Peace & Healing in Chaos

Good morning, Church. I'd like for you to turn with me to Mark chapter 5, verses 21 through 43.

Mark 5:21–43

This passage contains an account about an extraordinary day in Jesus' life.

And it's extraordinary not so much because of the miracles that Jesus worked,

but because on this day, Mark lets us see Jesus on what you and I would normally call a very bad day.

This passage shows Jesus when he's tired, when he's surrounded by chaos,

when everything seems to be going wrong, when he's rejected, when he's questioned,

and even when he's laughed at.

And you know, I think that we've all had a lot of days like this recently with this pandemic going on

when it seems like everything's going wrong.

And so while we're looking at Jesus this morning,

I want you to be asking yourself some questions.

Questions like,

How do I handle difficulties like Jesus faced?

How do I react on bad days?

What do I do when I'm slighted or when I'm wronged?

How do I treat others when I'm tired and exhausted?

Do I respond with love like Jesus does?

Do I respond with compassion?

Do I come to Jesus in humility when I'm having a tough time?

Do I need to come to Jesus today?

Let's pray and ask our Lord Jesus to bless our time in his word.

Oh Lord, we come to you and we just fall before you.

We ask you, Lord, illuminate us in this hour.

Comfort those who are worried, Lord.

Calm those who are afraid.

I pray, Lord, that you would help us to seek you out when things go wrong,

to trust in you and to love others like you did when you walked on this earth.

Lord, open our ears.

Open our ears by your spirit to hear your word

and plant it in our hearts this morning.

And we pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

Now instead of reading the whole passage straight through,

I think it will be helpful for us if we go verse by verse

because in this case I think it will help us encounter Jesus more personally.

And before we start on the passage, I want to give you a little background to it

because like most bad days, the one that we're going to read about really started the night before

with a bad night's sleep.

In the chapter previous to the one we're going to be looking at, in chapter 4,

Mark tells us that the night before our passage begins,

Jesus and his disciples had spent the night sailing across the Sea of Galilee.

And Jesus was forced to sleep in the boat.

Now this boat was probably just a regular old fishing vessel,

and so no doubt it would have been uncomfortable for Jesus.

But to make matters worse, a terrible storm suddenly arose.

The ship started sinking.

The disciples are terrified.

They wake Jesus up and they ask him.

In fact, they almost accuse him.

They say,

Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

And then Jesus miraculously calms the storm.

The boat makes it to shore.

Remember, immediately Jesus is confronted by a man who is terribly demonized with a horde of demons.

He casts them out.

He delivers the man.

He has mercy on him.

But as soon as the people of the country gather around him

and they see that he delivered a man from demons,

they reject him.

And they ask him to leave.

Now how would you like to start your day off that way?

You wake in the middle of the night with your boat sinking

and your disciples making unfounded accusations about you.

And then later when you work a miracle, you get rejected because of it.

So Jesus has to get right back in his boat

and sail right back across the Sea of Galilee.

And this is where we begin our passage in Mark chapter 5, verse 21.

Mark 5:21

Mark writes,

If you read the Gospels, you'll see that whenever crowds gather around Jesus by the seashore,

he doesn't just hang out and relax.

He's always teaching them.

And I think we can be pretty sure that this is exactly what Jesus is doing here.

So it's been a mixed bag for Jesus so far.

He was rejected by one crowd across the Sea of Galilee.

Here we see him being accepted by another crowd.

But one thing we can know for sure is that Jesus is definitely tired.

But instead of packing it in and going home,

he seems to be doing what he always does,

continuing with his ministry and teaching the crowd.

Now, if Jesus is like me, he's probably looking forward to getting some rest.

But this day is about to get a lot more difficult for Jesus

because we all know what tends to happen on bad days.

They tend to get worse.

Unexpected things happen.

Crises emerge.

This always happens, it seems, when we're least prepared for it, doesn't it?

And this is just what happens to Jesus in verse 22.

Mark says,

So there comes along a synagogue official named Jairus.

Now, Jairus would have been an important man in his day, in his community,

far more important than Jesus was at that time.

But what does he do?

Jairus humbles himself.

He falls before Jesus right in front of the crowd.

And he begs him to heal his daughter.

This would have made a striking picture to see a man of this standing falling before Jesus.

And notice what Jairus says.

He calls his daughter, my little daughter.

In the Greek, he uses what we would call the diminutive form of the word daughter.

It's a term of endearment.

It means that he loves her.

Now, we're reading here from the Gospel of Mark.

But Luke has the very same story.

And he adds that this little daughter was also Jairus' only daughter.

And we know from these two accounts, if we put them together,

that Jairus' only daughter is at the point of death.

And her father loves her.

And we can assume that Jairus saw that she was dying.

He heard that Jesus was about.

And he must have said to himself,

If only I can get to Jesus.

And so, in faith, he left his daughter's side.

He humbled himself publicly before Jesus.

And he asked him to heal her.

In difficult times, do you come to Jesus like Jairus did?

Have you ever experienced a crisis?

Have you ever been confronted by something awful?

Have you been faced with a situation so terrible you knew no human power could help?

And when confronted by these things, have you sought out our great healer, Jesus?

Have you humbled yourself before him and asked him to heal and to rescue and to save?

There are many people in our world and in our community right now who, in the midst of this pandemic,

are facing situations exactly like Jairus faced right now.

And Scripture teaches us that Jesus is the good doctor.

And that if we come to him in humility like this man Jairus did,

then his delight is to heal and to save.

My friends, if you're suffering right now or if you have a loved one who is,

I want you to follow the example of Jairus and go to Jesus in humbleness

and call upon the one who is the healer of our souls.

And he will come to your aid.

And this is exactly what Jesus did in the next verse.

In verse 24, we read simply,

And he went with him.

But something else goes with Jesus too, because verse 24 doesn't end there.

Mark also adds these words,

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.

So Jesus is trying to get to that little girl and the crowd is jostling him.

They're pressing him.

They're thronging him.

They're trying to get close to him, trying to see him, trying to touch him.

We see this all throughout the Gospels.

The crowds gather around Jesus and they press in on him and they get in the way of his ministry.

The Gospels tell us that the crowds could be so bad sometimes

that Jesus and his disciples could not even find time to eat.

But here we have a bigger problem.

There's an emergency.

There's a crisis.

This little girl is dying and the crowd is getting in Jesus' way.

Do you sense the tension and the stress growing as this day goes on for Jesus?

But things are about to ratchet up a bit more for Jesus.

Mark tells us in the next three verses, 25 through 27,

he says,

There was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years

and who had suffered much under many physicians.

And she had spent all that she had and was no better but rather grew worse.

She heard the reports about Jesus and she came up behind him in the crowd

and she touched his garment.

Now, do you see what's happening here?

She, just like the crowd, is pressing in on Jesus.

Everyone's trying to get a piece of him.

Here we have a woman who was constantly bleeding for 12 years

and she wanted to be healed.

And understandably, she came and she reached out to Jesus.

But I want to know something.

I want to know what she was thinking of getting in the way of Jesus

at a time like this during an emergency.

Well, Mark tells us in verse 28, he says,

For the woman said,

If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.

And immediately the flow of blood dried up

and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

Do you see the power of Jesus, my friends?

Just by touching his garments, she's healed.

This is the power of a wonderful Jesus.

But I want to know something else.

I want to know how Jesus will react

to something that many of us might think

is rude and presumptuous

to just reach out and grab someone

without their permission.

Mark says in verse 30,

And Jesus, perceiving in himself

that power had gone out from him,

immediately turned about in the crowd.

And he said,

Who touched my garments?

Now imagine this scene in your mind's eye.

Jesus is going to heal this dying little girl.

There's not much time.

He's fighting through a crowd

who's thronging around him.

This poor woman who suffered so much

and is in poverty pushes her way through.

She reaches, she stretches,

she touches Jesus' garment,

and she's healed.

But straight away, Jesus turns around

and he says,

Who touched my garments?

And listen to verse 31, the next verse.

Listen to how the disciples react to this.

His disciples say to him,

you see the crowd pressing around you

and yet you say,

Who touched me?

You know what's happening here.

The disciples are questioning Jesus

once again,

just like they did in the boat

the previous night.

They think that Jesus

is not making any sense.

They think, in fact,

what most of us would be thinking

in this situation,

they would be thinking,

What do you mean who touched me, Jesus?

You see the crowd pressing around you.

Everyone is touching you.

And why are you wasting time?

This little girl is at the brink of death.

The disciples are doubting Jesus.

Only this time,

they're doubting him publicly.

But look what happens in verse 32 and 33.

And Jesus looked around to see who had done it.

But the woman,

knowing what had happened to her,

came in fear and trembling

and fell down before him

and told him the whole truth.

Why is this woman so scared?

Why is she fearful?

Why is she trembling?

Why is she falling down

in fear before the man who just healed her?

For one thing,

she may be afraid

because, like I said,

it's a bit rude to just grab someone.

She might be afraid also

because she knows she's holding Jesus up

from an urgent task.

But there's another reason why,

according to the Old Testament law,

she was not supposed to be touching Jesus.

The Old Testament law stipulated

in no uncertain terms

that anyone who had any kind of bodily discharge,

like a flow of blood,

was considered to be unclean.

And so this woman was ceremonially unclean.

And Leviticus 15, 25 through 27,

specifically states

that if someone is unclean

and they touch another person

or they touch another garment,

then that person or that garment

becomes unclean also.

And so by touching Jesus' garments,

this woman has just made him

or at least his garments unclean.

That's why she's afraid

and why she's trembling.

She knows she wasn't supposed

to be touching Jesus.

She knows she made him unclean.

And by telling Jesus what happened,

she's also telling him

that she has presumptuously

made him unclean

without his permission.

But what does Jesus say?

How will he respond?

In verse 34,

he says to her,

daughter,

your faith has made you well.

Go in peace

and be healed of your disease.

When someone makes you unclean,

do you react in this way?

When you are slighted

or taken advantage of

by a desperate person,

do you respond with love

like how Jesus does?

Close your eyes for a moment.

Do you see Jesus

in this gospel story?

He is in an ocean of chaos.

The crowd is pressing in on him.

His disciples are publicly

questioning him.

And this woman gets in his way

and makes him ritualistically impure

all while he's trying

to reach a dying girl.

But what does Jesus see?

Jesus looks past all these things

and instead he sees

a desperate woman.

He sees a woman

who may not have been touched

by another person in years.

He sees a woman

who had suffered much

at the hands of many

and who was in poverty

and in the pandemonium.

In the midst of a crisis,

he recognizes her faith.

He pauses.

He speaks to her.

And despite everything going on,

he comforts her

and he blesses her.

My friends,

this is how Jesus

also sees you

no matter how unclean

you are.

Despite whatever impurity

you have,

despite all your sins,

all your shame,

whatever failure,

whatever darkness

might be in you,

if you reach out to Jesus,

if you say,

if only I touch his garments,

I will be made well,

then just as with this woman,

Jesus will be unashamed

to be called your healer

and your redeemer.

And he will heal

and forgive you.

And this is what Jesus

also commands you

to do for others.

This woman,

whom we're reading about,

was an outcast.

She was ritualistically

unclean for 12 years.

She suffered much

through life.

And so in her,

Jesus saw not just a woman

who needed a miracle cure

for a physical malady.

He also saw a woman

who was lonely

and who was afraid

and who was ashamed.

And despite all of the bedlam,

all of the pressure,

all the tension

Jesus is facing,

he stops to help her.

He touches her soul.

He comforts her.

He restores her

from her shame

and from her loneliness.

Do you love others

like how Jesus

loved this woman?

Do you love others

how Jesus has loved you?

Are you full of compassion

and mercy

when you're tired

and overworked?

Are you patient

when wronged?

Are you gentle

when others are harsh?

Or instead,

do you pay back

evil for evil

and anger for anger,

slight for slight

and shame for shame?

Do you get swept up

in the crowd?

Are you carried away

by worldly concerns

about how unclean

you might look

to others?

Or do you cling

to the rock of Christ?

Jesus here

is showing us

not only how

he reaches out

to us,

but also how

we must reach out

to others.

If we return

to our gospel passage

in verse 35,

we see that

while Jesus

is comforting

this woman,

something terrible

happens.

While he was still

speaking,

there came from

the ruler's house

some who said,

your daughter

is dead.

Why trouble

the teacher

any further?

Jairus,

the synagogue ruler,

has just heard

the most terrible

news a parent

could ever hear.

The crowd

is pushing in

on Jesus.

This little girl's

life is hanging

heavy over everyone.

Jesus is juggling

several conversations.

His disciples

are squabbling

with him.

He's comforting

a desperate woman

and now this

terrible news

from messengers

who from the

sound of it

doubt that

Jesus can

raise the dead.

Why trouble

the teacher

anymore,

they say.

What does

Jesus do?

Remember that

some of the

disciples had

just been

criticizing Jesus

for stopping

and trying to

figure out

who touched

him.

And they just

saw that an

unclean woman

made Jesus

unclean also

and now they

hear the news

that they didn't

get to this

little girl in

time.

By many worldly

standards,

Jesus' decisions

are not looking

all that smart

right now.

And this is

precisely

where many

of us

would snap.

Where we would

throw our hands

in the air,

we would give up,

we would be

exasperated,

we would chew

out the crowd,

we would yell

at our children

or our family

or our workers

or our subordinates

for not trusting

us and for

questioning our

decisions.

But not Jesus.

In verse 36,

but overhearing

what they said,

Jesus said to

the ruler of

the synagogue,

let's wait for a

moment and let

that siren pass.

But overhearing

what they said,

Jesus said to

the ruler of

the synagogue,

do not fear,

only believe.

Jesus pivots

right from

comforting a

desperate woman

to comforting

a desperate,

shattered man.

Jesus knows

that Jairus is

overwhelmed with

grief and despair

at hearing that

his little daughter

has died.

And so Jesus'

number one

concern is not

his reputation,

is not what

people think of

him.

His concern is

for Jairus.

And so he says

to him,

do not be

afraid.

In all this

chaos,

Jesus is still

concerned about

the synagogue

official.

He knows what

the man is

going through.

And just like

he cared for

that woman

with a flow

of blood,

he's also

caring for

Jairus.

In the next

few verses,

Mark tells us,

and Jesus

allowed no one

to follow him

except Peter

and James

and John,

the brother

of Jesus.

And they

came to the

house of the

ruler of the

synagogue.

And Jesus

saw a

commotion,

people weeping

and wailing

loudly.

And when he

had entered,

he said to

them,

why are you

making a

commotion and

weeping?

The child is

not dead,

but sleeping.

Jesus and a

few of the

disciples are

inside the

house now.

They find

another crowd.

The crowd is

weeping,

the crowd is

wailing,

but Jesus

says,

why are you

doing this?

The child

isn't dead,

she's asleep.

Now,

why does

Jesus say

this?

What does

he mean by

this?

Why is he

saying that

the girl

is not

dead when

we know

that she's

dead?

My friends,

Jesus here

is pointing

out that

death is

nothing to

the Lord

of life.

For Jesus,

physical death

is as easy

to cure as

waking someone

up from a

nap.

Jesus said

the very same

thing when

his friend

Lazarus had

died.

In the

Gospel of

John,

John 11:11

chapter 11,

verse 11,

our friend

Lazarus,

Jesus said,

has fallen

asleep,

but I go

to awaken

him.

With both

Lazarus and

this little

girl,

Jesus makes

the profound

point that

he is the

author of

life.

I am the

resurrection

and the

life,

he says,

when Lazarus

died.

God,

and like

Jesus does

with many

of his

most profound

teachings,

he doesn't

just come

out and

say this

plainly.

He puts

it in the

form of a

parable or

a puzzle,

and he

doesn't do

this to

trick people

and test

how smart

they are.

He does

this to

test their

humility,

to see if

they're willing

to humbly

listen to

his words

and to

think on

them and

dwell on

them and

contemplate

them,

and then if

they still

do not

understand,

to humbly

come to

Jesus and

seek him

out for

help in

deciphering

them.

This is

why Jesus

spoke in

parables,

because parables

are like

self-sorting

mechanisms.

They reveal

themselves only

to the

humble,

and they

shut out

the proud.

Therefore,

what Jesus

is saying to

the crowd is

that because

he is here,

this little

girl has not

really died,

she hasn't

really been

lost,

because Jesus

is going

to raise

her up,

he's going

to wake

her up,

and so the

crowd should

not weep,

they should

be rejoicing,

the healer

is here,

the author

of life

has arrived.

But how

will the

crowd respond?

In verse

40,

Mark says,

and they

laughed

at him.

This is

the fifth

time on

this day

that Jesus

has been

questioned

or scorned,

first he

was accused

by his

disciples

when their

boat was

sinking,

then he

was rejected

by the

crowd for

delivering a

demonized

man,

then he

was questioned

by the

disciples again

after healing

a woman in

the crowd,

then messengers

doubted that

he could raise

the dead,

and now when

he in fact is

about to raise

the dead,

people are

laughing at

him.

So what

does he do?

Verse 40

continues,

but he

put them

all outside.

We should

be careful

not to

laugh at

Jesus,

or we'll

miss out

on what

Jesus is

going to

do,

because there's

a dead

little girl

in that

other room,

and even

if you've

never heard

this story

before,

you know

what's

coming,

you know

what Jesus

is going

to do

when our

healer sees

that little

girl and

when his

grace and

his power

washes over

her.

Listen to

what happens.

And Jesus

took the

child's father

and mother

and those

who were

with him

and went

in where

the child

was,

and taking

her by

the hand,

he said

to her,

Talitha

kum,

which means

little girl,

I say to

you,

arise,

and immediately

the girl

got up

and began

walking,

for she

was 12

years of

age,

and they

were immediately

overcome

with amazement.

What a

beautiful

description

Mark gives

us here.

Jesus takes

that little

girl by the

hand,

and he

says,

Mark quotes

the original

Aramaic of

Jesus,

Talitha kum,

which means

little one,

arise.

Can you

imagine

being that

little girl,

being in

the dead,

being dead

in the shadow

of death,

when all of a

sudden you

wake up in

the land of

the living

to those

beautiful

words?

Little girl,

I say to

you,

arise.

And then

most wonderful

of all,

you find

yourself looking

into the

eyes of the

savior of

the world,

who is

holding your

hand in

his own.

Just picture

that scene

in your

mind.

But Mark

hides another

little gem

here for

us.

You see,

when our

gentle Jesus

took that

little girl's

hand in

his own,

he sent

us a

message about

what he's

here to do

on earth

and what

we are to

do as

well.

When he

held that

little girl's

hand,

according to

the Old

Testament law,

Jesus made

himself

unclean

once again.

All dead

bodies back

then were

unclean,

according to

Old Testament

law,

and according

to Numbers

1911,

anyone who

touched a

dead body

became unclean

also.

Now,

Jesus could

have just

spoken the

words,

he could

have just

raised her

up with a

mere word

like he did

with so many

other miracles,

but he

didn't do

that here.

His kindness

and his

compassion were

too much to

worry about

being unclean

in the sight

of others

when he

saw that

helpless

little girl

lying there

with her

parents weeping

by her side.

And do you

know what?

Jesus does

this for

each one

of you.

He comes

to you

when you're

unclean.

He comes

to you

when you're

dead in

your sins,

when you're

chained in

the shadow

of death,

and he

takes you

by your

hand,

and he

says,

little one,

I say

to you,

arise.

I remember

when Jesus

did this

to me

19 years

ago when

I was

wandering

in darkness,

and all

of a sudden

Jesus took

me by my

hand and

said,

arise.

And my

friends,

if Jesus

hasn't done

this for

you yet,

if he

hasn't taken

you by

your hand

and raised

you up

from the

shadow

of death,

I want

to tell

you that

he's

standing at

your door

ready to

come in.

he's

waiting

just

outside,

as the

scriptures

say,

as Jesus

himself

said,

I stand

at the

door

and

knock.

Will

you let

him

in?

It

is not

the

healthy

who

need a

doctor,

but the

sick,

Jesus

said,

I did

not

come to

call

the

righteous,

but

sinners

to

repentance.

Jesus

sees

all your

failure,

all your

weakness,

all your

shame,

all your

uncleanness,

all your

sins,

he sees

all these

things,

and he

loves

you

anyway.

Awake,

O sleeper,

says

scripture,

and arise

from the

dead,

and Christ

will shine

on you.

You know,

I think in a

very real

sense,

this is

exactly what

the psalmist

sung about

in that

reading we

heard earlier

from Psalm

73.

When my

soul was

embittered,

when I was

pricked in

heart,

I was

brutish and

ignorant

before you,

I was

like a

beast

towards you,

nevertheless,

I am

continually

with you.

You

hold me

by my

right hand,

you guide

me with

your

counsel,

and afterward

you will

receive me

into glory.

Whom have

I in

heaven but

you,

and there

is nothing

on earth

that I

desire

besides

you.

My

flesh

and my

heart

may fail,

but God

is the

strength

of my

heart

and my

portion

forever.

Hallelujah.

If we

return to

our passage,

we see that

Jesus wasn't

done with

this little

girl yet.

In verse

43,

and he

strictly

charged them

that no

one should

know this

and told

them to

give her

something

to eat.

Notice

that Jesus

is still

concerned

about that

little

girl like

a good

doctor with

his patient.

He doesn't

just cure

her and

walk away.

He wants

to make

sure she's

totally

healthy.

He knows

she's had

a big

day and

he wants

to give

her something

to eat.

Isn't

that so

beautiful of

our Jesus?

And Jesus

does the

same thing

for us at

the beginning

of our new

life in

Christ.

He cares

about how

we grow

and flourish

in Christ.

Christ,

and this

is just

what he

does with

you when

he raises

you up

from the

dead.

He doesn't

just walk

away,

but he

stays by

your side

and he

nourishes

and feeds

your spirit.

Now,

we're still

not done

with this

little girl

yet.

This may

not be

all we

know

about her

and her

life.

The Bible

doesn't have

any more

information

about her,

but 95

years or so

after this

miracle occurred,

in 125

AD,

a Christian

named

Quadratus

wrote something

very interesting

about the

miracles of

Jesus and

perhaps also

about this

little girl.

And I want

you to hear

what he had

to say.

Quadratus

said this,

but the

works of our

Savior were

always present

for they were

genuine.

Those that

were healed

and those

that were

raised from

the dead

were seen

not only

when they

were healed

and when

they were

raised,

but were

also always

present,

not merely

while the

Savior was

on earth,

but also

after his

death,

they were

alive for

quite a

while so

that some

of them

lived even

to our

day.

Quadratus

wrote that

in 125

AD and he

says that

there were

some whom

Jesus raised

from the

dead who

lived long

enough so

that he

could remember

them in

125 AD.

Now if we

do some

basic math

and we

think

Quadratus

was 40

years old

or more

when he

wrote those

words,

it means

that at

least some

people whom

Jesus raised

from the

dead lived

a long

time

afterwards,

60 or

70 years,

and that

means these

folks were

probably

children when

Jesus raised

from the

dead for

them to

live so

many years

afterwards so

that Quadratus

could remember

them and

if we go

through all

the miracle

accounts in

the Gospels,

we find

only one

child whom

Jesus raised

from the

dead,

this little

girl.

And while

we can't be

sure, we

know that

Jesus did

many miracles

that are not

recorded,

it certainly

seems probable

that this

little girl

lived a long

life and

she spent

it as a

witness,

telling everybody

about that

day when

she died,

and how

tired Jesus

was,

and how

he was

rejected,

and questioned,

and laughed

at, but how

much he loved

her despite

it all.

And I don't

think she

would have

thought of

that day as

a bad day

for Jesus.

I think she

probably would

have thought

of it as

one of his

best.

Oh,

church,

let us

love like

Jesus loves.

Be unafraid of

those who

are unclean.

Don't give

up on those

everyone else

has written

off for dead.

Don't worry

when people

criticize you

or question

you for

following Jesus.

Don't be like

the crowd and

laugh at

Jesus when

he says he's

going to wake

someone up.

Instead,

follow the

path of our

Lord Jesus.

Make the

unclean pure.

Restore

those who are

ashamed.

Forgive those

who have

sinned.

Be compassionate.

Be merciful.

Comfort the

brokenhearted.

And when you

stumble,

cling to

Jesus and

he will do

the same for

you.

Let's pray

together.

Oh,

Father in

heaven,

we thank you

that you

sent your

Lord Jesus

to walk on

this earth

so many

years ago.

We thank

you for

his miracles,

but we

thank you for

his compassion

and his mercy

on the weak

and the

downtrodden.

And we

thank you for

his mercy

on us.

And Father,

I pray that

if there's

any here

who are

afflicted,

who are

suffering,

who are

doubting,

who are

scared,

that they

would feel

your comfort,

they would

feel you,

take you,

take you,

take them

by your

hand.

Father,

we thank

you for

your mercy,

for the

life and

death and

resurrection of

your son,

Jesus,

and it's in

his mighty

name that

we pray.

Amen.