Stories of Jesus: Mark 5:21-43: Jesus’ Kindness to a Little Girl

How the sad story of the death of a dear daughter teaches us something about our Savior’s loving-kindness and also what death really means for a believer.

MARK 5:21-43: JESUS’ KINDNESS TO A LITTLE GIRL

INTRODUCTION

Some people, when great tragedy strikes, turn away from God. They feel that God has let them down.

Other people, when their hearts are breaking, turn toward God. They know that they have no one else to turn to.

In this reading we meet two people who were beset with tragedy in their lives: a woman who had had a terrible, weakening disease which she had borne for 12 long years. During that time she had spent all her living on doctors, hoping to be cured, but she had not grown better but only worse.

The other person we meet is a man, Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue. He and his wife had an only daughter whom they loved dearly.

She was 12 years old; she had been with them the same length of time the poor woman had had her affliction.

And now their dear daughter is dying. In his desperation he seeks Jesus out and begs him to come and help his daughter to live.

Luke tells us that the little girl is his only daughter.

Often we hear sermons about the woman with the blood disease because the application is so obvious. She came up behind Jesus, telling herself, “If I can only touch the hem of his garment, I will be made well.”

And so it happened. This story reminds us that when our souls are sick from sin and the hopelessness of life, we need only to reach out and touch Jesus by faith, we will find forgiveness and wholeness.

But today I want to talk about Jairus, his wife and their little daughter.

Read Mark 5.21-43

I. Notice the Jairus’s courage, his desperation, and his faith

A. It took great courage for this man to come to Jesus.

Poor people gathered around Jesus and followed him everywhere he went.
But the better class of people had to be careful. Jesus was criticized.
People weren’t at all sure Jesus was even a good man.
Maybe he was misleading people with his extravagant claims to be the Son of God and to be bringing God’s kingdom into the world.

B. But, like the woman, Jairus was desperate.

Some of you know how sad it is when a child dies.
It is even sadder when an only child dies.
The child was so near death that already the mourners had arrived to be ready to weep and wail and play their flutes as was the custom to help the grieving family expresss their sorrow.
In his desperate need Jairus doesn’t care what people think.
He just hopes that this man Jesus that everyone is talking about might be able to help his daughter.

C. Can you imagine how anxious Jairus was when Jesus stopped to talk to the woman who had touched him on the way?

I can just see Jairus wringing his hands, standing on one foot and then the other as he wonders how it is going at home, hoping that Jesus will hurry. But Jesus isn’t in a hurry.
Can you imagine how his heart sank when they came to him and said, “It’s too late. Don’t trouble the Master any more; your daughter is dead.”

D. The mourners

Perhaps from far off they could hear the weeping and wailing coming from the house. The custom of the time required that when a loved one died even a poor family would hire one woman mourner and two flute players. They were paid to make a lot of noise to help the family express their grief.
As ruler of the synagogue, Jairus had probably hired a large number of mourners. They wept and wailed and clapped their hands. They made a lot of noise.
This little girl must have been so near death, and death was so certain, that the weepers and wailers were ready whenever they got the word and now they were expressing their grief, as sympathetic friends gathered around to join in.
We are much more restrained nowadays in expressing our grief than they were. They know how terrible death was and let themselves express the full force of their grief.

II. Now we will turn our attention to Jesus.

A. Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.”

It is easy to believe when all is going well with us.
When everything is most wrong, then is when it is hardest to believe.
That’s when faith comes in. Do not fear, only believe.
In times of great trouble, Jesus wants us to keep crying out to him, trying to believe, taking hold of God and not letting him go.

One Christian woman says she has two favorite prayers:
“HelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpme!”
and “ThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYou.”

B. When Jesus came into the house with his three disciples, Peter and James and John, he saw all the weeping and wailing and said, “Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

Now, the little girl was obviously dead.
Jesus knew that, and the mourners knew that. That’s why they laughed at Jesus.
Often to soften the sadness of death people used the word “sleep” to refer to death; sort of like when we say, “She’s passed away.”
But this time Jesus said she was “sleeping” because he knew what he was going to do.
He was going to wake her up.
Her death would be like sleep because she would be raised up to life again.

C. Notice the tenderness of Jesus

Now I want you to notice all the details of this scene because here we see the tenderness of Jesus.
He insisted on privacy. He put out everyone except the three disciples and the mother and father. Then he went in to where the child was, lying lifeless on her bed.
He took the little girl’s hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Mark even gives us Jesus’ exact words in the language he was speaking, “Talitha cumi.”
And the little girl immediately awakened, put her feet on the floor and began to walk.
No wonder they were overcome with amazement!
When someone’s been so dreadfully sick and begins to get well, they don’t just get up and start walking.
They have to get their strength back. But when Jesus awakened her, the little girl already had her strength back.
And then Jesus said, “Now you need to give her something to eat.”

III. But what does the story mean to us?

I think this story is a sign to those who saw it and for all of us who read the story.
We treasure this story because it tells us something about what death means to a believer in Jesus.
Death is terrible, but death is temporary. It is like sleep. When someday we enter that dark valley the next thing we will know is that Jesus is taking our hand and calling our name, “Jim, arise. Margaret, arise. Frances, arise. Jane, arise.”
And we will be completely well.
This little girl in the story had to die again, just as Lazarus did, and the son of the widow at Nain had to die again.
But the event that these stories point to is a true resurrection.
We will someday rise again. We will meet Jesus. And we will eat and drink and enjoy life in God’s kingdom forever.

CONCLUSION

When John Todd, a 19th century pastor was six years old, both of his parents died.
A kind-hearted aunt raised him until he left home to study for the ministry.
Years later, this aunt became seriously ill and began to be distressed with uncertainties about death.
She wrote of her doubts to Todd, now grown up and a pastor.
Here is the reply John Todd wrote his aunt:
"It is now thirty-five years since I, as a boy of six, was left quite alone in the world.
You sent me word you would give me a home and be a kind mother to me.
I have never forgotten the day I made the long journey to your house.
I can still recall my disappointment when, instead of coming for me yourself, you sent your servant, Caesar, to fetch me.
I remember my tears and anxiety as, perched high on your horse and clinging tight to Caesar, I rode off to my new home.
Night fell before we finished the journey, and I became lonely and afraid. “Do you think she’ll go to bed before we get there?” I asked Caesar.
'Oh, no!' he said reassuringly, 'She’ll stay up for you. When we get out o’ these here woods, you’ll see her candle shinin’ in the window.'
Presently we did ride into the clearing, and there, sure enough, was your candle.
I remember you were waiting at the door, that you put your arms close about me—a tired and bewildered little boy.
You had a fire burning on the hearth, a hot supper waiting on the stove.
After supper you took me to my new room, heard me say my prayers, and then sat beside me till I fell asleep."

Some day soon God will send for me and for you, to take us to our new home.
Don’t fear the summons, the strange journey, or the messenger of death.
God can be trusted to do as much for you as you were kind enough to do for me so many years ago.
At the end of the road you will find love and a welcome waiting, and you will be safe in God’s care.
That’s the way God is.

(Another message on this text was posted 10-27-2015)