The Lutheran Hour
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"Faith That Does Not Fear"
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Text: Mark 5:24-34
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A man was walking along a narrow path near a rather steep drop off. It was dark and although he was careful, he stumbled in the darkness and fell off the edge. As he fell over the edge he grabbed a branch of a tree growing out of the edge of the cliff. He couldn’t hold on for very long and he began to cry for help. “Is anyone up there?” he said. A voice answered back, “Yes, I’m here.” “Who’s that?” he said. “The Lord.” “Lord, help me” he said. “Do you trust Me?” “I trust You completely, Lord.” “Good, let go of the branch and everything will be OK.” “What?” he said. “Let go of the branch.” After a long pause, the man asked, “Is anyone else up there?” Sometimes we’re like that man hanging between fear and faith; wanting to trust with our stomachs tied up in knots because of the threats we face in our lives. Faith is yet imperfect for us in this world. It is not fully and completely focused on the One who is Lord and Savior of us all. Yet, that is precisely where our Lord Jesus wants it to be focused.
A synagogue leader named Jairus had come to plead for his daughter’s life, asking Jesus to come with him. While they were on the way, a woman in the crowd unbeknownst to everyone else, reached out to touch His garment. She believed if she could only touch His garment, she would be healed. The resulting delay that took place as Jesus confronted this woman, and called her out of the crowd allowed enough time for the friends of Jairus to arrive saying his daughter was dead.
In reality, these two stories are part of a longer sequence of stories about Jesus’ ministry that Mark has brought together in such a way to help us see how faith ought to be more properly focused on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You might say it is like a journey the disciples took. This journey would lead them to the realization of who Jesus really was, and why their faith ought to be faxed on Him. The journey really begins in Chapter 4. Listen to these words from Mark’s Gospel: “That day when evening came Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Let’s go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along just as He was in the boat.”
For some reason that little phrase, “just as He was” seems to jump out at you. What does that mean? How did they take Him along just as He was? It seems as if Mark is trying to tell us at this point, at least, the disciples are taking Jesus along with them. He is just someone who accompanies them. After all, they were going across the lake in a boat and most of them were fishermen and they knew boats, they knew storms, they knew those waters, and they were in control. They took Him along, just as He was in the boat. But then a storm arose – a furious storm. The power of nature was unleashed in all of its fury such as perhaps the disciples had seldom seen. Despite their strenuous efforts to control the boat, they came to realize they were no longer in control and were faced with the real fear of dying. “Lord,” they said as they shook Him awake, “don’t You care if we drown?” Desperation made them abandon their efforts and turn to their teacher in hopes that His great powers might be able to help. And Jesus, with the calmness and authority of One who is Lord of all creation, said simply, “Quiet. Be still” and the winds and the waves were calmed.
It was much more than coincidence, you see, that a storm like this should have come upon them. For after all, Jesus is the Lord of creation and He is the One who soars on the wings of the wind. He is the One who makes the clouds His chariot. He is the One who sets the boundaries of the water and says, “This far you can come and no farther.” He is the One who cuts a channel for the rain, sets a path for the thunderstorm, and sends lightning bolts on their way. This powerful One can deal with whatever nature might have to offer for He is the One who controls nature in all its power and awesomeness. The disciples were astonished and terrified, not so much by the tempest they had witnessed, but realizing this Jesus was much more than they had imagined. “Who is this?” they said to themselves. “Who is this we took along with us in the boat? Can a mere mortal, can a mere teacher, can a mere prophet do such things?”
When they got to the other side of the lake, immediately out of the hills of this desolate place came a man who was a demoniac, a man possessed by so many demons his name was Legion. He came to them like a raving lunatic, naked, his hair flying, dirty and cut with welts all over him, marks that he had been chained perhaps many times, but possessed of a superhuman strength that could break even the strongest fetters. Jesus got out of the boat to confront him. It’s interesting in this story the disciples aren’t even mentioned. For all we know, they never even got out of the boat. Who could blame them with something like this coming down out of the hills? They might have been cowering down behind the sides of the boat, but Jesus confronted these demons. By the power of His word, He commanded, “Go out of him.” And the demons obeyed, as they must, because surely He is Lord. He is in control. He has already bound the strong one so all of His servants are subject to Jesus’ powerful word. Then Jesus and the disciples got back in the boat once again to go to the other side. And when they landed there was a large crowd gathered together pressing against Jesus and anxious to see Him, to hear Him, perhaps even to have Him heal someone. That’s when Jairus came out of the crowd; a well-known person, a ruler with authority, someone respected by the community. In desperation, he fell at Jesus’ feet, begging Him to come and heal his daughter.
While Jesus and His disciples were on the way, fighting their way through this thronging crowd, this desperate woman reached out to touch His garment. She had been plagued with a terrible problem, a hemorrhage of blood for 12 years. Her disease had made her an outcast, an unclean person, shunned and despised, a person no one would touch or be close to. Her life had literally been drained from her for 12 years. She was weakened and desperate, hoping to receive the magical touch from this One who was known as a healer. She wanted help but she wanted nothing else to do with the healer. She wanted to be unnoticed so she came hidden in the crowd where no one would notice her. She was tormented and frightened, but she reached out to touch Jesus and immediately was healed. Jesus stopped and turned around and asked, “Who touched me?” The disciples asked, “How can you ask a question like this for everyone is squeezing against you?” But Jesus, you see, wanted more than just her desperate, last-ditch kind of faith. If physical healing was all that mattered or all this woman needed, Jesus could have continued on His way. There was no reason to stop. But Jesus wanted more for her. He wanted to draw her to real faith. He wanted her to have a relationship with Him. She came trembling knowing she had been found out, knowing she had been healed, knowing the power had come from this man from Nazareth. She came to Jesus and spilled the whole sordid story of her journey to desperation. And Jesus addressed her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace!” With those words, Jesus brought a new kind of wholeness to this woman. He addressed her as part of the family. The one no one wanted to touch was embraced in the love of Jesus and welcomed into His care. What He gave her was more than she could have hoped for, more than she dared dream. It was the gift of grace-that same gift He offers to all who come to Him.
It was after the delay the men came from Jairus’ home. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore. Your daughter is dead. He might be a healer, you see, but your daughter’s dead. He might be a great teacher but it’s too late.” Jesus saw the anguished grieving look on this father’s face and said, “Don’t be afraid, just believe.” Jesus went to his house and saw the commotion, the wailing, the weeping, the agony, the grief of this family stricken by the loss of a 12-year-old daughter and he tossed the mourners out. “She’s only asleep,” He said. For one who is Lord of life and death, death is little more than sleep. And Jesus awakened her to life once again. It was an awesome display of power that left them speechless with amazement and joy. Who of us hasn’t been where these disciples and this woman and Jairus were? Who of us hasn’t felt that kind of fear and desperation clutching at our inner parts? Who hasn’t longed for a word of grace and the gift of hope and the touch Jesus can bring?
A little boy who was once part of a Sunday school program had only a single line to recite. He was to speak the words of Jesus, “It is I. Don’t be afraid.” But when he came out on stage for his line he said, “It’s me and I’m scared.” You see, as much as faith is in our hearts, sometimes it’s hard to translate it into the events of life when we face those terrifying threats. Who hasn’t been afraid of dying? Who hasn’t been frightened by the power of evil? Who hasn’t been paralyzed by a kind of demon in their lives? Who hasn’t agonized over an incurable disease? Who hasn’t felt the searing pain of grief tearing your heart in pieces? Which of us hasn’t been where they have been? We all have and we know what fear is. Ann Landers got thousands of letters every month-more than 10,000. Someone once asked her, “Is there any issue that predominates in the letters people send?” She replied they write about problems and the biggest problem they write about is fear. All of us know what fear is. But Jesus is trying to help His disciples. That’s you and me. Understand where faith ought to be focused.
You see, when this remarkable series of events is over, the first words of Chapter 6 are: “Jesus left there and went to his hometown and His disciples followed Him.” Notice the change. At first they were taking Him along with them. They were in control but now they are following Jesus. For the first time they began to see Him as He really is; not just a teacher, not just a prophet, not just a healer, not just a friend, but as their Lord and God, their Savior. He was One who could bring much more than healing and hope. He is the very Son of God, Savior of the world. And they are now following Him and will have to follow Him farther than the next town. They will have to follow Him all the way to Jerusalem and the cross. That’s important because only with the fullness of who He really is, this Jesus of Nazareth, this carpenter, this teacher, this healer, this prophet can be made clear. He is more than all of those. He is the Savior and He comes to die, to shed His blood, to be offered as a sacrifice on the cross so that sins might be forgiven. They are following Him now and reluctantly they will go with Him to Jerusalem. Against their better judgment they will go to witness His dying on the cross. They will learn to trust His way because it is the only way. It is the only way to true faith-the kind of faith that has no fear, the kind of faith that trusts Jesus as Savior and Lord of all things. For a Savior who doesn’t suffer and die and rise again is not a Savior at all. If He’s not a Savior, then there isn’t any hope for us. They will learn to trust Him for more than just good luck and for healing and for a magical touch. Trust Him for more than protection and care and love. They will trust Him for forgiveness and salvation. That’s where we have to keep our eyes fixed, you see, on who He really is. For when our eyes waver from that, we will be overtaken by fear and troubles and paralyzed by our doubts. Knute Rockne, who was the legendary coach of the University of Notre Dame football team, was known to be a trickster. When Notre Dame was getting ready to play a much superior football team from the University of Southern California, Rockne, the week before the game, went around the campus of Notre Dame recruiting the biggest, bulkiest and heaviest men he could for his team. He didn’t want them to play football. He wanted them for a demonstration. He didn’t really care if they could play. He wanted to dress them up for the game.
The day of the game, the Trojans came out on the field first and they waited on the sidelines for the Notre Dame team to come out. And when they came out, they saw this incredible ongoing procession of these huge green giants coming at them, coming in a seemingly endless stream, and they were demoralized. The coach of the Trojans gathered his team around and tried to regroup them saying, “He’s a trickster. Remember he can only play 11 men at a time,” but the damage had already been done. They lost the game. They were beaten by their own fear.
You see, when we keep our eyes fixed on the Jesus who is the Savior and Lord, the Jesus who died for us and rose again and put our trust in Him, that kind of faith will take care of fear.
Maybe you can identify with this woman who came to Jesus – desperate, your life hemorrhaging away, drifting toward hopelessness, afraid to come out in the open with the depth of your plight. But Jesus already knows your need. He cares for you with a love that is incomparable, a love beyond anything you have ever known. It was that love that moved Him to die on the cross for you. He invites you to come to Him. Find rest in His arms, healing in His power, hope in His promises. He wants you to trust Him for forgiveness and salvation, to know the joy of a faith that has no fear. That faith is His gift to you, also. It is a faith that frees you, heals you, and makes you whole.
A circus trapeze artist was once talking about the importance of a net. He said it’s not there just to keep us from breaking our necks. It’s there also to keep us from falling. You see if we didn’t have a net, we might be tense and nervous-so nervous we wouldn’t be able to do the things we wanted to do. We certainly wouldn’t be able to take the risks we take, to dare, to try things we might not have tried before an audience. That net gives us that security. When we know underneath us are the everlasting arms of God, not just the Shepherd, not just the healer, not just a caretaker, but the Savior who has rescued us from the very threat of sin and death and destroyed the power of the evil one, there is no way we need fear. We can dare to be bold, dare to risk, dare to serve, dare to love Him, dare to bear witness to Him in our world, dare to live as His disciples, dare to follow Him wherever He leads us. May God grant us that grace through Jesus our Savior. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for June 29, 2003
ANNOUNCER: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Pastor, you know that part of the Apostles’ Creed where it says Jesus descended into hell? What does that mean?
KLAUS: Well Mark, before we talk about this particular statement, we first need to lay some foundation concerning the three Universal Creeds of the church.
ANNOUNCER: When you say “universal,” I assume that means the creeds are accepted by all churches?
KLAUS: Not all churches, but quite a few of the major Christian denominations come together in their adoption of these creeds.
ANNOUNCER: And what are these creeds?
KLAUS: Three universal creeds – The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene, and the Athanasian. The Apostles’ Creed is the oldest.
ANNOUNCER: Did the Apostles write it?
KLAUS: No. The Apostles didn’t write the creed. It was done after the last one had died. That doesn’t mean the Apostles didn’t make their own doctrinal statements. They did. There are creedal statements you can read in the Bible. A couple of examples- passages like Romans 10:9 reads, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Here’s another one from 1 Corinthians15:3-4, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” Two examples-the Apostles didn’t write the Apostles’ Creed. However, the Apostles’ Creed is based on the teachings of our Savior’s first followers.
ANNOUNCER: And why did the church feel the need for creeds?
KLAUS: You know the Scriptures were verbally inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit. Using the unique skills and personal qualities of the writers, the Holy Spirit gave the prophets, evangelists, and apostles the very words they were to write. It was and is all very clear.
ANNOUNCER: Yeah, but if Scripture is clear, the creeds ought to be unnecessary, right?
KLAUS: You might think so, but you can never underestimate peoples’ ability to muddy up that which is clear and complicate that which is simple.
ANNOUNCER: Even without the help of a committee….?
KLAUS: Even before the Apostle John died, there were already controversies in the church. One group would say, “This is what Jesus meant.” Others said, “No, He really wanted to say this.” Then there were still other people who came out of nowhere and said, “Oh, the Lord spoke to me and now I’ve got a new revelation that replaces what Jesus said and did.” That’s why St. Paul wrote to the church in Rome, “I urge you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them” (Romans 16:17).
ANNOUNCER: Could they avoid false teaching?
KLAUS: They tried. But it became difficult. That’s why the creeds became necessary. The leaders of the church met together in order to reject that which was false, and put together the necessities of the true faith in an easy way for believers to understand. The purpose of the creeds is not to replace Scripture, but to confirm Scripture and protect the church from heretics.
ANNOUNCER: Now, with about a minute left, the specific question: Where in Scripture does it say Jesus descended into hell?
KLAUS: If you’re asking if the Bible says those exact words, Mark, it doesn’t.
ANNOUNCER: Nowhere?
KLAUS: Nowhere. But Scripture does talk about what happened during those three days between Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. The doctrine of Christ’s descent into hell is based on two scriptures. The first is from Acts 2:27. Peter quotes the Psalm “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” The second passage from 1 Peter says, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit through whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built” (1 Peter 3:18-20).
ANNOUNCER: That’s it, huh?
KLAUS: There are a lot of doctrines, like Jesus’ resurrection that have a great deal of Biblical support in a lot of different locations. But this passage about Jesus’ descent into hell isn’t that way.
ANNOUNCER: Well, I can see we’re just getting started, but time’s running out. Would it be all right if we continue this discussion next week?.
KLAUS: I’d welcome the opportunity.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. The next Lutheran Hour message is titled, “We Must Appear.”