Mark 5:21-43.                     Laughable or astonishing??                                            28/6/15

²¹ 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. ²² Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³ He 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.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

³⁷ He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. ³⁸ When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹ 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. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). ⁴² Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³ He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Here today we have another most astonishing display from this Jesus that we follow. Again surely we are left in absolute awe of this One who can do the impossible, without a blink of the eye. Yet what do we find, people, then and today do and say when Jesus says and does things which are out of the box and doesn’t conform to the current thinking of this world? They laugh at him.

Sadly today all around us we have people laugh off Jesus’ miracles and talk of the significance of him and his death and resurrection. They readily scoff at any talk about Jesus being more than a great teacher or example for us to follow. Our society today is hell-bent on ridiculing Jesus and his importance for life and salvation.

Even though they all know deep down there is a God over all, their rebellion is such that they deny his existence and laugh off any talk of him. . More and more there is this utter contempt and  rejection of this one who can and does make a huge difference to life and death. In our arrogance we want to be subject to no one – free to do as we please.

This last week we have seen further evidence of this obscene push to rid God and his Word from influence in our western world. Homosexual marriage is now a right in America and so Australia will follow very soon. More and more humanism is pushing God and his influence out of life. Evolution, abortion and now homosexual marriage are the tip of the iceberg.

Like Jairus’ daughter, our society is dying. The impact of all of these decisions is slowly but surely sucking the life out of our western world.  Many people already are losing purpose and hope. Drugs, suicides and all kinds of addictions are symptoms of the destruction that we are bringing on ourselves.

The bigger problem however is the fact that we don’t even want to acknowledge that there is a problem here. Our academic and media are telling us that all of this is a good thing.  So God is no longer even looked to or acknowledged as being relevant or having anything to say in this regard. In fact they laugh and scoff at any mention of him. That being the case the sickness is terminal.

Sadly, even in the church these days, we have many who, may not laugh in the same way, but they are quite ready to down play and even try to accommodate this thinking into the life of the church. The thinking seems to be that we need to be in with the world if we are going to be able to get the Christian message across. The world will only laugh at us if we do not go along with these things.

Along with that we can see what happens when this thinking creeps into the church. More and more as we go along with these things, they become part of life for many even in the church. Here we only need to think of abortion and sex outside of marriage to how this has crept right into the heart of the church. We then change what Scriptures clearly says in order to accommodate this thinking. Then before long we find that sin is no longer focussed on; and the follow on from that, talk of Jesus and his death on the cross are less and less spoken of.

Because the bible and Jesus are no longer adhered to the church is then seen as less and less relevant to life. So as we are seeing, the church too then slowly dies. Because the Bible is no longer held up as God’s Word in its entirety, the church slowly slips away from being what God would have us be. The world can laugh because the church has become an absurdity .

But again here today we are reminded of just how great and powerful this Jesus really is. He can and does bring back to life that which is dead. This is absolutely astonishing! Surely we can and want to stay close to and follow this one who can do all these things for us.

But most importantly of all we know that this Jesus went on to die on the cross so that we can have life with God for all eternity. He himself was raised to life so that we can be sure that there is life beyond death for all who are connected to this Jesus.

So if he has done all of this for us, surely we will take him seriously in everything that he has to say to us. We know that since he created everything he knows what life is all about and what is important. So we will take what he says to us in the Bible seriously, knowing that what is in the Scriptures is all his Word. Everything there is true, right and good for us and for our lives as his people.

So instead of trying to change it to accommodate the thinking of the day, we will stand by what he says and follow it closely even if it doesn’t fit with our own thinking, - even if we are laughed at. God does not tell us to do that which would be bad for us. Instead we know that it is good for us and our relationships with one another and for the good of his kingdom.

Also, surely by now we have come to realize that we as sinful human beings get it wrong again and again; as has happened all the way down through the ages. When we have, in our wisdom, thought we can ignore and change God’s word to suit ourselves, we have come unstuck and have brought nothing but trouble and hardship on ourselves.

Knowing that will make us ever so careful to ensure that we do not move away from his word or change it to suit ourselves. Instead we look to him with complete confidence, knowing that he has the power and wisdom to do the impossible so that we can have life – life in all of its fullness.

When the church has stood in astonishment before the Lord and his Word it has been able to stand strong in the midst of whatever it was facing.

Take Luther and the early Lutheran Church; as it held firmly to God’s Word with full confidence in God, it was able to stand firm and strong in the face of the adversities that it faced from the Roman Catholic Church and the world around it.

This week is the anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession where the Lutherans were asked to make their statement of faith before the Emperor and his attempts to bring all people of faiths together so that he could have a united front against the Muslims who were at the country’s doorstep. In that statement the Lutherans clearly stated what God’s word said with regard to what is important for their faith, and what makes for unity and what they also rejected.

For them there was no downplaying of the truth of God’s word or accepting a unity with the world around them that was attempting to ignore, change and lessen the substance of what God had to say in the Bible. That strong stand brought about many blessings following it.

So we thank God for our Lutheran forefathers and their Augsburg Confession. But now we need to learn from it in our time as we face many attempts for us to water down and even change God’s word in order that we not be out of step with the world around us.

We too can be sure that we have a powerful and awesome God at work today who will sustain us and bring blessing into our world through the power of his word. He can raise up Jairus’ daughter from the dead and he then can surely keep us as we hold fast to him and his word. So in astonishment at our God and who he is and what he has done for us in and through Jesus Christ let us give him all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish