Mark 5:21-24 – Help Along the Way! – Bible study

Mark 5:21-24, 35-43 Help Along the Way The passage that we are reading today contains a story within a story. We only want to concentrate on the story about Jairus and his daughter. The story begins \#5:21\ and it ends at \#5:41-43\. Jairus was a father with a very sick daughter. He had gone looking for Jesus and found Him. How long he looked? We dont know. Where he was from? We dont know. Exactly where he found Jesus? We dont know. What we do know is that when he found Jesus, he asked Jesus to come heal his daughter and Jesus agreed. So the two began to travel together. For how long? We dont know, but as they traveled, Jesus helped Jairus in several ways-hence the title of the message, "Help Along the Way." Lets notice some of those ways. Lets look at the last help Jesus gave first. I. \#41\ Jesus raised Jairus daughter. A. \#35\ Jairus had sought Jesus because his daughter was sick. 1. Jairus had wanted Jesus to heal her, but on the journey, the girl had died. 2. The girls condition had changed and the help he sought was no longer sufficient. 3. The father sought for a healing, a repair, but what she neededhad to havewas a resurrection. B. This is what happens to many people. 1. They are looking for help, something to repair their sick lives, but what they neededmust havewas new life. 2. Putting a band aid on a corpse wont help. Giving it blood or an organ transplant wont either. C. Jesus prepared to give this girl and her father what they needed even before they knew they needed it. D. This was the final help that Jesus gave to them. We will not see Jairus or his daughter mentioned in the Scripture again. However, it was not the first help Jesus gave them. II. \#5:23-24\ The first help that Jesus gave was love. A. The Bible says that Jesus went with this man. 1. A stranger came to Jesus needing help and Jesus stopped whatever He was doing and went with him. 2. I dont think that was unusual. It probably happened all the time. 3. Why would Jesus do that, over and over again? 4. Jesus went because He loved this man and He loved his daughter. 5. Love is what has motivated all that God has ever done for the human race. a. Creation, free will, life after sin, sending Jesus to the earth, the cross, 2,000 years of preaching the gospel b. All of these things was because God wanted a people to love and a people that would choose to love Him back. B. What is love? 1. Love is care. Jesus cared what was happening to people. 2. Love is desiring to help. Jesus wanted to make things better. 3. Love is doing. Jesus moved to make things better. C. There are some areas that you and I cannot be like Jesus. 1. We may not be able to cure the sick or to raise the dead, but we can certainly love. We can care for people, want to make things better, and even help to make some things better. 2. Everyone needs our love. 3. Lessons about love: a. Love alone will never cure anyone, but it can comfort them. (1) We can care and we can desire, but our ability to do is very lacking. (2) Even so, loving people will never hurt them and it may comfort them. (3) Life is tough and a little bit of love will never hurt anyone! (4) So give this gift of love! Give it to your family, your friends, other Christians, strangers. b. Even so, our love can help SOME people. (1) Some people will look for better than they are when feel loved. (a) Some will try to DO better. (b) Some will try to BE better. (2) A Christians desire in loving someone is to point them to the One who loves the most – Jesus. (3) It is Gods love that they really need to accept. (4) But even if our love never moves a person to come to Christ, it may comfort them a little along the journey. There is never wrong in that. D. Why did Jesus go with Jairus? Why not just speak the word to heal his daughter? 1. I think it was because Jairus downward journey was not over yet. a. Have you ever been on one of those emotional roller- coasters where you thought things could not get any worseand it did? b. Jairus was not at his lowest point yet and I believe Jesus wanted to be with him when he got there. 2. Again, we do not know how long Jairus had been looking for Jesus but it must have taken some time. a. And we do not know how long Jairus servant had been looking for him to tell him the news of his daughters death, but it must have taken some time. b. It is possible that by the time Jairus found Jesus, his daughter had already died. c. I believe Jesus went with Jairus because He knew that Jairus daughter was dead and He wanted to be there when Jairus found out. Jesus wanted to comfort Jairus in that hour. He wanted to love him in that time. d. I know sometimes it seems that God is sending us to the depths of pain and defeat, but God never wants to send you to that lonely, desperate spot. (1) Jesus wants to go with you to it. (2) Jesus wants to love and comfort you while you are there. E. Dont get me wrong. Even Gods lovealoneis not the cure for what ails you. 1. Love will not fix death. What is needed is new life. 2. But Jesus was going to walk with Jairus to comfort him until the cure could be given. 3. And so Jesus desires to do the same for you. III. \#Mark 5:36\ The second help that Jesus gave was hope. A. We understand that Jesus, on His way to Jairus house, is interrupted. 1. While Jesus was delayed, a servant came to tell Jairus that his daughter had died. 2. Without doubt, when Jairus heard those words, all hope for his daughter died too! 3. Again, I believe Jesus knew this to be the case. (1) I believe Jesus knew of Jairus daughter when Jairus found Him. (2) I believe Jesus recognized the messenger as he found his master and He knew the message that he core. (3) I believe Jesus moved Himself closer to Jairus, perhaps close enough to catch him if he collapsed or at least close enough to speak to him and be heard. (4) And I believe Jesus spoke five words for Jairus sake and his sake alone. These words were words of hope. Mark 5:36 Be not afraid, only believe. (5) This message did not make a promise or contradict the servant. It just gave hope. B. What is hope? 1. Hope is the possibility that things will get better. 2. Once the daughter was dead, hope naturally died too because no one comes back from the dead. C. Just like every human being needs love, so every human being needs hope. 1. Humans are like automobiles. Automobiles need gasoline to run. Humans need hope. 2. Nothing shuts down the human spirit more quickly than lost hope. 3. With hope gone, discouragement, depression, despondency, and even death can quickly set in. D. Yet, like love, hope is not the cure. It is the comfort given until the cure comes. 1.Some of you have used a brace to hold something up. 2. Maybe you have built a wall and you used a long 2/4 to brace it while you nailed in place. 3. Maybe you had to use a wedge or a shim to align something while you mounted it. 4. Hope is our brace. (a) Hope is what temporarily holds us up while we wait for the permanent fix. (b) Like love, hope is never the cure. Rather, hope is what we cling to while we wait for the cure to come. E. One of the greatest gifts of salvation is hope! 1. Hope given from an earthly source is iffy at best, but hope from the eternal Source is sure. 2. It does not matter how bad life gets, how sick we may be, how poor life leaves us, what problems arise, even what death may do to us, Gods promises cannot be revoked or denied to the child of God. F. When Jairus heard the news that his daughter was dead, Jesus knew that Jairus needed help right then! 1. A resurrection was to be had in \#5:41\ but that is 5 long verses away! 2. Jesus made no promise. Jesus did not contradict the messenger, but with five words, Jesus gave Jairus some thing to hold him up! 3. Without hope, this story ends here! a. Perhaps Jairus would have quietly dismissed Jesus and returned homealone in defeat. b. Perhaps Jairus would go ballistic and begin to rant against God. c. Perhaps Jairus would sink to the ground and cry until he could cry no more. 4. We will never know because Jesus gave Jairus the power of hope! a. \#5:36\ "Be not afraid, only believe." b. That quiet call gave to Jairus the hope he needed to get home. It was Jesus saying, "Things are going to get better. Dont quit. Trust Me. I promise." c. With that hope, Jairus continued his journey. d. Without Jesus, there is little to no possibility of things ever getting better! IV. \#Mark 5:38-39\ The third help that Jesus gave was faith. A. Jesus entered Jairus house and found mourners had gathered with the family. Then Jesus did something rather stranger. He told them something. Mark 5:39 Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. B. The Bible says that the people laughed when Jesus made this statement. 1. Why would Jesus make that statementeven with it being true? a. If Jesus wanted to prove to the people that the girl was not beyond His reach to help, why tell them this? b. Why not just raise her and THEN tell them? 2. This was Jesus way of telling Jairus what He was about to do, of inviting Jairus by faith to experience the joy of his daughters resurrection before it actually happened. a. Yes, the child was really dead. b. But God had a plan. c. This death, like sleep, was only to be temporary. d. Jesus had known all along that He would raise her from the dead. C. It is the story of Lazarus all over again! 1. His friend was sick and Jesus tarried His departure. 2. By the time they arrived, Lazarus had been dead four days. 3. Yet on the journey, Jesus told His disciples: Joh 11:11 Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 4. Why did Jesus tell His disciples that? He was telling them the plan so that they could have faith in Him! 5. Why was Jesus telling these people that this dead child was just asleep? He was telling them the plan so that they could have faith it Him! D. What is faith? Faith is God revealing that He has a plan and giving us the opportunity to have confidence in Him! 1. Jairus had received comfort. It had helped him. 2. Jairus had received hope, the possibility that things were going to get better. 3. Now, Jesus revealed a plan so that his hope could grow a notch to blossom into faith! 4. Faith can sustain us much better than love and hope. a. Because faith allows Gods realm to enter into our world. b. In a few minutes, Jesus would step through the closed door to where the little girl was and raise her. At that time, there would be joy and a release of pain. c. But Jesus was offering Jairus the opportunity to have that joy and release on THIS side of the door. d. Granted, in Jairus case, that would only be a few minutes of additional peace, but for those of us who may not step through the doorway for some time yet, faith offers us a peace and release that is priceless! In closing, let me remind you that once you reach the journeys end, there will be no need for hope and faith. These are gifts that can only be used today. They are given to you to help you along the way. The journey for Jairus was a long emotional journey but in the scope of time, it probably lasted only a few hours. You may have been on your difficult journey for many years. One day, God is going to relieve you of your burden, but until then, there is help along the way – LOVE, HOPE, and FAITH. Take these miracles of power that God offers you and continue your journey in power.