03-20-22 “Reaching up to hold Daddy’s hand”

Scripture   Mark 5:21-43

          Have you ever felt physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, economically, or relationally tired or exhausted? Have you ever been in the midst of a rough time and you just need a break, you can’t hardly stand it any more? Have you ever felt at the end of your rope, like you just can’t hang on any longer? Or like you are on a bike racing downhill and you forgot how to break? (Me at Put-in-Bay on a bike) Have you ever been in a situation where you need someone to tell you “It will be alright.”? Have you ever gotten 18” of string but a lot more would have made things better?
          By example, On his way to the cross, Jesus shows us how to find strength, comfort and peace in the midst of tough situations, and then by who he is, he shows us how he wants to give us more than a small piece of string.
 
          Let’s look at his example as he is about to face the toughest moments of his life on earth. Remember that besides being God, he is also fully human and feels the same physical and emotional kinds of pain that we suffer from. Not only was he facing, being spat upon, ridiculed, having thorns crushed in his head, sleep deprivation, having his back whipped to shreds, having to carry his own cross and then be nailed to that cross and crucified, he was also facing his 3 closest friends and partners in ministry sleeping when he begged them to stay awake to pray with him, one disciple who would betray him to the Roman authorities, his strongest disciple who would deny evening know him, not once but 3 times, his band of followers would disband so they would not be associated with him as he was on trial and facing death. During his last teachable moments it still seemed like his disciples were not understanding what he was teaching them and he was about to leave his movement, his kingdom, his church in their hands.
 
          You can look in books and on the internet and even in the bible to see what Jesus did during his last week, when he had the advantage of knowing he was facing the cross. When my mom knew she was dying, she got to tie up loose ends and say goodbye to everyone. Jesus has a week to make sure the disciples are ready to take charge and change the world. So go ahead and find one of those charts people have made of his last week and see what Jesus was doing on his very last Sabbath (Saturday) before his crucifixion. Check out and see what Matthew says Jesus was doing on that last Sabbath – I’ll help – Matthew records nothing about what Jesus did that day. So, check out Mark. Nothing. Luke? Nothing. Ok surely John will fill us in as to what Jesus was doing with less than a week before his crucifixion? John mentions nothing. We have no detail as to what Jesus was doing on that day – there was no teaching, no miracle, no direction, no activing, no movement from one place to another. There is nothing to record. WHY? Because, even though Jesus was facing the most difficult thing imaginable, even he knew he had to take a day for Sabbath. He needed to worship and rest.
          We try to make things better or handle things ourselves by doing more. Not Jesus – 6 days before His death – he purposely chose to do less and reach His hand out in worship for his Father’s hand and spend the day resting in him. That allowed him to make it better through the week that was coming.
 
OUTSTRETCHED HAND
          Let’s go to a previous Sabbath to learn a principal about how Jesus can help us through our tough times.  Matthew 12:9-13  Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
 
          God reaching out for us and us reaching out for God is a very common symbol of great importance. The world’s most famous religious art “The creation of Adam” depicts God reaching out to Adam (Creation of Adam SLIDE). Let’s bring this idea of reaching out for God more into our contemporary setting.

 

There is nothing sweeter than when you are walking and your child (or grandchild) reaches up to hold your hand as you walk.
(Holding Daddy’s Hand Illustration to get back home)
There was a dad who used to walk around the block every afternoon, after work, with his daughter. One day he decided to make a grand adventure and go to another, unfamiliar, block with his daughter. Houses, people, pets she had never seen. “Do you know how to get home?” “No” “Does that make you worried?” “No” “Why not?” As she reaches up for his hand, “because I don’t know the way home, but you do daddy”
          Let’s look at a biblical example of two intertwined stories about our reaching out for God during tough times and God, in Christ, reaching out for us.
 
JAIRUS AND TALITHA KOUM
***Mark 5:21-43
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. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 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." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed 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?" "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'" 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."
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." 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. He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep."  40 But they laughed at him. 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. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
 
There are many examples in scripture of reaching out to God and God reaching out to us in times of our great need:
Matt 14:25-33 PETER WALKS ON WATER
Peter beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.
 
Mark 1:29-31
Peter’s mother-in-law was sick, so Jesus went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her.
 
Mark 1:40-42
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing, be clean!"  Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
 
Mark 9:17-27
Jesus removed an evil spirit from a boy and after convulsing, everyone thought the boy was dead, but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
 

 CONCLUSION

A story I often use at funerals for older people who have shared with me they are tired of living with a low quality of life and they are ready to meet Jesus face to face. They are exhausted, like some of you thought about yourself with the questions I asked at the beginning.
 
Gretchen reaching for my coattails because she wanted to be with me.
 
John 10:24-30
The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."