William Alexander, in his book, The $64 Tomato, asks the question, “If you were doomed to live the same life over and over again for eternity, would you choose the life you are living now? The question is interesting enough,” he says, “but … the point of asking it is really the unspoken, potentially devastating follow-up question. That is, if the answer is no, then why are you living the life you are living now? Stop making excuses, and do something about it.” (William Alexander, The $64 Tomato, Algonquin Books, 2007, p. 245; www.PreachingToday.com)
I like the sentiment, but what do we do when we can’t do something about it, because there is nothing else to do? What do we do when there are no other alternatives? What do we do when life seems hopeless?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Mark 5, Mark 5, where a father finds himself in just such a predicament.
Mark 5:21-24 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. (NIV)
What do you do when life seems hopeless? You do what this father did. Come to Jesus, and trust Him with your problems.
BELIEVE IN HIM.
Depend on Him, even if all your friends despise Him.
As one of the synagogue rulers, this man was responsible for the physical management of the synagogue building and the worship services. He was a respected leader in the community; but unlike the other religious leaders that wanted to kill Jesus (Mark 3:6), he looked to Jesus for help when he had a need. He didn’t care what his peers thought. His little girl was dying, and Jesus was his only hope.
His desperation led him to depend on Jesus, and that’s where our desperation needs to lead us, as well. We can’t worry about what our friends think. We just need to trust Jesus if we’re going to see our lives change.
For more than 30 years, Gordon Mackenzie worked at Hallmark, eventually convincing the company to create a special title for him: "creative paradox." Along with challenging corporate normalcy at Hallmark, MacKenzie did a lot of creativity workshops for elementary schools. And those workshops led to a fascinating observation that he shares in his book Orbiting the Giant Hairball.
MacKenzie would ask the kids upfront: “How many artists are there in the room?” And he said the pattern of responses never varied.
In the first grade, the entire class waved their arms like maniacs. Every child was an artist. In the second grade, about half of the kids raised their hands. In the third grade, he'd get about 10 out of 30 kids. And by the time he got to the sixth grade, only 1 or 2 kids would tentatively and self-consciously raise their hands.
All the schools he went to seemed to be involved in “the suppression of creative genius.” They weren't doing it on purpose, but society's goal is to make us less foolish. As MacKenzie says, “From the cradle to the grave, the pressure is on: Be normal.” (Mark Batterson, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Multnomah, 2006, p. 152; www.PreachingToday.com)
Conform. Don’t be different. You see, conformity is the name of the game in our world; but if all we do is conform to what others think and do, then we’ll never see change in our own lives or in our world.
Thomas Watson, at one time IBM’s chairman of the board, put it this way: “Strangely, the expounders of many of the great new ideas of history were frequently considered on the lunatic fringe for some or all of their lives. If one stands up and is counted, from time to time one may get knocked down. But remember this: a man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.” (Thomas J. Watson, Jr., Chairman of Board, IBM, Leadership, Vol.1, no.1; www.PreachingToday.com)
So don’t allow yourself to be flattened by conformity. Instead, depend on Christ even if none of your friends do.
John Stott talks about a trip he made to India where he heard of a little Hindu girl brought up in a strict Hindu family. Then she met some Christians, and somebody asked her what she thought a Christian was. She thought for a few moments and replied, “Well as far as I can see, a Christian is somebody who is different from everybody else.” Stott comments, “Would that it was true.” (John Stott, “Christians: Salt and Light,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 109; www.PreachingToday.com) You see…
A real Christian believes in Jesus even when nobody else does. A real Christian doesn’t conform to this world’s attitudes, but rather lives to transform his world. I like the way G. K. Chesterton once put it: “We do not want…a church that will move WITH the world. We want a church that will MOVE the world. (G.K. Chesterton, “The New Witness,” Christianity Today, Vol. 30 no. 8; www.PreachingToday.com)
Let these desperate times lead us to depend on Jesus even if it is politically incorrect to do so. Then and only then will we see change in our own lives; then and only then may we also change the world! When life seems hopeless, believe in Jesus even if none of your friends do. More than that…
BELIEVE IN JESUS EVEN IF HE DELAYS.
Trust Christ even if he seems slow in coming to your aid. Depend on the Lord even if he seems to be in no hurry to help.
That’s what this father had to do. Put yourself in his shoes. You’re in desperate need for Jesus. Your little girl is at the point of death, and you need Jesus to heal her right NOW before it is eternally too late. But there is a crowd pressing in on Jesus, slowing Him down.
Mark 5:25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. (NIV)
I.e., she had a chronic menstrual disorder which made her “unclean” and ostracized her from family and friends, lest they too become “unclean” (Leviticus 15:25-27). From the father’s point of view, this woman’s issue wasn’t near as urgent as his daughter’s. She had had her condition for 12 years. She could certainly wait just a little while longer until AFTER Jesus took care of his daughter. But no…
Mark 5:26-28 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” (NIV)
Perhaps she thought there was some magical power in Jesus’ clothes.
Mark 5:29-30 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt [literally, she KNEW] in her body that she was freed [or healed] from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” (NIV)
“Aaaahhh! Jesus, don’t stop! My daughter needs you NOW!” Can you just imagine what’s going through that father’s head? Even Jesus’ disciples don’t understand him.
Mark 5:31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” (NIV)
Everybody is touching you. How can you ask a question like that?
Mark 5:32-34 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (NIV)
There was no magic in Jesus’ clothes. It was her faith that had made her well, and look at what Jesus calls her – “daughter” (vs.34). The crowds thronged Him, but this woman trusted Him. And that made all the difference in the world. She found love – Jesus called her “daughter,” loving her as much as that father loved his own dying daughter. And she found healing – not just physical healing, but spiritual and emotional healing, as well.
Jesus told her, “Your faith has healed you” – literally, your faith has SAVED YOU. Her faith saved her not only from physical sickness, but also from the loneliness and bitterness that such sickness can bring. And now, she is in a new relationship with Jesus. She is part of His spiritual family (cf. Mark 3:35).
Faith in Christ makes all the difference in the world. It doesn’t matter HOW MUCH faith you have. It only matters WHO you put your faith in. So, if your situation seems hopeless, believe in Jesus. Trust Him as this woman did, and as this father must do even though Jesus delays His help.
You see, Jesus stopped not only for the woman’s benefit, but for the father’s benefit, as well. This man was learning some very important lessons and having his own faith strengthened in the process. 1st, he learned that Jesus really does care for all kinds of people – not only for a wealthy, respected man like himself, but also for a bankrupt, outcast like this woman. And 2nd, he learned that Jesus is never in a hurry, especially when it comes to caring for people. He is no slave to the urgent. Rather, He is Lord.
He has all authority over demons, disease, and even death, and we need to trust him as such. We need to depend on Him even if He does delay his help. We need to believe in Him even if He is not on our time schedule.
Marcia Hornor, from Salt Lake City, Utah, writes in the Christian Reader about the day her 4-year-old daughter was scheduled for surgery at 11:30 a.m. She and her husband were becoming anxious as time passed and no one came to get her. Finally at 12:30, the surgeon arrived at her room. Knowing her husband was a minister, the doctor asked if many people were praying for this surgery.
Edgy from the delay, Marcia said, “They were praying for you an hour ago.”
With a smile, he shot back, “Thanks. That surgery went very well.” (Marcia Hornor, Salt Lake City, Utah, “Lite Fare,” Christian Reader)
As a rule, we don’t like to wait – not for doctors and certainly not for our Lord. But our Lord’s delays are not denials. On the contrary, He delays only to delight us even more!
J. Hudson Taylor, a 19th century English missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission, once said, “If we are kept waiting, the spiritual blessing that is the outcome is far more precious than exemption from the trial” (“Money II,” Christian History, Issue 19). Henri Nouwen put it this way: “Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.” And Eugene Peterson said it best in his paraphrase of Romans 8:22-25: “Waiting does not diminish us any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting” (The Message). So trust Christ even if He does make you wait.
When life SEEMS hopeless, believe in Jesus even if none of your friends do. Believe in Jesus even if He delays His help, and …
BELIEVE IN JESUS EVEN IF IT’S TOO LATE TO HOPE ANYMORE.
Trust in the Lord even after time has run out and there is no prospect of help. Depend on Christ even when a death occurs, because Jesus specializes in resurrections. That’s what this father has to do.
Mark 5:35-36 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (NIV)
Or better, “stop fearing; keep on believing.” The man had already exercised faith in coming to Jesus. Now, he shouldn’t let even his daughter’s death stop him from believing anymore.
Mark 5:37-38 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. (NIV)
These were the paid mourners.
Mark 5:39-40a He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. (NIV)
They didn’t believe Him. They didn’t believe that this child would get up again. Oh, she was certainly dead, but Jesus can raise the dead just as if they were only asleep. And so…
Mark 5:40b-42 After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. (NIV)
Literally, “they were out of their minds with great amazement.” It’s the same word used in Mark 3:21 where they accused Jesus of being “out of his mind.”
Mark 5:43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. (NIV)
The girl had been raised from the dead, but she still needed to eat. You see, Jesus not only takes care of the spectacular, He takes care of the mundane aspects of life as well.
So trust him for everything. Depend on the Lord for the little issues as well as the impossible ones. For even death is not the end for the believer in Christ.
In the fall of 1991, Jerry Sittser was driving a minivan when a drunk driver jumped its lane and smashed headfirst into the van. Sittser and three of his children survived, but his wife, his 4-year-old child, and his mother died in the crash. After many years of reflecting on loss, grief and suffering, Sittser wrote a book just last year (2012) called A Grace Revealed. In the book, he shares the story about how his son, David, responded to the tragic accident.
David is quiet and reflective; and after the accident, he was the least likely to talk about it. But when he chose to talk, he usually had something significant to say or ask. Sittser says, “Our best conversations happened in the car.”
On one occasion, when David was eight, they were driving to a soccer match some distance from their home. Typical for those occasions, David was quiet. “The car was full of silence – not a heavy silence,” Sittser says, “but a liquid silence, as if some question was brewing inside him.”
Then suddenly David asked, “Do you think Mom sees us right now?”
Jerry Sittser paused a moment to think. Then he said, “I don't know, David. I think maybe she does see us. Why do you ask?”
David said, “I don't see how she could, Dad. I thought Heaven was full of happiness. How could she bear to see us so sad?”
Again, Jerry was forced to think: “Could Lynda witness our pain in Heaven? How could that be possible? How could she bear it?”
Finally, Jerry said, “I think she does see us. But she sees the whole story, including how it all turns out, which is beautiful to her. It's going to be a good story, David.” (Jerry Sittser, A Grace Revealed, Zondervan, 2012, pp.138-139; www.PreachingToday.com)
And that’s the way it is for everyone who believes in Jesus. No matter what happens, no matter how tragic the loss, it’s going to be a good story! So Believe in Jesus even if no one else does. Believe in Jesus even if he delays his help. And believe in Jesus even in the face of death, because for the believer there is always hope! In the end, it’s going to be a good story!
