6-30-24 Grace-Tucson Sermon

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It’s Monday morning, and the week is off to a chaotic start. The bathroom and kitchen are host to whirlwinds of activity as the kids are getting ready for school. Mom and dad are trying to manage the chaos while getting themselves ready to face the day. Lunches, backpacks, stuff for practice after school it’s busy.

Suddenly, mom realizes that Michael is not in the kitchen, not in the bathroom he’s nowhere to be found. “Where’s your brother? Where’s Mikey?” “He’s still sleeping.” Mom marches into the boy’s bedroom and with all the tenderness of a drill sergeant shouts, “Get up!”

Could the “it’s time to get up” story be any more different when Jesus walked into the room of that 12-year-old girl? In the face of a chaotic situation involving life and death, Jesus is both Compassionate and Powerful—and with those two things, he did away with the fear of death and brought life. I pray that as we think about what happened with Jairus’ family, you will find comfort in knowing that Jesus has that tender heart and strength for you too so that you can handle without fear the difficulties that death brings.

Jesus Conquers the Fear of Death with Compassion and Power

1. For Jairus and his wife

What would you do? Your kid is sick—deathly sick. Literally. If you were in Jairus’ place, you’d probably be running to Jesus too. Everybody else was. For a year and a half, the shores of the Sea of Galilee were abuzz whenever Jesus was there. Large crowds following him, listening to him, asking him to heal them of various things—this was the norm. One time they chased him down after he went to a deserted place to be alone. Another time, he got in a boat and crossed the lake, and they ran around the lake and caught him on the other side. Even now, while Jesus was trying to get to Jairus’ house, the crowd kept pressing in on him, and someone in that mass of people wanted to be healed. (That’s in the verses we skipped over in order to focus on Jairus and his daughter.)

Both because of Jesus’ popularity and because Jairus was a synagogue ruler—we would call him the church president he knew who Jesus was. I’m curious as to whether Jesus might have been in his synagogue before. Either way, when faced with a life or death situation, Jairus went running to Jesus, pleading with him to heal his little girl. He was hurting and afraid of losing her. Jesus had compassion for the man, so he started making his way to the house with this shaken and emotional father.

They had barely started their hurried walk to the house when some family members or close friends of the family came running up to give the news no parent ever wants to hear. There’s no need to bother Jesus anymore; your little girl has died. But Jesus wasn’t bothered. With a tender heart and a calm voice, he turned to Jairus and said, Don’t be afraid. Only believe.

The crowds were left behind, and Jesus called his inner circle of disciples to go along with the grieving father and the messengers. They arrived to a tragically chaotic home. It sounds weird to us, but for them, this is the way they dealt with death professional mourners, weeping and wailing and beating their chests, flute players (Matthew and Luke, in their gospel accounts, tell us that these things were going on in the home.) It might seem a little quick for all of that to have been pulled together, but it wasn’t. Their custom was to bury the dead on the day they died or the next morning.

Imagine Jesus walking into the house and instantly turning their dramatic wailing to mocking laughter. All it took was for him to say, The child is not dead but sleeping He hadn’t even seen the girl yet, but he was telling the mourners that their sobbing and wailing were out of place. Now, the girl was definitely dead. They knew it. Jesus knew it too, but he knew what he was going to do. The Bible talks about the death of a believer as a sleep sometimes—a sleep they are woken from as they are raised to eternal life. Jesus was about to demonstrate his Compassion and Power by raising the girl from the sleep of death

He could have raised her by just saying the words (like he did with Lazarus), but he didn’t. He tenderly takes her hand to help her up as he says, “Little girl, get up.” Can you picture the shocked faces of her mom and dad—and the joy in their hearts?! This wasn’t a display of power for the crowds in fact, he told them not to spread this around. This was for the little girl and for her family. His perfect combination of Compassion and Power conquered their fear of death and the sting of death.

2. For Us & the World Around Us

Would you agree that death itself and facing the prospect of life without people we love can be scary? We live in a world that was rocked when sin came crashing in with death as its partner. Perfect people created for perpetual life and peace with God lost all that. The new norm was and still is distance from God, death to the body, and eternal devastation in hell.

This is why we fear death. We weren’t created to have to deal with it. So, we get diagnosed with something awful and we’re told that it could or it certainly will lead to death, and our minds start racing. And it’s often not any better if it’s someone else who gets that news a spouse, a child, a parent, a dear friend. And then when they die, “What am I going to do now?” is the way we express our fear of the future without them.

Funerals can be really rough. Memories flooding back…reminders of our own mortality…and not professional-mourner tears but real ones, ones you just can’t control. These are the devastating results of sin and death. We know how Jairus felt because we’ve felt it too. We live under the cloud of death, and we know the storm is coming—it’s just a matter of when.

There is only one thing that tempers or does away with the panic and dread that death brings—knowing the One who had Compassion for fallen mankind and came with Power to undo the devastation sin caused. Jesus came into a fearful world to take the fear away by dying the death that was going to be ours and rising to life after. The death penalty inflicted on him was because of our sins and the whole world’s sins. What tremendous Compassion he had for us all knowing that we would be dead to God for all eternity without him intervening.

And what Power to rise from death! Victory over his grave! Life! He promises the same for you and anyone who looks to him in faith—resurrection and life! Our view of death is changed from fear to anticipation, from dread to joy. By faith in Christ, death becomes only a sleep, and the wake-up call is to heaven. Only the Compassion and Power of Jesus could make this happen.

We live in a world of hurting and a frightened people when it comes to death and dying. If we can sometimes be afraid of death and have trouble dealing with it when those we love are facing death, imagine what some who don’t have any hope at all feel like. Death is scary, and life without people they love can be scary. We have something to share with them, don’t we? There are these two certainties: that death comes to everyone and that Jesus came to take away the fear of death for everyone. What a beautiful message we can give to those who are fearful of death and who grieve because they live without hope.

Even when we know all these things and trust in Jesus and are certain about life in heaven after death, death still brings sadness. There are still tears. Those things are okay. Jesus felt the same way, and he cried when his friend died too.

There are times we make it not okay though. If we ignore the promises and comfort of God, our sin is getting in the way. If we will not listen to the tender consoling of Jesus when he says about our loved one, She is not dead but sleeping, our sin is getting in the way. If we are riddled with fear about how we can possibly go on without our loved one, we may be pushing away the promises of love and care from the one with all the Compassion and Power to help us. There is no doubt that we often need forgiveness for our sinful fear in the face of death despite the promises of the One who loves us.

But he does love us, and he does forgive us. Then he tenderly reminds us that we are not to grieve in the same way as the others, who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

When you find yourself starting to fear your own death or someone else’s, go back to the house of that 12-year old girl and listen to Jesus and see what he does. You can see that his the Compassion and Power can remove the fear of death by healing, but more importantly, see him as the one who removes our fear of death because his Compassion and Power have rendered death powerless, making it only a sleep from which he will tell us to get up so that we can live with him in heaven. Listen to him when he tells you, Don’t be afraid. Only believe. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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6-30-24 Grace-Tucson Sermon by gracelutheransaz - Issuu