Are we hungrey - hungry for his presence

In April this year I attended a conference in England – on the final night there was an optional all night prayer gathering at an Anglican church called SAINT – in London’s east end – many had been talking about the event with great anticipation so I and a number of others caught the train over…

When we arrived it was already in full swing – the band was gathered facing a simple cross in the middle – a crowd of likely 500 or more was packed into the open space – some kneeling – others standing arms raised – still others head bowed – arms clasped praying – mostly 20 somethings – representing the racial diversity of London’s east end – the purpose in their gathering was readily apparent in the music they chose – the prayers they prayed – the reflections they shared – they were hungry – hungry for the presence of God – and there was a palpable sense in what I was witnessing in the room that God was meeting them – meeting us in that hunger.

It was a hunger that kept many in that space the entire night – praying – worshiping – yearning – the setting thrust a question into my consciousness – am I similarly hungry – hungry for his presence? I yearned for such a hunger to grow…

Are we hungry – hungry for his presence?
Today I chose for us to reflect upon a text from the gospel of Luke – and as Luke tells the story of Jesus he provides linking words to move us from place to place – from moment to moment – linking words that we likely pass over without a whole lot of thought – but as I reflected upon it I was arrested by them – hear again his linking words – and when Jesus returned – the crowd welcomed him – for they were all waiting for him – they were ALL WAITING for him…

Since he first left – much has happened – he and his disciples have crossed the sea of Galilee – on a good day – favorable wind – a 6 hr journey – it wasn’t a good day – there was a horrific storm – when they reach the other side – an encounter with another kind of storm – a demon possessed man – there is healing – restoration – news spreads – a mob forms – they don’t welcome him to free their land from demonic strongholds – they exile him – back to the boat – six hours across the sea once more – at the very least they’ve been gone a day – likely far longer – the people he’s left on the other side have been given no indication as to when he would return – and yet – and yet – they’re ALL still there – WAITING – hungry – hungry for his presence.

Are we hungry – hungry for his presence?

A very specific hunger bubbles to the surface – Jarius – a synagogue ruler – a title given to the one who oversaw the functioning of the synagogue – often its patron – a man of significant means – having reached the highest station life could offer – bows low with profound faith – expresses deep need – my daughter –only daughter – barely 12 – sick to the point of death – without a word – Jesus begins to follow him home – as the crowd presses tightly around him – hungry

Are we hungry – hungry for his presence?

There in the midst of the crowd – an in articulated hunger – an unnamed woman with a chronic condition – constant menstrual flow for 12 long years – a condition that in her culture rendered her unclean – cut off from community – cut off from human touch – contact – ostracized by all – every day – for 12 long years – she’s desperate – trying everything – suffered from cure as well as disease – exploited by doctors – healers – left impoverished – her desperate hunger brings her to Jesus – she’s likely heard of his healing power – but how to get close – she’s unclean
The crowd covers her with a cloak of anonymity – she dips and dives squeezing through the gaps in the throng – finally she’s there – one last movement – reaching out – grasps the fringe of his garment.

What’s she grabbing – well – every Jewish man would wear one of these – a tallit – a prayer shawl – a garment worn in step with God’s command in numbers 15 – a physical reminder of his mitzvot – his commands contained in torah – the fringe was 8 cords knotted 5x to remind them of the five books of torah – of law – it was called the tzit tzit

In the book of the prophet Malachi it spoke of Messiah coming with healing in his wings – and the Hebrew word for wings was also the word used to identify these tassels – and it led to the superstitious belief that the tzit tzit of holy men possessed magical powers – as a result many of the religious leaders would have extra long tassels to show their “righteousness” – she reaches out grasps the fringe – the tzit tzit of Jesus’ tallit –immediately her flow of blood ceased – there’s healing in his wings – she slunk back into the crowd – her in articulated hunger satisfied

Are we hungry – hungry for his presence?

But she can’t make good her escape – Jesus stops – suddenly – crying out in a booming voice – who touched me – crickets – no one came forward – Peter – in classic Peter fashion – gives voice to what everyone is thinking but no one dared say – really Jesus – we’re in a crowd – everyone is touching everyone else

No – no – no – Jesus responds – someone touched me – powers gone out of me –

I wonder if in that moment his gaze fell on her – for in that moment she knew she couldn’t remain hidden – trembling – likely from fear – what would they do – if they knew – how many I’ve made unclean simply by touching them – she comes falling down before him – tells her story – a story of disease – suffering – need – superstitious faith – but there’s no anger – only love – welcome daughter – there is no condemnation only commendation – your faith has made you well – there is no judgement only blessing – go in peace

With this interaction her healing is complete – welcomed into community – with this word a new relationship has been formed – she now has life transforming faith in Jesus – with this praise she forever bears witness to the glory of God

Are you hungry – hungry for his presence?

But there appears to be no such glorious ending for Jarius – with Jesus still attending to this woman – a messenger comes from the ruler’s home with grievous news – your daughter’s dead – Don’t trouble the teacher any more

A father’s heart drops – a crowds hope falters – but Jesus seems unphased – don’t worry – believe – she will be well

They turn their faces once more toward Jarius’ home – when they arrive the funeral is already in full swing – hired professional mourners – common in this culture – are already at work – he dips through the door – only Peter James and John and her parents are able to enter – he presses into their grief – don’t weep – she’s not dead – only sleeping
They laugh – they know a dead person when they see one – he enters the room – takes her by the hand – and speaks – softly – tenderly – Matthew preserves the original Aramaic – Talitha Cumi – Luke translates to Greek for his readers – but the sense is the same – honey – honey – it’s time to get up – breath returns to corpse – her chest – rises and falls once more – she rises from the bed – not only alive – but free of whatever ailed her – food is brought – she begins to eat

Are you hungry – hungry for his presence?

A crowd ALL WAITING for Jesus’ return – unwilling to move until they beheld him again – hungry – hungry for his presence – they’ve borne witness to the hunger of Jarius satisfied – borne witness to the hunger of an unnamed woman satisfied – but has their hunger been satisfied?

Indeed – for in his presence they’ve beheld his holy – glorious – grace-shaped love.
You can well imagine the murmuring – the broiling emotional state of the crowd – as Jesus stops to attend to the unnamed – unclean woman – really Jesus – what are you doing? – do you know who this man is? – what he’s done for us? – can you not see the gravity of his situation? – I mean if we had a triage nurse or an ER doctor pull a move like Jesus does here – we would have them up on medical malpractice – deal with her later – next to him she should be low down on your priority list
But in his presence, they behold his holy – glorious – grace-shaped love – he makes a wealthy religious man with an acute problem and well articulated faith wait – while he attends to an unnamed unclean woman with a chronic problem and a superstitious faith

You could not be left unchanged by such a moment in the presence of Jesus – for played out in front of them was the upending of everything their culture valued – everything our culture values – for in Jesus the last will be first – the first will be last – such holy – glorious – grace-shaped love would have been seered into their hearts in the presence of Jesus – shaping everything they did…

Is it any wonder then that the early Jesus movement gave priority to women – widows – orphans – the poor – the stranger – the outcast – responded to the Roman’s vile practice of female infanticide by taking female babies left exposed to the elements into their own homes – ministered to those dying of plague at great risk to themselves – a way of being shaped by time spent in the presence of Jesus.

Are we hungry – hungry for his presence?

For in his presence, they learned to navigate the agony of unanswered prayer

Jarius had a prayer – a prayer for the healing of his daughter – a prayer that went unanswered – or at least was met with excruciating delay

But behold Jesus in the delay – his holy – glorious – grace-shaped love – his incredible power over all things – why would we want to rush someone like this?

I like you have uttered many prayers where no answer has been forthcoming – prayers that have bubbled up from the very core my being – as I sat in the agony – as I sat in the delay with Jesus – I’ve been formed – shaped – given God’s perspective – I’ve beheld my sin that led me to pray the way that I prayed – I’ve seen my idols exposed – realizing that I wasn’t really yearning for God – I was yearning for the thing I believed God could give me – I’ve come out the other side thankful that he didn’t answer – or least didn’t answer it in the way I wanted

Is that that the case with every unanswered prayer? Of course not – I’m still sitting in the agony of many unanswered prayers – but in the presence of Jesus we learn how to navigate them – and as we behold more and more of who he is – why would we want to rush someone like this?

Are we hungry – hungry for his presence?

For in his presence, they beheld that to Jesus death is but a nap to wake up from – as he takes the dead child by the hand – Talitha Cumi – honey it’s time to get up

In Jesus – our own death is but a nap to be awakened from – for in his death and resurrection he has defeated death and opened the gate of glory

To behold this reality in the presence of Jesus is utterly transformative – it was J.C. Ryle – the former bishop of Liverpool – who said – in light of his victory over sin and death – it enables us to feel that the great business of life is a settled business, the great debt a paid debt, the great disease a healed disease and the great work a finished work; such that all other business, diseases, debts, and works are by comparison small – as a result we are patient in tribulation, calm under bereavements, unmoved in sorrow – not afraid of evil tidings, in every condition content, for it gives us a fixedness of heart. It sweetens our bitter cups, it lessons the burden of our crosses, it smooths the rough places over which we travel, and it lightens the valley of the shadow of death. It makes us always feel that we have something solid beneath our feet – and something firm under our hands – and in light of his love – a sure friend by the way – and a sure home at the end.

In his presence we behold that death – our death – is but a nap to be awakened from Talitha Cumi – honey – it’s time to get up – new creation’s here…

Are we hungry – hungry for his presence?

It’s striking that right after this encounter Jesus sends the disciples out to do the very things he’s been doing – heal the sick – cast out demons – proclaim the good news of the kingdom – it’s striking because it roots us in a transformative truth – that the life of following Jesus – being a disciple – is borne of encounter – time spent in the presence of Jesus.

Are you hungry – hungry for his presence?

In the days following that all night prayer gathering at SAINT – Al Gordon their Senior Pastor – reflected on the night from his Instagram account – drawing attention to the reality that the early church – right from Pentecost stepped out into it’s work –out into it’s witness – out into it’s decision making – out into it’s love – from a place of being in the presence.

He asked some important questions.

Do you want to see change in the world?
Start with time in the presence

Do you want to see awakening?
Start with time in the presence.

Do you want to love the vulnerable?
Start with time in the presence.

What would it look like if we served, made decisions, loved, overflowed not from a place of striving, strategy, earthly power, but humbly from the quiet rooms – the times of worship – where we didn’t do anything before we were in the presence?

Are we hungry – hungry for his presence?
Many of us here are on holiday – or enjoying a weekend rhythm of being at the cottage – away from the daily demands of work – of family – of the hustle and bustle of the city – it’s a time we often gain perspective – recharged for a new season of life – what if we returned to life – to work – to family – having had our hunger satisfied in Him – how would it shift everything else we do.

We serve a God who longs to satisfy our hunger.
Are we hungry – hungry for his presence.