“Seeing With Eyes Closed”
Pastor Jerry
Mark 5:22-24, 35-42
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Faith means … knowing that something is real even if we do not see it. -Hebrews 11:1 (NCV)
I would love to do an experiment this morning to teach you to see with your eyes closed. What I would do is I would ask you to get out of your vehicle, close your eyes and listen to my voice and my directions as I talk you safely through the maze of cars as you walk toward me with eyes closed.
After it was over and we processed the experiment, I would expect to hear some of you say, “I didn’t like it.”
I can appreciate that because we don’t like the dark. But we walk in a kind of darkness every day. We often complain about how scary it is to walk when we can’t see where we are going. We are blind. We can’t see the future. We have absolutely no vision beyond the present.
It’s one limitation we all share. None of us know how our future will turn out. None of us know the day we will die. None of us know if another pandemic is on the way. We are all like a person with eyes shut, groping through the darkness, listening for a familiar voice. Our worst fear is the unknown, the pandemic, cancer, divorce, loneliness, senseless shootings and death.
And try as we might to walk as straight as we can, chances are we are going to stumble.
Just ask Jairus. He is a man who has tried to walk as straight as he could. But Jairus is a man whose path took a sudden turn into unfamiliar territory—a new darkness. And he doesn’t want to enter it alone.
Jairus is the leader of the synagogue. That may not mean much to you and me, but in the days of Christ, the leader of the synagogue was the most important man in the community. The leader of the synagogue was the senior religious leader, the highest-ranking professor, the mayor, and the best-known citizen all in one.
Jairus has it all. Job security. A pension plan. An annual all-expenses-paid trip to the national convention. Who could ask for more? Yet, Jairus does. He has to ask for more. In fact, he would trade the whole thing for just one assurance–that his daughter will live.
The Jairus we see in this story is not the clear-sighted, nicely dressed civic leader. He is instead a blind man begging for a gift. He falls at Jesus’ feet, “saying again and again, ‘My daughter is dying. Please come … so she will be healed and will live.” (Mark 5:23 NCV)
He doesn’t barter with Jesus. He doesn’t negotiate with Jesus. He doesn’t make excuses. He just pleads. That’s all he can do! Plead!
There are times in life when everything you have to offer is nothing compared to what you are asking to receive. Jairus is at such a point. What could a man offer in exchange for his child’s life? Jairus is blind to the future, and Jesus knows the future. So Jairus asks for his help.
And Jesus, who loves to change situations and to change lives, is there to help. And God, who knows what it is like to lose a child, empowers his Son to be able to help. But before Jesus and Jairus get very far, they are interrupted by servants from his house. “Your daughter is dead. There is no need to bother the teacher anymore” (v, 35 NCV).
Get ready. Things are going to change. Here’s where the story gets moving. Jesus goes from being led to leading, from being convinced by Jairus to convincing Jairus.
Here is where Jesus takes control. “But Jesus paid no attention to what they said … “ (v 36, NCV). That remark is incredible! It describes the critical principle for seeing the unseen: in ignoring false and misinformation. Block them out. Turn them off. Close your ears. Instead, listen to truth!
Faith sometimes begins by stop listening to the voices of the world. Jesus turns immediately to Jairus and pleads: “Don’t be afraid; just believe” (v. 36 NCV).
Jesus compels Jairus to see the unseen. When Jesus says, “Just believe … ,” he is imploring, “Don’t limit your possibilities to the visible. Believe there is more to life than meets the eye!”
Jesus is saying…close your eyes…I have provided this cure for you, for your daughter, for your protection. “Trust me,” Jesus is pleading. “Don’t be afraid; just trust.”
A father cried out the same plea to his young son who was trapped in a burning house. His father, outside, shouted to him: “Jump, Son, jump! I’ll catch you.” The boy cried: “But, Daddy, I can’t see you.” “I know,” his father called, “but I can see you.” The father could see, even though the son could not.
There is only one answer: eyes that chose to see the unseen. As Paul wrote: “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever” (2 Cor. 4:18 NCV).
Jesus is asking Jairus to see the unseen with his eyes shut. To make a choice. Either to live by the confusion of the visible or to see by faith. When tragedy strikes, we, too, are left to choose what we see. We can see either the problem or the Healer. The choice is ours. Jairus makes his choice. He opts for faith and Jesus, … and faith in Jesus leads him to the truth.
At the house Jesus and Jairus encounter a group of mourners. Jesus is troubled by their wailing. It bothers him that they express such anxiety over death. “Why are you crying and making so much noise? The child is not dead, only asleep” (Mark 5:39 NCV).
From Jesus’ perspective the girl is not dead—she is only asleep. From God’s viewpoint death is not permanent. It is a necessary step for passing from this world to the next. It’s not an end; it’s a beginning. When we see death, we see disaster. When Jesus sees death, he sees deliverance. That’s too much for the people in Jairus’ house to take in. “They laughed at him” (v, 40).
Now look closely because you aren’t going to believe what Jesus does next. He throws the mourners out! That’s what the text says: “after throwing them out of the house … “ (v, 40 NCV). He doesn’t just ask them to leave. He throws them out. Jesus’ response is decisive and strong. In the original text the word used here is the same word used to describe what Jesus did to the money changers in the temple. It’s the same verb used thirty-eight times to describe what Jesus did to the demons.
Why? Why such force? Why such intolerance? He wanted to rid those who were giving false information. He wanted you to see with your eyes closed, what you couldn’t see with them open.
And God doesn’t want to let the voice of public opinion and misinformation and your own self-delusions distract you from the truth. He’s still busy casting out the critics, shutting down false information, and silencing the voices that could deter you. Only when you get home (get to heaven), will you know how many times God has protected you from disastrous decisions or a deadly illness.
Mark it down: God knows you and I are blind. He knows living by faith and not by sight doesn’t come naturally. And I think that’s one reason he raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. Not for her sake. She was better off in heaven. But for our sake—to teach us that heaven notices when we trust.
So, Jesus is saying to you right now…close your eyes…listen to my voice…trust me…take a step straight forward…come …come to me…don’t you see…with eyes closed…that… “I am the way and the truth and the life.”