Have you ever felt desperate? Have you ever been in a situation in life when you were totally and completely helpless and you didn’t know what to do or who to turn to?

I can remember doing a funeral for a young father who had been murdered by his stepson. It was a very difficult time for everyone. There was a myriad of emotions being expressed from disbelief, grief, anger, confusion and pain. As the pastor, it was one of the most difficult things I’d ever dealt with.

Friends and family members were desperate. They didn’t know what to do with what they were feeling. For some of them, the words, “We trust Jesus,” became a mantra in order to cope. Over and over I heard the grandmother say, “Only Jesus can help us get through this.”

Jesus was approached by a dad whose daughter was sick and needed help. The dad’s name was Jairus and he was someone of importance and influence..

Jairus came and fell down before Jesus, pleading with him to heal his daughter. Mark 5:22 in the NLT says, “My little daughter is dying,” he said in desperation. “Please come and lay Your hands on her; heal her so she can live”

I am reminded of my own loss many years ago when my first son died. There was a sense of pain and loss, and in the months of prayer prior to his passing, desperation…

As we met with our pastor and others, I discovered something very important… the only person I desperately needed is Jesus. We needed a power greater and stronger than ourselves to help carry us through.

That’s why I love this little line in Jairus’s story in verse 24: “Jesus went with him.”

In the same way that Jesus walked with Jairus, He walked with us as we mourned the loss of our son. The truth we learned and preach today is He will walk with you too. It doesn’t matter if Jesus is your first option or your last option; if you want help, Jesus wants to help you.

I think one of the most difficult things to see in life is a child who is suffering. Each year in Edmonton, the Stollery Children’s Hospital has fundraisers in support of what they do. The stories are heart wrenching, yet filled with optimism and hope.

The stories remind us that all of us need help at one time or another. All of us have something in our lives that we wish we could change. All of us have a challenge requiring a power greater than our own. But all too often we’re afraid to ask for help because we’re afraid to admit that we need help.

As Jesus walked with Jairus to his house, some friends of Jairus showed up and let him know that his daughter had died. Verse 35 records their words, “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Why bother?

Have you ever thought that?

I’m so out of shape, why bother eating right and exercising now? My marriage is so far gone, why bother going to counseling now? I am so far in debt, why bother putting a budget in place now?

Or if you are a student or single, maybe you’re thinking, Why bother staying pure when all my friends are messing around sexually and making fun of me for guarding my virginity?

Why bother?

There are many around us who are struggling. Some have terminal illnesses and are facing death.

I read one story about a young girl who had an inoperable brain tumor. The hospital sent her home to die. The father’s response was, “Her life with Jesus really will be better than her life with us, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept that we won’t get to see her grow up.” As a father, my heart broke when I read that. I realized Jesus needed to be bothered on this father’s behalf.

And here’s why: Jesus ignored their comments and said to Jairus in verse 36, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”

Sometimes we need to follow Jesus’ example and ignore the doubts of those around us. Jesus can do things that no one else can do, but that is hard to believe when pain surrounds us on all sides. It’s also hard to believe because we’re surrounded by other people who can also do amazing things.

Jesus walked into the bedroom of a little girl who was dead and did something that no one else in the course of human history has ever been able to do. Mark 5:41-42 says this, “Holding her hand, he said to her, ‘Talitha koum,’ which means ‘Little girl, get up!’ And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around!”

Raising someone from the dead defies all explanation. Jesus is in a category all to Himself, and that’s exactly why we need to bother Him. It’s why we need to tap Him on the shoulder and ask for help. It’s why we need to put our faith in Him.

Faith is used as a noun 243 times in the New Testament. Faith is used as a verb 243 times in the New Testament. What does that tell us? It tells us that faith is equally about what we believe and what we do with what we believe.

If what I believe about Jesus doesn’t translate into how I live, then what’s the point? Belief has to affect behaviour for it to be faith. Jairus believed Jesus could heal his daughter, so he asked Jesus to heal his daughter. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain by trusting Jesus to do what no one else can do.

And I haven’t mentioned it yet, but on the way to raise this twelve-year-old girl from the dead, Jesus healed a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years.

One woman’s blood stopped, but another woman’s bleeding wouldn’t stop. One was rich and one was poor. One had everything to lose and the other had nothing to lose. What Mark is trying to help us see by comparing and contrasting these two women is that Jesus doesn’t discriminate. Educated or uneducated, rich or poor, young or old, male or female — all Jesus sees when He looks at us is our need, and what He wants us to see when we look at Him is His ability to meet that need.

Jesus can do what no one else can do.

Augustine once said, “Miracles are not in contradiction to nature. They are only in contradiction with what we know of nature.” Jesus not only created the natural world we live in. He also controls it.

In the natural world, people want to limit conversations to facts. The fact is this little girl was dead. But another equally valid fact is that Jesus raised her from the dead. He also raised Himself from the dead.

So what do we do with Jesus? Seriously, what do we do with someone like Jesus who seems to be a self-contained source of unlimited power?

I think there’s only one thing to do. Trust Him.

If you’ve reached a point of desperation in your life, can I encourage you to trust Jesus? If you feel as though you’re facing something that is impossible to get past, can I encourage you to trust Jesus? If you’ve said “Why bother?” in recent weeks, can I encourage you to trust Jesus enough to bother Him? Tap Him on the shoulder and ask for help.