When Life is Beyond Your Control | Mark 4:35-5:43

INTRODUCTION

This section has 4 stories. There are four scenes here.

Last Sunday, from Mark 4, Jesus taught us what the kingdom of God is like. Now Mark takes us from the classroom to real life. From a parable to a storm. From a crowd to a cemetery. From a suffering woman to the bedroom of a dying child. And in every scene, people come to the end of what they can control.

Some of you know what that feels like.

A doctor’s report you cannot change.

A child you cannot fix.

A relationship you cannot control.

A fear you cannot simply switch off.

A situation where there appears to be no way forward.

And Mark asks us one great question:

Who is Jesus when life is beyond our control?

Faith does not mean we never feel fear. It means fear does not have the final word because Jesus does.

• Mark 4:40 – “Why are you so afraid?

• Mark 5:15 – They were afraid ….began to beg Jesus to depart

• Mark 5:33 – The woman came in fear and trembling….

• Mark 5:36 – Do not fear, only believe

Fear runs through these stories, but so does Jesus.

Main Idea:

Because Jesus is Lord over what we cannot control, we can trust Him when fear and hopelessness overwhelm us.

Outline

1. When You Cannot Control the Situation – Trust His Authority; 4:35-41

2. When You Cannot Overcome the Darkness – Trust His Mercy; 5:1-20

3. When You Cannot See the Outcome – Trust His Compassion and Power; 5:21-43

So ultimately what we see is Jesus conquers everything, all of the problems. And then we know that Jesus has conquered our sin and he has conquered our death that we will experience on the cross and freed us. So that then by faith we can overcome the fear that we are experiencing.

When life feels out of control, Jesus is Lord. Trust His authority.

1. When You Cannot Control the Situation – Trust His Authority; 4:35-41

Mark 4:35-41

³⁵That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” (This is no big deal for them. They’re fishermen. They have boats. They understand this. This is something they’ve done a lot.) ³⁶Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. ³⁷A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. (Obedience to Jesus does not exempt us from storms. Not every difficulty in your life means you have disobeyed God.) ³⁸Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”³⁹He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. ⁴⁰He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Several of these disciples were experienced fishermen. If experienced fishermen believed they were going to die, this was no ordinary inconvenience.

Illustration: When there is turbulence on a flight, most of us look at the cabin crew. If they are calmly serving coffee, we relax. If suddenly they sit down and buckle themselves in, we know something is happening. These disciples were the experienced sailors—and they were terrified.

Jesus is asleep. And the disciples wake him up with a question: “Don’t you care?”

“Have you ever prayed that prayer? ‘Lord, do You care what is happening to me?’ The disciples mistake Jesus’ silence for Jesus’ indifference.” “His silence did not mean His absence. His sleep did not mean He had lost control.”

Maybe you have never said the words out loud. But you have thought them.

“Lord, do You care?”

“Do You see what is happening in my family?”

“Do You see what is happening to my job?”

“Do You see this medical report?”

“Why aren’t You doing something?”

The disciples mistook Jesus’ silence for Jesus’ indifference. His silence did not mean His absence. And His sleep did not mean He had lost control.

Sometimes Jesus calms the storm. Sometimes He carries us through the storm. But the presence of the storm never means Jesus has ceased to be Lord.

Jesus cares. He wakes up and he says to the wind and to the sea, “Quiet, be still.” And the wind dies. It is quiet. No more wind, no more waves, no more water splashing over the side of the boat.

And what is their response? Their response is even more fear. Who is this guy? This is one of our questions all through the book of Mark. Who is this man?

OT context: In the Old Testament, ruling the raging sea is something God does.

Psalm 107:29

He stilled the storm to a whisper;

the waves of the sea were hushed.

Mark is not merely showing us what Jesus can do. Mark is showing us who Jesus is. Mark wants us to see that the One sleeping from exhaustion is truly human, and the One commanding the sea is exercising divine authority.”

Transition: But Mark is not finished answering the question, ‘Who is this?’ The boat reaches the other side—and Jesus walks straight into another situation no human being can control.

2. When You Cannot Overcome the Darkness – Trust His Mercy; 5:1-20

Mark 5:1-5

¹They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. ²When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. ³This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. ⁴For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. ⁷He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” (These demons had been tormenting this guy in these caves for I don’t know how long. And yet, the demons fall down at Jesus’s feet, and they say to Jesus, “Don’t torment us.”) ⁸For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

⁹Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” ¹⁰And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

¹¹A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. ¹²The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” ¹³He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Mark is describing a real and extraordinary case of demonic oppression. We should not therefore label every mental-health struggle or every person who self-harms as demon-possessed. Scripture calls us to compassion, not stigma.

But look at what evil has done to this man. He is isolated, dehumanised, living among the tombs, harming himself, and beyond every human attempt to restrain him.

No one could subdue him. No one could restore him. But then Jesus arrives.

The town had learned to live with this man’s misery. Jesus had not. The man everyone else had given up on was not beyond the mercy of Christ. “No one is too broken, too far gone, too bound, or too forgotten for Jesus to see.”

Mark 5:14-17

¹⁴Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. ¹⁵When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. ¹⁶Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. ¹⁷Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

Perhaps the economic loss troubled them, but Mark emphasizes their fear. Faced with a power they could not control, they asked Jesus to leave.

Some people want Jesus as Helper but not Jesus as Lord. We want Him to fix what hurts without ruling what we love. “Do I want Jesus Himself, or only what I want Jesus to do for me?”

Mark 5:18

¹⁸As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.

So, you have the demons begging. You have the townspeople begging. And now you have the demon-possessed man who has been healed begging him, “Let me go with you.”

Mark 5:19-20

¹⁹Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

The man nobody could restrain becomes a witness nobody can silence.

Application: You may not know everything about theology. You may not have all the answers. But if Jesus has shown you mercy, you already have something to tell.

Transition: But now Mark takes us from a man everyone had given up on to two people whose lives could not have looked more different.

3. When You Cannot See the Outcome – Trust His Compassion and Power; 5:21-43

Mark now begins Jairus’ story, interrupts it with a women’s story, and then returns to Jairus. The two stories are meant to interpret each other. Scholars sometimes call this a Markan sandwich.

Mark 5:21-24

²¹When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. ²²Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. (Here is the desperation. This is why he comes to Jesus.) Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” ²⁴So Jesus went with him.

He is relieved that Jesus is coming home. And they get up and they began to walk and they began to go towards Jairus’ house.

Mark 5:24-26

²⁴So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. (Discharge of blood meant she was unclean and she couldn’t go into the temple.) ²⁶She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.

Hopeless. Can you imagine what she was thinking? Maybe she thought at that moment in time, “Oh, Jairus is talking to Jesus. Jairus I’m not important.” But maybe, just maybe, if I could touch the hem of his garment on his way to Jairus’ house, I could be made well. I have no other options.

Mark 5:27-34

²⁷When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

³⁰At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

³²But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.”

Jairus has a daughter Jesus is going to help. But Jesus stops to show that this forgotten woman is somebody’s daughter too—and, more importantly, she matters to Him.

Jesus gives full attention to both. “Status may determine access in our world. It does not determine access to Jesus.” The prominent synagogue leader and the forgotten suffering woman both end up at the same place: the feet of Jesus.

Delay: What was Jairus thinking? Come on, Jesus. I have a daughter. Would you hurry up and get to my daughter?”

Imagine Jairus Waiting: Hospital waiting room: “Waiting is difficult. But waiting becomes unbearable when someone you love is in danger. Every minute feels like an hour. His daughter is dying. Jesus finally agrees to come. Then Jesus stops for someone else. “Have you ever felt that Jesus was helping somebody else while you were still waiting?”

Another person gets healed. Your friend gets married. Another person gets the job – And you are still waiting. “Delay becomes especially painful when God appears to be answering somebody else’s prayer.” “Jesus’ delay is not Jesus’ indifference.”

Mark 5:35

³⁵While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

Your daughter is dead. As far as Jairus could see, this was the end. The situation had moved from difficult to impossible. Why bother the teacher anymore? Have you ever reached the place where you wondered, ‘Why pray anymore? Why hope anymore? Why bother Jesus anymore?’”

Mark 5:36

³⁶Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

Faith is not pretending the situation is less terrible than it is. Faith is trusting that Jesus is greater than the situation.

Friends, there will be moments when the foundations of our lives shake. The goal is not to deny the fear; it is to have roots deep enough in Christ that fear does not decide where we turn.

Mark 5:37

³⁷He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. ³⁸When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” (The child is dead. For Jesus, death is just sleep.) ⁴⁰But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹He took her by the hand (normally, contact with the dead bring uncleanness, but Jesus is different. Death does not contaminate Jesus. Life flows from Jesus into death.) and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). ⁴²Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). (12 years of blood, 12 years old. Daughter, daughter.) At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

The raising of Jairus’ daughter is not yet resurrection in the final sense. She will eventually die again. This miracle points beyond itself.

Years later Jesus Himself would enter death. This time no one, would come to His bedside and raise Him. He would carry our sin to the cross, be laid in a tomb, but on the third day He rose. Jairus’ daughter came back to mortal life and would one day die again; Jesus rose never to die again. And because the King lives, death will not have the final word over those who belong to Him.

CONCLUSION

So what is beyond your control today?

Is it a storm you cannot stop?

A darkness you cannot break?

A suffering that has gone on much longer than you expected?

A prayer where Jesus seems to be taking too long?

Or something that looks so final that you have almost stopped hoping?

Mark does not tell you to get control of your life. Mark tells you to look at Jesus.

The storm obeys Him.

Legion bows before Him.

Disease cannot resist Him.

Death must release its grip when He speaks.

When life is out of control, Bring your fear to Jesus.

When darkness feels overpowering, Remember that no bondage is beyond His authority.

When suffering continues, Trust His compassion even in the delay.

When hope appears dead, Trust the risen King.

These miracles show us what Jesus’ kingdom will ultimately do to all evil, sickness and death. They do not promise that every believer will receive every healing now. They promise that Jesus will finally make all things new.

Dear Lord, would you help us to live in the reality of who you are? Would you help us to have faith that overcomes the fears and the hopelessness of our lives?

Would you help us to have hope in you and trust in you? Would you grow our faith even when our faith is imperfect because we don’t know enough? Would you help us to learn more about you so we could love you more? So we could serve you better and give you all the glory in Jesus name. Amen.