Raising of the Daughter of Jairus – ca. 1546 – Paolo Veronese (1528–1588)
Shut out!
Jairus’ daughter was dead. There were people telling him not to bother Jesus anymore. There were people in his house making great theater out of mourning her passing. There were people laughing at Jesus when he tried to restore order and calm to the group. (Mark 4:36-40)
Since we know we are going to read about the resurrection of the little girl, we usually forget about all those people who Jesus ran out of the house. Who were they?
Doubters.
Mockers.
The faithless.
They missed out on something incredible. They weren’t warned or given another chance. When Jesus was ready, he only took the believers into the room to see the miracle.
Through Jesus’ examples and the parables, we have been told how it will be. From everything we can read in the Bible, we shouldn’t expect warnings or second chances when he returns.
To avoid being shut out, the time to believe, obey and serve him is now.
Christ Heals a Man Paralyzed by the Gout. Mark 2:4 – 1780 – Bernhard Rode (1725–1797)
They had to tear the roof off the place.
How often does it happen that we set our mind to finally fix something in our life and roadblocks suddenly appear? It doesn’t seem to matter whether it is financial, physical or spiritual in nature. Show me an airtight plan and I’ll show you the pin that can pop it.
That is probably what those four guys felt like when they were trying to get to Jesus to help their friend. (Mark 2:1-12) The crowd was pressed in so tight, there was no way to force the bed through there. They faced the exact same decision that we do when something tries to get in the way of our faith. They could have…
…said, “Oh well, we tried” and went home or
…looked for another way to make it happen
Of course we know they climbed up and opened a hole in the roof. By the time they lowered their friend down to Jesus, they had made quite an impression.
Look at what Mark 2:5 says about their faith:
…when Jesus saw their faith …
Faith is much more than some mental acknowledgment. Faith is something that is visible to others. Faith makes you act so that others are not surprised that you are a Christian. Faith makes you respond to tough situations in the way you know would please God.
That is why a little faith can move mountains, (Matthew 17:20) those with a living and active faith don’t let a little challenge or worry get between them and God.
Tough question of the day: How many of your coworkers would pick you out as the Christian in the group?
Here is an exhaustive listing of the places in the Bible that mention “faith only” (Or “faith alone” depending on your version)
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. – James 2:24 KJV
Yes that’s it. The complete and unabridged list.
Belief is a Milestone
While faith is definitely a foundational step in salvation, it does not end there. God has never once in the Bible accepted a man at his word. Faith has been seen outwardly or demonstrated through an action each and every time God required it.
Sacrifice of Isaac – 1635 – Rembrandt (1606–1669)
We can see that God requires the same kind of demonstration from us on our path to salvation:
We must hear and believe God’s word – Romans 10:17
We must repent of (turn our back on) our sinful lifestyle – Acts 17:30
We must be willing to confess Jesus name – Mathew 10:32, Romans 10:9-10
We must be baptized for the remission of our sins – Acts 2:37-38, Galatians 3:36-27
We must live a Christian life – Revelation 2:10
When discussing the “faith only” doctrine with those who teach it, we can make some very solid points to show that it contradicts the rest of the Bible:
In Ephesians, the works Paul said wouldn’t save us were works of the Law of Moses.
In James’ letter, he is talking about works of obedience without which, our faith is dead.
John 6:29 shows us that faith isa work
Romans 2:6 is very clear that the judgment will include an account of our deeds.
In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus told the sinful woman that her faith saved her even though she never vocalized it.
In Hebrews 11, a list of faithful men had to act on their faith to please God.
Faith is a necessity of salvation, to be sure. What is also a necessity is to teach and follow the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:26-27)
The “Heroes of Faith” Didn’t Get Away With Faith Only
The Hebrews writer wanted us to understand that salvation does not come from some mental acknowledgement of God and Christ. If the world cannot see our faith, then it is not the kind of faith the Bible is talking about.
When we read through Hebrews 11, we can examine each and every hero and see that they had to go do something before God’s promise applied to them:
Faith led Abel to make the correct sacrifice – Hebrews 11:4
Enoch lived so that God was pleased with what he saw – Hebrews 11:5-6
Noah built an ark from believing that God would do something he had never seen – Hebrews 11:7
Abraham packed his family up and moved at God’s bidding – Hebrews 11:8-10
Abraham and Sarah had innumerable descendants through the faith that overcame doubt – Hebrews 11:11-12
Abraham was not afraid to give because he knew God could raise Isaac if he sacrificed him – Hebrews 11:17-19
….the list keeps going. We absolutely need faith to please God, (Hebrews 11:6) but we can also see that if any of these Hebrews 11 folks had failed to obey God, the outcome would be very different. (A great example is from the account of Moses striking the rock: Numbers 20:8-12)
If faith comes from hearing the word of God, and what we practice is different from his word, how can we say we have faith?
Jesus exorcising the Canaanite Woman’s daughter from Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 15th century.
Every time I read the account of the Canaanite woman, the speech and actions from Jesus and the disciples makes me stop. (Matthew 15:21-28) At first glance it is all seemingly contradictory to the core message that Jesus has taught so far. To make it worse, the disciples elevate themselves above this woman for no other reason than her race. They have no reaction to the way Jesus spoke to her!
I wonder if the apostles thought back to this day when they began to realize the gospel was for all. The Jews were going to have to be retrained to think of all people as God’s children, and this is the beginning of that training. Jesus teaches us at least three things in this short passage:
Jesus demonstrates the importance of faith over any entitlements or preconceived notions. We know that God is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34) Wealth, race, beauty, nationality or any other human metric have no bearing with God.
Jesus demonstrates that it is important to maintain faith even when we feel like we are not getting what we need. Sometimes our faith wavers a little bit when we have tough times. Jesus gave the woman two opportunities to walk away empty handed, but her faith kept her there reasoning with him.
Jesus demonstrates that what he provides is more than enough. Jesus did not go back to the house to heal the daughter. He merely spoke the command to the woman that everything was going to be as she had asked. The woman went home without questioning that.
We have been left with enough evidence of God and what he wants from us through his word. It is up to us to protect and nurture the faith that comes from studying that evidence. (Romans 10:17) Our faith will be tested often in this earthly life, but those tests are what helps us grow, and have hope, when we learn to deal with them. (Romans 5:3-5)
What was your last test of faith and what improvement did it make on you?
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee – 1632 – Rembrandt (1606 – 1669)
Did you ever notice that people need constant work to make their faith grow? You might have also noticed that there aren’t many that admit it. It is difficult to show others consistent faith through the thick and thin of life.
Even the disciples had to go through some rigorous training before they were on their own to spread the gospel. As Jesus walked up to them in the middle of a storm, on top of the churning water, they were afraid. They were afraid of Jesus and they were afraid of the wind and the waves. (Matthew 14:22-32)
By the time the event was over, the group – probably euphoric from amazement – were “believers.” (Matthew 14:33)
That was not the first miracle they had witnessed though. Just a few hours before, they had participated in the feeding of the five thousand.
Their biggest show of fear, or lack of faith, was yet to come – they were going to scatter in every direction when Jesus is arrested and put on trial.
This is the kind of thing that people do all the time. There is an ebb and flow of those that say they follow Jesus. Depending on the circumstances, they might or might not be full of faith on any given day. Every time Jesus said “Oh ye of little faith…” to the disciples, he was demonstrating his displeasure with them. That is the same boat we are in when we are not consistent in our faith!
What does it take for us to be more consistent? More study? More worship? It is probably different for all of us, so challenge yourself to grow. What one thing can you do over the next year to make that happen?
