The Lord in Life and Death

Introduction

            I usually love doing research for my lessons but not this week. This week I read through countless stories from parents who recounted the loss of one or more of their children to cancer. The stories were all heartbreaking in their own unique ways. However, there was a common thread that wove its way through many of the stories; parents prayed desperately for God to intervene miraculously to save their child. But He didn’t, and the parents suffered a loss that I don’t think I could endure. The pain in their words is palpable. Let me share just one short confession by a surviving parent: “My beautiful first born daughter died three days before she turned 26 from cancer. She fought so hard for 14 months but the cancer was so aggressive and she lost her battle. Our family never lost hope and thought that God would answer our prayers and we would have our miracle, but it did not happen. We could never talk about death, just the hope that she would make it. I am having so much trouble dealing with this unbearable loss, I don’t know how I can ever be happy again and not have this sadness.” Our precious children aren’t supposed to get sick and die—but they do. With Adam’s sin, decay, sickness and death took up residence in God’s creation. However, right alongside the destruction and death caused by sin, God launched His plan of hope; His plan of redemption; He would set things right Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. However, in order to convince people that He did, in fact, have to power to redeem them from their sins, He would demonstrate that He was The Lord in Life and Death. Reading through the tragic stories of loss as part of my research, I immediately thought about the story of Jarius’ daughter told in the Gospels. That story has a happy ending but I want to demonstrate that that wasn’t really the point of the story. I want to show you that Jesus’ actions in the story will prove to a watching world the He is The Lord in Life and Death.

Subject Text

Mark 5:21-24; 35-43

            ²¹When 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. ²²Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet ²³and 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.” ²⁴So Jesus went with him…³⁵While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” ³⁶Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” ³⁷He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. ³⁸When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” ⁴⁰But 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. ⁴¹He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). ⁴²Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Context

            Our subject text leads us to believe that Jesus had just returned from a trip to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee so let’s start there. Reviewing the text preceding our subject text, we find the story of Jesus performing an exorcism on a madman living among the tombs in the region of the Gerasenes (also found in other manuscripts as “Gadarenes” or “Gergesenes”). We encounter in the exchange between Jesus and the madman that the demon named Legion has taken up residence in the man (Matthew’s Gospel records it as two men). Legion approaches Jesus with the clear knowledge of exactly who Jesus is as a person (“Son of the Most High God”) as well as His eschatological role in the final judgment and condemnation of Satan and his demons who realize that their final destination is eternity at the bottom of the “Abyss” (cf. Mt 8:28-34; Lk 8:26-39). Demons who have the power to control those in whom they reside, have no power over Jesus. As a result, we find them “begging” Jesus for mercy. The account ends when Jesus sends Legion into a nearby heard of pigs who then frantically race over a cliff or steep embankment and drown in the sea. When the people of the region witnessed the event, they pleaded with Jesus to leave. However, Jesus’ actions clearly establish his position as Lord over those residing in the spiritual realm. Our subject text moves to establish, in part, Jesus as Lord in the daily lives of people as well.

Text Analysis

            As was so often the case where Jesus appeared in public, we see in v. 21 that He is quickly surrounded by large crowds of people. “The inescapable crowd, in no hurry to disperse, gathers again about Jesus, on His return to the western shore.”[1] Also not surprising, among the crowds were the ever-present religious leaders. But something was different this time; this time there was no time for theological debates and discourse about who Jesus was claiming to be. This time, theology crashed head-on into the reality of life and death. In v. 22, Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, came to Jesus, not to spar with him or try to trap him as many of the religious leaders so often tried to do. No, as important as getting the theology right may have been to the religious leaders, Jairus was preoccupied with something that was far more important at the moment—his daughter was dying. Love will drive us to extremes won’t it? And in this case, desperate times call for desperate measures. Jairus finds Jesus and “falls at his feet.” Don’t miss what just happened here; “That Jairus —a ruler or president of a synagogue and a man with great social and religious prestige—would prostrate himself before Jesus would be astonishing to a first-century reader and point to Jesus as a God-ordained prophet.”[2]

            Jairus reveals to Jesus the purpose of his visit in v. 23—his young daughter was dying. I want to point out a pattern that began with the demon, Legion, in the text immediately preceding our subject text. Like Legion who fell on his knees at the feet of Jesus and “begged” for mercy, Jairus kneeled before Jesus and “pleaded” that Jesus would save his daughter. And this won’t be the last time we see this pattern. Jairus risked much (his honor, his reputation, his social standing, his position as a synagogue ruler, etc.) prostrating himself before Jesus and pleading with him. But a desperate father who loves his child would probably do just about anything if it means saving his child. Jarius believed that if Jesus came to his daughter and laid his hands on her, she would live. We often get lost in the drama of the events as they unfold before us on the pages of Scripture and miss an important lesson lurking beyond the immediate events. “Though he is one of the rulers of the synagogue and therefore a layperson of some repute, Jairus nonetheless finds no power to heal in his position of authority and therefore humbly evinces the faith Jesus expects—recognition of Jesus’ divine authority. Jairus’s {sic} faith in Jesus’ power to heal is exemplary, whereupon Jesus without a word places himself at the disposal of the distraught father and goes with him (v. 24) to lay hands upon his little daughter.”[3]

            The text reveals that the large crowd follows Jesus as he makes his way to Jairus’ house. In fact, the text says that the crowd not only followed him but pressed around him. It is in this setting that another incident in vv. 25-34 is sandwiched between the verses of our subject text. Briefly, a woman among those crowding around Jesus who was suffering from a serious bleeding condition weaves her way through the crowd in the hopes of touching the hem of Jesus’ garment in order to receive the healing that will give her her life back; and it worked! However, Jesus immediately recognized that someone who touched him received His healing power. She was caught when Jesus asked who it was that touched Him. Notice, however, her reaction; she “fell at his feet” and trembling in fear confessed that she was the one who touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak and received healing by doing so. And there is our pattern again that began with a demon, is repeated by a religious leader of Israel, and is practiced once again this time by a social outcast trying to regain some semblance of normalcy to her life. This pattern is an important element that we must remember in order to avoid allowing our subject text to become simply about miracles of exorcism, healing and resurrection. Instead, the pattern should remind us that our subject text is about Jesus as Lord of all things.

            During all the clamor of the large crowd around Jesus and His interaction with the woman suffering from a bleeding disease, have we forgotten something? How about Jairus’ daughter who is dying! The text doesn’t indicate how much time has passed between Jairus’ original plea for Jesus’ help and Jesus’ closing discourse with the woman he healed. But v. 35 tells us that it doesn’t matter because the little girl has died according to some men who had come from Jairus’ house. Now, try and put yourself in the shoes of Jairus. It’s very easy for me as the father of two girls. I have imagined myself during this entire episode; falling to my knees before Jesus and pleading for him to save my daughter and then frantically trying to push through the crowd of people with Jesus in tow only to watch Jesus get side-tracked with a woman in the crowd seeking her own healing. As I read the story and put myself in the place of Jairus, I can sense going from feeling frantic to feeling panic as the minutes tick away. And just when I want to reach out and grab Jesus by the arm and remind him that we really have to get to my daughter, a friend taps me on the shoulder and says, “Don’t bother, she’s gone.” The news must have been like getting punched in the gut; can’t breathe; ready to vomit; the mind screeches to a stop and all you can do is stare in disbelief realizing that you were too late.

            You can almost picture Jesus standing alongside Jairus as he receives the news of his daughter’s death. Upon hearing the news in v. 36, I wonder if Jesus doesn’t put his arm around Jairus’ shoulder as he reassures him not to be frightened at the news. “Death did not make Jesus too late, however; instead, it meant that Jesus would do an even mightier miracle. Jairus must have looked in despair at Jesus, but Jesus made no indication of changing his plans.”[4] The only thing Jairus is left with is the only thing he had when he came to Jesus in the first place—belief that Jesus could and would do something to help his little girl. Jesus intends to bring Jairus’ little girl back to life. However, he wants to avoid making it a spectacle so in v. 37 he only allows Peter, James and John to follow Him; the same three who would witness his transfiguration as recorded elsewhere in the Gospels (cf. Mt 17:1-13; Mk 9:2-13; Lk 9:28-36).

            The setting described in v. 38 with people crying and wailing loudly is not unusual given the circumstances. “What was going on within the house appealed to both eye and ear; here the scene is described from the spectacular side—a multitude of people seen making a confused din, in which sounds of weeping and howling without restraint are distinguishable.”[5] However, what follows in v. 39 is quite unusual when Jesus wonders what all the commotion and wailing was about as He proclaims that the girl isn’t dead but is instead just asleep. No doubt, those present know the difference between someone who is asleep and someone who is dead. They may not have had the medical technology we enjoy today but death was no less common to them than it is to us even if we might have a deeper knowledge of its causes. The mocking laughter of those present in v. 40 would indicate precisely that they knew the difference between sleep and death. “Jesus stated that (for him) the dead persons were not dead, but asleep…Death can set no bounds on Jesus’ activity, but that the life which proceeded from him stripped death of its power, i.e. that the otherwise immutable frontier of death and time had been broken through or leaped over. The spectators’ laughter at such a statement serves best to stress the extraordinary and incomprehensible nature of this life-giving power. What the Jews at best considered possible, and to be expected, apart from their belief in eschatological resurrection, was that someone should be preserved from death…But now God, the Lord over life and death, stood in person before them.”[6]

            Undeterred, Jesus removes everyone from either the room or the residence, He takes Jairus, his wife and three disciples into the room where the dead girl lay. In v. 41 we see Jesus take the little girl by the hand and command her to get up. Keep in mind that Jesus is in the presence of a synagogue leader and he would know about the prohibition for anyone, especially a religious leader, to touch a dead body. However, “Jesus did not hesitate to touch the dead…Jesus is not defiled, but those [he touches] are cleansed and healed. This speaks theologically of Christ’s impeccable person…All four Gospels present Jesus’ touch as all-powerful over nature, sickness, and death…Jesus’ touch cured people of various infirmities and restored life to the dead.”[7]

            If you are a parent, try and picture yourself in that room with your little girl lying lifelessly before you one minute, with your life shattered into a million pieces, then suddenly she is up and walking around the room as though nothing happened. V. 42 merely says that they were astonished. “Astonished” seems like an understatement but could you put into words what you would be feeling if it were you and that were your little girl? “The unpreparedness of the parents and the disciples for what they had witnessed is expressed with emphatic language. There was, apparently, no doubt in their minds that they stood in the presence of death. God had intervened so dramatically they were left speechless with utter amazement.”[8]

            Jesus does something in v. 43 that he did quite often after he performed something miraculous or when something about his divinity was revealed, He forbade the witnesses from publicizing the miraculous event(s) or divine revelation(s). It has always seemed a bit odd to me because I still fall into the trap sometimes of thinking that if our generation were to experience more miracles or divine revelations, it would be so much easier to lead people to faith. However, I am reminded that even miracles failed to convince many of those who witnessed them that Jesus was, in fact, the long-awaited Messiah. And to complicate matters further, Jesus knew that the people’s expectation of the Messiah as a military leader sent to restore Israel to its preeminent position in the world was a misinformed understanding at best. “A better explanation for Jesus’ reluctance to have reports of his miracles and identity spread is found in Mark’s conviction that Jesus’ messiahship cannot be understood apart from his passion [suffering, death and resurrection], and thus discipleship itself cannot be properly lived until the confession ‘Jesus is the Christ’ is stripped of its misunderstandings and seen in light of the passion. Jesus’ prohibitions to demons, to those who are healed and to those who guess correctly concerning his identity reveal Jesus’ desire to guide the revelation of his own messiahship, to forestall premature declarations of his messiahship that will only be misunderstood before he faces the cross.”[9]

            Furthermore, Jesus wasn’t there to put on a show. Jesus was there to be the face of God to His creation. Jesus was there to make it possible for them to know God and be in relationship with God. Jesus knew that miracles wouldn’t convince many to put their faith in Him but it would be the narrow doorway for a few to pass through to get to Him. Jesus didn’t use miracles to insist that people in general believe in him. Jesus was all too familiar with the ridicule and unbelief that persisted following some of his other miraculous events.

“Special motivation for the injunction to silence may be found in the rank unbelief of those who had ridiculed Jesus with their scornful laughter. It is clear throughout Mark that Jesus revealed his messiahship only with reserve. It is appropriate to this consistent pattern of behavior that he was unwilling to make himself known to the raucous, unbelieving group that had gathered outside Jairus’ house. He did not permit them to witness the saving action by which the girl is restored to her parents, and he directed that it should continue to remain unknown to those outside. He recognized that the responsibility of the parents in this regard could not continue indefinitely. When the child appeared in public the facts would speak for themselves. The parents could, however, withhold what had happened and thus fulfill the intention of Jesus. Before it was known that the girl was yet alive, the purpose for which the charge had been given would have been fulfilled; Jesus would have departed and could no longer be subject to ostentatious acclaim…The resuscitation of Jairus’ daughter is both a deed of compassion and a pledge of the conquering power of Jesus over the combined forces of death and unbelief, in which the Kingdom of God was disclosed as a saving reality. It is precisely in deliverance from death that the salvation which Jesus brings finds its most pointed expression.”[10]

Application

            I have to confess that preparing this lesson gave me an uneasy feeling in light of the gut wrenching stories I researched. I was at once moved by the image of a desperate father falling at the feet of Jesus pleading for his daughter’s life only to hear of her death as he desperately waited for Jesus whose popularity necessarily demanded his attention from all sides. And again when Jesus gave the little girl her life back and reunited her with her parents. My uneasiness advanced against the backdrop of our day and so many parents who desperately pray and hope for healing; for a miracle that never comes. Perhaps you are uneasy with that as well. Did Jesus care more then, than He does now? Did He love Jairus’ daughter more than the countless children who die daily from cancer or some other heinous disease? The short answer is “no” and “no.” Let’s remember something that gets lost in the story of Jairus’ daughter—she still died; we don’t know when but she still died just like all the other people Jesus healed and raised from the dead. In fact, we have no idea how long any of the people Jesus healed or raised from the dead eventually lived. They could have lived a long life or died shortly thereafter. We just don’t know and we can’t assume that they went on to live long prosperous lives. Consequently, if the purpose of such healings and resurrections is not specifically to insure the long and prosperous life of those affected, then we must consider some other purpose for Jesus’ miracles. “The most fully attested miracle of resuscitation is the raising of Jairus’ daughter. Found in the triple tradition (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) it is intertwined in all three accounts with the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage. The movement from healing to resuscitation shows Jesus as lord over both chronic illness and death. The overriding concern is Christological, seeking to demonstrate Jesus’ lordship…In all three Gospels this story is part of a complex of miracles demonstrating the messianic authority of Jesus over all earthly and heavenly powers. Even the ultimate power of death is conquered by him.”[11]

            It is easy to get lost in the belief that illness and death is irreversible when we are the ones suffering a loss. However, if this lesson teaches anything it is that illness and death are not insurmountable obstacles for God; just because He doesn’t intervene miraculously to save someone we love doesn’t mean he can’t. We must remember that His goal is not to eliminate suffering, sickness and death in this life even though He has proven that He is able to do so. Instead, He demonstrated his power over sickness and death so that we would understand that He has the power and authority to accomplish His purpose. And His purpose was, and continues to be, to provide the means for us to be in relationship with Him. We can trust that what He says is true; that He is who He claims to be and can actually do what He says He can do based on the evidence of His miracles, which we now see was the primary purpose of those miracles in the first place. When we come to the conclusion that Jesus is The Lord in Life and Death, then we can look forward with confidence that we will have in the life to come what we so desperately long for in this life.

Revelation 21:1-5a

            ¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ⁵He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

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[1] W. Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor’s Greek Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983), p. 374.

[2] Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, I. Howard Marhall, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992), p. 677.

[3] Walter A. Elwell, ed., Baker Commentary on the Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1989), p. 775.

[4] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), p. 165.

[5] Nicoll, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, p. 376.

[6] Colin Brown, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 3, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), p. 280.

[7] Walter A. Elwell, ed., Baker Theological Dictionary of the Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996), pp. 102, 782.

[8] William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark—The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974), p.

[9] David A. deSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 202.

[10] Lane, The Gospel of Mark, pp. 198-199.

[11] Joel B. Green, et al., eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, p. 677.