Mark 5: With Jesus, It Is Never Too Late

Introduction

"Sometimes time passes very quickly, too quickly. And sometimes it passes far too slowly." At the evening service of CF-Bern, Matthias Kipfer preaches on Mark 5 and on what he calls "the problem of time." Sometimes you have to wait, and wait some more, and you wonder why nothing is moving forward. Sometimes everything goes too fast.

In the text, two people meet Jesus. For one, time has been very long: twelve years before Jesus performed a miracle in her life. For the other, time went by too fast: Jairus begs Jesus to hurry, and his daughter dies before he arrives.

The pastor states his conviction from the start: "Jesus is above time, and it is never too late. What we have to learn is to trust him in every situation."

Outline of the Message

1. Two People Facing Time

The passage read is Mark 5:21-36. Jesus crosses back by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathers, and Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, falls at his feet: his little daughter is at the point of death.
On the way, a woman who has had a flow of blood for twelve years touches Jesus' clothing and is healed. While Jesus is speaking with her, people come to tell Jairus that his daughter is dead.
Before preaching, Matthias Kipfer prays: "Strengthen our faith, so that we learn to look to you, no matter how time passes, no matter where we stand. You are above all of this, and we can trust you."

2. Jairus, an Important Man on His Knees

Jairus is a desperate father. The pastor puts it simply: watching your child sick and dying, with nothing you can do, is one of the worst things anyone can go through. You are stuck, at the end of your rope.
He was an important man, a leader of the synagogue. All his influence was of no use to him. But he came to Jesus, threw himself at his feet, and humbled himself: "Help me, Jesus, help me."
Jesus saw his heart and his trust, and he answered: I am coming with you.
It is a prayer we often pray: "Jesus, help me." And sometimes, in the moment that follows, we do not see the answer.
The crowd is huge and Jesus moves slowly. The preacher imagines Jairus in a rush: "Let's go, let's run, let's hurry!"

3. The Sick Woman: A Faith That Says "I Will Be Made Well"

Twelve years of illness. She tried everything, she spent all her money and all her time, and her condition did not improve. She was sick and unclean.
Yet the text does not show a woman without hope, but a woman who has faith. We do not know where she heard about Jesus or what went on in her heart, but verse 28 shows it: "For she said, 'If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well.'"
She does not say "maybe" or "I hope so." She says: I will be made well. "It was not only hope, it was faith."
The pastor quotes Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen."

4. The Hiding Places That Keep You from Coming to Jesus

Sometimes there are obstacles. Under the law, a woman with a flow of blood was unclean: she could not go to worship and was probably often pushed aside.
She could have said: "I do not want to bother Jesus, he has other problems. Who am I to take a step of faith?" She could have hidden behind self-pity, behind her past, behind the way people had treated her.
"The question is not whether God wants to heal. The question is whether we trust him, whether we come to him."
She could also have hidden behind time: "For twelve years nothing happened, so why now?" She had done everything in her own strength. If she had thought that way, she would have experienced nothing.
Jairus, for his part, is under the pressure of time. He does not have twelve years ahead of him, his daughter could die at any moment, and Jesus stops yet again. How often do we pray without seeing anything come, while miracles seem to happen left and right, but not for us?
Then come the friends and colleagues: "It is too late, leave Jesus alone." Advice that is often well meant, but advice of doubt, given by people who look only at the circumstances, their own reasoning, and their experience.

5. Doubt or Faith: A Decision

"There are a thousand reasons to doubt" in our situations, where we pray and hope. "The problem is that if we give doubt room, we have lost."
The pastor reads James 1:6-8: "But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. Let that man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
There is no shortage of reasons to doubt: the waves are too high, too much time has passed, everything is going too fast, the enemy is too strong, the sum is too large, the people are too few or too unwilling.
"It is your decision and mine: to choose doubt or to choose faith." We often think faith is a feeling, but faith is a decision: the decision about where you look, like Peter on the water, at the waves or at Jesus.

6. Jesus Does Not Only Want to Heal You, He Wants to Meet You

The woman wanted to remain anonymous. "But with Jesus, you cannot remain anonymous." He is not interested only in performing a miracle, he wants a relationship with you. He does not seek to expose her: he does it because you matter to him.
When she finally confesses, Jesus says to her: "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease" (Mark 5:34). Not your prayer, not your offering: your faith, your trust. She brought nothing, she came with her faith.
It does not matter where you come from or what your past is, whether your problem is an hour old or twelve years old. The pastor recalls James 4:8: "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you."
He brings up the prodigal son (Luke 15:20): "But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." It does not matter how far away you are: "You take one step toward him, and he takes three toward you."
For Matthias Kipfer, the greatest miracle may not be the healing, but that this woman hears: "My daughter, my child, I love you, I am here for you."

7. "Don't Be Afraid, Only Believe"

Here is Jairus, discouraged and stressed. Before him stands Jesus, the Son of God, the one who says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), the one who can raise the dead and to whom "all authority has been given ... in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18).
And the people from his house arrive: "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?" (Mark 5:35). In other words: leave Jesus alone, go home, give up.
How often do we talk to ourselves this way? The loudest voice is often that of our own reasoning: "What is the point of trying again, hoping again, praying again?"
In the translation the pastor read, verse 36 says that Jesus heard (the WEB says, "But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken"). Jesus hears your doubts and your fears, what people say and what you say to yourself. He does not come to reproach you, he comes to encourage you.
To the woman, he said: "Your faith has made you well." To Jairus, he says: "Don't be afraid, only believe." This is what Jesus wants to say to you where you are praying: do not be afraid, trust me.
The preacher points to what follows in the story: until then, Jesus was surrounded by a large crowd; now he takes with him only Jairus and "two or three" of his disciples (Mark 5:37).
At the end of the message, he invites everyone to come to Jesus: "Come to him, touch him, trust him. He is a God of miracles." He also calls those who have drifted away from God to return and to kneel like Jairus and like the woman: "With God, nothing is impossible. No wall is too big, no pit is too deep."

Key Takeaways

Jesus is above time: whether you have been waiting for twelve years or everything is going too fast, it is never too late.
Faith does not say "maybe," it says "I will be made well." It counts on the fulfillment of what it hopes for.
The question is not whether God wants to act, but whether we come to him and trust him.
Doubting or believing is a decision: the decision to look at the waves or at Jesus.
Jesus does not seek only to perform a miracle: he wants to meet you and tell you "my child."

Personal Application

In what situation does time seem too long to you, or on the contrary too short?
What are you hiding behind to avoid coming to Jesus: your past, the way you have been treated, the feeling of being a bother, the time that has already passed?
Which voices are telling you right now "it is too late, give up"? Do they come from other people or from your own reasoning?
Where are you looking today: at the waves or at Jesus? What decision of faith can you make this week?
Are you only looking for an answer from God, or do you accept that he meets you personally?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What is "the problem of time" in Mark 5?

Matthias Kipfer sees two people facing time in Mark 5. For the sick woman, time was too long: twelve years of suffering before the miracle. For Jairus, time went too fast: his daughter dies while Jesus stops along the way. His conclusion: Jesus is above time and it is never too late.

Why did Jesus want to know who had touched him?

The woman wanted to remain anonymous. For the preacher, you cannot remain anonymous with Jesus: he does not only want to perform a miracle, he wants to meet the person and have a relationship with her. He does not seek to expose her, he calls her "my daughter" because she matters to him.

What does "Don't be afraid, only believe" mean for today?

When Jairus is told that his daughter is dead, Jesus hears these words and tells him not to be afraid, only to believe (Mark 5:36). Matthias Kipfer sees in this the word of Jesus for every situation where we pray without seeing an answer: Jesus hears our doubts and our fears, and he calls us to trust him.