“Now you are the body of Christ,
and each one of you is a part of it”
I Corinthians 12:27

What about the Future?
May 13, 2020 by Pastor Bob Bolt

Mark 5:21-43
What will the future look like?   A question often raised today.  When will we be going back to church and what will the seating look like?  When restaurants open will people feel safe and be able to enjoy a meal? What is school going to look like in the fall?  What kind of measures will airlines and cruise ships take to prevent a virus outbreak? Are we going to have baseball this year? How high is our unemployment rate going to be? Will our economy be able to bounce back?  In these days, facing the future feels like a walk in the dark.

As a kid, we use to play this game called Marco Polo on the playground. A blindfold was placed on a student and he would be spun around three or four times. As he counted one-one thousand, two-one thousand, and proceed up to five-one thousand; he ended by saying “Stop”.  The rest of the group scattered throughout the playground and then froze on the command to stop. The blind-folded person would then call out, “Marco”! The others responded, “Polo”. If the blinded student was about to walk into the marry-go-round or slide, someone would holler “Bump!”  Slowly but surely, step-by-step, he moved forward relying not on seeing but by listening.

A tragedy can blindfold us to the future.  When something bad happens our hope is crushed and we can’t see how we will move forward. One person in the Bible whose hope was crushed was a synagogue ruler named Jairus.  He for many years saw nothing but a bright blue sky future. As the synagogue ruler, he was the senior religious leader, the highest-ranking professor, the mayor, and the best-known citizen all in one. In other words, he had everything and everything was going his way!

However, one day his daughter becomes sick. He tried everything but nothing seems to help. In a last-ditch attempt he searches out to this rabbi named Jesus who had healing power.  But while speaking to the rabbi, messengers from his village come and tell him, “Your daughter has died so there is no use wasting Jesus time”.  In other words, “Just come home, and let’s bury your daughter!”

Have you ever gotten that type of message from someone? No use sticking with him, he will never change.  You might as well just write her off because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! It is cancer, life is over!  I remember doctors told my parents, “Well he is a mongoloid child (better known today as Down Syndrome), you probably should institutionalize him as soon as possible and keep him away from your other children”.  Sometimes, the first step of faith is often stuffing your ears with cotton so not to hear voices around you!

Jesus didn’t listen to the comments of those around him!  “Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, ‘Don’t be afraid, just believe!” In other words… Don’t limit your possibilities to the visible. Don’t listen only to the audible. Don’t be controlled by the logical. Believe there is more to life than meets the eye. Trust me! Jairus does this and his daughter comes back to life!

Can you hear Jesus’ voice today? Whether you’re walking through a pandemic, or a broken relationship, or financial dead end. Jesus says, “Trust me!”  He holds the future and will hold you in the Future.

Prayer
Help me, Lord, to see more than my eyes can see to hear more clearly your voice than voices around me, so that I can take the next step of faith in full confidence of your promise to be with me!
Amen

“Faith means…knowing that something is real even if we do not see it”.  Hebrews 11:1