Sermon Tone Analysis
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Do you have time for others?
Is it easy for you to lay your plans aside for others?
How do you handle interruptions?
They are called interruptions because they stop us from doing what we had planned to do.
We have our plans when someone comes along with their plans for us and interrupt our day.
Sometimes it’s an irritation but we need to realize that some interruptions are sent by God and can become opportunities for us to help and minister to others.
We will miss those opportunities if we brush them aside and ignore them.
There’s a story about a woman who was standing at a bus stop.
She had just cashed her income tax refund check, so she was carrying more money than usual and was understandably a little bit nervous about it.
As she glanced around she noticed a shabbily dressed man standing nearby.
As she watched, she saw a man walk up to him, hand him some money, and whisper something in his ear.
She was so touched by that act of kindness that she decided to do the same.
In a burst of generosity, she reached into her purse, took out $10, handed it to the man.
She then whispered to him, “Never despair, never despair.”
The next day when she came to the bus stop, there he was again.
But this time he walked up to her and handed her $110.
Dumbfounded, she asked, “What’s this?”
He said, “You won, lady.
Never Despair paid 10 to 1.”
Every act of kindness will not pay 10 to 1.
Most of the time kindness will cost you something and it may even require a sacrifice on your part.
Turn with me to the eighth chapter Luke as we look at a couple of the clearest examples of kindness in the Bible.
They are found in verses 40-56.
In this passage we see Jesus showing kindness to two people who are entirely different.
One is a man and the other is a woman.
One is rich, influential, and the ruler of a synagogue.
The other is an outcast, poor, and unknown.
And yet, Jesus treats both of them with great kindness.
By the time of this story, Jesus had gained a great deal of fame and popularity.
The people respected him as a healer and a teacher even though the religious leaders had a different opinion.
Crowds were swarming around him wherever he went.
But despite the pressures of popularity, despite the crowds constantly pushing in around him, despite all the demands on his time, in his kindness Jesus stopped everything he was doing to help them and to meet their needs.
You will remember in our lesson last week that Jesus traveled with his disciples by boat to the region of the Gerasenes.
When they arrived they were met by a demon possessed man.
I say demon but when Jesus asked the demon for its name it gave the name Legion because there was not just one but many demons inhabiting the man.
The word legion came from the military and could be from three to six thousand men.
We don’t have an exact number of demons but it was a lot.
Jesus granted the wish of the demons to be allowed to enter into some pigs that were nearby.
When they entered the pigs, the pigs tore off down the steep bank into the sea and drowned.
When the people living in the area saw what had happened they begged him to leave so he did.
When the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with Jesus he said no but insisted he stay and be a witness to all that God had done for him.
Jesus and the disciples then got into their boat and sailed back across the sea to Capernaum.
He will have a completely different reception when he lands there.
Remember, Capernaum was Jesus’ home base during the three years of his ministry.
They knew Jesus and were eager to hear him.
Our passage tonight has not one story but two.
It tells of not one healing but two.
Sometimes it is referred to as a miracle on the way to a miracle.
Jesus is asked to come and help and on the way he is stopped and helps someone else.
40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.
41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
(Luke 8:40-42a)
We don’t know where Jesus was going, but he was on his way somewhere.
Perhaps he was headed to a place where he could teach the crowd which was following him.
Wherever he was going, he had something to do.
However, when he was approached with a need by Jairus, he put his plans aside.
The sickness of the young girl was more pressing than his plans.
Erma Bombeck told about a time when she was so tired of listening.
She had listened to her son tell in minute detail about a movie he had just seen, punctuated by at least 1,000 “you knows” and “okays.”
Then she had received several telephone calls filled with what she felt were mindless chatter that never seemed to end.
So it was with genuine relief that she was able to tell the last caller that she just had to rush off to the airport.
She got into a taxicab, and as the taxicab driver took her to the airport, he told her all about his son who had won a scholarship to college, and how he was making straight A’s.
Erma had to sit there and listen to it all.
She said:
But once I got to the airport and realized that I was 30 minutes early, I breathed a sigh of relief and thought, “I have 30 whole minutes when I don’t have to listen to anybody.
I can just sit here and read my book and not be bothered at all.”
But no sooner had she opened her book, when an elderly female said to her, “I bet it’s cold in Chicago.”
“I suppose,” Erma Bombeck replied without looking up from her book.
“I haven’t been in Chicago for 3 years,” the woman said.
“My son lives there.”
“That’s nice,” said Erma.
Then the woman continued on, “My husband’s body is on this plane.
We were married for 53 years.
I don’t drive, you see, and the funeral director was so nice.
He drove me to the airport today.”
Erma recalled:
Her voice droned on.
Here was a woman who didn’t want money or advice or counsel.
All she wanted was someone to listen.
And in desperation she had turned to a total stranger with her story.
Erma Bombeck said:
She continued to talk to me until they announced that we were boarding the plane.
We walked onto the plane and I saw her sit down in another section.
And as I hung up my coat I heard her say to the person next to her, “I bet it’s cold in Chicago.”
There are so many who just need somebody to just to focus on them and listen to what they have to say.
And Jesus did so that day.
Jesus paid attention to Jairus and changed his plans for the day.
Jairus was the ruler of the synagogue.
That doesn’t mean that he taught there but that he ruled over the goings on at the synagogue.
Someone needed to be in charge and Jairus was the man.
He made sure there was a rabbi to teach each Sabbath.
This was a prominent position in the community.
Luke tells us that Jairus came and fell at Jesus’ feet.
Remember, the religious leaders had already made up their minds against Jesus.
They’d already been discussing how they wanted to get rid of him.
Most assume that Jairus was in line with the other religious leaders.
For him now to come to Jesus for help and falling at his feet would have been a great act of humility.
It would also show just how desperate Jairus was.
Luke explains that his daughter, his only daughter of twelve, was dying.
He already sought whatever medical help he could find and nothing worked.
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