BaptistWay Bible Study for Texas lesson for March 31
Jesus holds the reins to life's every storm
__Mark 4:35-41; 5:21-43
___4:35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
___39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
___40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
___41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"
___...
___5:21 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 rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 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." 24 So Jesus went with him.
___A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. 26 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. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
___30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
___31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'"
___32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
___35 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?"
___36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "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 ruler, 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 walked around (she was 12 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.
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____By John Park Jr.
___I was in the school principal's office after school when I heard an excited voice speak over the intercom system. I could not make out her words, but I could tell by her voice who she was and that there was trouble. The principal and I rushed to the classroom to find the custodian on the floor and his skin was changing color from brown to purple.
___Although the principal and I had been trained in CPR numerous years earlier, we tried our best to revive the man who was not breathing and without a pulse. I was giving the chest compressions while the principal was breathing into the man's mouth. The man's family had gathered around us as we knelt on the floor performing CPR. They expressed a range of emotions, but mostly hope and encouragement for their father and husband. The paramedics arrived, took him to the hospital, and he made a full recovery.
___Understanding the context
___In today's lesson, Jesus demonstrates his identity by showing his power over a storm and restoring life to a young girl. Like the ripples in a lake caused by the toss of a rock, so the ripples of meaning moved beyond the immediate recipients of his actions to those in the broader concentric circles.
___Overview of the background passage
___This beautiful passage reveals Jesus in four settings. Each time, he is with his disciples, and each time, he brings restoration and peace to an otherwise tragic situation. This week, we pick up still at the lake when Jesus initiates a trip across the lake in the boat. They encounter a storm that scares the disciples, so Jesus stills the storm.
___Upon reaching the other shore, they encounter a violent demon-possessed man who both recognizes and fears Jesus as the Son of the Most High God. Jesus liberates the man from the demons, but his actions scare the local people, and they ask him to leave.
___Now, back on the original side of the lake, the crowd regathers, and Jarius pleads for Jesus' help with his daughter. On the way to the house of Jarius, a woman with a bleeding problem of 12 years acts on her faith and touches Jesus. She is immediately healed and restored.
___Jesus and the entourage finally arrive at Jarius' home to find the girl has died. She also is healed, and the people are astonished.
___Storms happen
___We all experience storms in our lives from time to time. At one of these times in my life, there was a popular TV preacher stating that storms are God's punishment in our lives for when we refuse to follow him. I was perplexed and broken and confused by this until I read this passage.
___Like the disciples, I encountered a storm by following Jesus. Their trip across the lake was his idea, therefore the disciples were not disobeying God, but rather obediently trusting and following. Second, Jesus responds to their fears even though he questions their faith. Third, Jesus restored peace in a turbulent crisis.
___My experience was similar. Jesus did not choose to reorder the storm surrounding me, but he stilled the storm within me. With his peace within, I could bear the storm on the outside.
___Even after the storm on the lake was stilled, Mark records that the disciples were terrified and asked each other: "Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him?" It seems that the disciples were experiencing a progressive revelation of the person of Jesus. Certainly at this point in the progression, he is something more than they expected.
___Share the good news
___The trip across the lake was not without purpose. The possessed man ran up to Jesus and asked a provocative question: "What do you want with me?" Once again, Jesus met his need in spite of the man's fear by casting out the demons.
___The newly liberated man desired to go with Jesus in the boat, but Jesus had a different plan for him. He was redirected to go home and speak to his family about the mercy of the Lord and how much had been done for him.
___Now, back on the other side of the lake, another religious leader is mixed in with the crowd and comes up to Jesus, but his request is heartfelt. Note the clues given to us by Mark that indicate Jarius was of a different disposition toward Jesus than his colleagues. Jarius falls at the feet of Jesus in humbleness and pleads earnestly, "Please come and put your hands on my little girl so that she will be healed and live."
___In contrast to self-righteous legalistic skepticism and condemnation, Jarius cast aside his rank and prestige in falling at the feet of an unauthorized itinerant teacher, begging for help and stating his faith.
___The pathos of this scene could not be overstated. This man of high reputation also was a loving father who was pleading for something for his daughter which he might not have done for himself. He may have lost his position by assuming this position, but isn't the life of faith full of risks?
___And he went with him
___If this mission trip was an interruption in Jesus' day, it never showed. Jesus responds to this man's faith. What a victory for Jarius, but now the journey to his home must seem incredibly long, since his precious daughter is languishing and help is on its way, because a crowd is making the trip difficult. Can she hold on?
___The mission is delayed
___Enroute, and in the crowd, another need surfaces and interrupts the first interruption, as Jesus senses someone has touched him. A modern paraphrase of the disciples' reaction to Jesus' statement might be, "Well, yeah!" Obviously a lot of people had touched him, but Jesus noted one of those touches resulted in power going from him. Jesus' healing power was the response to an unspoken need of a woman who was a social outcast because she was ceremonially unclean due to a long-term blood illness. Nevertheless, she breaks the societal rules and enters the crowd in order to reach out to Jesus.
___Jesus stops and keeps looking around to identify who has touched him. Imagine Jarius' possible impatience and confusion. Finally, the woman steps forward and confesses, assuming the same posture as previously of Jaruis. Then Jesus clarifies what happened. It wasn't his clothes that healed her; it was her faith. "Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." What a beautiful blessing and benediction.
___Now the second interruption is interrupted by a third interruption. Jesus was speaking when some men came up and announced the little girl was dead. Jesus ignored what they said and then spoke to Jarius: "Don't be afraid, only believe." To Jesus, man's report on anything was never the last word. The last word belongs to God. In ignoring the men's message, Jesus was not being unrealistic; he just had a deeper realism in his sense of the availing, inexhaustible resources of God.
___Tempted to despair
___Jarius must have been tempted to despair upon hearing the report from his friends. Jarius was literally asked to walk in faith as they made their way to his home. Of the previous crowd, only Peter, James and John were allowed to continue to the house where they encountered the professional mourners.
___Jesus then asked the insincere mourners why they were making such a commotion when the child was "just sleeping?" They laughed at Jesus and he put them out of the house. The term "just sleeping" deserves a closer look. The use of the verb "sleep" is used as a metaphor for death in other places in the New Testament (John 11:11-14; 1 Corinthians 15:51). Even though a variety of words may be used for the word "sleep," the parallels to this passage in Matthew 9:18-26 and Luke 8:40-56 contain information that confirm the girl was indeed dead.
___Then, in a private moment around the girl's bed, the parents and three disciples watched as Jesus took the little girl by the hand and spoke to her in Aramaic, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"
___There is a very interesting cultural insight at this point. Girls were considered unwanted things. They were often exposed to the elements, a fairly common form of child murder. Even if they did not incur such misfortune, they were a liability. Even in this cultural context, neither her father, nor the Son of our Father, treated her as less than a valuable asset to the world.
___The divine theme
___Life, death and resurrection is our theme. The seed dies and is buried only to be resurrected again into new life. The daughter of Jarius lives for 12 years and dies, only to be resurrected at the hand of Jesus. The Word comes to the earth and lives, then dies and is buried at the hands of men, only to be resurrected, making atonement for mankind, paying the price for my sin.
___
___He left His Father's throne above, So free, so infinite His grace!
___Emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race!
___'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me.
___Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night.
___Thine eye diffused quick'ning ray: I woke--the dungeon flamed with light!
___My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
___Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!
___(Charles Wesley, text from "And Can it Be?")
Questions for thought and discussion
___ In your service for God, have you ever felt inspired to ignore the human perspective and act solely on faith?
___ In your service for God, have you also heard the mocking laughter of those who have ears, but cannot hear, who have eyes, but cannot see God at work?
___ Contemplate the contrast of perspectives of "your" life. Have you questioned the interruptions to your plans as if God were not paying attention to you?
___ How would your life change if you heard the unmistakable voice of Jesus speak to you, "Don't be afraid, only believe"?
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