The past five weeks have been full of challenges to our beliefs and faith as we have looked at the miracles of Jesus.  Looking back across these weeks, three observations stand out to me.  The first is the absolutely radical viewpoint of Jesus as He walked through this world.  In every situation He saw things differently and allowed that radical viewpoint to drive His behavior.  The second is the fundamental honesty of the people involved in these miracles.  Each one related to Jesus on the basis of where they were and what they thought and didn’t try to make their faith into something that it wasn’t.  The third is the attitude of the disciples, caught between following the great man and yet not seeing the world as He did.

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3 Perspectives for 3 Days: Two Millennia Later
Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56

What was Jairus afraid of and why was he afraid of it?  What was it that drove this man of position and prestige to throw himself at Jesus’ feet?  The answer to the question of what he feared is pretty straight-forward; he was being driven by the fear of death, death claiming his daughter and taking her from him and his wife.  The answer to the question of why Jairus feared death is not so straight-forward and the foundation for why we care about Jairus and his daughter today because we still fear death today.

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3 Perspectives for 3 Days: Jesus
Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56

Jesus is literally just stepping off the boat at Capernaum when He is met by a crowd that has been waiting for His return and He goes no further.  Jesus is returning from the region of the Garasenes, where He has healed a man possessed by a legion of demons and been asked by the locals to most definitely leave them alone.  Presumably the people in this crowd have their own agenda, whether it is needs to be met or just wanting to see the ‘show’ that invariable accompanies Jesus.

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3 Perspectives for 3 Days: Jairus
Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56

Jairus is a ruler of the local synagogue, a person of significant rank and prestige.  His daughter lies sick and dying.  He has no other option but Jesus, who happens to be in town.   Finding Jesus among a crowd, he falls at His feet and tells Him of his predicament.   Time is of the essence; a moment too late and his daughter will be dead, and that’s the end of it.  There is simply no such thing as coming back from death.

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3 Perspectives for 3 Days: Two Millennia Later
John 4:1-42

When we look at the story found in John 4, we see that there was a spiritual need and hunger in the people of Sychar. They were ready to hear and receive Jesus as the Messiah, the saviour of the world. But many barriers were in the way for them to receive Him. There was difficult terrain just to get to them. There was racial prejudice, Jews and Samaritans don’t have anything to do with each other. There was a resistance for them to even listen, after all, he was just a tired thirsty Jew. The disciple’s eyes were not seeing the fields ripe for the harvest because salvation was for the Jews.

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3 Perspectives for 3 Days: Jesus
John 4:1-42

Jesus and the disciples are in a village called Sychar, in the middle of Samaria.  They are on their way back to Galilee after spending Passover in Jerusalem and have been hiking all morning through the mountainous spine of Palestine.  Jesus has sent the disciples into town to buy some lunch and has sat down at the well outside the city to rest.  Jesus is here in Sychar because He ‘had to go through Samaria’ (v.4) rather than take the easier and less controversial route up the east bank of the Jordan.  He is tired, hungry and thirsty.  It is time for a break.

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3 Perspectives for 3 Days: The Disciples
John 4:1-42

It had been a long trip already.  For some reason unknown to us, Jesus just “had” to go through Samaria to get back home.  The easy route, although longer, is to go up the Jordan valley.  Walking through Samaria meant a lot of hill climbing.  Up and down and up again.  And besides, we would have to deal with the Samaritans.  That is never easy.

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