Sermon Tone Analysis

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."

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"Faith and Freedom"

(Mark  5:21-43)

*INTRODUCTION:*

            During World War II, a General and one of his Lieutenants were travelling

from their base to a base in another state.

They were forced to travel with civilians aboard a passenger train.

They found their compartment, where two other folks were already seated.

There they found an attractive young lady and her grandmother.

The four of them had a friendly visit for most of the trip, at least until the train entered a long and rather dark tunnel.

Once inside the tunnel, the passengers in this particular car heard two distinct sounds: the first was the smooch of a kiss; and the second was the loud sound of a slap.

Each of the four travelers aboard the train had a different perspective on what happened.

The young lady thought to herself how glad she was that the young Lieutenant got up the courage to kiss her, but she was somewhat disappointed at her grandmother for slapping him for doing it.

The General thought to himself how proud he was of his young Lieutenant for being enterprising enough to find that opportunity to kiss the attractive young lady, but he was a little bit flabbergasted that she slapped him instead of the Lieutenant.

The grandmother was flabbergasted to think that the young Lieutenant would have the gall to kiss her grand-daughter, but she was proud of her grand- daughter for slapping him for doing it.

The Lieutenant sat there trying to hold back his laughter, because he found the perfect opportunity to kiss an attractive young girl and slap his superior officer all at the same time!

As most of you know, sometimes it's all in how you look at something that gives it its meaning.

That's partly what this passage is all about.

This passage has often been called the healing on the way to a healing and you can see why.

What takes place in the lives of the folks involved, gives them each a new perspective on the meaning and purpose of life.

*I.

JAIRUS'S CRY FOR HELP:*

*            A.*

The events told here by Mark are high drama, in every sense of the word.

This is the morning after one of the strangest nights in the history of the ten cities.

If you remember, Jesus calmed the wind and the waves of a sudden storm while he and the disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee.

Then he healed the man possessed by a Legion of demons.

After having been asked to leave town, Jesus and the Disciples have crossed back over to the other side.

Again, it didn't take long for the crowds to begin to gather.

They probably saw his boat coming and met it with cheers and adoration, waiting expectantly for the next great thing to happen.

And it did, not just one, but two things, nested together.

Jesus was there by the sea, getting ready to preach and teach again when along came Jairus.

That was no small feat for Jairus.

Jairus had to put aside his personal pride, dignity, and his prejudices to come to Jesus.

You see, he was a leader of the synagogue.

Sort of the Lay Leader and Associate pastor all rolled into one.

He was in charge of the good management of the synagogue and the conduct of its services.

He was one of the powerful people and under different circumstances, he probably would have been part of the contingent questioning, ridiculing and opposing Jesus that day.

But on this day, we see him throw all caution to the wind.

He throws out all accepted standards of behavior.

He throws out all of his built in prejudices against this upstart preacher and falls at this stranger's feet.

Jairus didn't know Jesus.

He didn't know if all the things he had heard were true or whether Jesus was a charlatan with a good side show routine.

But none of that mattered at the moment.

Something far heavier outweighed caution, pride, dignity and social standing.

And what was it?ü

The only thing that mattered to Jairus at that moment was the fact that his daughter was desperately ill, sick unto death.

Jairus was no longer concerned about the social amenities.

Jairus was only a desperately worried father seeking help and healing for his little girl.

As the scripture says, he fell at Jesus' feet and begged him repeatedly, /"My/ /little/ /daughter/ /is/ /at/ /the/ /point/ /of/ /death./

/Come/ /and/ /lay/ /your/ /hands/ /on/ /her,/ /so/ /that/ /she/ /may/ /be/ /made/ /well,/ /and/ /live."/

*B.*

You can hear the anguish in his voice.

I remember when our oldest son, Paul was seven.

He had received an Evel Kneivel bicycle with all the trimmings, including a speedometer, for his birthday.

The parsonage was at the top of a hill on a gravel road.

Paul decided he wanted to see how fast he could go on that bicycle.

He was paying more attention to the speedometer than he was to where he was going and he hit a deep chuck hole and wrecked.

Two young women saw the wreck.

One of them came to the door and told us what had happened.

I know our memories play tricks on us sometimes, and sometimes we only

remember the impressions of the event or what we want to remember.

In my mind I can still see her carrying Paul's limp body up that hill.

I really don't remember if Paul was really unconscious or not.

All I really remember is the blood.

His chin was busted wide open.

I don't even remember who drove, I think Mary did, with me holding Paul but it might have been the other way around.

I do remember the emergency room and the anguish I felt as I held Paul's head, praying and giving him word's of comfort and encouragement while the doctor stitched up his chin.

I know how Jairus felt that day.

You could have put all the things on my wish list, everything that I had ever dreamed of owning, in front of me at that moment and I would have walked right past them.

All I could see was that my son was hurt and needed my help.

That's how Jairus felt.

That's why he fell at Jesus' feet.

Jesus felt the anguish that Jairus felt.

He felt the desperation in his voice and saw it in his eyes.

Jesus heard Jairus and without a question, without a moment's hesitation, Jesus went with him.

You see, that's the nature of Jesus.

That's the nature of our Savior.

In His great compassion, Jesus enters our hurt and our need.

Jesus entered Jairus need and off they went.

*II.

THE INTERRUPTION OF THE WOMAN:*

            *A.*

Filled with both anxiety as well as a bit of joyous relief, Jairus set off at a pace that was close to running.

It was hard though, because the crowd was so large and pressed in so close.

As the crowd opened a path and they moved toward Jairus house, someone else was moving toward Jesus.

Jairus was so distraught that you can bet he didn't want any interruption.

As they moved through the crowd, a woman, a woman desperate for healing moved toward Jesus.

Her self esteem was so low, her sense of who she was was so poor that she didn't want to bother Jesus at all.

She thought to herself, /"If/ /I/ /could/ /only/ /touch/ /the/ /hem/ /of/ /his/ /robe."/

And why was she so desperate?

For all intents and purposes she was an outcast, she was unclean in the eyes of Jewish law.

For 12 years she has suffered from a non-stop menstrual cycle.

The scripture politely reports that, /"She/ /had/ /endured/ /much/ /under/ /many physicians,/ /and/ /had/ /spent/ /all/ /that/ /she/ /had;/ /and/ /she/ /was/ /no/ /better,/ /but/ /rather/ /grew/ /worse."/

In other words, she had tried everything under the sun.

She had seen every physician possible and spent money on every cure imaginable and all that she had gotten for her trouble was poor.

Nothing helped.

And according to Jewish law, women were unclean at that time of the month.