Waking Up the Walking Dead

 What a snow storm! I’m still snowed in as the road conditions aren’t anywhere near safe to drive across two states and into Long Island. Sorry I couldn’t be there with you physically, but Michelle and I are with you spiritually and in our prayers. As you begin your dig out of the snow, I want to urge you all to travel safely today. This week, I want to continue our series from where we left off last week. I concluded last week by saying: I want you to see your life, your burdens, your nightmares, your dreams, your hardships, your bleak realities and prophesy through them. God has moved us to this place that He is showing you so that you can speak into the dead around you and ask God to bring them to life. There is an army awaiting your prophecy, it is time for you to prophesy in the name of Jesus. Prophesying, if you don’t remember, is the method and/or process by which we, as Christ followers, build up, encourage, and console the people around us. In turn, the act of prophesying is therefore, a part of the work that God had prepared for us beforehand. Let’s go to Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” It is imperative that we prophesy to the people around us as it is in our prophesies that we can continue to walk faithfully in what God is doing in and around our lives. So I’d like to ask you, “have you been prophesying this week?” If you haven’t, it’s really not okay and I encourage you to go ahead and faithfully build up, encourage, and console the people around you. To help you with that, I want to share a passage from Matthew 9. This passage in the Bible is interesting because we see how the act of prophesying actually results in miracles. We’re going to pick up the story in verse 18.

¹⁸ While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰ And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment,²¹ for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” ²² Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. ²³ And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴ he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. ²⁵ But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. ²⁶ And the report of this went through all that district. (Matthew 9:18-26)

If you noticed, this passage actually contains two stories in one. It’s like one story interrupted another story, yet there was enough time for two stories to take place. I want you to know that life isn’t always a straight narrative where there is only one event that unfolds at any given time. Sometimes, on our journey of faith, there are opportunities that we miss because we are too close minded to see the good works that are ahead of us that we must walk in. But that’s more of an aside I want you to notice and not the point. So keep that in mind and tell yourself to keep an open mind about who Jesus brings into your world. Story #1: the Ruler’s Dead Child. The story is split in half, the first half of the story lays out the situation and the complication, the second half of the story lays out the solution. Let’s go to verse 18, I need you to follow with me.

¹⁸ While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciple. (Matthew 9:18-19)

The “ruler” in the story is supposed to be somebody with tremendous faith that leads in the temple. The ruler acknowledges the person of Jesus—as somebody worthy of worship, who, in Hebrew terms implies that he is God. Tt is an assumption that Jesus does not deny here because Jesus doesn’t stop the temple leader from kneeling before him and making implorations. In fact, it’s short and concise, the man’s daughter had died. Jesus can save her, the ruler believes it, but I don’t think he completely believes it. In fact, I think the ruler believes that Jesus has to be there to save. Up to this point, Jesus doesn’t say a single word, he just gets up and follows. Sometimes our acts of prophesy do not require words, rather, they just need action and silent pursuit. Let’s continue to verse 23.

 ²³ And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴ he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. ²⁵ But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. ²⁶ And the report of this went through all that district. (Matthew 9:23-26)

Now Jesus starts his acts of prophesy onto the family. This is where Jesus is building up, encouraging and consoling the family. There is a loud, and obnoxious crowd. The family is already incredibly sad, just imagine other people making a big deal of the situation. Jesus kicks them all out. Then he does the unthinkable. He actually lays his hand on the dead girl! Why is that wrong in the context we just read? It’s simple: dead people are dirty. Jesus was willing to making himself ceremonially unclean in order to prophesy to the family of the dead girl. Check this out, not only did Jesus go out of his way without saying a single word, he got rid of the people around the family that make the situation worst, then he got his hands dirty and took the dead girl by the hand to raise her from the dead. This is the type of God I want. This is the type of God Jesus is. I want you to recognize God, in the form of Jesus, his willingness to get dirty for dead people, for people condemned to death, like we once were. This is truly love. I want you to acknowledge it, because this is the example God gives us to love. How much can the world change if this is how we would also move and act in love—to prophesy and get dirty while doing it? Yet, I want to make it clear that Jesus didn’t have a one track mind. He wasn’t just willing to get dirty for a big issue like death. Nope, let’s look at the second story which was wrapped in between the story of the ruler’s dead child. Go to verse 20.

²⁰ And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment,²¹ for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” ²² Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. (Matthew 9:20-23)

There are people who so desperately need you that they insert themselves into your life. This woman, who was bleeding, is an example of that. She approaches Jesus because she needs help, but you see this woman didn’t make a big scene about it. She would have gone unnoticed because she was trying to touch the “fringes” of Jesus’ tunic. Just to brush up against. Do you see how many opportunities we lose because we don’t notice the people trying to reach us from the fringes of our lives? We have so much going on that we miss people who God places out there for us. Look at what happens, Jesus interacts with another ceremonially unclean person and prophesies into her life. We have a responsibility to wake up. We need to wake up and realize there are people dying on the fringes of our lives trying to get our attention. Likewise, we need to wake the people who are walking dead in our lives. Let’s pray.