Anyone’s religion (or even anyone’s lack of religion) will work when there a human way to cope. It is only when facing the reality of death, for which man has absolutely no solution, that his religious systems break down. At that point, like no other time in life, man realizes that he needs more than a comfortable religion. He needs a savior.

There has seldom in modern times been a man who appeared to be more at peace with himself and others than Mahatma Gandhi. Yet Gandhi was not a Christian. He was a Hindu until the day of he was gunned down. Fifteen years before he died, he wrote: "Though I admire much in Christianity, I am unable to identify myself with orthodox Christianity...Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being, and I find a solace in the Bhagavad-Gita and Upanishads that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount."(1) Perhaps you know that Gandhi had at one time earlier in his life considered the claims of Christ but had rejected them because of inconsistencies he saw in some of the followers of Jesus. Hearing these things, it sounds almost like Gandhi had found something in his beloved Hinduism that was superior to the claims of Christ. But that isn’t the end of the story. Just before his death it is reported that Gandhi said these words: "My days are numbered. I am not likely to live very long, perhaps a year or a little more. For the first time in fifty years I find myself in the slough of despond."(2)

Finding comfort in one’s religion amid the difficulties of life is one thing. While one could hardly argue the fact that Gandhi had more than his share of trouble, facing the reality of death is a different issue. Anyone’s religion (or even anyone’s lack of religion) will work when there is a human way to cope. It is only when facing the reality of death, for which man has absolutely no solution, that his religious systems break down. At that point, like no other time in life, man realizes that he needs more than a comfortable religion. He needs a savior.

Josh McDowell in his classic work, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, says that Canadian scientist G. B. Hardy one time said, "When I looked at religion I said, ‘I have two questions. One, has anybody ever conquered death, and two, if they have, did they make a way for me to conquer death?’ I checked the tomb of Buddha, and it was occupied, and I checked the tomb of Confucius and it was occupied, and I checked the tomb of Mohammed and it was occupied, and I came to the tomb of Jesus and it was empty. And I said, ‘There is one who conquered death.’ And I asked the second question, ‘Did He make a way for me to do it?’ And I opened the Bible and discovered that He said, 'Because I live ye shall live also.’"

The Bible claims again and again that this man called Jesus of Nazareth had confidence in the face of death, that He had a deep concern for man’s mortality, and that He actually had the competence to deliver life from the dead. For anyone who has come to realize that he needs more than a comfortable or convenient religion, indeed that he needs a savior, this is music to the ears.

Mark 5:21-43 is where I’d like to take you this morning. Its a passage in which we see Jesus’ power over death very clearly illustrated in a miracle - no actually we see it in two miracles - or even better yet, in a miracle inside a miracle. If that sounds confusing, I’ll explain as we go through the passage. The account begins in verse 21 with a desperate man’s request:

What father of a precious young daughter or daughters cannot relate to this man’s plight? Verse 42 tells us that his little girl was only 12 years old. According to Jewish law she was in the first year of her womanhood. You men who have watched your daughters grow up through those tender years know how strongly you feel about protecting them. If you are any kind of a father at all, for the better part of two decades you are their primary protector. You’ll do anything; even put yourself at risk for her sake. I’ve raised two daughters myself, and while in the midst of their upbringing, I found few emotions stronger than my determination to defend them.

The father in this account was no different. As a synagogue official, he surely knew that Jesus was a controversial figure – even one who was hated by some of his colleagues in Judaism. Those who approached Jesus of Nazareth from the religious intelligentsia had to be cautious lest they become the object of scorn among their peers. Remember the timid Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night?

But to this man, no career risk could stand in the way of his role as protector of his daughter. Caution to the wind! His little girl was dying and for her he would risk anything. Anything! But alas? What could he do? To whom could he go? Everyone within his knowledge was affected by the same impotence when it came to dealing with death. No one could stop it!

But he had heard the reports. He had seen the claims. This Jesus of Nazareth, controversial though He was, could work miracles. Some even said he could raise the dead. Now, having come to the area of the seashore where Jesus was preaching, he fell on his face at the feet of the Savior and pleaded, "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, that she may get well and live."

My inflections are not adequate to portray the desperate nature of this man’s plea to Jesus for help.

Setting this man’s understandably desperate pleas aside for now, I want you to look at Jesus’ response. Mark says, "And He went off with him…." Matthew, in his account of this incident, says, "Jesus rose and began to follow him…."(3) No hesitation. No back-peddling. No equivocation. No conditions. No sending the team ahead to set things up for a charlatan’s religious show. "Your daughter is dying? Let’s roll!"

Here we see Jesus’ claim of power over death in:

When I take my car to a mechanic when there is something seriously wrong with it, I don’t want the guy to tell me, "Well, I don’t know whether I can fix it or not. I’ve managed to repair a few of the cars that have come through here, but I’m really not too sure of myself. Maybe I’ll give it a try."

Jesus wasn’t like that. His claims of power over death in the Bible resound with confidence!

Standing by the grave of his beloved friend Lazarus, flanked by a weeping Mary and a peeved Martha who had just climbed all over Him for being late, this Jesus of Nazareth boomed in the confident voice of authority, "Lazarus come forth!" I heard a preacher remark one time that had Jesus neglected to specify the name Lazarus, all of dead humanity would have been popping out of the ground!

These are not the tentative words of a mechanic who isn’t quite sure how to turn a wrench! These are words of confidence from One who knows what He is talking about – One who can give spirit to a lifeless corpse because He was the One who made man. It’s the same confidence shown by this Jesus of Nazareth throughout his ministry right up to the day of his own death and beyond.

"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,"(5) He said to His detractors of the coming resurrection of is own physical body.

My friends, one of these days you and I are going to die. In the face of that fact we had better have a plan and that plan had better be based on One who knows what He’s talking about! Just any old religion at that point won’t do. Jesus’ confidence has my attention? Does it have yours?

Let’s move on. As they headed for the home of this synagogue official, there was an interruption in the procession. Verse 25:

The grief of Jairus in this story is matched by the desperation of this sick woman. While presumably the official’s daughter had enjoyed 12 short years of joy with her father before being stricken by an illness or an accident, this woman had known 12 long years of suffering. Not only was she weakened from the constant bleeding, she was also banished from human interaction due to the restrictions of Jewish law. Those with an issue of blood were unclean and could not participate in any part of Jewish society that involved contact with other people. If anyone so much as touched her hand or even touched the bed she slept on or the chair she sat on, he or she would have to take a bath and would be ceremonially unclean for the rest of the day. How would you feel if, after you shook someone’s hand, they exclaimed, "Oh No!" and quickly ran away to take a bath? Her condition was not unlike that of lepers in that day.

Why did this woman come to Jesus? Why not go to a doctor? Because she had already spent all of her money on doctors and not only had it not helped, it had actually made her worse! If you read about the level of medicine they had in that day you’ll better understand Mark’s statement about the physicians of his day. Luke, a physician, who also tells this story, leaves that part about the impotence of the doctors out of his account.

What did this woman have to hope for in life? Very little, except for a cure. She would have no friends. No family. No other people could even touch her. She needed someone who had true power to heal and would be willing to use it! But how could she possibly get close to Jesus? What if she were exposed? What if He sensed her presence and banished her?

We have to realize, my friends, what kind of a risk this woman took to do what she did. Can you imagine what would have happened had she approached any other rabbi in that day?

But it isn’t entirely the woman I want you to notice. Once again, I want you to look at Jesus. He had the power to heal this woman, but He was already on a mission. Not only that, but associating with one in her condition might lose Him some followers. But all such considerations were trumped by the second thing I want you to see in this passage Him. We’ve seen His confidence against death. Now we see:

Verse 30:

Jesus was a busy man! He was on a mission to save the world! And right now he was on the road with an important official in the local synagogue, which might play well in His desire to reach out to the people in the area with His message. How is it that He would have the time to talk to one like this outcast?

Yet He did just that. "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."

That word "daughter" appears two times in Mark’s account: Once it describes the beloved daughter of the synagogue official and once it describes this woman. Two precious daughters are brought together here. But you’ll only see this second one if you sense the concern Jesus had for this woman. Perhaps Mark is trying to point out to us that the same thing that Jairus felt for his little daughter dying at home as they traveled along, Jesus felt for this outcast woman. "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."

My friends, you need more than just a religion that makes things easier in the good times. You need more than just "something to believe in" that gives you stability in life and a way to cope. You need a Savior who knows He can save you and you need a Savior who cares about the biggest problem of your life – your mortality!

Jesus fits that bill on both accounts. He is confident and He is concerned.

But we’re not finished yet. While this woman was experiencing for the first time what it meant to be totally healed after 12 years of constant suffering, messengers from the synagogue official’s house arrived with some very bad news. Verse 35:

Have you ever received the news that someone you love very much has died? It hits your mind with the force of freight train! I have seen people utterly collapse on the spot when informed of the death of a loved one.

And the world’s attitude is about like that of these bearers of the bad news. "Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher anymore?" All hope is gone. There is no way to reverse what has happened. The finality of death has arrived and no one now can change things."

You might remember that Jesus, though He knew of the power of resurrection, still wept at the news of the death of His friend Lazarus. I’ve always wondered why He wept when He knew He would soon raise His friend. The only thing I’ve ever been able to come up with is that He was weeping for Mary and Martha as He observed their grief. And He was weeping for us. He was weeping for all those made in God’s image and devastatingly hopeless effect death has on us. Perhaps, too, He was weeping because He knew that even though He brought proof of resurrection from the dead with Him when He came to earth, most people would reject it and thus remain subject to it.

But Jesus wasn’t weeping here – a least none of the gospel writers say He was. Instead He was reaching out to steady this faltering father’s faith. Jairus was understandably shattered. Verse 36:

That’s the same mistake that many make today when they hear Jesus’ claims about His power over death and just brush them off. They laugh. Isn’t it amazing how the people in that house so supposedly caught up in mourning could suddenly laugh in ridicule at one who brought with Him a remedy? But those who laughed at Him that day would soon enough see their deriding laughter turn into mourning while those who truly mourned that day would see their mourning turn into laughter. "Blessed are those who mourn," Jesus had said in the Sermon on the Mount, "for they shall be comforted."(6)

There would very soon be no need for mourning in the house of Jairus that day. Jesus knew it. His disciples and the parents of the little girl were about to find out. Jesus put all the unbelievers out. Their heartless laughter, which could easily turn into unkind gaping, had earned them no place among those who would rejoice in the resurrection that was about to happen. Verse 40:

Jesus showed His claim of power over death in His confidence in coming without hesitation to the house of this synagogue official. He showed his willingness to share His power over the things that devastate us in the concern He showed to both the official and the woman with the hemorrhage. (And by the way, if we had the time I’d make a case for his impartiality here as well. He helped the official and he helped the outcast – His concern was for all men and women, without consideration of their earthly status or lack thereof. The only requirement He had was that they realize their need and come to Him humbly.)

We’ve seen the Lord’s rock solid confidence. We’ve seen His kindly concern. Finally here, in the resurrection of this twelve year old girl, we see:

By that I mean that Jesus offered more than a claim. He actually did raise this girl from the dead.

Can you imagine the joy of Jairus? His beautiful little girl is back. She’s well. Here eyes are bright again. The ashen color of death has departed. She’s fully restored! She’s alive!

Can you imagine the joy of the woman Jesus healed on the way to the home of Jairus? She’s whole again. She can walk among other people. She’s healed! You can bet that exactly seven days after Jesus healed her, the waiting period in the Jewish law for re-entering society after being pronounced "well," this woman was laughing and skipping and singing and kissing those around here and shaking their hands.

Jesus’ caused a lot of joy that day when he healed the woman with the doctor bills and when He raised the daughter of the synagogue official. But if you think that’s great, you haven’t seen anything yet. Imagine the joy that is yet to happen when all the dead in Christ over all time are raised, never to die again!

Don’t join those who laughed in derision in the home of Jairus the synagogue official. Join those who will laugh and rejoice when they see and feel life in their dead bodies again after the resurrection.

When I started this message I made the statement that anyone’s religion (or even lack of the same) can provide comfort in times of difficulty in this life. But manmade religion and self-dependence fall apart when serious illness and death come near. At that point you need more than a religion. At that point you need a Savior and Jesus is the only one who fits that bill.

"I am the resurrection and the life" He said. "He who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die."(7)

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place.

1. See My Hinduism is Not Exclusive at:
http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap17.htm
2. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Commentary on Matthew, (c) Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2002
3. Matthew 9:19
4. John 11:25-26
5. John 2:19
6. Matthew 5:4
7. John 11:25-26

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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