<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Mark 5;37-40<div><br></div><div><b>37. &nbsp;And he allowed no one to follow him except&nbsp;Peter and James and John the brother of James.</b></div><div><b>38. &nbsp;When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly.</b></div><div><b>39. &nbsp;And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a tumult and weep? &nbsp;The child is not dead but sleeping.”</b></div><div><b>40. &nbsp;And they laughed at him. &nbsp;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.</b></div><div><br></div><div>Jesus’ question to those who were in a tumult, weeping and loudly wailing, is really no different than His question to the disciples.&nbsp;&nbsp;T<span>hey had awakened Him while he slept on the cushion in the stern of the boat.</span></div><div>They feared it was about to sink, and the disciples&nbsp;about&nbsp;perish. &nbsp;To them after stilling the storm, Jesus asks, <i>“Why were you afraid?”</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>For sinners, death and earthly circumstances which threaten death, are very good reasons for despair&nbsp;and tumult.</div><div><br></div><div>Just as Jesus truly wanted his disciples to not panic in the face of the storm,&nbsp;but have faith and&nbsp;</div><div>fearlessness,&nbsp;so also He desires Believers to remain calm and confident in the face of death. &nbsp;Loud wailing,&nbsp;tumults, or outbursts of anger (at God) are evidence of faithlessness.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Even Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, but His expression of sorrow was not without hope. &nbsp;He maintained self-control. Appropriate expressions of grief are fine, but out of control despair, has no place in Believers.</div><div><br></div><div>From God’s correct perspective, it is just the flesh of those who have died&nbsp;which merely ‘sleeps’. &nbsp;Jesus says the same about Lazarus, <i>“I go to wake him.”</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>Kris and I often speak of parents and grandparents as if they are very close, ‘just in the next room’ (so to speak). &nbsp;We know they still live and are very near. &nbsp;They are no longer in their earthly tents, but they are certainly not dead, just away from the body for a season.</div><div><br></div><div>In the resurrection, all the dead will be raised. The Believers will be raised to eternal life in perfected and glorified bodies. &nbsp;We have this promise from God, so that physical death will not throw us into an unseemly fearful tumult. &nbsp;Fear of anything but the loss of God&nbsp;the Father’s favor is wasted emotion, and poor witness.</div><div><br></div><div>This is why I found the closing of the churches during Covid, ‘unseemly’ and a very poor witness to the unbelievers. &nbsp;We have a life in the love of God in Christ Jesus,&nbsp;which can never be taken from us. &nbsp;The world struggles with fear, but the Church of all true Believers is called to genuine fearlessness.</div><div><br></div><div>All earthly circumstances, no matter what, even death, cannot harm us. &nbsp;Consider the band on the Titanic as the ship was sinking, they just kept on playing…God bless them, what a witness of fearlessness!</div><div><br></div><div>Does Peter, James, and John rank higher than the other disciples? &nbsp; No. &nbsp;Jesus simply expected them to report to the others, and to&nbsp;the world, what they had seen and heard. &nbsp;Their presence with Jesus should never indicate to us that Jesus loved them more, or counted them as ‘better’ than the other disciples.</div><div><br></div><div>Jesus says, <i>“Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.”</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, deliver us from our fearing flesh. &nbsp;Bless us to long to be out of these bodies of death.&nbsp;&nbsp;Make us to&nbsp;behold Jesus&nbsp;even now, as He&nbsp;truly is, with us&nbsp;AND&nbsp;in us. &nbsp;Clear our faith vision so that we do not behave in unseemly ways and ruin our witness to the world.&nbsp;Bless us to see with the eyes of Jesus, to see&nbsp;physical death as only a sleep of the body. &nbsp;&nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Mark 5;37-40
37.  And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.38.  When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly.39.  And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a tumult and weep?  The child is not dead but sleeping.”40.  And they laughed 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.
Jesus’ question to those who were in a tumult, weeping and loudly wailing, is really no different than His question to the disciples.  They had awakened Him while he slept on the cushion in the stern of the boat.They feared it was about to sink, and the disciples about perish.  To them after stilling the storm, Jesus asks, “Why were you afraid?”
For sinners, death and earthly circumstances which threaten death, are very good reasons for despair and tumult.
Just as Jesus truly wanted his disciples to not panic in the face of the storm, but have faith and fearlessness, so also He desires Believers to remain calm and confident in the face of death.  Loud wailing, tumults, or outbursts of anger (at God) are evidence of faithlessness. 
Even Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, but His expression of sorrow was not without hope.  He maintained self-control. Appropriate expressions of grief are fine, but out of control despair, has no place in Believers.
From God’s correct perspective, it is just the flesh of those who have died which merely ‘sleeps’.  Jesus says the same about Lazarus, “I go to wake him.”
Kris and I often speak of parents and grandparents as if they are very close, ‘just in the next room’ (so to speak).  We know they still live and are very near.  They are no longer in their earthly tents, but they are certainly not dead, just away from the body for a season.
In the resurrection, all the dead will be raised. The Believers will be raised to eternal life in perfected and glorified bodies.  We have this promise from God, so that physical death will not throw us into an unseemly fearful tumult.  Fear of anything but the loss of God the Father’s favor is wasted emotion, and poor witness.
This is why I found the closing of the churches during Covid, ‘unseemly’ and a very poor witness to the unbelievers.  We have a life in the love of God in Christ Jesus, which can never be taken from us.  The world struggles with fear, but the Church of all true Believers is called to genuine fearlessness.
All earthly circumstances, no matter what, even death, cannot harm us.  Consider the band on the Titanic as the ship was sinking, they just kept on playing…God bless them, what a witness of fearlessness!
Does Peter, James, and John rank higher than the other disciples?   No.  Jesus simply expected them to report to the others, and to the world, what they had seen and heard.  Their presence with Jesus should never indicate to us that Jesus loved them more, or counted them as ‘better’ than the other disciples.
Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.”
Prayer:  Merciful Father, deliver us from our fearing flesh.  Bless us to long to be out of these bodies of death.  Make us to behold Jesus even now, as He truly is, with us AND in us.  Clear our faith vision so that we do not behave in unseemly ways and ruin our witness to the world. Bless us to see with the eyes of Jesus, to see physical death as only a sleep of the body.   In Jesus we pray, Amen.

Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”

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