The Introduction to the Two Miracles

Driving home: Mark concentrates in his record of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus not so much upon the discourses of our Lord, but upon the deeds of our Lord, and those deeds which in a special way reflect his sovereign glory.

Martin uses the analogy of a 'play within a play' or 'opera within an opera' (like Pagliacci) to describe the structure of the two miracles in Mark 5, where the healing of the woman interrupts the journey to Jairus' daughter.

We have a miracle within a miracle, just as in the theater at times you have a play within a play. You find this in operas, such as Pagliacci. Some of you are familiar with that plot, and you have the play within the play. Well, in this section, beginning in verse 21, going through to the end of the chapter, you have the miracle of the raising of Jairus' daughter, which is interrupted by the performance of that other miracle of touching the body of the woman with the issue of blood.

5:33 - 6:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is not surprising that in this climate of welcome, of excitement, of anticipation, that there should be found individuals whose faith really reaches out and lays hold of Christ and finds him to be in personal experien…

Martin conjectures that the Capernaum townspeople organized watches to spot Jesus' returning boat, explaining why a 'great multitude' was waiting for Him, highlighting their eagerness and expectation.

Could it be that when the multitudes who had been pressing in upon him while he performed his miracles up in that area of Capernaum and by the sea, where he had taught the parable of the sower and the soils and done so many mighty works, could it be that when he said to the disciples, let us get in the boat and go to the other side for there was that needy demoniac upon whom he had set his heart of grace, could it be that when the boat slipped away, the townspeople got together and organized a system of three or two or six or eight hour watches with the agreement that whoever was on watch, the...

11:12 - 12:31 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is not surprising that in this climate of welcome, of excitement, of anticipation, that there should be found individuals whose faith really reaches out and lays hold of Christ and finds him to be in personal experien…

Martin uses the 'Yankee, go home' and 'Welcome home, Yankee' metaphor to sharply contrast the Gerasenes' rejection of Jesus with the Capernaum dwellers' cordial welcome, illustrating the differing spiritual climates.

And in, you see, that particular spiritual climate, there is evidently a tremendous contrast underscored between the dwellers in the area of Upper Palestine around Capernaum and the dwellers in the area of the Gerasene demoniac. They had urged the Lord Jesus to leave their shores. They had said, Yankee, go home. There on the shores where he returned was a welcome sign.

12:31 - 13:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Bury any 'sick macho notion' that a man can only be close to his sons; it is carnal and unbiblical.

Martin distinguishes between a mere request and a 'beseeching' by comparing someone with a dry mouth asking for water to a dehydrated desert trekker agonizingly pleading for water, illustrating the intensity of Jairus' entreaty.

Now there is that word beseech that we found several times with the demoniac. It's the word that means to plead earnestly to entreat with intensity. If a man has just got a dry mouth as I have right now his whole body is not as it were screaming out in an agony of thirst but he's just got a dry mouth he may ask someone for a drink of water. Sir, would you give me a drink of water please?

23:15 - 23:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Bury any 'sick macho notion' that a man can only be close to his sons; it is carnal and unbiblical.

Martin uses the example of a sister named Teresita, who preferred the diminutive form of her name, to explain the concept of diminutives in other languages and how Jairus' use of one for his daughter conveyed affection and intimacy.

We don't have that in English you have it in Spanish and many other languages. One of our dear sisters in this assembly for a number of years was our sister Teresita. And when we addressed Teresa she preferred to be addressed as Teresita, the diminutive which has an element of affection and intimacy. We must say daughter or my precious daughter my sweet little daughter. Our English is impoverished in terms of making that distinction. We've got to stick words on the front. Other languages you can just put a little something on the tail end to give that sense of intimacy and affection and warmth...

25:50 - 26:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Bury any 'sick macho notion' that a man can only be close to his sons; it is carnal and unbiblical.

Martin uses the vivid metaphor of 'death stretching out his bony icy fingers and grasping that little one' to convey the imminence and horror of Jairus' daughter's condition, emphasizing her being 'at the point of death.'

Here's a man who is every whit a man of responsibility and integrity and uprightness. A man who is a ruler in the synagogue. And he speaks of my precious little daughter. And he tells the Lord Jesus precisely her condition. He says she is at the point of death. And that's an attempt to translate a very unusual idiom. She has reached the final stage. She has come or is at the end. In other words when he left her all of the signs that death was just about to stretch out his bony icy fingers and grasp that little one and snatch her away. That death was there at the door chomping as it were at the...

27:44 - 28:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon describes Jesus' immediate and compassionate response, agreeing to go with Jairus, picturing Jesus' empathetic interaction with the distraught father.

Martin imagines Jesus stooping, placing His hands on Jairus' shoulders, and speaking words of consolation, then walking with His arm around Jairus, to illustrate Jesus' compassionate and personal response to the distraught father.

Beautiful in its simplicity and again since the text in the tenses of the verbs urges us to try to relive it in our mind's eye what do you think transpired from the moment the man fell at the feet of Jesus poured out his earnest entreaty regarding his dear precious only daughter informs the Lord she's at the point of death and says oh come lay your hand upon her that she may be healed and live. And there the man is at the feet of Jesus. Can you imagine the Lord Jesus with all that we know of him in scripture simply backing off saying alright man get up I'll go with you. Can you imagine him dea...

32:26 - 33:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains why Mark includes the detail of the multitude thronging Jesus, revealing it as the crucial setting that enabled the woman with the issue of blood to approach Jesus…

Martin contrasts the game 'follow the leader' with the crowd 'thronging' and 'suffocating' Jesus, using Luke's description, to emphasize the intense, pressing nature of the multitude and its significance for the upcoming miracle.

there's going to be a miracle within a miracle and now I've got to set the stage for it so he sets the stage by this little descriptive element and a great multitude followed him and and this is significant they thronged him now that word they thronged him is a very strong word it's a word translated in its simpler form to afflict and trouble that is this great multitude pressed together in upon him and the parable of the sower in the soils with the thorny ground hearers the weeds grew up or the thorns grew up and choked the word that's the word Luke uses to describe what the multitudes were d...

35:22 - 36:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Come to Jesus with your own needs, knowing He is selflessly accessible and will not weary of your requests.

Martin shares a personal experience of ministerial exhaustion, where one feels they 'need to be ministered unto' after serving many, to highlight Jesus' selfless accessibility despite His own weariness.

And some of us who've known just a little bit of what it is to minister to people day after day and week after week in the variety of their spiritual needs, we know that we reach a point where we say, if I see one more person in His need, if I try to minister to one more in His need, I'll need to be ministered unto. And the temptation is to draw back. But here the Lord Jesus is seen in all the glory and the beauty of His salvation. Selfless accessibility.

41:31 - 42:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Make time to nurture intimacy with your children, prioritizing it over other demands, as you make time for everything you regard important.

Martin uses the example of people prioritizing getting dressed for church, despite being busy, to illustrate that parents make time for what they deem important, urging them to prioritize nurturing intimacy with their children.

No one came here in his pajamas this morning.

53:13 - 53:15 Read in full sermon