“Journey to the Cross: Restoration”

Scripture: Mark 5:21-43

Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee to begin a ministry for the Gentiles. He healed a demon-possessed man, and when the man asked to go with Jesus, he was told to stay at home, and witness to the very people who had abandoned him to the Satan. Jesus didn’t stay in the Gerasenes area, though, but he did place a new disciple there to care for the very people who asked him to leave.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to stay – it was simply that he had more – much more – to do, and he had to return to Judah’s side.

Author and poet David Whyte writes:
Are your strengths in God's control? St. John of the Cross is known in Christian history as one of the most spiritual people ever to have walked the path of discipleship. One day, John was alone in his room praying when he experienced a rapturous vision of Mary.
At the same moment, he heard a beggar rattling at his door for alms. He wrenched himself away and saw to the beggar's needs. When he returned, the vision returned again, saying that at the very moment he had heard the door rattle on its hinges, his soul had hung in perilous balance. Had he not gone to the beggar's aid, she could never have appeared to him again.
- David Whyte, The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America [New York: Doubleday, 1994], 62).

The world not only has much for Jesus to do, there is also a great deal that waits for us, too. And so, we continue on our journey with Jesus to Jerusalem and our encounter with the Cross.

Read Mark 5:21-24

For me, an interesting contrast between the demonic that we read of on Ash Wednesday and the ruler of the synagogue is that in the first case, Jesus went to him, while in the second, Jairus comes to Jesus. I think that the lesson for us is that, if we are at all able, we only have to go to Jesus, and ask. But if we are unable to go, to take even one step in his direction, he will come to us wherever we are.
Jairus’ daughter was extremely ill, and nothing had helped her so far. He had heard about Jesus and the power that was in his voice and touch, and so he came to ask for the Lord’s help. He was taking a huge risk, but he came just the same.
You see, Jairus was a senior official in the synagogue. He was a Jewish leader, and as such, he was expected to adhere to the orthodoxy of faith. Even in the earliest days of Jesus’ ministry, he was walking and talking and teaching far outside of the traditional Jewish understandings. As a point of reference, the Talmud of today is, as I understand, a huge document – over 6,000 pages in length, and is the basis for all rabbinic law and codes. It covers such diverse topics such as law, ethics, philosophy, customs, history, theology, lore, and many others. It was not officially complied until long after Jesus left this realm, but is based on all of the rabbinical thought and study and writings from even before his first coming.
Jairus could have gotten into a lot of trouble when he came to the Lord and asked for his help, but he came just the same.

Read Mark 5:25-34

The woman was in great need. She had been suffering for many years, and had spent all she had on doctors and cures and anything else that even had the slightest chance of bringing her a bit of relief. But they were all useless – nothing could help her. So in desperation, she followed the crowd to the road that Jesus was traveling, determined to seek his power and touch for her life. But he passed by her before she could approach him, and even that would have been an uncertain act! First, she was a woman, and women didn’t approach men for favors. Second, she had an issue of blood, and as such, she was unclean! And if Jesus had consented to touch her, he, too, would have been made unclean. There was no way that her request could come to a happy ending, but she just had to try.

But Jesus already had a mission – Jairus’ daughter was dying, and he had to care for her condition, too. He was very focused on reaching her in time and he had walked right past the woman before she could ask for his help. In desperation, she struggled to touch whatever of Jesus’ Presence that she could. In faith, and with nothing else, she reaches out.
And then a glorious and unexpected thing happened – Jesus fells the Spirit within him rush out of his Being. What could have caused it? Who might have touched him? Why did the Spirit flow to someone else? “Who touched me?”, he asks. A strange question, indeed, because there were many people all around him, pushing and shoving and reaching out to the Lord – how could he sense one specific person’s need?
And the woman was healed immediately! The blood flow stopped, the hemorrhage was sealed up, and strength would begin to return to the woman’s body. But courage was still a little ragged, and when Jesus asked who had touched him, fear overtook her. She had touched a man, she had made this marvelous rabbi, this man of power and Spirit, unclean! What was he going to do to her? She knelt before him, and told him the entire truth of her bold move, and in return, Jesus showed her a love that no one else had for over 12 years.

The woman could have gotten in a lot of trouble when she came to the Lord and touched him in desperation, but she came, and touched, just the same.

But Jairus’ daughter? Was it too late for her? Had Jesus delayed too long? Had he given too much to the woman?

Read Mark 5:35-43

2 Corinthians 12:9 -”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Faith in the face of complete defeat, total loss, the ultimate weakness, will perfect the power of Christ. And for the young girl, the faith that her father had in Jesus was enough. For the woman with the hemorrhage, the faith that if she could but touch the hem of Christ’s coat was enough. And in faith, they were both restored to life!

Two of the most unlikely candidates to receive the touch of God – an unclean woman, and a little girl. The exalted of Israel wouldn’t have given either one a second look, and maybe not even a first – neither of them were worth their time. And yet, these faithful were both worthy of Jesus’ time and power.
For too many people today, worthiness seems to be something that they think they have to earn. They will never be good enough, they will never be righteous enough, they will never have enough faith, so why should they even expect that God might honor their prayers? The truth is that huge faith, perfect faith is not what is needed. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus tells his disciples that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for them.
Can we muster up that much faith? Is it as small as “I know that Jesus has healed others, do you think he might want to heal me, too?” Is it as small as “I know that Jesus said that whatever we ask in his name will be given – is that enough for me, too?” (John 14:12-14) Is it as small as “Jesus, I know that you are God – will you lift me up out of my mess?” How much faith is enough? Just enough so that we are surrendered in our weakness to the power that is in Christ, and in him, perfection will be ours.

Restoration in Christ comes in many forms. It comes as healing, it comes as forgiveness, it comes in faith, and ultimately, it would come in sacrifice. But we can never expect that it will come on our terms. It isn’t by our desire; it isn’t by our means; it isn’t in our way – it is always by Christ. We don’t define our restoration – we simply put our need, our faith, our hope, our life in the hand of Almighty God, and believe that his is the best that we could ever receive.

Do you have that much hope? That much trust? That much faith? The woman did. Jairus did. Moses did. Paul did. Many others did. And it doesn’t take much! All you need is faith the size a mustard seed!

And if you do, you will have sufficient faith to walk with Jesus all the way to Jerusalem.