Sixteen Sermons on Mark's Gospel
Message Five:
May 25, 2003
by Rev. Stephen C. Magee
I
must have been about ten years old when I first prayed to Saint Jude. If you are not from a Roman Catholic
background, you may not know that Saint Jude is the Roman Catholic saint of
hopeless causes. I had lost my wallet,
and it could not be found. I don’t
recall all the details, but I know that it involved a library card, and some
small fortune in paper money – three to four dollars. I was desperate.
There
is quite a market for St. Jude prayers and artifacts today. I checked last night on the internet, just to
confirm that my memory was correct concerning the specific supposed role of
Saint Jude. I thought I might find
something under stjude.com. I was not
too far off. I found this description at
www.stjudenovena.org.
Teaches individuals about St. Jude, the patron saint of desperate causes, and the healing power of novenas. Allows visitors to post thank-you notes for answered prayers.
There is much hopelessness in a world of sin and
misery. The answer is not St. Jude. As the Scriptures assure us, there is only
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. The answer for desperate hopelessness is
presented before us this morning in the two incidents involving three healings
recorded in the fifth chapter of Mark’s gospel.
The answer for us today is in the finished work of Jesus Christ for the
church, and that life is expressed today in the church and through the church.
Signs of Death
In
this world of death there are many signs and situations of hopelessness. The first half of chapter five speaks of
hopelessness in the Gentile world. We
read here of a man who everyone tried to fix.
The man had “an unclean spirit.”
We later understand that he was under the sway of more than one
spirit. The name “legion” indicates the
large number of demonic oppressors who have overwhelmed this man, so numerous
that they will soon be sent into about 2000 pigs.
This
man dwelt among the tombs, but also in the mountains the text tells us. He was a frightening figure to be sure. Everyone had tried to fix this man. Everyone
had tried to restrain him, but nothing could be done. The text tells us that no one could tame him. I am sure that you can imagine something of
the sadness and hopelessness of such a situation, but imagine for a moment that
such a person was your son. No one could
bind him. He was hurting himself, and
was a concern to everyone. Imagine the
desperation that you would feel in such a situation.
Let’s
move now to the other side of the lake, where we find that trouble is not
confined to the gentile world, but it is plentiful here in the land of the
Jews. We learn of a woman who has had a
bleeding problem for twelve years. She
has been to many physicians, but no one is able to help. She spent all that she had, but only grew
worse. She felt desperate enough that
she determined to touch the garment of Jesus secretly, though she was
ceremonially unclean as a result of her bleeding problem. She was willing to make Him secretly unclean
through her contact with His clothing.
She needed help, and all other options were closed to her.
Finally
we meet Jairus, who has a twelve year old daughter
who is not merely sick, she is at the point of
death. Falling at the feet of the Lord,
he begs for the life of his young daughter.
But before Jesus has a chance to heal her, the word comes to Jairus that is the worst news that he could imagine. Are there words that could be more horrifying
than these? “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” These three situations give us evident signs
of death in a world full of sin and misery – a world where we find ourselves
overwhelmed by situations that are beyond us.
Words of Life
In the midst of these
accounts of despair we are treated to precious words of life from the Author of
life. He speaks with authority against
evil saying, “Come out of the man!” We
barely notice what He said, but there is little doubt that His word is
powerful. The results are staring you in
the face as 2000 piggies come to an early death.
We hear Him as He turns
around in the midst of a crowd of Jews and asks, “Who touched me?” Here is One who is
able to sense the need of the hopeless, and to hear the silent cry of the
desperate. Then come
words that speak of fullest restoration as a weary woman is welcomed back to
the cleansed family of God. “Daughter,
your faith has made you well. Go in
peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
He knows the deepest needs of the unclean and speaks words that make her
clean.
Finally, when the mourners
are already at their work, and yet are able to take a quick break to ridicule
the Lord of glory, He is able to speak this precious and powerful message. “The child is not dead, but sleeping.” And then, “Little girl, I say to you arise.”
Response:
Pleading With Jesus
I
must tell you that these words are extremely encouraging to my soul. The power of them is nothing short of
amazing. Of course, in Mark 5 everyone
is amazed by the strength and authority of Jesus, and you should be amazed as
well. Even the demons are amazed by His
presence.
Where
do you go after amazement? How do you
respond to such a power? The woman with
the bleeding problem was moved by His words to confess the whole truth in front
of everyone, and then to receive His word of blessing. She had been touched by Life, and she could
not help but admit it.
The reactions that interest
me the most are the two we read about in the first episode in this
chapter. The crowd reacts and the healed
man reacts. Both of them plead with
Jesus. The crowd pleads with Him to
leave their area. The healed man pleads
with Him to grant him permission to go with Jesus and the disciples as Jesus
goes back to the other side of the lake.
The gentile crowd is afraid
of this Jewish healer. They are afraid
of His power, and consider themselves safer without Him. The answer for the crowd is “Yes.” He will leave their region as they have
requested. The answer for the man is
“No.” He is told to stay where he is. He is to go home to His friends, and to tell
them what great things the Lord has done for him, and how He has had compassion
on him. Which would you prefer? The first is a cursed “yes.” The second is a blessed “no.” Jesus goes away from the area. He will not have a gentile convert for a
companion. The time for that part of the
Lord’s mission will come well after the resurrection. For now, we are left with this hint of the massive
power of the Lord that will soon bless the gentile world through the proclamation
of the gospel in he preaching of the church.
In
all of these episodes, the truth about Jesus Christ demands a response. We are to move beyond amazement to
worship. In Him we find true life.
He is the Potentate of Life,
HE WILL NOT BE STOPPED.
HE WILL BRING ABUNDANT LIFE.
Knowing Life
in a World of Death
How
do we know this powerful life today? The
One who has such restoration in His touch is now at the right hand of the
Father. Where do we go now for life? I think it is of great importance for us to
realize that this Jesus whom we love is alive.
He rules from His place of highest authority, and we are intimately
connected to Him in the church, since we are the body of Christ, and He is the
head.
We
are united to Him in His life. He has
lived for us in such a way that all of the fullness of righteousness that God
demands has been fulfilled in Him. And
we are in Him in His life as His body.
We are united to Him in His death.
All that God demanded from us as a satisfaction of our own guilt has
been accomplished through the cross. It
is finished, and we are in Him in this finished work of His death for His
people on the cross. We are united to
Him in His resurrection. All we could
have ever needed as evidence of the perfection of the life and death of Christ
for us is granted to us in His resurrection from the dead. And we are in Him in His resurrection from
the dead. Connected to Him in the body
of Christ, we are united to Him in His life, His death, and His resurrection.
The
world is still a place with much hopelessness and despair. The signs of death have not gone away in the
last two thousand years. The are still plainly evident. The world is still under the wrath and curse
of God. But there is a place where life
is to be known. There is a place where
good news is visible. This place is the
church. The
How to Change
the World
This
may seem strange, but let me suggest to you that the best thing you can do to
change the world is to worship God as the church throughout the world. I urge you to worship God and have life. Americans are a pragmatic people, and we want
to change the world. We are desperate
for success and we want to be useful. Nothing
could seem more useless to some of us than worship.
I
heard the story of a Korean pastor some time ago. He politely rebuked some of His American
colleagues who were presenting their ideas boldly concerning starting and
growing churches. They seemed to have it
all figured out. He said to them, “You
Americans are truly amazing. You can
start and grow a successful church without the Holy Spirit.” To us it often seems like it is just a matter
of the right message, the right money, the right people, the right marketing,
the right ministry methods, and out pops the church. God is just waiting for us to use the right
methods, and victory is at hand.
In
the face of American pragmatism, I want to suggest that it is not really the
first goal of the church to change the world.
But if you want to change the world, such as it can be changed, the very
best thing that you can do is to devote yourself in the fullest way to the
worship of God.
When
we are pragmatists first, and Christians second, our joy in worship is often
stolen away by our concerns that we are not as successful or useful as we ought
to be. But true joy in worship is due to
our joy in Christ, not in our ability to change the world, and not in our joy
for any lesser things.
This
world is full of signs of genuine life – a baby being born, the flowers
blooming, the smell of the ocean when you make your
first visit of the summer season, the kindness of friends. But this same world is also full of
enticements that promise life if you will only put them first. That baby being born is a great gift, yet if
she is first in your life, that good gift can become an obsession. Flowers – the ocean – friends – things get
out of place. The world and all that is
in the world – pleasures, knowledge, accomplishments – these things entice
us. They say, “Live for me! I am forever.” God says, “Don’t fall for it. I AM.”
This
city is perishing. There is another city
being built, and it will endure. The
church is a family of those who are helped through the city of death, and
enabled to have a share in the city of life.
It is a colony of heaven on earth where God renews His promises of life
to His people every week, and we say “Yes” again. That’s what we do when we worship. Everything less than that is much less than
that – the number of people – the building – the music – the… you name it. The thing that counts is covenant renewal
with God. It is a weekly engagement
commitment and celebration between the Lord who promises us life as our
husband, and His church throughout the world who promise that we will be
faithful and that we will wait for Him.
We renew covenant – not as two equal parties striking out a deal. He is the Great One. We are His servants. It is His to speak His Word of promise – “You
are my intended, and I will love you forever.”
It is ours to receive His promise by faith and to reply, “I will be true
to You. I will
be faithful. I won’t cheat on You. I will wait for You.” He renews
covenant with us, and we receive and believe again – and there is life in a
world of death – a life that will never end.
Does
this resonate in your soul? We
distinguish between liberal and conservative churches in
The
church is more important than
“I
will wait for You Lord. I won’t be
obsessed with lesser things that demand that I give myself to them. I will wait.
And I will be happy in You.” What do the Scriptures say? “Even the youths
shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall
utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They
shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They
shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-31) … “and having
done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13) – to wait in the colony of the heavenly city, in the midst of
the city of destruction, knowing that our Jesus has LIFE.
Conclusion:
“This train, she’s bound for glory…”
This
train, she’s bound for glory. It’s an
old folk song. God has made His church
to be that gospel train. It is the
visible kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is bound for glory. There is no other way to glory life, except
on that train. In the civil war movie
“Glory” actor Denzell Washington plays the character
of a slave who fights with the 54th regiment of
Some Questions
to Consider:
1.
Is there anything
significant about the “country of the Gadarenes”
region where Jesus healed the demoniac?
It is worth noting that this
was a Gentile region. Note the herd of
pigs. We would not expect to see this in
2.
Why does this
demon-possessed man worship Jesus even before he has been delivered from this
demonic oppression?
Lest we be confused, we need
to understand that this man was not in control of himself. He was not yet in his right mind. The actions that He performs are not his own,
but must be seen as the ruling of a foreign power that has taken up residence
in him. The question still remains, why would these demonic powers worship Jesus. This appears to be a desperate action on the
part of a demonic host that is well aware of the power of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They believe and tremble before
Him. They are desperate to stay in this
region – this Gentile land.
3.
What is the point of the
demonic name “Legion?”
The point behind this name
is simply that they were a demonic host, a large number of demonic agents completely overwhelming one gentile human being, created
in the image of God. They are cast into
2000 or so pigs as an amazing display of the power of Christ over the
formidable powers of evil that were harassing this man.
4.
Why did the citizens plead
with Jesus to leave the region?
They were afraid of Him. They were not able to see things
rightly. Any rejoicing that they might
have rightly experienced on account of the deliverance of their countryman, was more than compensated for by their fear of
the Man who had done this thing. They
may have been concerned that they would lose more of their property if He
remained with them.
5.
Why did Jesus instruct this
man to speak with his friends about his deliverance, when he has previously
told others not to tell anyone?
I think that we must not
forget that Jesus is in a Gentile land when this takes place. This means two things. First, there are not the same incorrect
messianic expectations that need to be guarded against as we find in
6.
Is there any significance to
the fact that Jairus was a ruler of the synagogue?
Again, this detail tells us
that we are back in Jewish territory.
Apart from that, there is no particular importance that need be given to
the fact that he was a notable person in the city. Jesus is not a respecter of persons.
7.
Is there any significance to
Jesus calling the woman with the bleeding problem “daughter?”
This is a very tender way to
speak to this woman, acknowledging her position in the family of the Lord. She has been unclean on account of her
bleeding for twelve years. Now the Lord
of life has declared her to be a part of the Lord’s family. Something new is happening in the
8.
How can we make good use of
these accounts of dramatic healing today?
These accounts speak
powerfully to us with many suggestive details that give us hope in the midst of
our own despair. Jesus is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. There is
hope for a wayward daughter who appears to be “dead.” There is health for a women
that has tried every effort of man and is still bleeding and desperate. There is deliverance for a man who seems
overcome by powers that are beyond him – a man who no one else can
control. Most of all, they display the
power of Jesus Christ our Lord, and this gives us new courage in the midst of
the challenges of this world of sin and misery.
9.
Is there any significance to
the intertwining of the accounts of the woman and the little girl who were both
healed?
They appear to be
deliberately intertwined. Note the
details of twelve years of life and twelve years of misery. In the Greek, the word “saved” is prominent
in both accounts. They both have tender
details that touch the hearts of the daughters of the covenant, showing the
love of Jesus for
precious women of God.