{"id":1375,"date":"2015-07-26T21:04:48","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T02:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/?p=1375"},"modified":"2015-07-26T21:04:48","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T02:04:48","slug":"faith-in-jesus-and-his-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/26\/faith-in-jesus-and-his-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith in Jesus and His Power"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gFXr2HVmFm0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/sermons\/?sermon_id=66\" target=\"_blank\">Audio Version<\/a><br \/>\nLamentations 3:23\u201333<br \/>\nMark 5:21\u201343<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #444444; line-height: 1.7;\">The gospel of Mark tells of another story of the power that Jesus has.\u00a0 First Jesus shows His power over the natural elements, in the calming of the winds and sea.\u00a0 Then he shows the power He has over demons, in the casting out of demons when the Legion is cast from a possessed man and sent into a heard of pigs who subsequently, rather immediately, die.\u00a0 The previous stories to our gospel today, all help to create faith in those who see and hear about what Jesus has does.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The gospel today, shows the power that Jesus has to heal but also the power Jesus has over even death its self.\u00a0 The story is told through some unique people.\u00a0 It is told through the privileged and the poor.\u00a0 The story focuses in on the have and the have-nots.\u00a0 During Jesus\u2019 time, there is a polarization in society between those who have and those who have not, even enough to keep themselves alive.\u00a0 Yes, there is a middle class, but it is almost non-existent.\u00a0 Can you think of another time period where there exists a polarization in society, similar to this one?<\/p>\n<p>Jesus does not discriminate in the text, between those who have worldly power and those that are powerless.\u00a0 It is not a matter of position but of faith.\u00a0 Faith comes in many forms.\u00a0 Some give up all they have in their acknowledgement of who ultimately has the power, showing where faith is pointed.\u00a0 Some have so little to give up and reach out from their very soul, trusting in the result.\u00a0 The faith is so great that they are healed through faith.<\/p>\n<p>Faith is a funny thing.\u00a0 Often I have heard people ask such things as; have you come to faith, how great is your faith or where is your faith?\u00a0 The common theme here is a focus upon the individual, not God.\u00a0 It is actually God, through the Spirit that imparts faith upon us through the hearing of the Word, the Son.\u00a0 Hearing of the Word, comes in many forms.\u00a0 Hearing may imply with our ears, but it also can be in our hearts, minds, souls, eyes and yes, our ears.<\/p>\n<p>The two individuals who the gospel speaks of, each have faith that has been given to them.\u00a0 Both in their unique ways, and they demonstrate their faith in the power of Jesus Christ, both in their own unique ways.\u00a0 We are created uniquely, as children of God and our response to Jesus comes in unique forms too.<\/p>\n<p>Jairus has authority because of his position in synagogue, which in turn translates into power in the Jewish society because of the tight relationship between the Jewish society in its identity with God and in turn all that surrounds that identity with God.\u00a0 Even with all the authority that Jairus has, he recognizes the absolute power in Jesus and yields to Jesus for help.<\/p>\n<p>When Jairus receives news that his daughter died, Jesus issues commands to Jairus.\u00a0 Jesus tells Jairus to first, \u201cdo not fear\u201d and second he is told to \u201conly believe\u201d.\u00a0 In the English translation, the nuance of the importance of what Jesus says, is lost.\u00a0 The Greek shows that in both cases, Jesus is using what is called an \u201cimperative\u201d form of speech.\u00a0 That is to say, Jesus commands Jairus not to fear and to have faith.\u00a0 Faith is being commanded through the Word, which is Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus tells the daughter of Jairus to get up and she began to walk about.\u00a0 Those present were amazed and I am sure, even though it does not say so, where changed forever by what they heard and saw from the Word of God, the Son incarnate, Jesus the Christ.<\/p>\n<p>This story surrounds the story of the woman who touches Jesus\u2019s clothes.\u00a0 Although no more important than the woman of faith who is healed after touching Jesus\u2019s clothes, I think more often the reality that we can relate to.\u00a0 The woman is desolate, ritually unclean due to her bleeding.\u00a0 She no longer had any money and in turn, she had no way to pay for housing or food.\u00a0 I cannot say I can truly relate to this woman but I can relate more to Jairus.<\/p>\n<p>Many of us have some sort of power, realized or in someway perceived by others and ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is easy to think that we can go it on our own.\u00a0 We are self-sufficient, and eventually do not even need God.\u00a0 If we are unwilling to acknowledge who has the real power, Jesus and not us, then what?\u00a0 In both cases in the gospel, it is the power from Jesus that heals.\u00a0 In both cases that power is realized through faith.<\/p>\n<p>The flipside to this is, no faith, no power realized.\u00a0 No power realized, no healing.\u00a0 No power realized, no life.\u00a0 It is only Jesus that has the power to heal us and it is only Jesus that has the power to give us life, even in our death.\u00a0 It is also Jesus, through the Spirit, who imparts faith in us.<\/p>\n<p>It has been said,<\/p>\n<p>Doubt sees the obstacles.<\/p>\n<p>Faith sees the way!<\/p>\n<p>Doubt sees the darkest night,<\/p>\n<p>Faith sees the day!<\/p>\n<p>Doubt dreads to take a step.<\/p>\n<p>Faith soars on high!<\/p>\n<p>Doubt questions, \u201cWho believes?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Faith answers, \u201cI!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014Gospel Banner<\/em><a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\"><sup><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Have faith in the power of Jesus Christ to heal you, to heal all of creation and give you everlasting life.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\"><sup><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> Paul Lee Tan, <em>Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times<\/em> (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 404.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Audio Version Lamentations 3:23\u201333 Mark 5:21\u201343 The gospel of Mark tells of another story of the power that Jesus has.\u00a0 First Jesus shows His power over the natural elements, in the calming of the winds and sea.\u00a0 Then he shows the power He has over demons, in the casting out of demons when the Legion &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/26\/faith-in-jesus-and-his-power\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,40,93,21,10,70,12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-1375","6":"format-standard","7":"category-death","8":"category-demons","9":"category-doubt","10":"category-faith","11":"category-jesus","12":"category-life","13":"category-lossandgrief"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-mb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":506,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/23\/follow-god-and-disgard-your-demons\/","url_meta":{"origin":1375,"position":0},"title":"Follow God and disgard your demons","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"June 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio Sermon Link Luke 8:26-39 It is all to easy to dismiss, with our scientific knowledge of today, that this man who approached Jesus in Gerasen as being just mentally ill.\u00a0 We can so easily justify that the lack of knowledge of the people of Jesus\u2019s time, just did not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Community&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Community","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_TkKZZyzUvio\/SFeBhuywFPI\/AAAAAAAAAIU\/bO_pF7MFu8Y\/s320\/Demon%2BLegions.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1236,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/02\/09\/the-greatest-story-ever-told\/","url_meta":{"origin":1375,"position":1},"title":"The Greatest Story Ever Told","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"February 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio Version http:\/\/youtu.be\/Lxi8t13SXD8 1 Corinthians 9:16\u201323 Mark 1:29\u201339 Sickness, not being whole, comes in all forms. Our sins, keep us from being whole, as God intended. We cannot make ourselves whole. We are a broken people in need of healing. The greatest story every told, the gospel of Jesus Christ,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christ&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christ","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christ\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Lxi8t13SXD8\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1641,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2016\/11\/28\/christ-the-king-over-all\/","url_meta":{"origin":1375,"position":2},"title":"Christ, The King over All","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"November 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Below is the video version of the sermon. The audio version is missing the video shown following the sermon. Click here for the audio version. Christ the King Sunday 11\/20\/2016 Old Testament Jeremiah 23:1\u20136 New Testament Colossians 1:11\u201320 Gospel Luke 23:33\u201343 https:\/\/youtu.be\/miTE9BpXzRY","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christ&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christ","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christ\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/miTE9BpXzRY\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":69,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2012\/02\/28\/mark-435-41\/","url_meta":{"origin":1375,"position":3},"title":"Mark 4:35-41","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"February 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This same miracle story is also seen in Matthew 8:23-27 and Luke 8:22-25.\u00a0 When comparing the stories, I find that in the NRSV, the author of Matthew starts out the story with a command of getting into the boat and Jesus leading the way. In Mark and Luke, there is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Faith&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/faith\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/joesaubert.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/02\/jesus-calms-the-storms.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1383,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/08\/07\/a-changed-reality\/","url_meta":{"origin":1375,"position":4},"title":"A Changed Reality","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"August 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YIDwdoGGhSM Audio Version Wayne Zion Lutheran Church,\u00a0Monticello IA Sunday, July 19, 2015 Jeremiah 23:1\u20136 Psalm 23:1-6 Ephesians 2:11\u201322 Mark 6:30\u201334, 53\u201356 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 There is so much in all of our texts today.\u00a0 Often, I do not see a relation in the readings, but throughout these,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christ&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christ","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christ\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lds.org\/bc\/content\/bible-videos\/videos\/feeding-5000\/images\/jesus-feeds-the-5000.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3383,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2025\/03\/13\/temptation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1375,"position":5},"title":"Temptation","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"March 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"3-9-2025First Sunday of Lent Romans 10:8-13 (NRSV)Luke 4:1-13 (NRSV) \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Attitude&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Attitude","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/attitude\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1375"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1377,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375\/revisions\/1377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}