be denied and I will be his forever and ever and ever and ever. Who touched my garments? And the intensity of his desire for her to approach and to confess what had taken place is seen back at verse 32 of Mark chapter five. And he looked around to see who had done it.

Remember, Jairus' daughter needs a touch and yet this woman, though everyone is pressing against the Lord, tried to get a piece of him. Here's a woman who grabs a hold of him, walks away, Jesus stops in his tracks, asks the question, and more than that, he does not move forward, he looks intently for her. So here's this woman, you can imagine her heart sinking to her gut. Her face being flushed. Remember, she can't touch anyone.

And not only this, now Jesus is making a public scene here. So, yeah. She she didn't just touch Jesus, she touched a lot of people. And if they find out what happened, they're they're gonna be a lot of upset people with this woman. So he looks for so you know what that tells me?

Everything is at a standstill. Everything is at a standstill. Now people are looking at Jesus who's the center of attention. He's leading the pack, and now they are looking where he's looking because clearly something must have been so important enough for him to stop and say something had happened. Well, what happened?

Let's see. But Christ's pause here is more than that. You know what it is? It's Jesus here also preparing the masses to hear the testimony of this woman who would share what the Lord had done for her. You see, what the Lord is asking here when he says, who touched my garments and when he looks for her is more than just her coming to him and him reassuring her of something about who she is that is completely relational.

No. The Lord also wants her in an indirect way to publicly confess the mercy that she experienced. Jesus is not interested in secret disciples. Lord is worthy of honor and glory. And when he does something in your life, he is worth you being unashamed to tell about it.

Who touched my garments? The disciples said, Lord, everyone is here touching you. What do you mean who touched you? No. Someone touched me.

Isn't it amazing that we can be in a group like this? But there's something about faith that touches the heart of God. The presence of people around the name of Christ, the word of Christ, songs about Christ does not automatically mean that his heart is touched in the same way as the one who has a heart that realizes I need him. I look to you, Lord. I I come to you.

Someone touched me. Yeah. Everybody's touching. No. Someone touched me.

He looks. Do you see it? Christ is not interested in our testimonies to remain private. Must be willing to confess what he has done. Salvation may occur in secret, but the story about it shouldn't.

What is this woman gonna do? She comes trembling, she comes afraid. Some would say because she's worried about sharing what had happened to her and what she had as a condition or maybe it was because she realized that this is not just a prophet, This is not just some special messenger of God that comes after a few generations. How did he know I touched him? It shows she comes so fearful And Jesus assures us that she's been made well.

But you know, I couldn't help but think with all of this that has happened as wonderful as it was for this woman, you remember who we started with. Right? Jairus. Jairus. This was about Jairus.

This is what Jairus' little daughter and she's dying and every minute counts. So now let's put our ourselves in the sandals of Jairus. Lord, my little daughter is dying. I need you to come. I need you to heal her.

I know you can do it. Please, I will come. Yes. And the Lord makes way and the crowd comes and I wonder if Jairus is a little nervous because when you have a crowd like that there's traffic and things get slower with traffic. On top of that, now this woman comes and obviously does something and Jesus stops.

We're gonna look at Jairus more next week. Time doesn't serve us well in terms of exploring everything here, but if I was Jairus, who touched my garments? My daughter is dying. More than that, and he's looking. And everybody's stopping.

Did you see what Jesus said to this woman? I wonder if it did something to Jairus. Verse 34. And he said to her daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

Jairus is experiencing some delay. Jesus, do you not see the urgency of the matter? How is it that you're stopping? This is not the time to stop. It's time to go.

We gotta go in another gear. Let's go. Lord. How true is it that the master's pace in the dealings of our lives are often not in complete agreement with our wishes. But I wonder if verse 34 did something to Jairus.

He said to her, daughter. Oh, now we have two daughters in this story. It all started with my little daughter and this scene is ending with Jesus addressing this mature woman, stranger, unnamed, And with such sympathy and with a delicate voice, I'm sure he says, daughter. Not daughter of Abraham, not daughter of Jerusalem. You'd be hard pressed to find Jesus addressing anybody directly as daughter in the gospels.

Daughter, your faith has made you well. And I wonder if that statement translated to the crowd and maybe even Jairus. It's obvious that this Jesus loves this woman as a father does his daughter. He does. In fact, the gospel adopts us.

Calls us sons and daughters. And here's Jairus. Was he nervous? I don't know. Was he anxious?

I don't know. Was he critical like the disciples were for a moment in verse 31? Doesn't say anything. But what kind of hush did it bring to his soul? I wonder when he heard Jesus as a man who wanted his little daughter to be healed, addressing this woman who has been healed, daughter.

The great love of Jesus. Compassion of Jesus. I have a real daughter by blood who needs to be touched. Who's this woman? Any relation?

No. Relatives? No. Upbringing? No.

Stranger, but my love for her, my affection for her, my compassion for her, my desire for her. Daughter, your faith has made you well. You see what Jesus wants from me? He doesn't just wanna heal you. He doesn't wanna just get you out of debt.

He doesn't wanna just make you sleep better at night. Daughter. See, if she would've just went on, she would've got healing. But after she came before Christ and says what? We're told here that she came before Jesus in verse 33 and told him the whole truth.

When you come in complete honesty and transparency and humility with your sin, with your condition, with what you've done, with what you haven't done, here's the assurance that Christ brings to you. The same for this woman. Daughter, now we have relationship. Now I see you and so now I'm affirming to you that you are mine. You're mine.

And it'll be next week where we see Jesus from this place going to Jairus's little daughter, and we will learn so much more about the same scene as as we honor the text and the way it delivers itself. This complicated overlapping crossroads moment. Let's pray. Thank you, Jesus. Name above all names.

King above all kings. Lord of all lords. Lord, we are overwhelmed by your word because it is eternal and it is the very breath of God. And we've felt the life giving source that it is this afternoon as we sat under it. Much was said.

And, Lord, every word of it was honey to our lips, more precious than gold, more valuable than silver. And Lord, we ask that in this moment, we would be able to worship you in light of the great love that you exemplified in this in this report of holy scripture. We pray for the person that, like this woman, though perhaps not for the same disease, for a greater disease, the disease of sin, is running around from one website to the next, from one job to the other, from one country to the other country, from some group of friends, from one boyfriend to the other, girlfriend, whatever it is. For that person in this place, may their eyes see after hearing the report of Jesus where their source of salvation is. And for the believer who has experienced you but is ashamed for whatever reason to make it public, to be bold, to get baptized, May they see that you are worthy of recognition.

And Lord, as we are prepared even for next week when we will look at the delay of Jairus's request, may we understand that your delays have great purpose and that you are still for us even though we may not see things play out before us the way we desire. Again, Lord, we are overwhelmed by your goodness, in love with you, madly in love with you. And if our hearts have become dry, Lord, let the fire of the word consume all the dross, all the ice that has been collected on our affections for you. And let it melt. Let it all melt here as we sing in light of your awesome truth.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Hallelujah indeed. Let's stand and worship