East of Eden

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0:00 One of my, I mean I guess I say this a lot, but I really like this story that comes up in Mark's account of the Gospel. And it comes to mind when I think about rest and being well rested. It seems like a thing that we can fight for at different times. I've never been someone who had trouble sleeping. Sleeping always fell asleep real easily, slept really well.

0:31 Last couple of years I'll go through pockets where it's harder and it's hard to figure out exactly why that is or what's going on. Last couple of days, this past week I've had some, I'll wake up with headaches or have trouble sleeping. And so the end of this week I was thinking about that and I focused this week on slowing myself down a little bit in order to be able to rest this weekend. I focused on that. But one of the stories that came up, I put it in an email on Friday afternoon, that's how much I was thinking about it,

1:05 is in Mark's account of the Gospel. If you want to look there with me, Mark chapter five, those Matthew, Mark Luke, John Axes, Romans 1st and St. Corinthians if you're in a paper copy of the scriptures. Last week we talked about this critical story for the history of Israel in Exodus chapter 19, where it's this culmination of God rescuing Israel from out of slavery.

1:41 And a few critical things happen there that sometimes we blow past and miss. One of them being that in Exodus 19, right to beginning, right before he gives what we end up calling the Ten Command, this sort of these ten words that describe what life looks like when you're connected to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Right at the beginning of there, he says this thing where he says, you yourselves have seen how I carried you on Eagle's wings and brought you here.

2:11 And it's an invitation to remember that when you're in relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of creation and life, this God always moves first and humanity responds. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Christ in the church, always moves first and then humanity responds. And so in the story there in Exodus 19, he reminds them before they knew his name, when they told Moses to go away because their life was harder,

2:42 before they had a notion that there was a possibility that there was a God who might rescue them from Egypt, God heard their cries, their desperation in the midst of genocide and slavery, and came and rescued them, though they did not know who he was or why he might come. That the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, moves not because we merit his movement, but because it is his prerogative to move. And this is the nature of Christ coming.

3:14 We talk a little bit last week about how this is the nature of your existence in the world. On Monday I sent out an email with a little meditation from this Renaissance era monk that invites you to think about the reality that God of his own volition, by God's own prerogative, calls you into existence, that there was a world before you were here, and it would have gone on fine without you, but God would not have a world that you were not in.

3:45 And out of nothing he assembled all parts of you and brought you into creation. And as I was thinking about rest this week, I realized that this story that I associate with rest holds in this idea of God's prerogative moving first. This is the best way to understand the good news of God, that God moves towards you and then invites you to respond. And we see that here in this story in Mark chapter 5.

4:21 Jesus had crossed the way by a boat. He had healed his eating possession and was crossing by a boat, and that's a huge crowd that had gathered him. And Mark weaves these two stories together in Mark chapter 5 starting at verse 21. One is this synagogue ruler in verse 21, when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered by him and he was beside the sea and then came one of the rulers of the synagogue,

4:55 Jerry's by name, and seeing him he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly saying, Hey, my little daughter is at the point of death. Come lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live. And he went with him. Jerry is a synagogue ruler, you know, which is like Jesus has kind of a precarious relationship with the synagogue rulers because synagogue rulers would be, you know, in order to form a synagogue, you had to have so many Jewish households in a place. Then once you had so many, there was a council that would oversee them and then they would have regular weekly gatherings

5:27 and you would sit in rankings and a particular ranking in the synagogue and you would hear a section of the scroll and then usually a section of a midrash which followed a teaching of the Torah, a rabbinical tradition. You would hear a reading. And every once in a while you would have a itinerant rabbi come through with his disciples who were following and you might give him the opportunity to take up the scroll for that week in the synagogue. And so a synagogue ruler would be a person set in a place of high prestige in the town.

5:59 And Jesus is this one of these itinerant rabbis that's moving through. But the reason Jesus built a how to tenuous relationship is because a couple times you see him coming through and all he teaches as one who has authority because most rabbis had been disciples to other rabbis. So by the time they learned how to interpret the Torah, they learned it from a teaching that existed before so that there were certain streams of rabbinical teaching so that by the time they got to speak in a synagogue, you knew about what they were going to say because it was one of like four or five options maybe.

6:32 And Jesus comes and teaches as one with authority because he has a new interpretation. And this is why Jesus says, you have heard it say I give you a new teaching. So it's significant that a synagogue ruler comes up because synagogue rules would have tenuous relationships with this itinerant rabbi who thinks he has the authority to interpret the Torah new. And so it's worth noting that Jarius comes out of desperation. That he feels like this is a last hope. That this kind of wild card itinerant rabbi who's been healing people might have an answer for his daughter

7:10 who is at the doorstep of death. Right? This comes out of seeming desperation. And then Mark reads in the story of the woman caught with the issue of blood which is like very scandalous. And out of desperation she approaches him and is healed miraculously. Right? And Jesus is like what the heck? And then they have this one conversation very brief. And then he comes back to the story of Jarius in verse 35.

7:42 Well he was speaking there. Well he was speaking. There came from the ruler's house some who said, hey your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further? But overhearing what they said Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue. Don't be afraid. Don't live in fear. Only believe. Don't give up in despair. Only believe. Hey why bother the teacher anymore? This is a lost cause.

8:13 And Jesus says, oh don't be afraid. Don't fear. Only believe. And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. I don't know if you, this is an aside of which, sorry for an aside, but it just, Jesus has this special relationship with Peter, James and John. You know?

8:43 Like where they get to go with him to this really cool story which we're about to get. They also get to go with him up on the mouth of transfiguration. They get to go with him back into the garden of Gethsemane further than anyone else. Peter, James and John, quiet walked early in the morning with Jesus. Part of me is very jealous of the like relationship that's there, the friendship that's there. But it makes me wonder if Jesus walking around on earth found it important to have a few close people that he shared nearly everything with, it's important for you and I.

9:24 As I ask the Lord, Lord why don't I get to be with Peter, James and John? The immediate response is who are your Peter, James and John? The camaraderie that Christ had with Peter, James and John is available for you with others and we're pursuing. Okay, that's a freebie, sorry. We're back on the main track, Robin. Okay. Oh, he could take Peter, James and John with him.

9:54 Verse 38, they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and Jesus saw a commotion. People wailing and wailing out. We could go into that for a while. There's a culture around that being important. Verse 39, and when he had entered, he said to them, why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping. And they last at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was and taking her by the hand of the child.

10:29 Taking her by the hand, he said to her, Taliza Kumi, mine says, some say to people whom, which means little girl I say to you, arise. And immediately the girl got up and began walking for she was 12 years of age and they were overcome with amazement and he strictly charged them that no one should notice and told them to give her something to eat. And so it's conspicuous.

10:59 This is why before he goes into the room with only Peter, James and John and her parents, he tells everyone that she's sleeping because he doesn't want to raise a commotion and have a crowd of people around him all the time, ask them to raise their loved ones from the dead. He doesn't have the patience maybe for it. It's not appropriate. It would expedite his crucifixion. There's a lot of questions about why he keeps this thing a secret. But one of the reasons this story is so compelling to me and comes back to my mind all the time is because Mark preserves the Aramaic here and it's hard to know exactly why.

11:34 You know, Mark is not like Matthew, right, or John, the Gospel writer. We're like 95% sure or more. Mark was not there at this story. He wasn't even one of the 12. He was too young. We think he was, he popped up in the gospels in this one scene towards the end and the crucifixion and the last supper, right? So he heard this story at least second hand. And we also are pretty sure that Jesus and the disciples are speaking Aramaic at this time.

12:08 They're not speaking Greek in Hebrew though they probably could read Greek in Hebrew. The language of the streets is Aramaic. And Mark writes down these two little Aramaic words and then translates them because the people that are reading his Gospel in Greek, he's pretty sure are not going to be able to know what the Aramaic words are. So his only reason for communicating these Aramaic words would be to give us a brief little taste of what it was like to be in the room.

12:40 The same sounds to get your ears that awoke the little 12 year old girl out of death and into life. Talisa Kuhn. He says it's worth remembering. In a moment, in a place, in the presence of death, the words of Jesus come out of his mouth with real sounds and syllables, Talisa Kuhn. And life reenters dead body.

13:12 Fear has no place. Despair runs away. Talisa Kuhn. Do not fear. Only believe. I put in that little email on Friday because it's what occurs to me. How well rested is the 12 year old little girl that's awakened from the deep sleep of the little girl? And the deep sleep of death by the voice of the risen Savior, the Christ.

13:46 How does that feel like to wake up again and be alive and with your parents and moving about? That passage ran me to another one in Romans. If you're with me in a paper copy, Romans is just a little bit to your right. I can mark Luke John, Acts, Romans 1 and 2 Corinthians.

14:19 Romans chapter 5 is where I'm looking. This little passage here in Paul's letter to the people in Rome is trying to describe the gospel to them. And in Romans chapter 5, if we start at verse 6, this is what Talisa Kuhn reminds me of.

14:49 For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die. But God shows His love for us in this while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. This came to mind because Jesus comes and utters to Lisa Kuhn to the little 12-year-old girl.

15:22 Why? Maybe because the jerryest acts him to. But even jerryest has this thing, right, where he needs the fortification of Jesus. Hey, do not fear. Just believe. Let's go. So there's like faltering faith in Jesus in jerryest and there's nothing in the little girl. She's dead. She can't offend to the resurrection.

15:56 She can't believe. She can't marry it. The resurrection. She's dead. Somewhere in the beautiful infinite mind of the incarnated God walking around on earth is the prerogative to raise this girl from the dead. So he does. And he bolsters jerryest his face along with it and that of Peter, James and John, because he would like to. And Paul says, this is how it worked.

16:30 Christ does not wait for you to be good enough in order for him to save you. He does not wait for you to believe enough in order for him to save you. He does not wait for all of the situations to align just perfectly. Just the perfect time he says, while you are weak, still dead in your sin, still like lost and without hope. God solves the situation for you. Do not fear only belief. Do not despair only belief.

17:01 Because you cannot be too dead. You cannot be so hopeless or helpless. Like the water of your confusion and doubt, the circumstances of your life cannot be so overwhelming. There is no way you are beyond the salvation of God. When the prerogative to save gets in his mind, nothing will stop. And he will call you up out of death and into life.

17:36 Do not despair only belief. Singing about that and it set me one more place, the last place this morning. All the way back to the beginning. Genesis chapter 3. You remember this story. God spins up the world out of his own imagination, creates humanity into his image, and then gives it to him.

18:20 As my royal and her image bearers, take care of the place. Be fruitful and multiply. It goes well for a while. They build a friendship. Then it doesn't go well. They are like sure, God is holding out on them. He doesn't have their best interests at heart. They can find a better way to manage things. In this one little section, this one thing is like, you are created. You can't handle the weight of the responsibility of holding the whole thing together.

18:52 It will crush you. Don't eat this thing. That will be the demonstration that I am God and your people. I am creator of your creation. Well, then they figure they can be the creator. They eat the fruit, they break the rule right. And then so God says, hey, a lot of things are going to happen now. But remember first, in that moment, a lot happens right in that moment because God's right can't handle that. God's right can't handle the weight of the responsibility of your whole future. You can't hold together your existence.

19:23 You didn't call yourself into existence. You can't protect your future existence. This is a job for God. God called you into existence. God will protect your infinite existence off into the future. You can't carry the weight of the responsibility of why you are here and where you are going. That's for God. You live inside of a world He created for you. And when you do you flourish. If you try and take the weight of the responsibility of why you are here and where you are going, it will crush you. And it started to crush Adam and Eve immediately, right?

19:53 Whereas they were alone naked and felt no shame, completely vulnerable. Immediately they were ashamed. Whereas they were in the presence of the perfect God without fear or guilt. Immediately they were afraid and felt guilty. Everything goes wrong like immediately, right? And so God comes into the situations like, oh, we've got to do something here. And so he's like, let's separate them from the tree of life so they don't live in this fallen state forever. Graciously, he doesn't just start over. He preserves them for something.

20:24 And he gives them this one little promise right at the beginning. He speaks to their enemy and says, hey, there's an offering coming of humanity who will kill you. He'll strike his ear, but he'll kill you. And then there's this famous scene of right. Okay, look at verse 20 of chapter 3 in Genesis, Genesis chapter 3 verse 20. He's just finished announcing all of the problems that will happen to them in this new state, this fallen state.

20:58 Then the man called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife, Garmus, his skin, and clothed them. And then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil now. Let's see, reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord of God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground for which he was taken. So the exile from the garden of Eden is grace.

21:29 Preserving the hope that there would be life outside of this crushing state one day again. So he takes them out of the garden, therefore sent them out of the garden. And he drove out the man and at the east of the garden of Eden, he placed the chairmen and the flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. So I don't know how long Eden stood there with the flaming sword going back and forth.

22:02 It's a compelling image. It's been part of me, wants to go on Indiana Jones crusade and find where the place was. Something tells me the fall has crept in and Eden has removed from earth for the time being. I love the idea that there would be still a flaming sword somewhere guarding some secret valley where Adam and Eve started the whole thing, right? But imagine Adam and Eve lived in a perfect state.

22:40 They knew life walking in the cool of the evening with the creator of the world. They knew life without despair or sadness or grief or guilt or pain or heartache. They knew life as it was intended to be where the earth gave forth the fruit and cultivated it, where the animals lived in peace with each other. They had the whole thing, man. And then he takes them outside of the garden, puts the sword in and they're not going back.

23:11 This is a serious, a really bad situation. Like you know a thing that was not intended to end. Living as God's image bear in the world now has an end and there's no escaping it. There's a flaming sword guarding the way back. You are not going back. Life is way harder than it was like a day ago.

23:41 Something occurred to me. I've known that much before. But something new occurred to me when I read this story because look at what it says next. So he put the flaming sword every way that turned and guarded the tree of life. Chapter four verse one. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain.

24:14 The next thing we learn about Adam and Eve, after the fall of humanity and exile from paradise. Well, let's make some pits. Like how do they not despair? Like if life is hard for anyone, life is hard for the two first perfect humans who had perfection and lost it.

24:47 And they don't crawl in a hole and despair. How do they go on with life? Look, 2020 has been a serious disruption on all of everything. Right? Like everything. It's like a joke to say I had this in mind for this year.

25:18 Right? Yet complete disruption. I think Adam and Eve were able to go on, like do not fear, only believe because God bless them. They found somewhere in them the capacity to believe the promise of God. He said he would fix it. Look, whatever happens to you here, in the next week, six months, five years, ten, whatever happens to you in your time on earth,

26:10 we have the promise of the God of creation and life that the day will come when he whispers in our ear, and we will awake from creeping death, from paralyzing fear, from slow decay of body and heart and mind.

26:42 We will awake, to leave a cool little one, get up, we will awake and live. Oh, I know life is hard, but do not fear. Only believe Jesus is coming again. Let me pray.

27:15 Oh, good Lord, thank you for your deep and abiding fidelity towards us. We need you to move first again. Come towards us this morning with kindness, love, forgiveness, restoration, or move towards us. In your movement, enable us to respond, awaken our hearts and minds to faithfulness towards you.

27:53 Give us a hope of faith this morning that we might put aside fear and belief in Jesus' name we pray.