6th Sunday after Pentecost: Date: July 1, 2018
– THE SERMON: Mark 5:21-24a, 35-43
Theme: Jesus- Our One Hope in and for Life.
I. Reaching Out to Jesus in Desperation
II. Knowing the Saving Power of Jesus
( Pastor Theodore Barthels )
Bulletin: Read Bulletin
Sermon: Read Sermon
THE ORDER OF SERVICE: p. 5 (38:1-3)
HYMNS: 537; 523:1-4; 33; 377:10
THE EPISTLE LESSON: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-14
The Lord also uses us, His children to show His mercy to others, even as He has shown us mercy in our Savior Jesus Christ. As He gives us earthly gifts, and as He presents opportunity, let us do good and give generously to help others, for our greatest wealth is not in our temporal treasures, but the eternal treasures laid up for us in heaven.
THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Lamentations 3:21-33
We have hope in this life not because we are so good. We have hope in this life because the Lord’s mercies are new every morning; great is the His faithfulness! In this life we will experience tribulations. In the face of difficulty we wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Sermon
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
2100 16th Street SW
Austin, MN 55912-1749
Pastor Ted Barthels
Sermon preached on
July 1, 2018
6th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture Lessons: Lamentations 3:22-33, 2 Cor. 8:1-09, 13-14
Hymns: 537; 523:1-4; 33; 377:10 (38:1-3)
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon Text: Mark 5:21-24a, 35-43
1 Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” 24 So Jesus went with him,
35 While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”
36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” 37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38 Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. 39 When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.”
40 And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. 41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. 43 But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat. (NKJV)
This is the Word of God.
Sanctify us, oh Lord, through Your truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
In Christ Jesus, God our Savior, dear fellow Redeemed:
INTRO: Trouble —
How are we to deal with trouble? Trouble comes in every life. It comes in many forms. It may be work related, that one’s job is unpleasant, or that one’s job is in jeopardy, or that one is asked to do something one finds objectionable. Trouble can come with personal finances when there just doesn’t seem to be enough money to pay all the bills. Trouble may come with a health crises, either personal or to a loved one. Trouble may come because one was drawn away by one’s own lust and sinned, causing a rift in family or even trouble with the law. The trouble with trouble is that while some troubles go away with time, others don’t just go away.
Sin is both one of those troubles, and the real source of all trouble. The trouble with sin is that sin just doesn’t go away on its own. All those other troubles that trouble us so, well they all started in this world because of sin, and are perpetuated because of sin. And then God allows trouble to enter into our lives, and we struggle with that too. Why would God allow trouble, indeed even grief to hit us when He is supposed to love us and watch over us?
In this morning text the Holy Spirit would present us with an important lesson about trouble and trouble resolution. In the face of trouble, even deepest darkest trouble —
THEME: Jesus Is Our One Hope in and for Life.
Jesus had just crossed over the Sea of Galilee, returning to His own home country approaching His adopted hometown of Capernaum. Jesus was well known in Capernaum. He had worshiped and even taught in their synagogue. It was one of the rulers of that synagogue, a man named Jairus who came searching for Jesus, —
I. Reaching Out to Jesus in Desperation.
Trouble had visited his home, the worst kind of trouble. His twelve year old daughter was very ill, desperately ill. Jairus ran to find Jesus. He fell at Jesus’ feet urgently begging for Jesus to save his daughter. Why come to Jesus? He knew about Jesus. The leaders of this same synagogue had approached Jesus on behalf of a Roman Centurion that Jesus might heal the man’s servant. Jairus was very likely one of them. Almost certainly Jairus had also been present when Jesus had taught in that synagogue. He knew the authority of Jesus’ teaching. He knew that Jesus had healed the Centurion’s servant without even going into the man’s house. Now Jairus was beside himself with desperation; wouldn’t you be? He hurried to find Jesus. He needed Jesus to hurry to his home and lay His hands on his young daughter. He hoped Jesus would heal his dear daughter, and save her from death.
Perhaps you noticed that our text skips a few verses. Jairus was in such a hurry, but there was a great crowd pressing upon Jesus as He made his way down the road towards Capernaum that day, and in that crowd there was another individual in desperate trouble. A woman who had been sick for twelve years. She also looked to Jesus with hope. She thought if she could only touch His clothes she might be made well, and who would know? And she touched Jesus’ coat and she was! But that was not the end of it. Jesus knew power had gone out from Him, and Jesus stopped and challenged the crowd, demanding to know who had touched Him. He stopped to address this woman. Imagine Jairus’ state of mind! He was beside himself with the urgency of his daughter’s illness, and Jesus had agreed to come with him to his home, but then Jesus stopped! Why did Jesus have to stop? Jairus needed Jesus at his home now! NOW!
Trouble. That’s the thing about trouble, real trouble, trouble that overwhelms us, trouble that we cannot easily resolve. It makes us desperate for help. It makes us realize our own helplessness. It may even reveal the vanity of our pursuits in life, and lay bare our foolishness, and our weakness. Yes, God allows trouble into our lives, even into the lives of His own dearly loved children, that we might realize how weak we are, that we might remember that the Lord, He is God. He allows trouble into our lives that we might remember that “our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:2)
We talk about Jesus in church all the time. Hopefully at home too. We know that we need to turn to Jesus in prayer, and so we do. We say our prayers each and every day. Hopefully we not only ask Jesus to bless our food, to be our guest, and to thank Him for our blessings, but that we also examine our day in light of His law and realizing our sin. So we ought to pray: “Jesus Savior wash away all that has been wrong today. Help me every day to be God and gentile more like Thee.” (The Lutheran Hymnal 653:2)
Yes, we do all that but it becomes almost, not almost it becomes perfunctory, you know, automatic. We do all that without thinking about how much deep trouble, desperately deep trouble we would be in without the Lord. But then trouble touches our lives, trouble that may be common enough in the world, but now it touches my life. The Lord allows trouble to touch my life and suddenly I feel that desperation that Jairus felt. Now it’s my daughter who is sick. That is when we know desperation. That is when we seek Jesus, desperately, urgently seeking Jesus. We need Jesus because everything we know about Jesus; the authority of His Word, His great power, His great love and compassion. I need that, I really need it, need HIM. I need Him NOW!
It is the Lord’s way to bring us to really —
II. Knowing the Saving Power of Jesus.
But then trouble seems to get more extreme. Desperation evaporates in the face of the hopelessness of death. Even as they are about to begin again to go Jairus’ home friends come with what they must know is the worst possible news; “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” (v.35) It had to be crushing news. And of course those present were all of the same opinion, “Too late. We were too late turning to Jesus, Jesus was too late to bring the necessary help.” All is black with hopelessness and despair.
How easy it is to slip into such a frame of mind. But it is a false, misguided, or uniformed frame of mind. Yes, in this world we have trouble. Yes, in this world we face trouble beyond our ability to handle, and we need the Lord. Oh, but how we need the Lord Jesus to help in the day of trouble. And He promises, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you.” (Psalm 50:15) He promises to deliver! And we wonder, “Where is the Lord’s deliverance?”
Jesus assured Jairus saying “Do not be afraid; only believe.” (v.36) Jairus was so sure he had lost his daughter. To not fear, to not believe what everyone knows from experience is death, as in dead and gone forever, that is harder than one can do apart from the Lord. To continue to trust Jesus in the face of darkest trouble, that is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus assured Jairus and others gathered at his home that his daughter was not dead but merely sleeping. How ridiculous can Jesus be to deny what everyone in the world knows about death, what death has taught us countless times over and over!
But with Jesus we shall come to know something greater and more powerful than even death. Jesus “took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him,(that is Peter James and John) and entered where the child was lying. 41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’ 42 Immediately the girl arose and walked,” (Mark 5:40-42)
That day they witnessed the saving power of Jesus. The power of Jesus extends even over death and the grave. This is our hope in the face of trouble. This was the first miraculous raising from the dead which Jesus performed. What a marvel. What a wonder! It demonstrates for us that Jesus has the power to save! Jesus gave Himself into death that He might conquer death forevermore. Jesus came for this very reason, that we might have hope! Jesus came down to earth to be our brother to save us from trouble, to save us from sin, death and the power of the devil. To do that He knew it meant that He had to die, and not just any death. He would suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world, and He knew that on the third day He would rise again. He was given this authority both to die in our place, and to take His life again by God the Father.(John 10:18) And so Jesus died for us and rose again that death might be vanquished, and we would be granted the victory over death through faith in Jesus.
That is the foundation of our faith. That is what makes this account of the raising of Jairus’ daughter so very important for us. Jairus’ daughter would live her life on earth. What a marvel of Jesus grace! But then she grew old and she died and was buried. Now her remains await that great day when Jesus will return again in glory, and on that day He will once again call her back to life that she might live forevermore.
This is our hope, a hope based on knowing exactly what Jesus is capable of doing. And so we call upon Him in our day of trouble, and we know that He will deliver us as it is good and right for us and for our salvation, and we shall glorify Him here in time, and then hearing His call for us to rise to life again, hereafter in eternity.
AMEN.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Amen. (Romans15:13)