Two Touches | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

Mark 5:21-43

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 leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 

²³ He 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 twelve 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 people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “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 leader, 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 began to walk around (she was twelve 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.

 

I would like to give you a little bit of a behind-the-scenes picture of how I write my sermons I’ve decided about 10 years ago to use the lectionary for my scripture selection and I thought that if I Preached the lectionary calendar every year at about 12 years I would’ve rotated through a good portion of the Bible for those who don’t know the lectionary calendar is a three-year rotational calendar that has a Year A, Year B, and Year C. Each Sunday for this calendar they list four types of scriptures, a Psalm, a New Testament Letter, an Old Testament passage, and a Gospel Passage. So, I thought I could use the lectionary for 12 years rotating each year, without repeating passages, but every year I got this week I seem to always pick this passage from the Gospel of Mark. I relate to this passage; I have had some good times and some not-so-good times. I have had some friends and I have been alone; I have been healthy, and I have been sick. I’ve learned that life is full of ups and downs I am sure I am not the only one who has learned this.

 

We all have had to go through some life changes, and if you have not God bless you, and as the adage goes keep saying good morning and you will find some changes. There is a saying that goes we are always in one of three places in life, in the middle of a storm, coming out of a storm, or going into a storm. If we took a testimony, I’m sure many could share how things didn’t go exactly as we planned it but we pushed through and made it to the end. Changes are a part of life, no matter how much we don't like it. But even during those life-changing circumstances, a touch from the lord can make it alright. You can touch the Lord, or the Lord can touch you, either way, that touch can make things better immediately.

 

God shows us this in scripture here in the Gospel according to Mark. Mark the oldest of the Gospels and the shortest. Written by John Mark who spent time walking with Peter, and John Mark wrote about what Peter told him, that is how we get the Gospel of Mark. You can see Peter's personality come out in the text. Peter was short on patience and short on words, Peter let the actions do the talking, and the actions happened immediately, the Gospel of Mark has immediately in it a bunch of times, and the two people in need of healing were healed immediately in this passage. The text starts with Jairus a leader in the synagogue coming to Jesus for help, during the Biblical times, the people of God focused on worshiping in the temple and the synagogues were community-based, the big Temple was destroyed later but the synagogues survived to this day. Jairus was a synagogue ruler, a big fish in a little pond as my family would say but he still needed help once his 12-year-old daughter got sick. He went to Jesus, and he begged him to heal his daughter, it doesn't matter how big you get, how much of a pillar you are in the community, all that can go away in an instant and you lose or almost lose everything valuable to you. Jairus is showing us you must treat people right on the way up, you may need them later, or at least see them on the way down. At least Jairus went to someone that could help him, someone that had the power to make it alright, Jairus saw his baby girl was in trouble and took him to the one that could fix it. Jesus didn't mock Jairus either, didn't ask Jairus to find one of his other Rabbi friends, Jesus did not say he would consider it, Jesus saw the man begging for help and decided to help him.

 

Jesus and company ended up making a pit stop on the way to heal Jairus' daughter, the woman with an issue of blood for over 12 years pushed her way through for her healing. The text says she had spent all her money trying to find a way to get healed but the situation only got worse. She had done all she could and heard about the man named Jesus and had to get to him. The woman with the issue of blood did not care about social rules either, according to Leviticus 15 she should not have been around other people being unclean, but she knew where her healing was and didn't care what happened as long as she got it, the woman said if I could just touch the hem of his garment. Jairus didn't care about his position the woman didn't care about her social status either, whether you are up or down you still can get something from Jesus. If some of us were to pursue Jesus like we didn't care about what other people thought about us. What if we were willing to embarrass ourselves to get closer to God, I remember when David danced for the Lord they made fun of him, but he said I will become more undignified than this. Worrying about what other people think is stagnating and preventing the church from being what God called us to be what if we were a little more like this woman and Jairus?

 

Jesus felt power leave him, so he asked who touched him? The people said Jesus it's too crowded to be asking questions like that, everybody touched you. But Jesus knew this touch was something different. This touch immediately healed the woman's issue, and when Jesus found the woman, the text says she told Jesus the whole truth, some translations say the woman told him all.

Have a little talk with Jesus

Tell him all about our troubles

Hear our fainted cry, answer by and by

Feel a little prayer wheel turning

Know a little fire is burning

Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right.

 

Jesus told the woman that her faith made her well, and he called her daughter. The woman went in with an issue and came out family, went in with no name, and came out being called something Jesus doesn't call anyone else in the Bible. The woman was willing to stick around and received her healing and then some.

 

Some people from Jarius’ house show up around that time and tell Jairus Don't bother Jesus your daughter is dead. Jesus told Jairus don't be afraid, only believe and they kept going towards Jairus' home. When the entourage got to Jairus' home they were met outside by some professional mourners. People paid to mourn the loss of a loved one almost put on a show at a funeral. I know this was common back in the Bible times, but I can't help but notice these days you have people that will cause drama for free.

 

Some people like drama some people just aren't happy unless they are seeing some drama or if they can't see some, they will start some. Jesus said the little girl was only sleeping and the people laughed. In response to the drama, and the mess, and the laughter, Jesus put the people out. Jesus touched the young lady, and she was healed immediately, not only healed but healed and hungry. Having been sick before and hospitalized while sick I can appreciate the little girl getting something to eat, that meant she was healed and ready to get back to living life to its fullest.

The woman was someone who was not supposed to be touching people, but Jesus let her, Jairus daughter was dead, people were not supposed to be touching her, but Jesus touched her. In both situations, Jesus did not care about the rules he showed the love of God to the people and healed them both.

 

What if we were willing to not worry about our titles and positions and put some more effort into getting to know Jesus? What if we were willing to go past the rules to help others get to know Jesus as well? Some things in us could make us untouchable, but Jesus is still willing to touch us and let us touch him.

 

The In Between Times | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr

2^nd Corinthians 5:6-17

⁶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

¹¹ Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.¹² We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

 

 

I struggle with in-between times when I am almost there but not quite. When I get through security at the airport but haven't boarded the plane yet. When I was at a track meet, and it was not quite yet my time to run. I know the change is coming, just not there yet. I struggle because I always feel like I should be doing something in the meantime. I can't just put my headphones on and listen to podcasts, I'm too worried I might miss some important information, don't want to sleep, because I am worried that I might miss the plane, it's hard for me to even eat.  When I was in-between jobs, that was also uncomfortable. I have not been in between income, I would find a way to earn that, but in between established jobs, or even long-term contracts for my business would make me uncomfortable. Even though they are uncomfortable for me, they are a necessary part of processes, and sometimes needed.

 

The in-between time is not a new concept, some people are comfortable with the practice, people take "gap years" after graduating from High School before they go to college, many successful companies have extremely generous vacation and time-off policies. Even the United Methodist Church has sabbatical time built into our pastoral careers, paragraph 351 of the Book of Discipline says that pastors are supposed to take a sabbatical after 6 years of full-time ministry. If the pastor is part-time, they can take it once they get to the equivalent of 6 years in ministry.  Some people end up in an in-between time involuntarily, they can lose their job, reach some uncertainty in a relationship, must take leaves of absences from jobs or organizations, an in-between time is thrust upon us. Something happens, and suddenly we are living between two points: what was, and what we hope will be. Meanwhile, we’ve got to figure this out.

 

We find some in-between time right here in 2nd Corinthians. Scholars believe that 1st Corinthians was probably Paul's second letter to the church and the letter we call 2nd Corinthians is probably the 4th. Paul is speaking of an in-between time in the text. Away vs. home, faith vs. sight, old vs. new, and flesh vs. new creation. Believers are caught between an "already done" and a "not yet" kind of time.

 

The apostle Paul has an interesting take on this thing we call life. For him, his life was not only an in-between time but an in-between life.  That is, it was life in parentheses, life in the anteroom room of the kingdom of heaven. It was life before life. He writes, “While we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord … we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him” (vv. 6, 8-9).

The people of God were in an in-between time because by the time this passage was written, Christ had died, rose again, and the people were waiting on Christ's return. People are judging the Corinthian church right now; people are putting them to shame. To put it plainly, the church folk don't look good right now.

 

The people were worried about being embarrassed however Christ won't put us to shame.

 

Know that Christ is the final judge, we all must appear before him, that is why whether we are away or at home we should aim to please Jesus. No one else sacrificed their lives so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. No one else willingly gave themselves up for people who did not deserve it, but Jesus did it for them anyway.

 

Romans 5:7-8 says ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Earlier I stopped reading at verse 17 for today's message but if I had gone down to verse 21, verse 21 says ^“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Someone who did not have to make the sacrifice for us did it and did it willingly because he loved us so. Christ died for all; his love pushes us forward (love motivates the mission). That is who we should be looking to impress not anyone else.

 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there's just something about that name.

Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain;

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all Heaven and earth proclaim

Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,

But there's something about that name.

 

Also, after Christ gave himself up for us and rose from the dead, we got the Holy Spirit to act as a comforter during the in-between times until Christ comes again.

 

The Spirit is given to believers as a guarantee or promissory note that will be redeemed. We can walk by faith during the in-between times of life because we have something to hold on to that will keep us. In an airport, after I pass security, I may be uncomfortable waiting to get on the plane, but I know I am getting on the plane because I still have my boarding pass.

 

In my senior year of college, the company managing the campus apartments overbooked the room, they tried to get me to sign a release, that release would have gotten me my deposit back, I didn't sign it, because I knew if they had my deposit, they had to find me a room. I had something, that meant the company had to provide something for me. Because I did not sign a release, and they still had my deposit, they had to put me in a hotel until they found an apartment open for me. They were on the hook and if I didn't let them off the hook, they had to come through on their end of the bargain.

 

Paul is not cocky but is confident, confident because he knows that this is temporary and eventually, we will all be with the Lord. He says in verse 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

 

Romans 8:38-40

³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

God's love cannot be contained or constrained.

 

We know the plane is going to leave eventually, we are confident in this because of our faith. 

Christ provides renewal to all things, everything is made new, which means renewal, not a replacement.

 

Paul walked by faith, and so can we. Paul was an ambassador for Jesus Christ, and his mission was to reconcile people to God. The fundamental truth to which we must cling is that God does have a purpose for us, and God is working out that purpose right now — one day at a time. Amen.

 

Can These Bones Live? | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Ezekiel 37:1-14

37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

I

When I was a child, one of my favorite toys was Legos, I liked to be able to build, if I could not build with legos I would figure out something else I could use to build. I had an active imagination, was always looking at the bigger picture and I liked to see things built, and rebuilt. One of my favorite YouTube channels to watch is a channel called Odd Tinkering. On the Odd Tinkering channel, there is rarely anyone speaking, only a pair of hands-on cameras restoring things people thought were junk. They will take an old video game system, a rusted-out fan or some other item people thought were junk and restore it good as new. I like to see how things are connected. I think many of us like to see how things are connected, millions of dollars of Legos are sold every year, Odd Tinkering has millions of views. We like to see how things come together.

WE

This Ezekiel 37 passage is very popular, there are over 80,000 references to this passage in music and pop culture, there are paintings and drawings about this passage of scripture as far back as the 3rd Century. We can relate to the passage, we can relate to the reconnection, the resurrection, but we can also relate to the times when we are disconnected. There is resurrection in the text because there is something that needs to be resurrected.

Most of us can point to periods when doubts, hopelessness, depression, fear, and anxiety were prominent in our daily living. We can remember times when we had more month than money, times when we could not get ends to turn around and face one another let alone meet. Trouble on the job, trouble in the home, things not going the way we planned. Certainly, hopelessness and despair were a communal experience for the people of Israel at the time of Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones.

Ezekiel was a priest and prophet around the time Babylon defeated Israel. The text was written around the time of Exile, Ezekiel had been in Babylon for about 5 years at the time of the text and was walking around an irrigation canal when he felt the pressure of the lord and caught up in a vision. 

The people of God had been defeated and lost access to the temple, the people of God were marched against their will to Babylon. The Israelites are in a theological crisis because they can't go to church anymore. The primary focus of their worship centered around being able to go to the temple, they were blocked from going to church. This theological crisis caused a political, social, and economic crisis. 

Ezekiel is talking to people who have lost heart, who are suffering a death of the spirit, a living death in exile in a foreign land. Their temple has been destroyed, their holy city plundered, their leaders maimed and put in chains, their soldiers put to the sword, their young men and women either killed or dragged off into a foreign land. Ezekiel witnesses the soul of his people gradually wither and die, becoming as lifeless as a valley of dry bones. Can these bones live? That is what God asks.

GOD

God asks the question, but he knows the answer already, God asks Ezekiel because God wants Ezekiel and the people of God to know that he has not abandoned the exiles. No matter how dead and dry your situation is, God can resurrect it.

a. The miracle of the dead bones (37:1-10): 

Restoring the connection 

An amazed Ezekiel sees dry bones in a valley suddenly reassemble themselves and then become covered with muscles, flesh, and skin! Things that were separated are coming back together. Just like all the bones will be connected, God is going to restore and reconnect his people. I like that God is explicit with the explanation of how the bones and sinews will reconnect. 

Restoring breath/spirit

God breathed life into the bodies after the connections were together. God put the bodies back together, then he put the breath in the body, then he put the spirit in the bodies. That is going to give the people the power to come back again to put one foot in front of the other. 

b. The meaning of the dead bones (37:11-14): 

God explains that he will someday do a similar thing for the nation of Israel! The situation may be messed up right now, but this is not the end of the story. Can these bones live? Can this dead situation be resurrected? Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of man what God can do for you. The bones of your life are dead and disconnected now but God says they won't be that way much longer. 

YOU

God is in control, but that doesn’t mean you lean on a shovel and pray for God to give you a whole. Ezekiel was not just an observer but an active participant in the move of God. You want God to bless you, you must be willing to give him something to bless. Want God to bless your relationship, spend some time working on it yourself and let God provide the increase. Want God to bless your finances, spend some time learning about finances, and let God provide the increase. God has the power to revive the bones on his own without any help, yet God still asked Ezekiel to participate in the process. 

WE

Death is not the end, God revived bones, not people that had recently died, to show God's resurrection power. 

I'm too old to go back to school. Can these bones live? 

It’s too late to start the business. Can these bones live?

It’s too late to reconnect with those loved ones. Can these bones live?

I've been unhealthy for too long. Can these bones live?

Can these bones live? Yes Lord, definitely yes, absolutely yes.