Trinity 24
Beloved. As we began service this morning, it was (at least in our time zone) the exact 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War—the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Not enough can be said of the horribleness of this war and the sin that Satan stoked on all sides to bring about such devastation of human life in general and the war’s effect on Christianity—not just in terms of large numbers of those killed but also on the destructive effect it had on faith of millions then and its ripple effects down through the years. Wherever there is no peace, you can be sure that the devil is at work, whose goal is to bring nothing but strife and destruction. How we need to hear again what we heard Jesus say in last Sunday’s Gospel: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. May we always strive for peace in our world, in our nation, in our lives, and among ourselves. We are peacemakers as we let Jesus work through us to bring reconciliation in our lives and in the lives of those we touch; first and foremost are we peacemakers when the Gospel of peace with God which Jesus brought about permeates our hearts and lives and we share that Gospel of peace in Jesus with others.
As we come to the end of this current Church Year, our attention now focuses on the end/ the goal of the Christian life—our final salvation, to be with our Lord in heaven eternally, both soul and body. And today’s reading reminds us of that. We here have those beautiful words of Jesus: the girl is not dead but is sleeping. Then what does Jesus do? He restored her to life: Jesus went in, took the girl by the hand, and she was raised. This is a beautiful reminder to us of our death as Christians. Yes, unless Jesus returns first, we will all die; the soul will separate from the body. But for the Christian, the soul goes to heaven while the body rests in the ground to await the resurrection on the Last Day, when at Jesus’ return and at His command, all the dead will be raised and the soul and body of all reunited. For the Christian, soul will be reunited with glorified body fit for an eternity in heaven with the holy Triune God, the holy angels and all the saints.
Jesus’ miracle of raising this girl back to life gives us a foreshadow of that great and glorious day of Jesus’ return. This girl died. But Jesus describes her death as a sleeping, that is, a restful slumber. When our bodies rest in the tomb, it is a quiet sleeping. And, for Jesus, to raise the dead is as much effort as it is to wake someone from sleeping. Jesus went in, took the girl by the hand, and she was raised. And that’s the resurrection we look forward to on the Last Day. At the mere word of Jesus, we and all the dead will be raised and He will give eternal life in heaven, soul and glorified body, to all who have died in the faith.
So how do we live our lives now, before we fall asleep in the faith, die in the Christian faith? –As we pray in today’s collect: richly bringing forth the fruit of good works. Doing good, including living a life of peace and being a peacemaker, flows from our faith, faith the Holy Spirit created in us and preserves us in. All the good that we do—that is, all that we do out of love for the Lord in fulfilling His holy Ten Commandments—flows from that Spirit-worked faith. This faith is a mighty and powerful thing! This power of faith we see in our text. We see that faith is stirred up in trial; it is strong in trust; and it is blessed as it receives.
Faith is a powerful thing and it shows its power as it faces trial. That’s what we see in our text with two examples of faith’s power being stirred up. First we see it in this ruler whom the other evangelists describe as a ruler of a synagogue, one who had general oversight of the external and internal affairs of the synagogue, maybe like a combination of our elder and congregational president. The other evangelists also give him the name, Jairus [Mk 5.22]. He comes to Jesus because his daughter was sick and died. The other example of faith’s power being stirred up was of a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years. On top of that, as St. Mark reports, she: had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.
In both of these cases, the ruler and the woman knew their condition. It was very obvious to them. Certainly after death, this ruler thought, there was nothing more to be done. He knew his condition as more than dire—perhaps even hopeless. But what does he do? As he was saying these things to them, there was a ruler who came, bowed down to him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, place your hand on her, and she will live.” And then with the woman, she came up from behind and touched the fringe of his garment. For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be healed.” All human help was gone. Death ended it for the daughter. And for the woman, all human wisdom got her nowhere. Not only was she much worse, she was all the poorer for it.
But here is where the power of faith comes in. Here faith is stirred up. It is stirred up in trial, when it is tested. The thing is, as Christians we have faith in God; we trust in Jesus and His saving work; we know Him rightly as God’s Son and our Savior and Helper in every need. Faith in Christ makes us Christians; that means that faith is always there, whether we “feel” it or not; faith is their even when we’re asleep or unconscious. But when trial or hardship come, faith especially shows itself; it leaps up like a sleeping tiger that was roused. Here that ruler… came, bowed down to him, recognizing that Jesus is God and is able to help—faith; the utter helpless of the situation: “My daughter has just died”; and now faith stirred up in trial: But come the boldness of faith and where most would think of this ruler as a great fool, place your hand on her, and she will live—his faith was that Jesus had the power to restore life. And the same with the woman: For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be healed.” Here is the boldness of faith: she approaches Jesus secretly—she thought—but with great faith, in the firm conviction of simple faith that Jesus could and would heal her.
But the power of faith is not only stirred up to act in physical trial—be it death or illness—but also in spiritual trial. When we very much feel our sin and the accusation of God’s holy law; when Satan keeps dredging up past sins; when we very much see our inability to resist sin and keep falling into the same sins no matter how hard we try not to; when we see that we can’t help ourselves; when we see that we cannot gain heaven because all our sin shuts us out; then faith is powerfully stirred up and holds to the promises of God to forgive us our sin for Jesus’ sake; then faith holds to the word and work of Jesus to forgive us our sin; then faith holds to the holiness of Jesus that He gives us. Dear Christian, see here that like in these extreme examples of the woman and ruler of the synagogue, yes, our spiritual condition is dire—there is no hope or help left us from our end; but let this stir up your faith to go to Jesus boldly and to receive the gifts He wants to and does give you in His holy word and sacrament, to receive the forgiveness of sin, eternal life, peace with God that He brought about for you. A serious and honest look at heart and life in the light and mirror of God’s holy Law will show what deep spiritual trouble we are in. And let faith’s power be stirred up to go to Jesus and trust in Him, His word and work for help and rescue.
The power of faith is not necessarily faith itself but the object of faith—what faith holds to. In our text we see that the woman and the synagogue ruler had the right object of faith—Jesus. Just then, a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years came up from behind and touched the fringe of his garment. For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be healed.” Her faith is stirred up in her trial—and her faith is a mighty thing—and her faith held to the right object, Jesus; she recognized Jesus as the true God, who could—because in God’s hands alone is the power to heal—and who would. She had been saying to herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be healed.” But she came in great humility and fear: she came up from behind and touched the fringe of his garment. Although she felt herself unworthy, her great faith still caused her to act. She humbly drew near and in the boldness of faith touched God, touched Jesus’ outer garment. Again, faith is humble because we do recognize our need, our inability to help ourselves; but faith is also bold, strong in trust, because in spite of our unworthiness we boldly go to the Lord asking for His help. We do this in physical needs, like this woman and synagogue ruler did, and foremost in our spiritual needs—for forgiveness of sin, for a peaceful conscience, for an increase in holiness, etc.
What a glorious comfort we have as we in humility and boldness go to Jesus! Again look at this woman. Jesus didn’t chide her for touching Him, something she shouldn’t have done lest she make Him ceremonially unclean like she was. Instead, Jesus not only healed her but praised her faith that was stirred up in her trial and was strong in trust: When Jesus turned around and saw her, he said, “Take heart, daughter! Your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment. Jesus did not want such a great faith silenced. By Jesus healing her, she became a witness to His divinity and Jesus became a witness to her faith.
And remember, Jesus was going to Jairus’ house: what a comfort to him that Jesus would show him the same goodness! What a comfort this is for us, when we in humble but bold faith go to Jesus in all our needs—be they physical but also and especially spiritual. Jesus will not turn us away. Jesus tells the woman: Take heart, daughter! What a glorious word to her and to us. Through faith she was then in that dear, loving relation with her Lord: daughter. Through faith she now has a share in all His graces and gifts, which He freely gives and which faith receives. Think of this dear Christian. She merely touched the tassel of Jesus’ garment and was healed. We receive in our mouths the very body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion. She merely touched Him; we receive the whole Jesus. How much more can we be certain of His graces and gifts to us, of His saving us, of granting us every heavenly and spiritual blessing, of Him saying to us Take heart, daughter!?
Faith is powerful as it is stirred up in trial to a strong and humble trust in Jesus. And what makes faith so powerful is that it receives the gifts and blessings Jesus gives us. In fact, the only way we can receive the fullness of His rich blessings is through faith. Through faith we receive the forgiveness of sin, life, salvation, peace with God, joy in Him, an open heaven, etc. Faith saves because it is all the time receiving these gifts from Him. In fact our text shows that by their lack of faith people exclude themselves from the gifts and blessings He wants to give: said to them, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but is sleeping.” But they laughed at him. When the crowd was sent out of the house, Jesus went in, took the girl by the hand, and she was raised. By their unbelief, they made themselves unworthy to behold such a glorious work of God—the raising of the dead. By unbelief, much of the world today considers Jesus and His word as idiocy and foolishness, and so cut themselves off from receiving His graces and gifts He so wants to give.
So dear Christian, your faith is a powerful thing. It is especially awoken in times of hardship; its object, Jesus and His word and work, is true and so it is strong; and your faith receives all the gifts and blessings Jesus wants to give you. In all trial, no matter how we may feel or what the outward circumstance may be: do not fear, only believe. INJ Amen.