! !

! ! ! ! ! !

The Masters Touch ~ Luke 8:40-56! February 16, 2014 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson!

NYTimes (1.12.14), Madeline Arakawa Gins, Visionary Architect, is Dead at 72. Madeline was a poetturned-painter-turned-architect who publicly forswore mortalitywhose buildings, by her own account, were designed to pre-empt death for those living in themdied on Jan. 8 in ManhattanThe cause was cancer. ! She & her husband who preceded her in death, sought not merely better livingbut, ideally, eternal living through design. The chief tenet of their philosophy was captured in an exhibition called, Reversible ! Destiny: We Have Decided Not To Die.! The irony, of course, is that both she and her husband couldnt reverse destiny. They both died. And ! ! despite their desire to outwit death, their destiny caught up to them, as it will for all of us. Well all assume room temp. !

! ! ! !
! ! ! ! !

Important: The question is, how are we to think about death. Is it the end, or just the beginning? Does death get the nal laugh in the end? Is any other belief to the contrary merely just wishful thinking? ! Science tells us that given enough time, the universe itself will die a heat death.! Existentialists, like Albert Camus, tell us that reality of death hanging over our lives is like having a gun to your head that will go off in 5 min. That gun renders anything you do for the next 5 minutes meaningless.! Exploring Xianity: One of the things youll learn about Jesus from our study today is that he transforms our understanding of death itself. Part of what it means to be a Christian is to hold to a radically different denition / perspective of death.! Christian: you will be reminded of the fact that Jesus is the Master over life and death, and what well see ! in our text today is a foretaste of what we will see ultimately when he destroys death once and for all.!

! The Masters Touch - Luke 8:40-56 ! ! ! !

In our study today, we are going to meet two very different people from two very different social positions in life who are nevertheless joined by their very similar need of the Masters touch. And we meet them in this account when their deep moment of desperation brings them into contact with Jesus of Nazareth.!

40! Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was the ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.!

! Jairus was a well-known man at the very centre of the religious & social hub of his city = veriable. ! ! Imagine the fear, the panic, the dashed hopes, the desperation. ! ! His desperationa glimmer of hope (HT: Hughes)brings him to Christ. ! ! !

As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43!And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. [She had suffered much under many physicians, and was no better but rather grew worse (Mk. 5:26).]!

Page 1 " of 4 "

 This medical issue rendered her ceremonially unclean according to the Law of Moses (Lev. 15:19-30), which meant she was prohibited from entering into the worship of the Lord with Gods people and everything and everyone she touched was considered to be ceremonially unclean. !

! Imagine the weariness, the hopelessness, the desperation this woman felt. ! ! Her desperationa glimmer of hopebrings her to Christ.! ! !

44! She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased.! Anyone who was touched by a ceremonially unclean person would have been themselves ceremonially unclean. But Jesus is different: instead of uncleanness being transferred to him, his wholeness is transferred to the other person. Power went out from him.!

! Immediately, power coursed through her body, and she felt alive in a way that she had not felt in 12 years.! ! !

45! And Jesus said, Who was it that touched me? When all denied it, Peter said, Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!! Jairus must have chafed at this interruption as his level of panic increases with every passing moment. Every minute he delayed meant another minute of suffering, and brought his daughter one minute closer to death (HT: Ryken).!

! 46! But Jesus said,Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.! ! ! ! ! ! !

(1) Maybe Jesus didnt know; maybe God healed her directly seeing her desperate faith; or (2) maybe Jesus did know who touched her, and had healed her, and he was asking for her sake and for the crowds sake. ! 47! And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared it in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.! She needed healing, no doubt. But she needed more to be brought into a right relationship with God and Christ Jesus. And so Jesus highlights the greater miracle, by saying to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well. He highlighted the fact that she had been adopted into Gods family by faith in Christ.! Jairus who must have been irritated at this interruption, now has his hope elevated in anticipation of what Jesus will do when he reaches his house. And then the worse possible thing that could happen happens.! 49 ! While he was still speaking, someone from the rulers house came and said, Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more. ! Can you imagine how surreal this moment must have felt? All your hopes have been dashed. Shock quickly gives way to grief as the great Enemy of humanity called Death invades his life with reckless destruction. !

! 50! But Jesus on hearing this answered, Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.! ! !

How did Jairus respond? Maybe he was preoccupied with rushing home to be with his grieving wife. Or maybe, just maybe she wasnt beyond hope. Maybe the messenger was wrong. Maybe there was still time. ! Wright 104, Jesus command to Jairus to have faithcomes immediately after he has told the woman that her faith has brought her salvation. !
Page 2 " of 4 "

! ! ! !

51! And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. 52 And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping. 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.! 54! But taking her by the hand he called, saying, Child, arise. 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened. ! Normally, a person would become ceremonially unclean by touching a corpse. Jesus could have simply commanded the resuscitation of this girl, but he wanted to demonstrate something more, so he takes the girl by the hand, and instead of becoming contaminated, his touch brings fresh healing and new life. ! Just like Jesus spoke a word and commanded the storm to stop, and it did, and just as he commanded supernatural evil to leave a demon-possessed man, and it did, so Jesus commanded the child to arise, and she did!!

! Jesus reverses death.! ! ! So, why did Luke record these stories in his historical biography of Jesus? ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Luke has been showing us through story after story something very signicant about the person and mission of Jesus of Nazareth, and in doing so, hes deliberately opening the way for our understanding of the central explanation of what Jesus came to achieve (Wright). ! In Christ, God doesnt remain distant, but came near to us, to touch our suffering, sickness, and death, and instead of become contaminated by it, overcomes it by his transforming touch. !

In this story, we see a picture of what it means for the Kingdom of God to invade this fallen and broken world. It comes with power, it comes with healing, and the promise of the Gospel is that the Kingdom will come in all its fulness and will eventually and ultimately destroy all suffering and death.! Jesus brings salvation (vv. 48 & 50). He is the King who comes with healing in his hands.! Main Idea:! We are called to fall at the feet of Jesus, the worlds true King, who comes with healing in his hands.! Redene death as mere sleep (as Jesus does). !

1.

When Jesus told Jairus that his daughter was not dead, but rather asleep, Jesus radically redened death for us. As someone once said, there is a whole sermon in that one word, Sleep. ! Ryken 416, When he said this, Jesus was not offering a different diagnosis. Instead, he was introducing a whole new perspective on what it means to die, based on his divine power over life and death.! Death for the believer is transformed into mere sleep. And in radically redening death, Jesus himself is robbing death of its victory. It doesnt have the last word. Jesus does. ! 1 Cor. 15:6, Then he appeared to more than ve hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.!
Page 3 " of 4 "

! Just as death has been transformed, so are our tears transformed. ! ! ! So for the Christian, life and death is a win-win scenario. ! ! ! ! 2. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Engage our city with Good News!! Two primary stories that the city of Calgary tells itself:! (1) The story that this life is all there is.!

1 Cor. 15:51, But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the rst fruits of those who have fallen asleep. !

1 Thess. 4:13-14, But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. !

Phil. 1:21 & 23, For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is better by far.!

(a) Eat. Drink. and be merry, for tomorrow we die. The one who dies with the most toys wins.!

- No, the one who dies with the most toys doesnt win. He still dies. And after that comes the
judgment (cf. Hebrews 9:27).!

(b) Death has the nal word, and a sort of hopelessness sets in. !

- Death doesnt have the nal say. It is an enemy, but because of the death of Jesus, and his
resurrection, it is a defeated enemy that has no ultimate victory. ! (2) The story that life goes on in some way, but no one really knows. ! (a) Reincarnation:!

- But doesnt that imply some standard of judgment? And who gives the judgment? !

The Better Story which is the True Story: Death itself is transformed into mere sleep in light of the Masters touch because death itself has been conquered in the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ. !

! John 11:25 (NIV): I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die.! ! !
In the resurrection, Jesus reverses out destiny.

Conclusion: Thats why through the centuries Christians have traditionally erected crosses in the very place of death, as a deant reminder that death doesnt have the last word. !

Page 4 " of 4 "