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Raised to Life – Mark 5.21-24, 35-43
Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake, where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.”
Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him…
While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”
Then Jesus stopped the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go with him except Peter, James, and John (the brother of James). When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.
We read that Jesus went ‘back’ to the ‘other’ side of the lake. In the Bible, waters often symbolise the world. So the first thing God calls us to do is to go ‘across’ the ‘water’…
So where can you go? What group of people? What place? What can you do that means you ‘go across’ to other people with God’s good news and love?
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Jairus was the ruler of the Jewish place of worship. He was a very important man but when he saw Jesus, what did he do and why? What can we learn from this?
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Can you think of pictures of worship through the Bible?
How did people respond to God in what they did, what they said? Can you think of any songs they sung or ones we sing today that praise God and worship him? What songs help you to worship God?
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Jairus came to Jesus because his daughter was dying and asked Jesus to help. Jesus immediately acted. He cares about every situation you have, that your friends and family have. We can ask him anything. He’s always ready to hear, always willing to listen, help and he’s never busy!
Write a few key words down here about ways you need Jesus to help in different situations in your world and across the world…
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A Challenge for us to think about:
Where do people go when they need help? Do they come to you as a Christian? Do they come to church? How can we live a life that means people see something different and life-giving in us?How can we show people that Jesus is alive and ready to heal and help people today?
A Question for you to think about:
How big is your God? What we mean is this – when you think about God and readthe Bible, what kind of God do you see?What is he like? Is he big? Powerful? How does this impact your life and howyou see God and the prayers you pray?If we understand how powerful God is andthat we have Christ in us (Colossians 1.27) it should mean we pray big prayers!
The next thing that happens in the story of Jairus’ daughter is that the servants come to Jairus and tell him that his daughter his dead. Jesus had stopped to heal a woman on his way to help the daughter and now she was dead. Can you imagine what Jairusmust have thought? Probably sad, scared, annoyed?
Have you had times where you felt God made a promise and then the opposite seemed to happen? But the story wasn’t over (neither is yours). Write down what Jesus said…
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This is a word from God to you as well. Keep the words in your heart and believe them!
Our Words
When Jesus got to Jairus’s house he said the girl wasn’t dead but asleep. Our words are important. We should say what God says and thinks and be positive.
The Bible says this in Hebrews 10.23 (The Message) – “Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word.”
Are there some positive ‘God-confessions’ you need to say. Or some things you need to say sorry to God about? Do you need to be a more positive person?
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Everyone laughed at Jesus because he said the girl was only asleep! When we read the ending we find it hard to believe because we know that the daughter was raised from the dead. But these people didn’t know Jesus and didn’t know the ending!
One of the things that can happen when we speak the Word of God and say we believe in God is that people laugh at us or are nasty. But Jesus ignored their laughs, put them out of his mind and got on with what God had called him to do. That’s what we need to do as well – don’t worry about the laughs and the haters – just do what God says!
Joyce Meyer tells the story that when her husband worked at a company, he didn’t like the dirty jokes one man used to tell, so he walked out. The man took the mick out of Dave but Dave stayed strong. One day when the man got cancer, Dave was the first person he came to for help and many others did the same.
Acts 10.38 – Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him.
Jesus said the girl was ‘sleeping’. Jesus sees beyond the natural and what we see, think, hear and feel. He saw that the girl was dead but he saw a greater truth beyond the natural – he saw that the girl could be raised to life. Jesus had a supernatural way of thinking – he saw what was possible with God’s power!
Mini Bible Study – The Power of the Word of God – The Bible
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.It also means that if we don’t have faith then faith can come as we read, learn and believe the Bible.
Write out Romans 10.17:
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Jesus brought faith by speaking to Jairus and he raised the girl from the dead by speaking. God’s Word has the power in it to do what God says it will (Isaiah 55.11).
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It’s so important to know that we have the same call as Jesus today: bringing life where there is death, hope for hopelessness, beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, peace where there is friction, truth where there are lies.
With God nothing is impossible (see Matthew 17.20 among other places!). Jesus calls us to the impossible. Write out John 14.12 and think what this means for you:
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