From the Most Likely to the Least Likely

Steve Bowyer

Words & Works of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted 8 months ago • Presented 8 months ago

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My Friend, Jim

I have a friend named Jim. I haven’t talked to him in years. I got to know him thru some college friends back when I was still single and playing softball w/ a group of guys. He was kind of a big guy, a little heavy for his age. He played catcher on our slow-pitch softball team.

Jim was a pretty worldly guy. He owned a small jewelry business and a Corvette business. For a 20 something, he had a lot of money and spent more. He was married, no kids, and played and partied hard.

He drove Corvettes, had a nice boat, took nice vacations, wore nice jewelry, and an expensive wardrobe. His wife had pretty expensive taste, too.

He was the kind of guy who, if he found a scratch on one of his Corvettes, he’d go out driving around Dallas and amazingly get into an accident where the other driver was at fault and his Corvette would be repaired thanks to their insurance. He did that several times that I know of.

He was a self-made, self-assured, self-maintained man. You might say he was a bit self-centered. He didn’t know Jesus, but he was a lot of fun to hang out with.

Jim reminded all of us of a John Candy character from the movie, “Brewster’s Millions”

I am NOT recommending the movie. The language is awful! They would make a sailor blush. But, that’s kind of my point.

The gist of the movie is, an old, white business tycoon died. His only heir is the character played by Richard Pryor, a black man. He was the son who was the product of an affair w/ a prostitute.

But, Pryor’s character is in line to inherit $300 million. This was back in the 80s when $300 M was real money. Not like today w/ inflation.

Knowing he was his only heir, the tycoon placed a condition on him inheriting his entire estate. The tycoon was afraid he’d go out and blow the entire amount in short order so he did what he could to prevent that. His comedic approach was, upon his death, he gave him $30M that he had 30 days to spend and then have nothing to show for it. He could only donate or give away a small amount. So, he had to blow the entire mini-fortune on stuff that would be worthless in 30 days. If he had any net worth left, he would forfeit the rest. The idea was he’d get tired of blowing money and be ready to save and invest the bulk of the estate.

One of the things he bought w/ the $30 M was a minor league baseball team. They were terrible. As owner, he installed himself as their pitcher, and his friend played by John Candy, as their catcher. He always wanted to be a professional baseball pitcher, but he was terrible. The team was terrible. One of the ways he was able to devalue the team was by losing all their games for that month. It worked.

Anyway, John Candy’s character, the catcher was brilliant at distracting the other team’s hitters when they came up to bat. He would have them so mad at him, they’d be more interested in fighting him, than hitting the baseball. He’d cuss them, insult them, their wives, mamas, their ancestry; whatever, in very colorful ways w/ colorful language.

My friend Jim was masterful at that on the softball diamond. He got into more fights and got more opposing players tossed out than I had ever seen before.

One Sunday morning at church, not during softball season, where a number of our teammates attended, the least likely guy we all thought to ever wander thru the church doors on purpose, showed up and announced the night before he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. My jaw hit the floor. I was stunned. Then, I felt guilty that I had never had that convo w/ him about Jesus. None of us had. We thought he was a lost cause.

Fortunately, Jesus didn’t. And, he had another friend who believed in the impossible. When Jim’s self-centered life began to unravel, that friend introduced him to Jesus, and we got to celebrate the occasion w/ him.

He was the least likely guy we thought would ever become a Xian. But the good news about that is, Jesus will save anybody.

Jesus will save everybody who comes to faith in the Who He is and what He can do; from the most likely to the least. Faith in the Person Who has Power over the climate, demonic, disease, and death is enough to save anybody. Jim proved that!

For over 1500 years, God’s organization had been strictly a Jewish thing. If someone wanted to be saved, they had to become Jewish first; both in belief and behavior. But then, Jesus introduced and entirely new way of life for those who wanted to go to heaven when they died.

Now Jesus has set out to lay the foundation for the discs to understand that anybody and everybody regardless of nationality and heritage can come to faith w/out becoming Jewish and be saved.

This was new, news, and a big deal. It took a lot for these 12 guys to understand Jesus’s message was for everybody.

He had begun this unit of lessons w/ parables about faith. Spreading the faith and what faith would do. Then, he took them into the lab to see what faith can do.

He calmed a storm and scolded the men for their panic and lack of faith. Then, he freed a non-Jewish man from his demonic possession. Jesus demonstrated what He could do and would do for those who have faith while in the storm of their life. Jewish or not, don’t panic, fall on your knees in humble submission to your King and believe He can do something to save you.

Those 2 miracles were related and performed back to back on purpose. The next two were as well.

These continue the lesson on what Jesus can do and for whomever has faith.

This episode is described in 3 passages. Mt. 9; Mk. 5; and Lk. 8. We’re in the Mark passage this morning.

A Desperate Dad

Mark 5:21–23 NIV

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

They returned to the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee, back to Capernaum. Word was spreading about Jesus and he was attracting more and more ppl.

Jairus was not a priest, but a lay, volunteer leader in the synagogue, like our elders. Jesus had performed a number of miracles in Capernaum and in the synagogue there where Jairus served.

He demonstrated he had faith in Who Jesus by falling at his feet. Jesus was his King, Master, Lord, Messiah. He showed great humility w/ his posture.

Too often, too many of us, a little too boldly, arrogantly, approach Jesus expecting Him to do whatever we ask. This is certainly not the case for Jairus. He humbly pled for his daughter’s life. Confidence and boldness are good. But, temper these w/ humility and submission to whatever Jesus chooses to do.

He demonstrated faith in what Jesus could do in his plea. The Greek language indicates his daughter had been sickly since birth. She was his only daughter. He loved her dearly. She was 12 years old and never the picture of health. Her premature death had been predicted from the day she was born.

This day, she was at death’s door. The doctors had been trying to save her w/ no progress being made. Jairus believed Jesus was much more than a doctor and by laying his hands on her and saying the word He could do what no doctor had been able to do up to that point.

Faith, confidence, and humility. We could all take a lesson from Jairus’ approach and plea to Jesus.

Jesus showed great compassion and responded by immediately heading to his house. So many ppl, important lessons to teach and learn. But Jesus was not so busy, distracted, or preoccupied that he could not care for this dad and his 12-year old daughter.

Do you ever get caught w/ a long list of “to-dos” only to be interrupted by someone with a more desperate need? Priorities, right? His message was important. But not more important to Him than this young girl’s life and her dad’s desperation.

Yet, what happened next delayed Jesus’s arrival and their house. It would have been both discouraging and encouraging all at the same time. Would the desperate dad understand the delay?

It turned out to be a divine delay.

The Divine Delay

Mark 5:24–35 NIV

So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

They began their journey and a huge crowd followed along. Those who heard, would have been excited to see what Jesus would do. The crowd was so large, no all heard or knew why they were headed where they were headed. But, they tagged along. B/C, Jesus.

In this crowd there was a woman who had been suffering from a bleeding problem for 12 years. Something related to her reproductive system. She was hemorrhaging, and slowing bleeding to death.

12 years. It was no coincidence that she had been suffering the same length of time Jairus’ daughter had been alive, but not well. This is one commonality that connects these two miracles together.

The woman had seen many doctors during this time and spent her entire life-savings hoping for healing and relief. But all it got her was weaker and broke. Some of the primitive treatments were more painful that the disease she had. No one up to this point had been able to give her any relief, they had only made her worse. In truth, the disease was incurable.

Her suffering was significant. Physically, financially, spiritually, and socially. According to Jewish law, a woman in her condition was not allowed any human contact for as long as she suffered from the bleeding. She could not attend synagogue worship services or have any human interaction. If she touched anyone, or if any touched her, on purpose or accidentally, they were socially distanced for days. They avoided her like the plague. She did her best to hide her condition. But word would have spread and she would have been known in the community as pariah. She had it bad!

The woman had heard of Jesus’s healing power and as He came along the road, she sneaked up behind Him and touched the hem of His cloak. Her approach was significant.

She showed her faith in Who Jesus is and her recognition of the royal authority that belonged to Christ. Where was the hem of his cloak? What did it take for her to get to it? What was her posture when she did it?

When a subject entered the presence of their King, they would kneel, bow, and touch the hem of his cloak to indicate they recognized his position of authority over them and they had a request to make of him. This was the basis of her request showing her loyalty to His royalty and submission to His authority.

The is Who Jesus is. King. Master. Lord. This demonstrates faith in His Person. Faith in His name.

Her faith was such that she believed she would not even need to make a verbal request of Jesus, but only the touch. Her faith was great.

Also, she did not want to attract attention to herself b/c of the effect it would have had on the crowd. No doubt she wore a hooded cloak herself, hiding her ID from the crowd. For, had they recognized her, had she walked right up to him, it would have created a riot mob scene. They would have done just about anything to her, to avoid contact w/ her, to avoid having to socially distance themselves for the next few days. They could have stoned her or at least removed her violently. She risked her life to touch Him.

As soon as she touched His cloak her bleeding stopped. The healing was immediate and complete. She could feel the effect in her body and knew w/out a doubt that she had been miraculously healed w/out any overt actions by Jesus. She then attempted to slip away as secretly as she had approached Jesus.

But Jesus wouldn’t let her.

Jesus realized immediately that the power that He possessed, b/c of who He is, had gone out of Him. It could not have happened w/out his knowledge or consent. He was fully aware of what was happening when and after it happened.

There was nothing magical about the cloak.

Like some evangelists will sell handkerchiefs they cried into as a fund-raiser. Think about how much money the early church leaders could have raised if they had sold pieces of Jesus’s clothes. But, that’s only taking advantage of ppl. The cloak had nothing to do w/ the healing.

Jesus knew this was going to happen before he got out of the boat and encountered Jairus. Every miracle He performed was intended to reinforce the message he was teaching at the time. He’d teach the lesson then perform a miracle that supported the message as an object lesson. This was no different nor accident.

His message before the storm and on the sea was about faith and here was a perfect example of great faith. This was also an encouragement to Jairus to see the healing power of Jesus and the parallels to his situ. More on this later.

Jesus turned around and asked the crowd who had touched his cloak. He knew. But He wanted her to come forward, own her action, and make herself known. The discs were incredulous.

Seriously? In this crowd? Who hasn’t touched your cloak?

They didn’t know exactly what Jesus was asking. Jesus told them this was more than just casual contact. Something powerful had happened.

Jesus looked thru the crowd to find the woman. She had hoped to get away unnoticed. But when she realized He had stopped and was seriously looking for her, she relented and came forward.

By making her come forward in front of the crowd, she declared her faith in Jesus’s Person and Power publicly. This has a strengthening effect on one’s faith as well as being an encouraging example for others. This is one of the effects of public baptism.

Jesus then was able to reinforce his message about faith b/c she came forward.

She came forward in humility, trembling w/ fear. She fell at his feet and in front of everyone told Him the entire story. It took great courage for her to come forward and tell the story in front of everyone.

Now, everyone knew that this was the woman who had been banished from society b/c of her disease and that Jesus had done for her in a moment w/out a word what the doctors could not do for 12 years.

He was touched by her and not rendered unclean himself nor would he need to distance himself. Contamination is cleaned up when it touches Jesus. He is not contaminated by the touch.

He demonstrated His power to the crowd, authenticated his message of faith, and rendered the rabbinical rules obsolete. All this on His way to heal Jairus’ daughter.

Jesus addressed her as daughter. This was a term of affection and the only recorded use of the term by Jesus in the Bible. The significance of this is twofold.

It signified her new relationship w/ Jesus.

Jairus expressed his love for his daughter by traveling to Jesus and pleading earnestly w/ Him to come and heal her. The crowd had to be moved by his expression of love for his daughter. Now Jesus calls this woman His daughter and the crowd would have some idea of the love that Jesus fells for his own.

Jesus then attributes her healing to her faith. It was her faith that saved her, no the touch or the cloak. Faith derives its value from the object in which it rests, not from the one expressing it. He assured her then that the healing was complete and permanent. She had been living in social isolation for 12 years. For all practical purposes, she was living dead. She was alive, but dying. She was dead b/c she had no life.

Jesus gave her life and restored her physical life, spiritual life, and social life; giving her the opportunity to restore her financial life. When Jesus said, “Go in peace”, the peace he offered her was not just the freedom from anxiety. It was that wholeness or completeness of life that stems from a right relationship w/ God. It defies explanation or understanding.

All this while anticipating what Jesus would do for Jairus’ 12 year old daughter.

The delay came at a cost. In the time Jesus took to address the woman, Jairus’ daughter’s condition came to a peaceful end. But that was not the end of what Jesus was able to do.

Death is No Match

Mark 5:35–43 NIV

While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Jairus was in the crowd and watched the entire exchange take place between Jesus and the woman.

Just as it was wrapping up, word came from his house that his little girl had died. They urged him not to bother Jesus any more. Their faith was limited in that they believed Jesus could deal w/ disease, but not death.

Jesus overheard what they had said and ignored it. He drew the immediate parallel to the woman. He said, “Do not be afraid, only believe.” The woman believed and she was healed. B/C of her faith, she who had been as good as dead, was now alive.

This was a private miracle. Jesus only allowed Peter, James, and John in w/ Him. No doubt the crowd wanted to be there, too. But, Jesus did not allow it. In fact, even later he did not allow them to talk about what happened. He wanted this to stay on the down low.

It was tradition to hire professional mourners. They would contribute to the mood and environment where the deceased was by wailing loudly. No tears. An act. They were paid handsomely for it.

There was a direct contradiction between the compassion of the mourners and Jesus. They had none. He was filled w/ it.

Jesus recognized the condition of the girl was only temporary. He used the term, “sleeping”. Her situ was irrevocable to men, but not to Jesus. Once again, the doctors could do nothing for her. But Jesus could.

The professionals laughed at Jesus. Laughter is an indication of a lack of faith. In Hebrew, the word is “Isaac”. When Sarah was told she would conceive a child at 90 years old, she laughed in disbelief. When the child was born healthy, they named him Isaac b/c he brought laughter to their house again.

Jesus went into her room and w/ few words commanded her to get up. Once again, he risked contamination by touching a dead body. But, once again, the contamination did not effect Him, He effected it.

Immediately, she got up. Her brain had been deprived of oxygen for minutes. Yet there had been no brain damage. No organs were damaged during that time. Her muscles other wise would have begun to atrophy w/ rigor mortis.

She began to run around like a little girl immediately.

The ppl from Jairus’ house lacked faith. The professional mourners lacked faith. The little girl was dead. Dead girls have no faith. Jairus had great faith. All that said, Jesus proved with this miracle that faith placed in Him, in Who He is for what He can do, is in the right place.

Jesus authenticated His message with these miracles. He is the Messiah no matter what the religious leadership may say or believe about Him. Anyone can reject what other say and form their own opinion and beliefs about Him.

Jesus has power ppl don’t. He is not bound by OT laws and human efforts to control.

It was the woman’s faith in the Person of Jesus that saved her and her faith in the power of Jesus that delivered her from her disease.

As her bleeding stopped, no more blood need be shed for the forgiveness of sins. No more lambs need to be slaughtered. The Lamb of God completed the process and the daughters of God are saved when they have faith.

Next level of meaning.

The woman was like Israel. They had been alive when they lived faithfully and obediently in the land. But then their lack of faith led to their spiritual death and poverty. But faith in Jesus would bring them back to life.

The girl was like the non-Jewish. She had been dead since her birth. The non-Jewish used to have to become Jewish to come to God. But now, Jesus will raise those who come from ancestors who have never had life if the descendants come to faith themselves.

Jesus demonstrated He has power over nature and storms. He has power over the demonic even when He is outnumbered by a wide margin. He has power over disease. And, he has power over death.

Faith will limit our fear and give us the opportunity to be saved by the only One who can no matter how likely or unlikely our faith may be.

Applications

Never Too Busy

Jesus is never too busy to be interrupted. No matter what He may be doing to keep the universe moving, he will stop and hear your plea for help and do something about it.

Never hesitate to approach Jesus w/ you requests.

Humble Confidence

We can approach Jesus confidently, boldly; but we must also do so humbly. Never assume he will do what you ask just b/c you ask. Sometimes the answer is ‘no’. If that’s what’s best.

Be humble. Be respectful. But be bold and confident as you approach your King, Master, Lord, and Savior to ask a favor.

Hope

With Jesus, there are no hopeless situations.

The discs thought they were in a hopeless situ in the boat in the storm.

The man possessed thought his situ was hopeless as Jesus was hugely outnumbered.

Jairus thought his and his daughter’s situ was hopeless.

The woman thought her situ hopeless.

Yet, they all asked and Jesus responded.

We always have hope when we have Jesus.

We all thought my friend Jim was the least likely guy we thought would ever become a Xian. We believed there was no way this guy would ever come to faith. But the good news about that is, Jesus will save anybody.

He will save the discs from a storm. They didn’t believe He could.

He will save a guy who isn’t Jewish from a legion of demons. they didn’t believe He could.

He will save a little girl who’s dead. They didn’t believe he could.

He will save a woman who was bleeding to death. They didn’t believe he could.

He’ll even save you! And who do you think is the least likely person you know to ever come to faith. Start praying now and see what God might do even if you think He won’t.

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