"Mission: Interrupted"

From Luke 8:40-56: Jesus restores Jairus' daughter to life and a woman is healed

• Pull out your scriptures…
Past few weeks we’ve heard how Jesus wants disciples who will hear and do God’s word. We’ve seen Jesus, Master over Storm (worthy of praise. I want him in my boat), and Master over Demons. This week, Master over Death.

• Our story today begins with Jesus’ return to Galilee (having planted a seed across the lake, delivered a man from demons (remember sozo saved) and sent him to tell people what God had done in his life.) 

Jesus returns to Galilee and there are people waiting for him.

Loads of people. All kinds of people. Including Jairus, a synagogue leader.

And there, in front of God and everybody, Jairus falls at Jesus’ feet, to beg, plead, implore Jesus to come to his house because his little girl was dying. (you’ll do anything to save your child). (incidentally, the word used for plead here is the word Jesus uses in John 14 when he says he’ll send the Holy Spirit who will call out to God for us)

(Recall, by the way, that Jairus falling at Jesus’ feet is not new… in fact it just happened earlier in the chapter, when Jesus got out of the boat on the other side of the lake, the demon-possessed man fell at Jesus’ feet)

So now Jesus has a mission: save the little girl.
We’ve got some work to do, let’s hop to it.

• And Mission: Interrupted, because of the crowd. 

There’s a woman who has at least three things: 

one, a vaguely-described affliction; 

two: faith in the power of Jesus, and 

three, some holy boldness. 

She knows if she just touches Jesus, not even Jesus himself but his clothes, not even his clothes but just the fringe, she’ll be healed of the affliction that nobody has been able to heal in twelve years (the entire length of the little girl’s life).

• And Jesus stops to call attention to her. Power has gone out from him, he says, who touched me? Jesus who has discerned people’s thoughts, Jesus who knows all, asks who touched me. Why? Why does he draw attention to her? Well it’s been said that a miracle must have a witness, and this guarantees a witness… and credit where credit is due: give God the glory for the healing, the saving, and to recognize the woman’s faith: your faith has saved you.

Did you notice, by the way, that the woman fell at Jesus’ feet? Just like Jairus and the man possessed by demons…

• Mission: Interrupted… now we hear that the little girl is dead. If only Jesus had been able to get there uninterrupted, we barely have time to form the thought when Jesus says Don’t be afraid. Believe, and your daughter will be saved sozo.  Foreshadowing, don’t you think, good news that in Jesus is power to save even in death. And he does just that, restores life to the daughter of the leader of the synagogue. Saves the little girl. Mission: Accomplished.

• Sometimes in our own lives it feels a lot like Mission:Interrupted. 

But God is still in the mix.

It seems like there’s been something of an interruption this year among the folks here at CUMC. Our "Jairus" was various concerned folks within the congregation saying Hey, something doesn’t feel right… feels like something’s dying here. Let’s fall down before Jesus and get on the path to sozo. Some folks in the crowd may not have even noticed, but some folks could notice nothing else. So we put our heads together and met in prayer and started to imagine what healing might look like

and on the way to seek sozo from dying we encountered Mission:Interrupted in a not-well-defined interruption that drew power from the original mission.

• There are a few things that will bring us through the interruption and into the sozo healing salvation… one of them is falling down together before Jesus, which means both laying our own pride and status aside and pleading to God I’ll do whatever it takes; another thing that will move us toward the sozo healing salvation is belief, trust in the presence and power of Jesus, Master over storms and demons and death, trust in the presence and power of Jesus on the mission or in the interruption; and another is readying ourselves for that salvation. Remember Romans 10:9 with me, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The good news is Jesus isn’t afraid of mess but enters into it, and often brings about surprising results.

• So let’s fall down, acknowledging Jesus Master, confess our belief, and ready ourselves for sozo.

• Sometimes Jesus says whoever has ears, let them listen.
Whoever has breath, let them praise the Lord.

(Song: Let Everything That Has Breath Praise the Lord)