Waiting Hope

Mark chapter 5, we live in a world of instant.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

! We can text someone and we can expect an instant response.

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We love instant. I remember just a couple of weeks ago when half of America was under snow and ice, Amazon no longer could deliver in two days.

They estimated my delivery to be in a week. In a week, I needed it before the storm. I didn't need it after it.

I was blown away. Something has to be done about something like that.

We live in a microwave society. We put things in the microwave and we've learned that if you stand in front of it and stare at it, it'll be quicker.

We love things instantly.

Things aren't always instant.

And the reality is that God seldom works instantly.

Very often, there's delay.

Prayers feel unanswered.

Delay feels like denial.

Waiting feels like failure.

I mean, surely if it's going to happen, it would have happened by now.

However, the reality is that God's not bound by our clocks.

And I want you to know He's not intimidated by our persistence.

He works on His time.

He works deliberately.

And He uses waiting and delay and even interruption to accomplish great things in line with His purposes.

In Mark chapter 5, Jairus is in a heavenly holding pattern.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

And it's tough when you're in the waiting room of faith.

But that's where He is.

And God seems late.

Prayers seem unanswered.

However, I want us to learn from Him and His experience that silence from heaven is not the same as the absence of God.

And that God often does His greatest work after tough delays.

Let's look at it this morning.

It's in Mark chapter 5, beginning in verse 21.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

And remember the preceding passage that we dealt with last week.

When Jesus traveled the six miles over the Sea of Galilee to the land of the Gentiles,

He was met by a demoniac.

A man that was filled with thousands of demons.

And He healed that man and moved those demons into swine.

And those pigs ran off a cliff into the water and died.

And the people that owned the pigs and the people who watched it and got scared by it wanted to believe.

The man who He healed wanted to go with Him.

But He left Him there as what I called last week the first missionary to the Gentiles.

And said, go tell people.

And He did.

He went and told it throughout the Decapolis, Scripture says.

Which are ten Roman cities there.

So now He gets back in the boat.

And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about Him.

And He was beside the sea.

Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name.

And seeing Him, He fell at His feet and implored Him, earnestly saying,

My little girl is at the point of death.

Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live.

And He went with Him.

And a great crowd followed Him and thronged about Him.

Now, verses 25 through 34 give us a divine interruption.

When a woman came to Him with a health issue and stops Jesus.

And she was in such great need.

Christ healed her miraculously.

And the Lord willing, we'll look at that next week.

But I want you to notice what happens as He ministers with her.

It says in verse 35,

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?

But overhearing what they said,

Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue,

Do not fear, only believe.

And He allowed no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.

They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue,

and Jesus saw a commotion.

People weeping and wailing loudly.

And when He entered, He said to them,

Why are you making a commotion and weeping?

The child is not dead, but sleeping.

And they laughed at Him.

But He put them all outside,

And He took the child's father and mother and those who were with Him

and went in with the child, where the child was.

Taking her by the hand,

He said to her,

Talitha com,

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,

and He strictly told them

that no one should know this

and told them to give her something to eat.

Now, I just want to admit this morning

that I have a hard time waiting.

Waiting is difficult in everyday things,

but it is much harder

when it's not about inconvenience,

but about crisis.

I mean, it's really tough

when your loved ones are hurting,

when your loved ones are struggling,

when your loved ones are dying.

Hope while waiting

can be the hardest kind of hope.

However, I want you to see

what Jesus does

in the midst of those moments.

The first thing I notice

is that Jesus calms.

Now, He's crossed over

six miles across these waters,

and He's welcomed

by a bunch of hurting,

wanting people.

The needs, I am sure,

are varied.

There are some there

who just want attention.

Jesus is getting a lot of attention,

and they want attention from Jesus.

And then there are others

who are just wanting to lay eyes

on a miracle man

because they've heard of what He can do.

Whether they've got word or not

about this particular miracle,

they've got wind

of what He's been able to do,

even among them.

And then some are there

because they desperately

are needing help.

And one of them

that desperately needs help

approaches Jesus.

His name is Jairus,

and Jairus is described

as a ruler of the synagogue.

Now, let me explain

what that means.

They had the temple

in Jerusalem.

And Jewish males

were to go to the temple,

if possible,

three times a year.

They were to go at Passover.

Passover was a celebration

of commemoration

of the deliverance

of the people

from the Egyptians.

It's recorded in Exodus chapter 12,

Exodus 12 · chapter mention

and they had a celebration

every year

to celebrate

what God did for them

when He released them

from the Egyptians.

That is in,

that's called Passover.

And everybody was expected

to be there for that.

And then there was Pentecost.

Pentecost is 50,

it actually means 50,

and it's 50 days

after Passover,

and Pentecost

was a day

to celebrate

the harvest.

It was when

the wheat harvest

came in.

It was also a celebration

of the giving of the law,

and you were expected

to be at the temple

for Pentecost.

And then there was

the Feast of Tabernacles,

or what's also called

the Feast of Booths.

We would call it

the Feast of Tents,

because that's what

a booth was,

a canvas and stick

held together hut

that they lived in

as they lived in the desert

for 40 years.

They'd move that booth

around and live in it.

So the Festival

of Tabernacles,

which is a temporary shelter,

or the Festival of Booths

were a time

when they would come back

to Jerusalem

and live in a booth

or live in a tent

for seven days.

At the end of those seven days,

they would have a great

sacred celebration

on the eighth day.

Then they'd go back home.

And if you go to Jerusalem

today and you see

the Temple Mount,

where the Dome of the Rock

is now,

you're standing beside

the Jezreel Valley.

And between,

and the Jezreel Valley

goes deep down,

comes back up,

and the Mount of Olives

is on the other side.

And both sides

of that valley

are filled with,

it's a cemetery,

just a huge cemetery

where Jews have strived

to be buried

as close as they can

to the Temple Mount.

And,

but in the first century,

all those graves

weren't there.

There were a few

commemorative graves,

Absalom's pillars there.

And so there were

a few of those,

but those,

that area would have been

covered with booths

during that week.

Every rooftop

would have a booth on it.

Every courtyard

would have a booth on it.

They would find

any place they could.

It was almost like

a big tailgate party,

but for sacred reasons.

And there's a lot

that's not sacred

about tailgate parties

sometimes.

But anyway,

that's basically

what it was like.

And so they were expected,

males were expected,

if they could,

to be at the temple

three times a year

for that.

By the way,

there are Southern Baptists

that follow somewhat

like that pattern.

And they come

at Christmas

and Easter

whether they need to

every year.

Preachers call them

Christers.

And they always wonder

why the preacher

only preaches

on the birth of Christ

and the death

and resurrection of Christ.

He can't move on

to anything else.

They wonder that.

Man, you're here

in February.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

But when they did not

go to the temple

those three times,

they went to the synagogue

every Sabbath.

And as I've told you before,

every town that had

more than 12 Jewish males

had a synagogue.

And they would meet

in that synagogue

and that was the place

where they were fed spiritually.

The temple was the place

for major feasts,

priestly matters,

atoning sacrifices.

The synagogue was the place

of worship

on a regular basis.

And those synagogues

had rulers.

The rulers

were a board of men

that made sure

the synagogue

was managed well.

They were men

that took care

of the scrolls.

They were men

that cared

for the facility.

They were those

that made sure

that everything

went on schedule.

They supervised

the readers

and the teachers.

Typically,

the rulers

of the synagogue

did not do

the teaching

or the reading

of the word.

But they would

supervise those areas.

And I tried

to find

a contemporary example

of what that position

is.

But quite honestly,

as I look at our church,

it is so varied

and we have so many people

in so many different spots

doing so many different things

that's hard to say.

When I got here

this morning,

the welcome board

that normally

is on the sidewalk

out here

was laying down.

And as I walked in,

one of the security guys

was with me

and he picked it up

and put it up.

And the minute

we walked inside,

it blew back down.

And another security guy

came on the scene

and picked it up

and put it up.

And the minute he did,

it blew back down.

Another guy came up

about that time

and set it up.

It was just fun

standing inside

watching it,

you know.

just one right

after another

trying their best

thinking that they

have the magic touch.

I think they finally

just removed it.

I walked in here

and there was somebody

opening these shutters.

If I had walked

to the coffee bar,

there's people

down there working.

There were people

making sure that people

were welcomed

when they would come here.

We had tech guys

working with

the musical staff

to make sure

that everything was,

there were so many

working pieces.

Your children

are invested

to our ministry

as we speak right now.

There are so many

different people

that make sure

things are taken care of.

And I am very appreciative

and I don't like

naming names

because I'll leave

somebody out.

So just do it

for the Lord

and thank you

for what you do.

And if you're not

doing anything,

get busy doing something.

There's places to serve.

That's a whole other sermon.

But anyway,

but the guys

that watched over

all of that

were the rulers

of the synagogue.

And not from that position,

but they were often

very wealthy people,

highly regarded

and very important.

I said all that

to say that

when Jairus walked up,

people would have

got out of his way

because he's the one

that makes sure

everything's taken care

of for us.

And he approached Jesus

and it must have

took him a lot

to approach Jesus

because Jesus

was not highly esteemed

by Jewish leaders.

And now,

Jairus,

I feel sure

being ruler

of a local synagogue,

was not part

of the Sanhedrin,

but because

the Sanhedrin

oversaw

the synagogues,

he would have had

a lot of interaction

with the heads

of Jewish religion

who were pursuing Christ.

And so for Jairus

to come

and approach Christ

with his great need

had to take a lot.

But when your kid's sick,

you'll do whatever

you have to do

to try to fix the problem.

It says that not only

did he approach Christ,

but it said he fell

at his feet,

that term there

speaks of a worshipful fall,

as if he was kissing

the feet of Jesus.

He laid before him.

And by the time

that Jesus

had healed the woman,

they were getting word back

that Jairus'

dying daughter

was dead.

And upon Jairus

hearing the word

that his daughter

had died,

he also heard

Jesus say,

do not fear,

only believe.

So even in the midst

of the crisis,

Jesus speaks words

of comfort

that had to be effective.

And I love how

even when the problem

is not yet solved,

even when the problem

may not even be solved,

Jesus has a way

to calm us.

He says the right things

through the powerful presence

of the Holy Spirit

and through his word

into our lives.

And it just teaches us

that we can trust him

even when we don't understand.

Jesus calms.

Not only does he calm,

but he also corrects.

I want you to notice this.

Christ proceeds

to take the inner three,

that's Peter,

James,

and John

with him

into the house

of Jairus.

Peter,

James,

and John

will also be the ones

that he takes up

on the Mount

of Transfiguration.

Peter,

James,

and John

will also be the one

that he takes deeper

into the Garden

of Gethsemane

on the night

of his arrest.

They were the obvious

leaders of the apostles.

And as they get

to the house,

there is quite a commotion.

Now notice that

this is obvious

because a young lady

has died,

people are going

to be very upset.

Of course they are.

But there's a lot

more going on here

than just the loss

of a life.

For one,

professional mourners

would come

and they would loudly

weep on behalf

of the dead.

Flutists would come

and they would show up

and they would begin

to play

while people

sang dirges

that were deadly

and sorrowful.

The thought was

that it would help

the family

better express themselves

without feeling embarrassed

with their mourning.

It was actually expected

that even the poor,

rabbinical law,

not biblical law,

but that that's added to it,

rabbinical law

stated that even the poor

should have at least

two flutes

and one wailing woman.

That's what it says.

You know,

you've got to mourn the dead.

You've got to let people know.

Therefore,

when word got out,

those mourners

would come lurking.

Now,

I don't mean to be

gross here,

but when somebody dies

in that atmosphere,

if you're going to mourn

the body,

you better hurry

because there's a change

that's going to take place

in that body.

And so,

when they got word

that Jerish's daughter

was dying,

typically,

those mourners

would be waiting outside

like a bunch of vultures

waiting for the dead

so they could toot their flute

and call out their whale.

There's a lot of commotion.

Mourners were expected

to beat their breasts.

Mourners were expected

to tear at their hair.

They were expected

to tear their tunic.

If you were close relatives,

you were to tear it

in the chest.

And you could sew it up

loosely as long as it still

looks like it's been torn,

but you have to wear it

for 30 days

to show that you're mourning.

I mean,

it was an elaborate process.

And it was that kind

of atmosphere

that Christ walked into.

And verse 39 says,

and when he entered,

he said to them,

why are you making

a commotion and weeping?

The child's not dead,

but sleeping.

And they laughed at him.

Now,

once you understand,

when Jesus says

the child is sleeping,

he's not talking about

a soul sleep here.

What he's saying is,

it's going to be easier

for me to rouse this child

than it is your child

on a school day

when you try to get them

up to go to school.

It's going to be

nothing for him.

This state is only

temporary.

They had misunderstood

and Jesus corrects them.

What they think

is permanent

is only temporary.

What they think

can't be changed

will be changed.

What they thought

was dead and gone

would be alive and well.

And it's the kind

of correction

that Jesus makes

in people's lives.

He's much greater

than our anticipations.

And he'll correct us

when he needs to.

Not only does he correct,

but he also answers.

Jesus answers.

He sent them out

and took the parents

and went in

and took the girl

by the hand

and spoke in a language

that he normally spoke

which was Aramaic.

And Mark

in one of those few times

in the Gospel of Mark,

I believe four times,

he uses the original language

of Aramaic

to state what Jesus said

to that little girl.

and he told her to rise

and immediately she did.

There was no CPR.

He didn't yell at her.

He didn't slap her.

He just took her by the hand

and she arose.

And there was no need

for recovery.

She didn't start PT and OT.

She walked across the room

rehabilitated.

Now,

why does Mark

use the original language here?

Well,

I want you to remember

that Mark

was very young

when this happened.

He was probably

about the age

of this 12-year-old.

And I'll say girl,

but at 12 years old

in that culture,

she was on

the verge

of womanhood

and their thoughts.

Mark was about that age.

He wasn't there.

But he got his information

about this

and he got his information

about what we have

in the Gospel of Mark

from Peter.

He penned it

based on Peter's testimony

and Peter was there

and Peter told him

what Jesus said.

And in this event,

the words,

the touch,

the power,

the opening of the eyes,

the answered prayer,

all of it

was so burned

upon the mind

of Peter.

It was so stamped

upon his conscience

that he quoted it

just like he saw it.

He could hear

the words again.

Talitha kum.

Talitha kum.

When that young lady

walked across that room,

they were absolutely amazed.

And Jesus told them

not to talk about it.

Now,

that tickles me

because the marvel

of this miracle

is not going to be held long.

It's not going to be

secret long.

I mean,

the minute she walks

out the door

and is on the street,

somebody's going to say,

wait a minute,

I thought she died.

It's not going to be long.

But he told them

to get her something

to eat.

Now,

we have no idea

how long her terminal

illness had kept her

from eating.

But they're in shock

looking at

their little girl

who had died

walking around

and Jesus sees them

and says,

would you get her

something to eat?

Would you get her

something to eat?

so what does all that mean for us

why is it here

recorded in scripture

does it just show the miracle of the touch of Jesus

well it does no doubt about that

but I will tell you that all the sick will not be made well

they wasn't in the first century

and all the dying will not be risen up in this life

it's not going to happen

even if we do see miraculous escape from death

it's not going to be in this manner

it's not so what does this mean for us

what it means for us is his delay does not mean that he's failed

that his delay does not mean that he's not true

his delay does mean that he has greater things in store

Jairus suffered a horrible delay

and those that saw Jesus as he approached

the girl that had died

ridiculed him

they laughed at him

they did not believe him

one of the reasons why it's recorded in the gospel of Mark

the way it is

is because it is a foreshadowing

of another time

when they would not believe him

and another time

when they would not ridicule him

there was a worse delay that was coming in the future

there was a Friday

when the Lord died

and to some

it appeared that he had failed

it seemed as if what he said was not true

but in reality

he had greater things in store

and when Saturday came

heaven was silent

and the tomb was sealed

shut

and there were people waiting

wondering

what in the world have we put our faith in

nothing happened that day

and it was a horrible

delay

surely he's failed

did anything he say

was it even true

and sometimes in our lives

when the tomb's been sealed

and the delay's been long

we wonder where's God in all this

is he who he proclaims to be

can I really put my faith in him

and then Sunday morning comes

and without anyone's help

Christ rises from the grave

and those that had ridiculed him

were silent

and those who had hoped in him

was now fulfilled

fulfilled

and I will tell you

that those who put their hope

in Christ

will always be fulfilled

it may not feel like it today

and it may not feel like it tomorrow

and I can't tell you

when your answer is going to come

but I can tell you

what the answer is

the answer is Jesus

and you can put your faith

and hope in him

and trust him

even when there's no way in the world

you understand

what is happening

waiting hope

hope

is the toughest hope

but if that waiting hope

is in Christ

it'll be fulfilled

it's not gonna be on my schedule

it's probably not gonna be

the way I designed it to be

but it really ain't about me

and I hate to be the one

to break it to you

it really ain't about you

it's about him

we can put our hope

and our faith

in him

so I wanna ask you this morning

have you ever done that

have you ever put the hope of your life

in Christ

scripture tells us what that means

is that we acknowledge

that we've sinned against him

that we've done wrong

and that we need a savior

and that we ask him

to not only forgive us

but I want you to hear me

we surrender our lives

to follow his will

and his way

that from this day forward

I'm no longer in charge

he's in charge

I didn't say

that we raise our hand

during a vacation Bible school

when nobody's looking

and repeat a prayer

after somebody

it's not what I said

I think there's been

a lot of confusion

along the way in life

from easy believism

along the way

and a lot of people

have done a lot of things

they never meant

and they think they're okay

that's not putting your hope in Christ

have you ever

surrendered your life to Christ

and put your hope in him

if you never have

I wanna tell you

today's the day of salvation

he'll take you where you are

in your circumstances

and he'll change you

and begin to mold you

and make you to be

what he'd have you to be

you just have to put your hope in him

and if you've done that privately

but you've never

effectively done that publicly

and never told anybody else

what you've done

I'm gonna tell you

private faith is no faith at all

quite honestly

based on scripture

Jesus tells us

not to be ashamed of him

before others

and by his example

and by his commission

he shows us

the first step

to follow

after our salvation

is baptism

and if you've never been

baptized as a believer

I'm gonna tell you

it can cause a great hindrance

in your life

and your faith

and trusting in him

if you've disobeyed him

in that step

and so if that's never happened

to you

I encourage you to come

maybe you're here

and God's leading you

to First Baptist Church

you feel like God's leading you

to be a part of this worship

and if he is

I encourage you to come

I'd love to guide you

in that process

what that means

but I know

there's a lot more people here

this morning

that have weighty matters

in their life

and struggle

with putting their hope

in Christ

in the midst

of the weight

I'm just gonna tell you

you can

he's worthy of it

you lay it down

before him

I'm not telling you

you'll understand

all the way

I'm not telling you

you'll understand

at all

this side of eternity

I will not tell you that

but I will tell you

that you can put your hope

in Christ

and trust him

and so whatever

that burden is

you can do that

where you stand

in just a moment

you can do it

at this altar

you can do it

with me praying for you

and with you

but whatever it is

trust him

even in the delays

even in the wait

put your hope

in Christ

heavenly father

help us today

to simply obey you

as you speak

to our hearts and lives

oh God I pray

in Jesus name

amen