Do Not Be Afraid, Only Believe
Introduction: Moving Beyond “Belief About”
Welcome, everyone! Welcome to all of you here in the room and all of you joining us online. I am so thankful to be with you guys today. My name is Jordan, and as Matt mentioned earlier, let me just get a couple of things out of the way. Yes, Matt and I are wearing the exact same outfit. And yes, he is my bestie, so I’m not even mad about it!
Now that we’ve established our fashion choices, you can open your Bibles to Mark chapter five. We’re going to start in verse 21. We are currently in our “Invitations of Jesus” series, where we walk through the various invitations Christ offers us. Our invitation today comes in verse 36, where Jesus encourages a man in a seemingly hopeless situation to not be afraid any longer, but to only believe.
Mark 5:21-23 (NASB)
When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore. One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and on seeing Him, fell at His feet and implored Him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death; [please] come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.’
Before we dive into the passage, we need to talk about the nature of belief. We need to define our terms because it’s important to understand what Jesus means when He uses that word. In the Bible, the words belief, faith, and trust are largely interchangeable; they all come from the same Greek verb, pisteuo.
In English, the word “believe” can be a bit tricky because it has a wide range. I can say I love my wife, and I can say I love tacos. Lord willing, those are two very different types of love! Belief is similar. On one end of the spectrum, you have an intellectual assent to the reality of something—the acknowledgment that a person or thing exists. We call this “belief about.” On the other hand, you can believe in something so much that you place all your trust and faith in it.
I’ll give you an example. I love the World Cup. I become a massive soccer fan every four years, mostly because I’m an American and we’re usually there. I know some of the players’ names now, and I believe they exist. I believe they score goals. But, informed by history, I don’t know if I fully believe in our team yet!
Think about the chair you’re sitting in. You walked through those doors, and unless the chair was unnecessarily fancy, you knew what it was. You could theorize about its purpose and its ability to hold weight. But it isn’t until you actually sit down that you demonstrate belief in the chair. You trust it to hold you. This is the difference between acknowledging Jesus and trusting Jesus. A lot of people walk into churches, sit in chairs they trust, and sing songs about a Jesus they only “believe about.” But James gives us a chilling reminder about the limits of intellectual assent.
James 2:19 (NASB)
You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
Even the demons have an accurate theology, but they don’t trust Him. Jesus’ invitation is to move from believing about Him to believing in Him—a belief that invites us to trust Him in all circumstances.
Desperation: The Doorway to Belief
Our passage in Mark offers two stories of people in hopeless situations who have to believe in Jesus as their only hope. In verse 21, Jesus has just crossed back over the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum. A large crowd gathers, and then we meet Jairus.
Jairus is a synagogue official, a respected ruler in the religious community. He has influence and wealth, but none of those things can save his dying daughter. So, he runs to Jesus. This is a powerful moment: this man of great rapport falls into the wet sand at the feet of Jesus and pleads for his “little daughter.” In the Greek, that term carries deep affection. He’s saying, “My baby girl is dying. Please come.”
His desperation cuts through his embarrassment. Here is the first thing I want you to understand: desperation is the doorway to genuinely believing in Jesus. It is hard for us to admit need. We’re Americans; we like to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. But an awareness of our deep need is the fertile ground where belief grows.
Matthew 9:12 (NASB)
But when Jesus heard [this], He said, ’[It is] not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.
Jesus isn’t saying some people are healthy and some are sick; He’s saying everyone is sick, but only those who admit it will meet the Great Physician. Many people never truly come to Jesus because they are trying to preserve the mask that they have everything under control. They want Jesus as a consultant, but not a Savior. Jairus shows us that where you run when you are out of control is the ultimate proof of what you truly believe in.
The Power is in the Person, Not the Faith
As Jesus begins to walk with Jairus, He is interrupted by another desperate person. This is a “Markan sandwich”—a story within a story. We meet a woman who has suffered from a bleeding disease for twelve years. This condition made her “ceremonially unclean,” meaning she was a social and religious outcast. She couldn’t touch anyone, couldn’t worship in the community, and had spent every penny she had on doctors who couldn’t help her.
She believes that if she can just touch the edge of Jesus’ garment, she will be healed. And in a dramatic reversal, instead of her uncleanness infecting Jesus, His cleanliness and healing power spread to her.
Mark 5:34 (NASB)
And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.’
Jairus and this woman could not be more different socially, yet they are identical in their desperation. This leads to a second truth: belief is not powerful because of how big it is; it is powerful because of who it is placed in.
The power wasn’t in the woman’s hand or the intensity of her feelings; the power was in the Savior wearing the garment. Faith is like a power plug. The plug itself has no power, no matter how clean or orderly it looks. It only works if it is plugged into a live socket.
There is a harmful theology out there that says if you just believe enough, or have a big enough “faith deposit,” God has to heal you. That turns God into a vending machine, which is a pagan concept. For the believer, the question isn’t “Do I believe enough?” but “Do I believe in the One who is able?” The good news isn’t that your faith is strong; the good news is that Jesus is strong.
When Circumstances Scream, Keep Believing
While Jesus is still speaking to the woman, the worst possible news reaches Jairus. Messengers arrive and say, “Your daughter has died. Why trouble the Teacher anymore?”
Imagine the devastation. Jairus must have been thinking, Why did I let Him stop? If we hadn’t paused for this woman, maybe my daughter would still be alive. This is where circumstances seem to outweigh belief. But Jesus ignores the messengers and looks straight at Jairus.
Mark 5:35-36 (NASB)
While He was still speaking, they came from the [house of] the synagogue official, saying, ‘Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?’ But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, ‘Do not be afraid [any] [longer], only believe.’
In the original language, Jesus is saying, “Keep on believing.” He isn’t telling Jairus not to feel fear—fear is natural. He is inviting him not to follow fear. Belief in Jesus becomes real when the circumstances of life give us permission to stop trusting Him.
We all hit these crossroads. Will I rest in fear and control, or will I look at the One who is bigger than my circumstances? My wife and I struggled with infertility and miscarriage for years. It was a cycle of disappointment and anxiety. We had to ask: would God still be good even if we never had kids? When God eventually gave us two beautiful children, the fears didn’t stop; they just changed! I worried about being a good dad or yelling too much.
Fear is a weasel that tries to steal the abundance of God. It keeps us from community because we’re afraid of being known. It keeps us from generosity because we’re afraid of not having enough. Jesus invites us to lift our eyes from the circumstances and focus on Him.
Proverbs 3:5 (NASB)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
The Lord of Resurrection Life
Jesus arrives at the house, which is full of people weeping and wailing. He tells them the child is only sleeping, and they laugh at Him. But Jesus is unfazed. He knows that His presence redefines the room. A demon-possessed man becomes a missionary in His hands. An outcast woman becomes a “daughter.” And a dead girl becomes a sleeping child.
Mark 5:37-42 (NASB)
And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He saw a commotion, and [people] loudly weeping and wailing. And entering in, He said to them, ‘Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.’ They [began] laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and entered [the room] where the child was. Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, ‘Talitha kum!’ (which translated means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, get up!’). Immediately the girl got up and [began] to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.
Jesus takes her by the hand—which would normally make a person ceremonially unclean—but instead, His life enters her. He speaks to her in Aramaic: Talitha koum. This was the “heart language” of the home. It shows that Jesus is both cosmically powerful and deeply personal. He is the Lord of the universe, yet He speaks to the heart of a little girl to wake her up.
This miracle is a signpost for the Gospel. Jesus didn’t come just to delay death for a few people; He came to defeat death eternally. At the cross, Jesus entered into our uncleanness, our sin, and our death. He was treated as unclean so we could be made clean. He was cast out so we could be brought in.
Years ago, on a mission trip in Mexico, I was sitting on a beach reading Mark 5, and it hit me: we are all that little girl.
Ephesians 2:1 (NASB)
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
We are dead in our sins, and Jesus walks into our lives, grabs our hands, and regenerates our hearts. He commissions us into His kingdom. The invitation today is to move from “believing about” to “believing in.” Whether your faith is a mountain or a trembling mustard seed, place it in the sufficient Savior who is worthy of your trust today and every day after.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for this passage. Thank You for the encouragement to trust You and believe in You. Thank You for being big enough to heal and to know everything going on in our lives, yet personal enough to listen. You are not exasperated by our fears. I pray that everyone here would listen to You rather than their fears. May they run to You in their hopelessness, realizing that You are the hope in hopeless places. Meet us there, Jesus. We praise Your name. Amen.