Do Not Be Afraid, But Only Believe: The Story of Jairus and the Call to Faith

Այսօր կուզեմ, որ դուք պատկերացնեք, թե ինչպես պիտի զգաք, եթե հիվանդ երեխա ունենայիք, և այս երեխան մահամերձ էր։ Եվ դուք գնաք ձեր տնեն՝ փնտրելով միակ մարդը, որ կկարծեք, թե պիտի կարողանա բուժել։ Եվ գտնում եք, և բերում եք տուն, և հասնում եք տուն, և ասում են ձեզ՝ արդեն մահացավ։ Մի պիտի հոգվեք։ Այս բժիշկը, այս բուժիչը մի խանգարեր, այլևս պետք չի գա։ Եթե կարելի է պատկերացնել, թե ինչպես կզգաք այդ դեպքում, այդ վայրկյանին, ինձի համար աներևակայելի է, չեմ կարող, բայց կան, որոնք կհասկանան։ Եվ այս պահը նկարագրվում է մեր Ավետարանի մեջ, երբ որ փաստորեն կա մի մարդ, Ջայրուս անունով, որ ունի հիվանդ աղջիկ և փնտրում է Հիսուս և գտնում է, բայց երբ որ տուն է հասնում, ասում են, որ արդեն ուշ է, մահացավ։

In the Gospel today, we encounter a story that I’d like to invite you to join me in at least on an emotional level, finding ourselves in the space that it begins at. Because what’s happening is Christ is preaching and teaching, and let us remind ourselves that he’s begun his ministry by already proving that he is a healer, which is unsurpassed in the world. And it’s on the basis of this reputation that the people seek him out and they hear the Gospel. This is why it’s so important for us to remember that our own journey in the church, as we deepen our faith, is in seeking healing of mind, body, and soul, because that’s how he presented himself. That’s how he invited us to be part of the Gospel.

And so this man, he fears that his daughter is dying. In fact, he’s told that she’s on her deathbed. And so he runs out into the night to find the only man that he believes is able to heal his daughter and ultimately is able to find him in the midst of the crowd that he’s in, as he’s teaching. And he grabs him and he pleads with him to come please to his home to heal his daughter, who could pass at any moment. And Christ leaves with the man whose name is Jairus and proceeds to his home. But when he arrives, the words that Jairus hears are, “Your daughter is dead already. You didn’t need to bother this man. There’s nothing that can be done.”

What I think about when I think about that moment in time, it reminds me of the prophecy of Ezekiel that speaks of the valley of dry bones. It speaks of not just physical death, but also the death of hope, the death of the belief that things could get better. It is as bleak as it can be. And I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be where Jairus was in that moment in time. He is beyond comfort. He is beyond hope. And Jesus turns to him and he says, մի վախնար, մի վախնար. Christ turns to this man in this moment and he says, “Do not be afraid, but have faith.” Do not be afraid and have faith. And how powerful a statement is that, and how bright and living and real is it to you and me in this moment. But in that moment, his daughter was in the next room, dead on her bed. What did Christ mean? Don’t be afraid, but believe. Believe in what? What’s left for me to believe in, in this world? I believed in you, but it’s too late.

This is a fork in the road that Jairus was presented with in that moment in time. And it’s a fork in the road that many of us will encounter in our lives where we are challenged to be comforted. We’re challenged to believe in the depths of our doubt and in our fear, but it just seems that death is too real. It seems that the alternative is all too present in our life. And how are we meant to believe? How are we meant to not fear? But in that moment in time, we’re challenged by the depth of Christ’s devotion. And we’re meant to make a choice.

That choice plays out as this story in the Gospel continues, as there are people present in the room when this happens. And Christ says, “Do not be afraid, but only believe.” Everybody understood that what this man was asking for was too much. And he went a step further and he said, “She is not dead. She’s only asleep.” The people present in that room were the people who not only were closest to Jairus in his life, but they were people who had been there prepared to mourn. They knew what was supposed to happen next.

Ովքեր ներկա էին այդ սենյակի մեջը, ոչ միայն սիրեցին աղջկան և շատ մոտիկ էին Ջայրուսին, բայց պատրաստ էին ողբալու, պատրաստ էին այդպես ողբալու, որ ակնկալված է աշխարհեն այդ պահին։

We can call these people professional mourners. They know when the time comes, you’ve got to scream, you’ve got to wail, you’ve got to cry. That’s what they were there for. And when Jesus said, “She’s only asleep,” well, they knew better. This is what they do. They’ve been doing it forever. And what did they do? They laughed at him because this man must be crazy. This man must be an idiot. This man must be a fool. This is the way the world works. You expect a thing to happen a certain way and it happens that way and then you respond accordingly. You cry and you wail and all is lost and everything is hopeless.

I’m not saying to mourn is un-Christian. There is a time for mourning. Christ speaks to that very clearly in the Gospel. There is a time when it is healthy for us to weep and wail and mourn together, but what they didn’t understand was that Christ was in the room. When He’s there, you put your faith in Him, and you wait until the fullness of time tells us what is meant to happen.

It’s in that moment in time when we have the same choice that those mourners do, when we feel like we’re in the valley of dry bones, when we are beyond hope, when we feel like death is inevitable, that we have the choice to respond like the mourners did in a cynical way, challenging even Christ Himself in terms of what reality is, to dismiss hope for foolishness or to do the other thing.

Now, the other thing is something that we do all the time. We’re gonna do it today in this church because the other thing is to look into that room and find a child who is asleep. When we pray in this church today, and we have already multiple times, and we will again when the time comes for us to pray hoki hankist, we’re not praying for the dead. We’re praying for those who are asleep.

Մենք կաղոթենք ննջեցելոցն համար, ոչ մեռելների համար։ Ու սեգա հոգի հանգիստ է։ Ինչու՞ հանգիստ է։ Որովհետև կննջե։ Ննջեցյալ է մարդը, մեռած չէ։ Մինչև հիմա եկեղեցին կպահե այս ճշմարտությունը, և անոնք կպահենք, որ թույլ չենք տար, որ մեր աղոթքների մեջ նույնիսկ կըսենք, որ մեռած են։ Մեռած չեն։ Սեգա է մեր հավատքի ուժն է։ Սեգա հույսին վերջին աստիճանն է, որ մենք կվկայենք ամեն գիրագի։

Saint Paul speaks about this in 1 Thessalonians when he says, “But we would not have you be ignorant, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep.” He doesn’t say the dead. He says, “Concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope,” to grieve like those mourners that laughed at Jesus Christ to His face. “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.”

Since the apostolic era, since the time of Saint Paul, since the earliest days of our church, we hold to be true this reality that Christ presents us with in that very moment in time, in that very intimate space where a father and a mother are mourning a loss of a child, and He says, “This child is not dead. This child is asleep.” And what does Christ do? He sends those people away, the cynics, the ones who say, “This is reality. You gotta get over it.” He sends them away. “Get out of here.” In another space, Christ would say, “Get behind me, Satan. We don’t need that.” What we need is hope. What we need is faith. What we need is love.

And in that moment, He calls the young woman’s mother and father and His most faithful disciples to His side, and He says, “Let’s go deeper into this space of hopelessness where I can bring light.” And so, casting away those who would mock hope and mock faith, He stands in this tiny room with this girl who isn’t breathing, and He says, “Little girl, wake up.” The Gospel tells us the words that He used literally were, “Talitha koum,” “Little girl, wake up.” And so refreshed, the child does, because of course she does, because Christ tells us what reality is. Christ tells us the way that things are, not our cynicism, not our doubt, not our fear. This is how we trick ourselves to avoid seeing reality as Christ has designed it for us. This is the way that evil works within our hearts and within our minds and gives animus and power to our doubt and our fear by not allowing us to see the hope, the love, and the faith that’s in action around us every single day. And so, by virtue of their faith, by virtue of their love and their devotion, Christ shows them what it means to be asleep, because those who are asleep will wake up, and she does.

Today, we have to make that choice in our own lives. Are we like those cynical mourners, or are we like the parents who come to Christ against all odds? And there are many places in our life where we’re in the valley of dry bones. It could be in a struggle of life and death. But it could be in our marriages. It could be in our relationships with our children, with our parents. It could be in so many spaces of our lives where we feel like, “This is beyond hope. I’m living in the presence of death right now, and there is nothing that could revive it.” And when Christ says, “I am with you until the end. Come with me,” and, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. You do not have to be afraid, but only believe,” and He says these things, and we say, “Yeah, but…” It’s too far, it’s too much, it’s too bad. Where is there room for hope in this? Where is there room for love? How can I not be afraid? Then we’re like those mourners laughing at him saying, “What are you saying? What you’re saying doesn’t make sense. You’re a fool because this is the way it’s gotta be.” But this passage today is challenging us to do otherwise.

Այսօր մենք կհանձնենք ինչպես պիտի առաջ գնանք։ Պիտի անոնց պես լինենք, անոնք որոնք կխնդան Հիսուսի երեսին, կամ պիտի հավատարիմ մնանք։ Եվ նույնիսկ և որ մենք չենք կրնար հավատալ, որ հույս կարելի է, որ նոր կյանք կարելի է, որ Հիսուս ինչպես խոստացավ պիտի նորոգե մեր կյանքները, որ մենք պիտի ընդունենք այդ ճշմարտությունը, նույնիսկ և որ չենք ուզեր ընդունել, և որ չենք կարող։

So in these moments where we are encountering death of so many types in our lives, bring him into that space just as Jairus brought him into his home and he brought him into the depths of his despair in his daughter’s room and he let Jesus do what Jesus does. He didn’t set a precondition. He didn’t demand anything. He just said, “I believe in you.” And Jesus did what Jesus will do and in the end that will be good and that will be right.

Դա արդար պիտի լինի, բարի պիտի լինի, Աստծո կամքը պիտի լինի։ Մենք չենք պահանջել ինչպես պիտի հրաշք գործե մեր կյանքի մեջ, ինչպես պիտի նորոգե մեր կյանքը։ Ուղղակի պետք է մեր կյանքին հրավիրենք և սպասենք հաղաղության մեջ, լռության մեջ, հույսով, հավատքով և ինքը անպայման պիտի աշխատի և աշխատած է։

We say this as a testimony, as a witnessing. This isn’t something that needs to be proved because it has been proved. This is a prescription for a medication that works. This isn’t an experiment. We’re just inviting you to take advantage of it. This is the message of the church. Let him give life where there was death. Let him resurrect what is lost within us. Let him awaken what has been asleep because that is Christ’s mission.

Today we’re remembering the conclusion of the 44-day war and when we offer our հոգեհանգիստ prayers in just a moment we’re going to be remembering the victims and the heroes that gave their lives in that battle. And I know so many of you here today have experienced loss of so many different kinds. This was a loss that we all felt together. This was a loss that we really lost people that we knew, many of us literally. There were people who went out onto that battlefield and never came back again that we called friends and relatives. But as a nation we lost hope. As a nation we lost a sense of our own identity. We lost a sense of our own faithfulness, of our own fearlessness. We’re suffering today even now just as Jairus is suffering saying come heal my child who is asleep and we’re saying Christ come heal our nation. We don’t know what happens next but we’re scared. But I believe and we must also believe and it’s the church’s mission to preach that if we remain faithful to Christ we do not stray from the faith of our forefathers. If we allow him to be present in our lives then he will bring to life what was dead. He will waken what is asleep. He will restore that which is righteous and which belongs to him because he loves it because that is what he promised that he would do and nothing will break that promise.

Սիրելի հավատացյալներ, այսօր շուտով պիտի 44 օրյա պատերազմի մարտի հերոսներուն, ազատամարտիկներուն հիշենք, զոհերին հիշենք, բայց ես կուզեմ այս պատգամով ձեզ հիշեցնել, որ ոչ միայն որպես անհատներ, բայց որպես համայնք, որպես ամբողջ եկեղեցի և ազգ, ասիկա կոչ մըն է բոլորիս համար, որ պետք է հավատարիմ մնանք, որովհետև չենք ուզեր այդ աշխարհական իմաստունյա մարդկանց պես լինենք, որոնք պատրաստ են ամեն բան ծախել, որ իրենք ճիշտ լինեն։ Չէ՛, ես կուզեմ, որ այսօր մենք սխալ լինենք, որ Աստծո ճշմարտությունը հայտնվի, որովհետև ինքն է աղբյուր իմաստության և կյանք։