Who Then Is This

Mark 5:21-43 November 15, 2020 Pastor Vince Corpus

Thesis Jesus gives new life to his people by reversing the effects of death, and all that is required to receive this life is faith in him — however imperfect that faith may be.

Series

Gospel of Mark

Type

Expository

Tone

pastoralevangelisticdidactic

Method

grammatical-historicalcanonicalapplicatory

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

31 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #20

"The pastor applies the woman's story by naming specific struggles (bitterness, anxiety, depression, fear of exposure) and calling the congregation to reach out in faith to Jesus, acknowledging that even imperfect faith in the perfect one works."

Doctrinal loci· 7 surfaced

Soteriology · 18 Christology · 12 Hamartiology · 3 Pneumatology · 3 Ecclesiology · 2 Eschatology · 2 Providence / Sovereignty · 2

Bible citations· 14

Illustrations· 2

personal story · unit #4 — The pastor tells a personal story about his surround sound system appearing dead but needing only a new cable to function again, setting up an analogy about restoration versus replacement.
personal story · unit #28 — The pastor uses a hypothetical conversation with friends about pre-flood longevity to illustrate the eternal nature of resurrection life, making it vivid by personalizing it with 'Tom' living a million years in undiminished vigor.

Theological claims· 8

Jesus gives his people new life by making things new, not by merely swapping out parts or resetting us. unit #5
Jesus gives new life to his people by reversing the effects of death, as demonstrated in these three encounters. unit #7
Jairus's faith was imperfect — he lacked full theological understanding of who Jesus was — but it was genuine faith in the perfect one who could heal. unit #12
Jairus demonstrated greater faith than the disciples despite having far less theological knowledge and firsthand exposure to Jesus. unit #13
Jesus gives new life that permanently transforms people, enabling hope, faith, bold petition, and courage to face consequences — a grace available not only to Jairus but to us. unit #14
Jesus gives new life through substitutionary exchange: he takes our griefs, sickness, and uncleanness and gives us his peace, health, and purity. unit #19
Jesus is for everyone regardless of social status, and just as he raised the physically dead girl, he raises all spiritually dead people to new life in him. unit #25
Saving faith requires only simple belief that Jesus gives new life, not comprehensive theological knowledge, because salvation depends on his faithfulness and work, not ours. unit #29

Quotations· 1

"Flesh presses, but faith touches." — Augustine (unit #18)

Read it

Full transcript

27,185 characters 31 units ~30 min reading time

0 · The pastor introduces himself and sets a thematic frame by connecting the recent ratification of their denomination's statement of faith to the morning's worship song about Christ being our hope in life and death

My name is Vince, and I'm one of the pastors at the church. And this morning I am thankful for our family of churches. We belong to a family of churches called Sovereign Grace Churches. And this past week I was able, by God's grace, to sit in on our council of elders meeting where we are kind of making decisions for our whole denomination and things that are going to be happening over the next year. It was a 7-hour call.

It was tough, but one of the highlights of that call is we ratified our statement of faith. And I was reminded of that statement of faith this morning when we sang the words, "Now and ever we confess Christ our Lord in life and death, Christ our hope in life and death." And this statement of faith is really going to function very much like a confession. And it is shot through with Jesus, our hope in Jesus, and our future in Jesus, and what Jesus has done. And so that's what I'm thankful for this morning. And I'm thankful now that we are going to open God's word together.

1 · The pastor orients the congregation to the text location within the broader series, framing the passage as another step in Jesus's journey toward the cross

So if you want to turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 5. We are continuing our walk through the Gospel of Mark and seeing Jesus' movement as he just takes one more step closer to Golgotha where he would go to the cross for our sins. So we're going to begin reading in verse 21.

2 · The pastor reads the entire passage verbatim from Mark 5:21-43, presenting the three interwoven encounters: Jairus's plea for his dying daughter, the woman with the discharge of blood touching Jesus's garment, and Jesus raising Jairus's daughter from death

This is God's word. And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, my 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. And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had and was no better, but grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.

For she said, 'If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.' And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had had gone out from Him immediately turned about in the crowd and said, 'Who touched My garments?' And His disciples said to Him, 'You see the crowd pressing about You, and yet You say, "Who touched Me?"' And He looked around to see who had done it.

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before Him. And told him the whole truth. He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease.' While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, 'Your daughter is dead.

Why trouble the teacher any further?' But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not Fear only, believe.

And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, why are you making a commotion and weeping?

'The child is not dead, but sleeping.' And they laughed at him.

But he put them all outside, and he took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in there— went in where the child was, taking her by the hand.

He said to her, "Talitha cumi," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." And immediately she got up and began walking, for she was 12 years of age. And they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know about this. Told him to give her something to eat. This is God's holy word given that we might know who he is.

3 · The pastor prays for illumination, asking God to open eyes to see Jesus and to be changed by the truth of the passage

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. And Lord, we ask you now to open our eyes that we might see Jesus, that we might see the truth you are trying to teach us through this passage, and that we would be changed by that truth. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

4 · The pastor tells a personal story about his surround sound system appearing dead but needing only a new cable to function again, setting up an analogy about restoration versus replacement

So this week, uh, our surround sound system stopped working. Now in 2020, uh, that is definitely a first world problem because everyone has a built-in backup to their surround system, right? It's called the speakers on your TV. Like, there is a built-in backup, Vince. But when you've become accustomed to having like the earth-shattering base of the subwoofer, the little speakers in the TV, they're just a little anemic, you know?

Like, why listen to TV like this when you can listen to it like this? See, it's much richer. Maybe I should preach— no.

And every now and then this thing, you know, like anything that is run by a computer processor, it just needs a power cycle. It needs to be reset. And so You go and you unplug it and wait 15, 20 seconds and you plug it in and hey, it's working again. Woo-hoo! Well, when Christy said, hey, it's not working, I said, well, did you try to power cycle it?

She's like, yes, tech support, that's why I'm talking to you. I was like, oh, just like the call. Well, it worked. So, you know, I went up there, did my little thing, checked all the connections and power cycle. It worked for about a day and then nothing.

And I was like, man, what's going on here? So Friday night we went out, you know, pandemic date night. What do you do for a date night in pandemic? You wander around Target. And as you're wandering around Target, because nowhere else is open, I was looking at surround systems because it's like, man, that one's gone.

It's dead. Like, we're going to have to replace it. And you need to watch TV like this. So it's like, all right, what's there? And then yesterday I start tinkering with things and messing with it.

And I'm like, you know what, maybe it's the cord. Maybe it's the optical cable. I have an extra one in there. So went and got it.

And then it worked. And it was like, yes, all right. It works. That means I don't get a new one, but I don't need a new one. So it's all good.

5 · The pastor pivots from the illustration to establish the sermon's central claim: Jesus doesn't merely repair or reset us like a cable replacement; he makes us genuinely new

You see, I thought it needed replacing, but it really just needed a new signal.

Now the cable couldn't give this thing new life, but the new signal in a sense gave it a new life because it was on its way out. I was replacing that joker.

And in our passage today, we'll see that Jesus gives his people new life. See, he doesn't just come and swap the cables around and swap out a different cable with us. He makes things new.

6 · The pastor surveys the passage to show that death permeates the narrative in three forms: impending death (the daughter), ongoing death-marker (the woman's blood), and actual death (the daughter dies)

And if you look at this story, it is shot through with death. You got a man who's coming to Jesus. Jairus, knowing his daughter is about to die.

And he says, "Come and lay your hands on her that she might be made well and live." You've got a woman with blood, with a discharge of blood for 12 years. And not only is blood a marker of death and a reminder of death that is coming to us all, it's something that makes a person unclean in the Jewish religious law.

So you've got this reminder of death and uncleanliness. And then you've got the manifestation of death itself in the little girl who's dead.

You see, all three of them need something that only Jesus can give.

7 · The pastor states the sermon's organizing principle: examining how Jesus gives new life to each of the three people by reversing death's effects

And in doing these things, he gives new life to each person because Jesus gives new life to his people. So today we're gonna look at Jairus, the woman, and the daughter and see how Jesus gave new life by reversing the effects of death.

8 · The pastor signals the beginning of the first major section focusing on the Jairus encounter

So let's jump in. First thing, Jesus and Jairus.

9 · The pastor establishes the geographical and narrative context: Jesus returning from Gentile territory to Jewish shores where crowds immediately gather, setting the stage for Jairus's approach

So the first interaction we see here is between these two, the leader of the synagogue and Jesus. Jesus is coming back from the Decapolis, which is the 10 cities. It's a Gentile region.

And as soon as he lands on shore, the crowds flock to him and he's like, man, blah, blah, blah. And then here comes this guy.

10 · The pastor paints a vivid picture of Jairus's social status as a synagogue ruler and Pharisee, then describes his humiliating public prostration before Jesus — face at his feet — while making his desperate plea for his daughter's life

Jesus has freed the man with the demons. He's calmed the sea and the wind. And now he arrives back. And picture this with me, okay? Jesus is on the shore.

And here comes this guy. He's likely a Pharisee since they were the ones who ruled the synagogues there. They were kind of the ruling class in Jewish culture. Okay, so this guy is a Pharisee, very respected man, very, you know, he's dressed very well because that's what the Pharisees did. And he comes out to the sea.

Now a lot of times these Pharisees were what we would call today kind of blue-collar working-class folks. Yet they were still— had a devotion to the law and to ritual cleanliness. And so they had a day job, plus they had this job of teaching, of learning, and of telling others how they should live according to the law. And this man not only did that, he ruled the synagogue, meaning he was in charge of administration, basically. Getting people to come and teach, getting people to do the singing, making sure that it had everything that it needed for a worship service.

Well-respected man.

Even more well-respected than a regular Pharisee.

And the crowd, when he starts coming, they would have seen him.

And they would have— a hush would have fallen over the crowd. They would have made some room. "Man, here comes Jairus. Let's get out of his way." And he walks up to Jesus in his nice robes with his long tassels, and he falls at Jesus' Now a lot of times we read that and we think this is what it means to fall at Jesus' feet. But in Jewish culture, it wasn't just on your knees at His feet.

No, your face was at His feet. That is how you show humility. That is how you humble yourself to one that you are seeking to entreat to do something. So this man in his nice clothes, this well-respected man is on his face at Jesus' feet.

He says, "My little daughter, she's at the point of death. Come lay your hands on her so that she may be well and live."

11 · The pastor uses Mark 3:6 to establish the dramatic irony: Jairus belongs to the very group actively plotting Jesus's destruction, making his public plea an act of desperation that breaks ranks and likely brings social consequences

Now think about this. This guy's a Pharisee.

What do we know about the Pharisees from earlier in the passage of Mark? Well, we know from chapter 3, verse 6, that after Jesus has been healing and teaching and saying some things, what happens? The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. And now a member of the Pharisees, a member of the group of people who were conspiring with the Herodians to destroy Jesus, is on his face at Jesus' feet desperate, asking Him for something. Asking Him to heal his daughter.

He goes to Him very publicly.

And in a very improper way. Entreats him to come. Do you think he cared? Do you think he cared what people thought? No, he didn't care.

He's desperate. My daughter's about to die.

Only you can do something, Jesus. Do you think he was ridiculed and outcast for this by the rest of the Pharisees? I'm pretty sure he was. These are the guys who are saying, we're going to destroy Jesus.

And now one of their own breaks ranks, comes and says, "Hey, I don't want to destroy you. I need you to fix something that's being destroyed. Come with me."

12 · The pastor defines what constituted Jairus's faith: not theological precision about Jesus's identity, but simple conviction that Jesus could heal his daughter

See, he came desperate with a desperate hope that Jesus could do what he sought, and that was faith. It wasn't coming to Jesus in the faith that Jesus is the Messiah. He didn't have all of these these theological categories figured out.

Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the God-man. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit. He didn't have all of that stuff. He didn't know that Jesus is the promised head crusher.

He just knew Jesus could heal his daughter and she needs healed.

And that truth is what drove him to go there. And that was faith reaching out Reaching out. He came seeking the one who could put his hands on his little girl and she would be made well and live. It's an imperfect faith put in the perfect one.

13 · The pastor contrasts Jairus's faith with the disciples' doubt: the disciples had far more knowledge and exposure to Jesus yet struggled to believe, while Jairus with minimal understanding acted in faith

You remember a few weeks ago Ricky said that Jesus asked his disciples, "Where is your faith?" See, they had some of those categories figured out. They'd been walking with Jesus. They'd been talking with Jesus. They had seen seen some of the miracles that he had done. They had witnessed everything firsthand.

They had heard the teachings. They had heard even different teachings. Well, the same, but like more deeper teachings in private. They knew much more than Jairus. And they were doubting.

Jairus is like, he can heal her.

I'm going to him.

14 · The pastor asserts that encountering Jesus and receiving new life transformed Jairus permanently, enabling him to hope, believe, ask boldly, and accept consequences — and that this same transforming grace is available to the congregation

See, Jairus' life would never be the same after he came and fell at Jesus' feet because Jesus gives his people new life, a new life that can give a hopeless man hope, a new life that can believe the unbelievable, a new life that can come and ask the unimaginable, a new life that is willing to accept the consequences of those actions as well.

What a grace the Lord had for Jairus. Ah, but he has an even greater grace for us.

15 · The pastor applies Jairus's example by asking the congregation to identify areas of desperation where only the biblical Jesus can act, then exhorts them to fall at his feet in faith and ask for his intervention

So where are you desperate?

Where in your life can only Jesus— and I'm talking the Jesus of the Bible, the one who stills wind and waves, the one who delivers demonized people from oppression, the one who can raise dead dead people, the real Jesus of the Bible, not the one that we make up in our mind where we take a little bit of the Bible and we take a little bit of tradition and we take a little bit of like philosophy and say, yeah, this is Jesus. No, the real Jesus. Where do you need him to come and lay hands so that you might be made well and have life?

Where are you desperate?

Where is it that only Jesus can act?

Have you fallen at His feet and implored Him to come?

Then do that if you haven't. Come and fall at His feet and ask Him to come wherever that spot is where you need Him to lay hands. So that you might be made well and live. Because Jesus gives life, new life to his people.

And he wants to do that. He's there waiting to do that. He's at the shore of our desperation.

Come and ask.

16 · The pastor signals the transition to the second major section focusing on the woman with the discharge of blood

Next, we see Jesus and the woman.

17 · The pastor unpacks the woman's desperate condition — 12 years of ritual uncleanness, social isolation, failed medical treatment, and poverty — then describes her fearful, superstitious, and selfish approach to Jesus

So it says, "And Jesus went with him." But it wasn't just Jesus who went with Jairus. The whole crowds followed Jesus. They're like, "Man, this little sick girl, she's about to die. Let's go check out what Jesus does. We know he's gonna do something.

He's going with this guy." And the crowds thronged about him.

And there was a woman there in the crowd who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years. Now, blood in Jewish culture, again, is something that makes you unclean. Now, what does that mean to be unclean? To be unclean in Jewish culture means you cannot go to the temple. You cannot worship.

You cannot enter into the synagogue. You cannot really live a normal life because your uncleanness, if you you touch someone else or something else, it becomes unclean. And then anyone who touches that, they become unclean.

And after you've touched some blood, you're unclean until a certain period of time and a certain ceremony is performed.

That's the life that this woman has been living. But even more than that, When you're out in society, you have to, just like a leper, pronounce, "Unclean! Unclean!" So that everyone gives you wide berth so that you don't accidentally bump into someone and make them unclean. See, that is the life that this woman has been living for 12 years. A life cut off from God.

A life lived likely alone, forsaken by her family due to her in a perpetual state of being unclean.

And if that weren't bad enough, she suffered more than that. The people who were supposed to help her, the physicians, had only managed to take her money and not heal her or give her any relief. In fact, it says she was worse off. So now this lady is alone, forsaken by God and man, cut off from society. She is done, desperate, hopeless.

And she says, "This guy can help me." But notice how she comes.

Notice how she comes. She's fearful. She doesn't want to be noticed. She's anonymous in the crowd. She's not doing what she's supposed to.

She's not yelling, "Unclean! Unclean!" No, she's kind of sneaking in, if you will. It says she came up behind him. She came up behind him. She didn't even want to meet him head-on.

"If only I touch his garments, I'll be made well." This is superstition, right? This sounds very superstitious. All I got to do is touch his garments. I don't even need him, just his garments. "Touch my garments and I'll be made well." And a lot of the healings for the flow of blood back then were very superstitious.

Like, you know, drink goat's milk on a full moon while standing on one foot hopping. Like, stuff like that. We'd look at it and go, "They thought that would work? Huh?" Well, this is right in line with that. And it's not just superstitious, it's also selfish.

She wanted health, not the healer. See, she wanted the life of the kingdom, but not the King. She wanted the gift, but not the giver. And she's going to come in there and get whatever she needs on her own terms.

And it worked.

It worked.

She touched his garment and was instantly healed and felt in her body that she was healed. And Jesus knew. He felt power go out from him and something a little more. And he stops and he's like, "Who touched my garments?" How did he know? Well, the gospel says he felt power go out from him, but Isaiah 53 tells us something different, doesn't it?

Says what? He takes up our infirmities.

He bears our sorrows. He takes our sicknesses. And what does he do? He gives us health. He gives us life.

By his stripes we are what? Healed. See, in that moment, Jesus' burden got a little heavier as he took this from her and gave her something in return. That's how he knows someone touched me.

18 · The pastor shows Jesus using the woman's own words to convict her, describes Jairus's mounting fear during the delay, and establishes the theological truth that Jesus's cleanness overpowers uncleanness

And he says, "Who touched my garments?" How often does Jesus come to us with conviction using our own words?

All I gotta do is touch his garments and Jesus is like, "Who touched my garments?" She knew right away who he was looking for, who he was talking to. And that's why she was scared.

She was scared. And the whole time this is going on, Jairus is sitting there growing more scared and more scared by the moment, right? And he's like, "You look at the crowd, Jesus. You're worried about someone touching you?" "My daughter's gonna die! Why are we stopped?

Every second is a second that puts her closer to death, and you're worried about someone in this crazy crowd touching you. What's wrong with you, Jesus? I thought you could help." And again, this lady's scared too.

She doesn't want to approach.

Because if Jesus knew she touched him, Jesus is unclean now.

And everyone who touched Jesus is unclean. But you know what the great truth of it is? Jesus' cleanness overpowers our uncleanness. When you touch Jesus, you don't make him unclean. He makes you clean.

Clean. And it was a true touch in faith that saved her, that made her clean, dried up the blood and healed her. You know, Augustine says, "Flesh presses, but faith touches." There was a lot of flesh pressing against Jesus that day. He wasn't concerned about those guys. He was concerned about the touch of faith that caused something to happen.

19 · The pastor articulates the substitutionary exchange Jesus made with the woman, taking her burdens and giving his blessings in return, demonstrating how Jesus gives new life

He took up her griefs and He gave her His peace. He took up her sickness and He gave her His health. He took up her uncleanness and He gave her His true purity. He gives her new life because Jesus gives new life to His people.

20 · The pastor applies the woman's story by naming specific struggles (bitterness, anxiety, depression, fear of exposure) and calling the congregation to reach out in faith to Jesus, acknowledging that even imperfect faith in the perfect one works

Where do you need new life?

Where do you need to come and grab hold of His garments?

Because if you only grabbed hold of His garments, you would be made well there. Where is it in your mind or in your heart? Maybe are you suffering with some bitterness? Struggling with some bitterness? Are you in despair of ever being rid of your anxiety or depression or some other darkness of the soul?

Are you afraid of maybe being around others and pandemic life just suits you well? Because if you're around others, you're afraid they may see that you're a fake and a phony.

Come grab His garment.

Receive new life.

Because He will and He can and He will, maybe not in this life, but He will one day grant that healing through faith. Through faith. Not faith in the garments, but faith in the One wearing the garments. It may be a selfish an uninformed or a superstitious faith, an imperfect faith.

But if it's in the one who is perfect, then it perfectly works.

21 · The pastor quotes Jesus's words to the woman, showing how Jesus publicly affirmed her faith and granted her both physical healing and relational restoration (calling her 'Daughter')

And it is by faith in him that Jesus gives his people new life. And it is by her faith in him that Jesus tells this woman, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. "Go in peace and be healed of your disease."

22 · The pastor signals the transition to the third major section focusing on Jairus's daughter

That brings us to Jesus and the dead girl.

23 · The pastor narrates the moment when messengers announce the daughter's death, Jesus locks eyes with Jairus, and commands him not to fear but believe — asserting his sovereignty over death itself despite the apparent hopelessness

While they're all standing there, Jairus' fear becomes reality.

They come from his house and they say, "She's dead." "Hey, don't trouble the teacher anymore." Why bother the teacher any longer?

And those same fiery eyes that have just surveyed the crowd, searching for who touched him, they now lock on Jairus.

And he tells him, "Do not fear." 'Just believe.' Jesus is telling him, 'Man, don't go there.

Don't let fear convince you of what you know is true. You came to me 'cause I could help. I can still help.

Believe it.' I'm not only sovereign over health and disease, I'm sovereign over life too, Jairus. Don't go there, man. Don't believe that. Believe this.

The girl is dead. The hope that drove Jairus to come to Jesus is now gone, and Jesus is still saying, believe.

I'm sure Jairus, as he's looking at Jesus, Jesus is like, "What does he know that I don't?"

24 · The pastor describes Jesus dismissing the mourners, taking the dead girl's hand, speaking the Aramaic command 'Talitha cumi,' and raising her to life

And Jesus takes James and John and Peter and Jairus and his wife, and he doesn't allow anyone else to come. And he tells the mourners, "You're no longer needed. Your services are not required here. She's asleep. She ain't dead." And they laugh at him.

They laugh at him. Death is as sleep to the author of life. And he has come to give new life to this little girl. Death has to release its grip on this one because Jesus has come to claim what belongs to him. And this little girl is his, and he's about to give new life.

And now the second time. In this passage that Jesus touches something unclean.

The woman touched him, and now he goes and he takes a little dead girl's hand and he says, "Talitha cumi." Little girl, I say to you, arise. And she does. She gets up. She begins walking around. Why?

12 years old.

How long had the woman suffered? 12 years.

25 · The pastor contrasts the woman's 12 years of rejection with the girl's 12 years of acceptance to show Jesus ministers across the entire social spectrum, then applies this to spiritual resurrection, citing Ephesians 2:4-5 to show that all believers were once spiritually dead until Jesus raised them to new life

See, 12 years of death and outcast and living as someone on the fringes of society versus the little girl, 12 years of enjoying the love of her father, of enjoying the fruits of a family, of enjoying culture that loves her, respects her father, honors her father, and by extension, she enjoys that.

So you've got one that's accepted and one that's not.

And anywhere on that spectrum that you find yourself, Jesus is for you. He was for the old lady who was outcast. He was for the little girl who was accepted.

Well-respected man in society, guy we know his name. Versus a nameless anonymous woman who was outcast.

Wherever you are on that spectrum, Jesus is for you.

And all of us at one point were like this little girl, dead, The Bible says, "Dead in our sins and our trespasses.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us," did what? "Made us alive in Christ Jesus." Christ Jesus comes and He takes dead people's hands and He says to a little girl, "I say to you, arise." Arise from your death and walk in new life in me. Little boy, I say to you, arise. Come out of your sins. Come out of your death that sin has caused and walk in the new life that I give you.

Jesus is the one who can bring the dead to life. He is the Almighty.

And when he takes our dead hands, the life in him flows to us and comes to us, and we are finally able to hear him say, "Little one, I say to you, arise."

26 · The pastor issues a direct evangelistic appeal: believe in Jesus and his substitutionary death to receive spiritual life, warning against false sources of life (drugs, pornography, sex, Instagram) that only compound death and condemnation

So do you need spiritual life?

What's stopping you?

Believe in Jesus. That is the command of Scripture. Put your faith in him and his death on the cross to pay for your sins and find life. Real life. Not the life that we so often choose.

Right? There are many things that we choose instead of Jesus that we think are going to give us life. It might be drugs or pornography or sex or any number of things. Instagram, you never know. These things that we think, yeah, they're going to give us fulfillment.

And what do they do? They just pile on a bigger burden of death on top of us. Bring on more condemnation to us.

Oh, let's be like Jairus and go to the giver of life.

Be the giver of life.

27 · The pastor directly addresses two types of listeners — those wanting Jesus's benefits without relationship, and those needing physical healing — and pastorally reframes physical healing as temporary while emphasizing the eternal nature of spiritual life

Maybe you're like the woman and you want the benefit of Jesus and his power, but you don't want Jesus himself.

You want him to heal you but on your terms. You want the gift and not the giver. Maybe, maybe today you're like the little girl in need of physical healing. Yes, pray for that healing. Pray for it.

There are many who are sick and in need of that.

But don't forget, That any healing you receive in this life, it's temporary. It will fade and you will one day die.

But the true healing, the new life that Jesus gives, oh, oh, that's an eternal life. That's a life that's going to last for eons and centuries and millennia. That new life is something that can never be taken and it will never need a healing in that new life.

28 · The pastor uses a hypothetical conversation with friends about pre-flood longevity to illustrate the eternal nature of resurrection life, making it vivid by personalizing it with 'Tom' living a million years in undiminished vigor

You know, last night I was talking with some friends and we were talking about how before the flood, how it would have been crazy to know someone who was like 800 years old. Like, man, wouldn't that be crazy?

I said, hey, one day I'm going to know a Tom who's a million years old.

A million years old. Because the new life that Jesus gives lasts for eternal life. It wells up into eternal life, and it can never be taken, and it will never change. In 5 million years after that, after entering into that new life, Tom will still be just as vigorous as he was on day one. That's the true healing.

That's the true life that this new life we can experience now and Jesus points to. One day, a forever new life. Ah.

29 · The pastor concludes by reassuring listeners that saving faith does not require theological precision — only simple belief that Jesus gives new life

And the great thing is, to get it, you don't need to know everything there is to know about Jesus. You don't need to have all of the theological categories lined up in your mind and full understanding about what the Trinity is and how it works. No, all you need to know is that Jesus says he can give you new life, and you believe that.

And the rest of that, the Spirit and the church and the Word will fill in the blanks. And you've got an eternity to fill in those blanks.

So if you believe that he can give new life, Come to him.

'Cause the great thing is that's all we need to know. It's not about our faithfulness. It's not about our work. It's all about his faithfulness and his work.

He took an uninformed man, a superstitious woman, and a dead girl, and he gave them life. Because Jesus gives his people new life, and if he can do that for them, he can do that for you. Do you believe it?

30 · The pastor closes with a prayer of thanksgiving for the passage's teaching on new life, intercedes for anyone present who has not yet received spiritual life, and asks the Spirit to grant new life and faith in Christ's substitutionary death and resurrection

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you that you give new life. Thank you that you have given us this passage of scripture to illustrate that new life and to drive home what it is we need. We need Jesus no matter where we find ourselves on those spectrums.

You came for everyone on that spectrum. Everyone who would put their faith in you, you came for, Lord.

What a grace, what a gift that we get to see the way you give new life and the way you change lives. Father, if there's someone here today that needs that new life, that has never experienced it, Lord, I pray that by the Spirit you give new life and that they respond to that new life with faith, faith in your Son who came to die in our place. And has been raised and one day will come take us to be with him for all time. It's in his name we pray. Amen.

Where this fits

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Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

In Mark 5:21-43, we encounter three people in very different circumstances—Jairus a respected synagogue ruler, an unnamed woman ritually unc…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we trace how Jesus gives new life by reversing death's effects—from the theological foundation of his substitutionary work, through encounters with imperfect faith, to the radical availability of salvation for all people regardless of status.

Prayer

Prayer for Faith in Jesus, Our Life-Giver

Father, we come before you in awe of your Son, Jesus, who holds sovereign power over disease, uncleanness, and death itself. We confess that…

Family table

What Does Jesus Do with Broken Things?

This sermon shows three people at the end of their rope — a synagogue leader, a sick woman, and a dead girl — each encountering Jesus. Use t…

Couples

Faith That Finds Jesus in Desperation

When you heard about Jairus, the bleeding woman, and the dead girl—three people desperate before Jesus—which one's faith most stirred or con…

Memorize

Mark 5:34

This verse crystallizes the sermon's central thesis: that Jesus gives new life through faith alone, however imperfect or incomplete that faith may be. The woman's healing demonstrates that saving faith requires only simple belief in Jesus's power to restore, not comprehensive theological knowledge or social standing.

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

In Mark 5:21-43, we encounter three people in very different circumstances—Jairus a respected synagogue ruler, an unnamed woman ritually unclean for twelve years, and a child who dies. What does the fact that Jesus reaches out to all three tell us about the kind of Savior he is?

Mark 5:21-43

→ How might this have challenged the assumptions of the religious leaders listening to Mark's account?
Look carefully at what each person brings to their encounter with Jesus—what does Jairus ask for, what does the woman do in secret, and what does the disciples' message announce about the girl? What do these different approaches reveal about human desperation before suffering and death?

Mark 5:23, 5:25-29, 5:35
The sermon emphasizes that Jairus's faith was imperfect—he didn't fully understand who Jesus was—yet Jesus commended it anyway. What does this tell us about what saving faith actually requires, and what does it not require?

→ Can you think of a time when your own faith felt incomplete or confused, yet God met you anyway?
In Isaiah 53, we see that the Messiah would take our griefs and sicknesses upon himself. How does this cross-reference help us understand what Jesus is doing when he heals the woman and raises Jairus's daughter—is he merely removing symptoms, or is something deeper happening?

Isaiah 53

→ What does it mean for you personally that Jesus doesn't just reset our broken parts but gives us new life through substitutionary exchange?
The woman who touched Jesus's garment was considered unclean and untouchable by the religious system, yet Jesus doesn't shame her—he affirms her faith and declares her healed. What does her encounter reveal about how the gospel reverses the verdict that the world and religion had pronounced on her?

Mark 5:30-34
In Ephesians 2:4-5, Paul writes that God makes us alive in Christ when we are dead in our trespasses. How does Jesus's raising of Jairus's physically dead daughter illuminate what the gospel accomplishes spiritually for all who believe in him, regardless of their social status or spiritual condition?

Ephesians 2:4-5

→ What would it mean this week to live as someone who has already been raised to new life in Christ?

Draft · pending review

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

Monday Isaiah 53

Isaiah's vision of the suffering Servant shows us the mechanism of new life: Christ absorbs our infirmities so we might receive his wholeness. As we read of one who 'was pierced for our transgressions' and 'by his wounds we are healed,' we see the gospel's deepest comfort—Jesus does not merely instruct us toward healing but accomplishes it through his own substitution, the perfect exchange that makes us clean.

Tuesday Ephesians 2:4-5

Paul describes the reversal of spiritual death in language that echoes Jesus's raising of Jairus's daughter: God 'made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions.' The same power that raises us from spiritual death is the same power that raised that girl and heals the woman's chronic uncleanness—Jesus's authority over death itself, extended now to all who believe.

Wednesday Mark 3:6

Here we see the Pharisees and Herodians plotting Jesus's death, hardened against his works despite witnessing them firsthand. By contrast, Jairus—a synagogue ruler whose community opposed Jesus—risks his reputation to fall at Jesus's feet. His faith, though theologically incomplete, was genuine; meanwhile, those with greater knowledge remained faithless. We are reminded that saving faith hinges not on how much we know but on the One in whom we trust.

Thursday Ephesians 2:4-5

Paul's declaration that God 'made us alive' is not temporary rescue but permanent transformation—we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, given new identity and new capacities. Just as Jairus was transformed from despair into a man bold enough to risk shame before his peers, so too are we transformed by the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, now dwelling in us and empowering our faith and courage.

Friday Mark 3:6

The collision between the Pharisees' opposition and Jairus's petition reveals the radical inclusiveness of Jesus's grace: he does not withhold healing from the desperate, nor does he require theological pedigree or social standing. His new life is for the woman with the discharge, the child without voice, the leader who humbles himself, and ultimately for all of us—regardless of where we stand or how the world judges us.

Draft · pending review

Pray together this week

Prayer for Faith in Jesus, Our Life-Giver

Father, we come before you in awe of your Son, Jesus, who holds sovereign power over disease, uncleanness, and death itself. We confess that our faith often wobbles between superstition and certainty, that we come to him sometimes seeking the gift rather than the Giver, and that we harbor secret doubts about whether he truly cares for those of us who feel spiritually small or socially insignificant. Like the hemorrhaging woman and desperate Jairus, we know the weight of powerlessness; we have felt death's grip in our own lives, and we cannot save ourselves.

Yet we rejoice in the gospel: Jesus takes our griefs and sickness and uncleanness upon himself, and in their place gives us his peace, his health, and his purity (Isaiah 53). He comes to us not because our faith is perfect or our theology complete, but because his faithfulness and work are complete. In the gospel we have received new life—not a mere resetting of our broken parts, but a genuine making new of all things through him.

We ask you, Father, to grant us the grace this week to believe—however imperfectly—that Jesus gives new life to all who turn to him in faith. Give us courage to bring our desperate need to him without shame, knowing he is for everyone regardless of our status or standing. Grant us the bold faith of Jairus and the humble boldness of the woman who touched his garment, that we might press toward Jesus and find in him the transformation and hope that only he can give. And as you continue to work in us, make us ambassadors of this gospel to a world as spiritually dead and powerless as we once were.

To Jesus Christ, who reverses the effects of death and gives new life to all who believe, be glory and honor forever.

Draft · pending review

Sunday-evening family table

What Does Jesus Do with Broken Things?

For the parent

This sermon shows three people at the end of their rope — a synagogue leader, a sick woman, and a dead girl — each encountering Jesus. Use this prompt to help your family think about what Jesus actually does when he meets us in our desperation, and what kind of faith he's looking for.

In the sermon, we saw three people who were all broken or dying in different ways — Jairus's daughter, the sick woman, and Jairus himself. When Jesus healed them, he didn't just patch them up or fix one small part. He made them completely new. Can you think of a time when you felt broken or stuck or hopeless about something? What do you think it would mean for Jesus to make that new — not just fix it a little, but transform it completely?

works for ages 8+ — younger kids can listen and share with help; teens and adults can engage the deeper theological weight

Draft · pending review

Couples · three questions over coffee

Faith That Finds Jesus in Desperation

When you heard about Jairus, the bleeding woman, and the dead girl—three people desperate before Jesus—which one's faith most stirred or convicted your own heart, and why?
In what area of our marriage do we find ourselves most desperate or powerless, and are we approaching Jesus together with the simple faith that he alone can make us new?
What one specific way could we ask Jesus to reverse the effects of death—brokenness, shame, numbness—in our life together this week, and how can we pray that for one another?

Draft · pending review

Memory verse this week

Mark 5:34

And he said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.'

Why this verse: This verse crystallizes the sermon's central thesis: that Jesus gives new life through faith alone, however imperfect or incomplete that faith may be. The woman's healing demonstrates that saving faith requires only simple belief in Jesus's power to restore, not comprehensive theological knowledge or social standing.

Draft · pending review

Where this was preached

About the church

Cross of Grace Church

About us · What we believe

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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [Who Then Is This (Mark 5:21-43, 2020-11-15)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2020/11/who-then-is-this)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
- [Plan a visit](/visit)

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