When Delays Lead to a Resurrection: Trusting Christ's Timing

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick, and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. The passage we're going

to be looking at today is Mark chapter five.

We're going to go 21 through 43. If you don't

have a Bible, we have some in the back. And we

would love for you to take one of those. That's

our gift to you. You can look it up on your phone.

It'll be up here, but I prefer it to be paper

right in front of you. The title of my sermon

today is When Delays Lead to a Resurrection,

Trusting Christ Timing. And I believe I have

this. Boys, if you wanna put this up here, I

thought I should probably put the big idea so

you guys can write this down of what I'm driving

home. And so, If you wanna write it down, it'll

be right up here. Trusting in Christ's timing

can lead to extraordinary blessings beyond our

immediate request as our desperation can become

the backdrop for his resurrection power. So,

in the Common Book of Prayer by Thomas Cranmer,

he writes this. Grant that we may follow the

example of Jesus's patience. Did you hear that?

I'm gonna read it one more time. Grant that we

may follow the example of Jesus's patience. I

love the thoughts of having complete and utter

patience like Jesus. But if anyone has ever ridden

with me in a car when I'm driving, you will discover

that I don't have patience at all. I have very

little patience. Actually, I have zero patience.

I am the epitome of impatience. My kids, my wife

will tell you that. I hate saving money for something

because I want something right when I see it.

I hate waiting for a text response when I need

important information. I hate waiting to be seated

when I am starving. I hate even waiting for something

that is pre -made to just warm up in the microwave.

It's true. I am an impatient man. I was raised

by probably the most impatient man. And I married

into a family with a very patient man. So all

of my marriage with my wife has been astounded

by how impatient I truly am. So long story short,

I'm a mess, especially when it comes to patience.

My dad, to give you an example of how impatient

my father is, when we would go to Disney World

or someplace like that, my dad is always about

100 yards in front of the rest of us as a family.

and he's just storming because he's a short stocky

guy and he walks like this like he's mad at the

world and he's just making a lane and he's going

come on you guys who already know where you want

to ride let's go let's go let's go that says

60 minutes wait time we're not going there and

that's and that's my dad all the time there's

no chill on my dad is there babe he's he is always

impatient nothing is ever quick enough and so

What does patience like Jesus even mean? What

do you think? Have you ever thought about it?

To have patience like Jesus. Here's what I think.

It means patience for the long haul. It is bearing

up under difficult circumstances without giving

up or giving into bitterness. Patience means

continuing to work when gratification is delayed.

I don't like that one. It means taking what life

offers, even if it includes suffering, without

lashing out. That last part is where it gets

me. Without lashing out. Because I'm guilty.

I'm guilty of lashing out at my wife when God

feels slow to speak or intervene. I'm guilty

at lashing out at friends when my expectations

are not met the way I want them to be. And I'm

guilty of lashing out when it feels like my suffering

has reached its limit. And just when I believe

I cannot wait any longer for God to move, He

makes me wait even longer. Anybody else? Nope,

just me? All right, thank you, Derek. At least

we got some honesty there. Thank you. When...

When I feel like I have reached my limit with

suffering and thinking at any point God is going

to speak or rescue me or send relief, he goes,

hey, I see you. Now let's wait longer. I cannot

be the only one that feels that way. Thank you,

Derek. And pressure builds when delays happen.

Right? When any sort of delay happens, pressure

builds. Ever seen anybody that worked for an

airline or go to take a plane? What happens when

they delay it? Just look around. People start

getting agitated. They start fidgeting, right?

Or, my daughter is finding out, now that she

works at Chick -fil -A, when someone's on their

lunch break, how quickly they can become impatient

and pressure can build when They've got 30 minutes

to eat and the back of house is trying to get

food out and they can't get food out quickly

enough. So there's pressure when something needs

to happen, when something needs to change, when

relief is needed, and when it does not come,

patience begins to break down. And this morning,

that's exactly what we're going to unpack in

our text. because what we're going to see in

the Gospel of Mark 21 through 43 is what feels

like senseless delay from God. What feels like

he's taking the long way around is actually him

setting the stage for something greater. What

looks like delay is often the setup for resurrection.

So, if you would, read with me starting in 21.

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. And seeing

Jesus, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly

saying, my little daughter 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. And there was a woman who had been

discharged of blood for 12 years, and who had

suffered much under many physicians, and had

spit all that she had and was no better, but

rather grew worse. She had heard the reports

about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd

and touched his garment. For she said, if I touch

even his garment, 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. And

Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone

out from him, immediately turned out about in

the crowd and said, Who touched my garments?

And his disciples said to him, You see the crowd

pressing around you, and yet you say, Who touched

me? And he 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. And

he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made

you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.

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 had entered,

he said to them, why are you making a commotion

and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping.

and they laughed, but he put them all outside,

took the child's father and mother and those

who were with him and went in where the child

was. Taking her by the hand, he said to her,

Talitha kumen, 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 charged them that no one should

know this and told them to give her something

to eat. So if you are taking notes, our first

point this morning is patience in your desperation.

What do you notice about the two that Jesus has

a run in with? What do you notice is a very common

trait that they both share in the moment? Desperation.

Jairus is a man of authority and reputation,

and he falls at the feet of a Galilean carpenter.

That alone tells us everything we need to know.

The man is absolutely desperate. He has heard

about Jesus, and as a synagogue ruler, he has

likely also heard the accusations that Jesus

is a blasphemer. Yet, his desperation for his

daughter drives him past reputation and past

fear and straight to the feet of Christ. You

can almost feel the tension inside of Jairus.

On one hand, the urgency of a dying daughter,

on the other hand is the weight of what it means

for him to come to Jesus. But desperation has

pushed him to a place that he never thought he

would go. Desperation, by the way, is never a

bad thing. As long as Jesus is the place you're

going to. Write this down. And that is what often

desperation does. It drives us to Christ. But

it also drives us there with expectations because

if we're coming to Jesus, in desperation, what

is it that we're wanting? Yeah, whatever we need,

right? We need an answer. We need him to move.

There's an expectation for him to move now. And

then we meet a woman with the issue of blood,

and she too is desperate. She has been suffering

for years, and she has heard of Jesus, and she

believes that if she can just touch his garment,

she will be healed. But what makes her situation

even more difficult is that she is not only suffering

from her illness But also from the supposed cures.

Did you guys catch that? She has spent so much

of her money on Doctors now, let me just side

note this for a second because I've seen people

I'm not for holistic medicine. Okay, but when

I say crazy people, I mean crazy people who are

like see This is us that we should only go to

Jesus and if he really wants to heal us, he'll

heal us, but we shouldn't go to doctors, use

pharmaceutical drugs, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah. That's not, don't do that, okay? Don't

do that. That's misreading scripture. That's

not what's happening. What this trying to get

the point across is that she's gone every single

avenue available to her and nothing has touched

and healed her. So now she's completely desperate

without money and she's like, if I could just

get near him. Do you guys notice this too? Notice

that Jesus calls her daughter, Jairus has a daughter,

the daughter is 12, and this woman has been sick

for how long? You see the complete parallel?

She's heard of Jesus and she believes she could

just touch his garment. She will be healed But

what makes her situation even more difficult

is that she's not only suffering from her illness,

but from the supposed cures She has spent everything

she has she is exhausted every option and time

has become a pressure cooker in her life and

desperation is what burst out So she presses

through this crowd and touches his robe and in

the moment Jesus feels power come out for him.

So he stops he turns and he asked who touched

me and the disciples are super confused as all

of us would be because we're like what a silly

question right there are people everywhere everyone

is touching him and from their perspective this

feels unnecessary and even inconvenient why do

you think it feels inconvenient let's just pause

for a second let's think about it there with

Jesus they get off a boat this man runs to them

as they're getting off the boat. He falls at

their feet and he says, my daughter is going

to die. I need you to come now. Yeah, they're

absolutely in a hurry as they should be right.

So they start to take off. Jesus stops and says,

and ask a question of who touched me in a crowd.

And the disciples are like, we don't have time.

Are you serious right now? We don't have time

for this. It's like whenever we're trying to

get out the door and all of a sudden, like Aria,

it never fails. Aria's like, I forgot my water.

We don't have time for that. We have a three

and a half hour drive to church. You can get

water there, right? It's silly. We're in a hurry.

And so the disciples, and I'm sure Jairus is

like, what are we doing? Like seriously? He's

asking who touched him? Like my kid is dying.

Come on, Jesus. Get with it, man. So there's

people everywhere. Everyone is touching him.

And from their perspective, this feels unnecessary

and inconvenient. And they're trying to keep

things moving. And Jairus is likely thinking

the same thing, as I said. And if I'm Jairus,

by the way, I'm not staying quiet, but I'm actually

reminding Jesus that we don't have time for this.

This is important. My kid is dying, and this

is this delay that you're having, like it's very,

very costly. So I would be thinking that the

interruption is dangerous. Write this down. But

Jesus is not moved by our sense of urgency. He

is not governed by our schedule. You should write

that down and highlight it as I have, because

I have to be reminded that he is not moved by

my sense of urgency. He doesn't run on my schedule.

He is operating on his own time. And he knows

something significant that has just happened.

This is a moment that will not be rushed. And

while Jesus lingers, the very thing Jairus fears

becomes reality because his daughter dies. And

then Jesus looks at him and says, do not be afraid,

just believe. I'm gonna ask you guys a question.

Be honest if you had went to Jesus and you are

you are gyrus Your kid is dying He stops ask

a question that you feel is silly and then when

you arrive and your kid is dead and Then he looks

at you and says don't fear just believe You feel

a little bit angry Right like if you hadn't stopped

She probably would have lived And so When I read

this when I read this account I cannot help but

feel the compassion and and the tension that

Jairus is feeling Because he's also putting by

the way his career in jeopardy by coming to Jesus

So in other words, Jesus is saying, trust me,

be patient, there's no need to hurry. I imagine

in that moment that Jesus is also teaching his

disciples, because remember, okay, remember what

they had just gone through, he had already shown

them that his grace and his love are present

in a storm, and now he's going to show them,

you can write this down. that his grace and love

are also present in what feels like an unthinkable

delay. If you try to force your understanding

of timing onto Jesus, you will struggle to feel

loved by him. Because, here's the thing, he will

not be hurried. And when he is not hurried, we

often feel exactly like Jairus, impatient, frustrated

and convinced that he is delaying irrationally,

unnecessarily, and even unconscionably. And you

can write this down. But what we are seeing here

is this. Our desperation may bring us to Jesus,

but his timing will test whether we actually

trust him, amen? Our desperation may bring us

to Jesus, but his timing will test whether we

actually trust him. Point number two, interruption

gives us what we really need. In 25 through 34,

we see that interruption where he stops. And

so be aware that when you go to Jesus for help,

you will both give to him and receive from him

far more than you ever bargained for. Here's

what I mean by that. Let's go back to Jairus.

They arrive at the house and the news comes that

the little girl is dead. The crowd begins to

mock Jesus when he tells them she's only sleeping

and from their perspective, it's completely over.

There is nothing left to do. But Jesus pushes

everyone out except a select few and he walks

into the room, takes the girl by the hand and

says, Talitha cum. Now, This interpretation does

not do it justice of what Jesus actually said.

Like, he does say talethicum, but what that actually

means is actually very fatherly, and it means

this. It's a term of endearment. What he actually

says is, honey, it's time to wake up. He grabs

her by the hand and is saying, honey, it's time

to wake up. Like a father who's going to wake

his daughter. My daughter will tell you I do

not wake her kindly and definitely not like that.

I'm like girl. It's late. Let's go And here's

the thing she immediately gets up and it says

they're astonished and of course they are because

Jairus came by the way, she was running a fever

Jairus came for what a healing of a fever He

did not expect a resurrection So write this down.

That is how Jesus works. When you come to Him

for help, you receive far more than you had in

mind. But you also end up giving far more than

you ever expected. Can anybody relate to that?

I know I can. I've gone to Jesus for something

what I thought was just going to be this simple

thing. He not only does that, but and more. but

I also end up paying something as well. Jairus

likely thought he only needed to trust Jesus

enough to get home, hoping his daughter would

still be alive when they arrived, but Jesus required

much more from him than that. Because what felt

like an interruption, Jairus is now standing

in front of a completely different situation.

His daughter is gone, and in that moment, Jesus

looks at him and says, don't be afraid, just

believe. And this isn't a small request. That

is a call to trust with everything that appears

to be lost. That is a level of faith of Jairus

that Jairus never anticipated needing. I wanna

just tell you guys, this isn't in my notes, Janiero,

so just follow with me. I wanna give you guys

an example of this. When I was at Westside, and

I felt this opportunity had come to go to work

for Chick -fil -A and their corporate office.

And I wanted to be a Chick -fil -A owner operator,

and to be a Chick -fil -A owner operator, you

have to have $10 ,000. And so Tracy and I saved

up every penny that we had to have that $10 ,000.

And so I was told that I was a sure bet that

I was in. I did all of these interviews. It took

me six months of interviews, and then they fly

me out to Atlanta, and I interview there. It

looks all good. We have our house packed up,

because we're going to be traveling for them

for two years, and living out of hotels. And

so we were like, all right, this is the goal.

This is what we're going to do. We want to be

Chick -fil -A owner -operators. So I'm going

to go do this, work for the home office, and

then become an owner -operator. And go to that

last interview. Like I said told I'm a sure bet

it's gonna happen and then get the call the very

next day that I come home And they said hey unfortunately

We really like you, but we want you to reapply

again in six months and go back through the process

That was heartbreaking our entire house was already

packed up, and I had already resigned from Westside

Now here's what's crazy about that That $10 ,000

I'm now without a job And we're like, what are

we gonna do? Well, we got this $10 ,000 that

we had to save. That $10 ,000, I don't know how

it did, but it lasted us a long time paying our

mortgage, paying all these other things. And

just when we thought we had no more money, things

would happen. We got a random check from our

insurance company for $3 ,500. We had a friend

of mine reached out to me and said, hey, could

you just come and stay in my deck? Sure. Every

little bit. But here's the thing, the reason

why I share that, after all the little jobs ran

out, guess who called? A little church in O 'Neill,

Nebraska. That what we thought we were getting

an answer to prayer didn't exactly look the way

we thought it would and it cost us a whole lot

But we also learned a whole lot about trusting

the Lord when we had nothing Step by step by

step All right, let's get back into it let's

consider the woman She came to Jesus for healing,

but she wanted to do it quietly. She wanted to

touch him and just slip away unnoticed. She wanted

healing, but she wanted it on her own terms.

But does Jesus allow that? Nope. He stops everything

and he calls her forward and he makes her identify

herself publicly. And if that's not terrifying

enough, She had been dealing with a condition

that made her ceremonially unclean So to touch

a rabbi in public would have broken serious social

and religious boundaries So when Jesus asked

her to come forward he is asking something of

her that is very costly for her But he does it

because she needs it she had a she had limited

and somewhat superstitious understanding of Jesus's

power, and she believed that simply touching

his garment would heal her, as if his power could

be managed or accessed mechanically. Here's what

that looks like for us today. Have you ever heard,

uh, fast and pray for a breakthrough? Have you

ever heard that before? I have many times. Am

I saying that that's wrong? No, but that's also

thinking about using Jesus mechanically. If I

give X amount of dollars in the offering plate,

hopefully Jesus will do this. That's using him

and his power mechanically. That's not just doing

the things and trusting him. So Jesus brings

her into the open, not to shame her, but to correct

her. To show her that it was not the touch that

healed her, it was her faith in him. Write this

down. When you come to Jesus he may ask far more

of you than you originally planned to give but

in return He gives far more than you ever dared

to ask or imagine Does that sound familiar? Hopefully

it sounds like our verse of the week Ephesians

3 20 Point number three Well, does anybody still

need this to stay up my my other point before

I move on? All right, hold it hold it there Micah

Go back go back one. He's back there reclining.

Come on, dude Just give me a thumbs up when you're

ready I'm going to Get out of mint Are you taking

a picture of me? You should have told me. Yeah,

make sure you send that to Mary Lynn. All right.

Point number three. Arrogance of our greater

story. Yeah, yeah, you can go there. You can

go there now. It is easy for us to read this

passage and think, of course it all works out.

Because we know how the story ends. We know what

becomes of the woman. We know what becomes of

Jairus and his daughter. But you have to remember

what it must have felt like in that moment. They

didn't know the ending. The disciples didn't

know the ending. Jairus didn't know the ending.

And from where they stood, it looked like Jesus

was delaying for absolutely no good reason. They

did not have all the facts, but we do as the

readers of Scripture. Because we are reading

it from the other side, but they are living it

in real time. And from their perspective, this

felt like recklessness. It felt unnecessary.

It may have even felt like malpractice. But the

reality is they simply did not know because they

did not have all the information. And this is

often where we find ourselves. People ask skeptics

and many Christians, if God is good, why would

he allow certain things to happen? And you can

fill in the blank for whatever that is. And my

answer is always the same. I don't know. And

neither do you. Why the Holocaust? I don't know.

Nobody does. He does. He has reasons for it.

I don't have to know, but he has his reasons.

And that may sound like this kind of just kind

of brushing over what feels like reckless evil.

It's not, it's just I've learned over the years

that God has his reasons and he brings all things

together for his good. And those are promises.

And I've watched that play out in my own life.

And so I just rest in that. That's not me trying

to just simply explain it away. That's just being

honest. But the answer works in theory, but it

feels insufficient when you are the one that's

suffering You know what I'm saying When you're

the one that's suffering it feels like Yeah,

of course. Everything's gonna work out. Yeah.

Okay. Well that doesn't feel like that in the

moment When you're like gyrus Facing a real emergency,

especially when it involves someone you love,

and when it feels like God is delaying for no

reason, something begins to rise up in you. Frustration

turns to anger, anger can turn into bitterness,

and for some, it often leads to completely walking

away from Christ altogether. And I understand

that struggle because I've lived it in my own

way. I've talked to you guys about it before.

But when I look back on the delays of God in

my life, I have to come to a hard realization.

Much of my frustration has been rooted in my

own arrogance. I find myself going to Jesus and

saying, I know you're the son of God. I know

that all things were created through you. I know

you have existed for all eternity, but I think

I understand my life a little better than you

do. I think this situation should probably go

differently. Anybody else? I know you guys are

chuckling because when you say it out loud, it

sounds ridiculous, but we all do that. This is

often the posture of our hearts when it comes

to Jesus. Think about the arrogance that it takes

to believe we know better than the creator of

all things, the one who loves our souls, the

sovereign king over everything. I'm gonna give

it to you like this. It is a miracle of the Lord

that I am here today right now. You don't want

to know why? Because my daughter almost killed

us yesterday. She's learning to drive. She is

a terrible driver. She comes to a, we're just

going to the library. The library is not even

a mile away. I don't care. She's not here. I

can say it. Sweet the library is not I'm not

a You get what you get The library is not far.

She's like dad. I got overdue books. I need to

take to the library. I want to drive. I'm like,

okay Now my wife is smiling because she's like

I'm not driving with her anymore So we get in

the car. She comes up to this she comes up to

a stop sign She looks she looks and never looks

back this way. Let's off the gas. I turn and

I'm like, Horia, you better punch it. Cause she's

like, she's going to get smoked by this GMC truck.

She punches that thing and thank the Lord, there

was nobody coming this way. So she weaves that

sucker in and she goes, she looks at me and she

goes, I got it. I'm texting, I'm texting Tracy

and like, it's going to be a miracle if we make

it back home and it's less than a mile drive.

But then, here's the thing, though. Here's what

she does. Every time, every time, she gives me

and Tracy all the reasons why it wasn't a big

deal. I had it under control, Dad. No, you didn't.

You didn't look both ways. Dad, I looked both

ways. Yeah, but you didn't check again before

going out into traffic. Dad, I understand how

this works. You punch the gas, you got a little

break over here, and this thing takes us where

we need to go. Aria, and Tracy had to tell her

last night, Aria, stop trying to explain to us,

we've been driving for a long time. You just

started four months ago. And that, it's that

right there, how we are with the Lord, where

it's like, I know how it goes. You got a little

gas, you got a little break, and you got the

little steering wheel. Just go where you want

to go. And the Lord's like, yeah, and then you're

pulling yourself out into traffic, right? In

our modern Western culture, we are conditioned

to believe that everything exists for us. That

life is something to be managed, controlled,

and bent toward our desired outcomes. But we

are not God, but we often live as if we are.

And it's that very arrogance that God in His

grace must confront and remove from our hearts.

So I'm closing with this. A few years ago, there

was a father walking through a crowded airport

with his young daughter. It was one of those

chaotic travel days and flights were delayed

and people were rushing, announcements were happening

overhead, the kind of environment where everything

feels just a little out of control. And as they

moved through the crowd, the father reached down

and grabbed his daughter's hand. She was small,

maybe five or six years old, and everywhere around

her were adults moving quickly, rolling bags

and barely paying attention. At one point the

crowd tightened. People pressed in from every

direction and for a moment she stumbled. Her

world probably felt a little overwhelming. Noise,

movement, confusion, the kind of moment where

a child could likely panic. But she did not.

She merely tightened her grip on her father's

hand. She didn't know where they were going.

She didn't understand the delays. She could not

control the situation around her, but she knew

one thing, her father had her. And because of

that, she was steady. He led her through the

crowd, through the noise, through the uncertainty,

and all the way to where they needed to be. Not

because she was strong, not because she understood,

but because she was held. And that's our image.

By Jesus' actions of taking that little girl

by the hand and telling her to arise, He is showing

us something deeper. I want you to write this

down. He looks at us and he says, if I have you

by the hand, even death itself is nothing but

sleep. If I have you by the hand, even death

itself is nothing but sleep. I want you to think

about that. The Lord of the universe, the one

who set the stars in place, reaches down and

takes you and me by the hand and he says, honey,

it's time to get up. There's nothing more terrifying

for a child than losing the hand of their parent

in a crowd or in the dark. Everything falls apart

in that moment, but nothing compares to what

Jesus had endured. On the cross, he lost the

hand of his father. He entered into darkness

alone. He went into the grave so that we could

be led out of the grave. He let go so that we

would never have to. So that for those who are

in him, once he has you by the hand, he will

never let you go. Let's pray.