The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Jesus’ Ministry to Youth
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen! In today’s Gospel, Jesus raised someone from death. “She was twelve years
of age.”
Dear Christian friends,
All across our church body, congregations are reporting that many teenagers and
young adults quit coming to church after confirmation class has ended. All
across our church body, we spend mountains of time, money and energy wondering
out loud, “What can we do? How can we keep the young folks coming back and how
can we make them feel included?” Many solutions get offered:
• We organize large youth conferences, which give our young people a
chance to meet other Christians their age and also to realize that their pastor
is not the only nerdy guy with a black shirt and a bald head.
• We plan servant events, where young people can do important work, such
as helping clean up the city of Joplin. These events help our youth to see that
they are not the only people in the world, and that Jesus was right after all:
“It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
• We write youth Bible Studies so that the young folks can discuss
questions of the faith that they might not want to ask their parents or
grandparents—that is, if we can manage to get them involved in a conversation.
• We offer our youth “leadership training.” We do this because “the young
people are the future of the church” (as the mantra goes).
Most of these things are good things. Part of me wishes that I could get more
of our young’uns interested in such things (a difficult task, to say the
least). But only part of me wishes to do this—and I am not sure if it is the
pastoral part of me, or the part that is still stuck in tenth grade.
Another part of me seriously wonders whether we might be doing our teenagers
and young adults some disservice by bending over backwards for them. Many of
our efforts, falling over ourselves to give the younger generation a reason to
stay, might actually be helping them to miss the point.
• Conferences are great, but the exuberance and energy of a conference
simply cannot be duplicated at home—especially in the liturgy of our worship.
Sunday morning worship can even seem to be a bit of a let-down after a while.
• Servant events are good training in Christian works, but so is the
everyday help you should be giving to mom or dad, grandma or grandpa, without
whining and complaining. Stated another way, your neighbors in Joplin are not
the only ones who need your generosity, your patience, and your attention. Your
neighbors living with you in your house also need such gifts from you.
• Special Bible studies for the youth are great, but they might give the
impression that adult Bible studies are too sophisticated or too difficult for
younger people; or worse, that the Sunday sermon is mostly for adults and not
for children.
• Leadership training? Leadership training builds upon the idea that “the
young people are the future of the church” when JESUS IS ACTUALLY THE FUTURE OF
THE CHURCH.
Speaking of Jesus, look at the way our dear Lord places youth ministry into its
proper perspective here in today’s Gospel:
He… took the child’s father and mother and those who were with Him and went in
where the child was. Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,”
which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately the girl got
up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were
immediately overcome with amazement.
This is a good Gospel for all of you who are young. This is also a good Gospel
for everyone else who sits in these pews with you. This Gospel shows all of us
the good and blessed way that Jesus does youth ministry (and He doesn’t even
wear cargo shorts!). Especially for the young, today’s Gospel shows you the way
Jesus wants you to look at yourself and even more so, this Gospel shows you the
good things that Jesus does for you, even while you are young.
• First, learn from this Gospel that young people are NOT the future of
the church. (I do not even think most young people say such things about
themselves, anyway. It is mostly old people who dream up such ideas.) If young
people are the future of the church, then the church has no hope. You heard it
yourself in today’s Gospel: “There came from the ruler’s house some people who
said, ‘Your daughter is dead.’” (So much for youth leadership training!)
The Future of the Church came and stood at this girl’s bedside, just as the
Future of the Church likewise comes to you and stands near to you here in in
this place. The Future of the Church says to this dead girl, “Arise!” because
this young girl also needed the same resurrection and life that old people
need.
• That is the second thing to learn about yourself and about Jesus in
today’s Gospel: Young people need the VERY SAME WORDS FROM JESUS that old
people need! Jesus did not come to this dead little girl and offer her
leadership training. Jesus spoke His living, miracle-producing Word to someone
who needed His living, miracle-producing Word, and “she was twelve years of
age.”
“Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
“Arise” is more than what Jesus said to this twelve-year-old girl. “Arise” is
also what Jesus did for Simon’s mother-in-law, who had to be an old lady at the
time (Mark 1:31); “Arise” is the miraculous Word that gave a paralyzed man his
legs (Mark 2:11); “Arise” was there when Jesus chased a demon away (Mark 9:27)
from someone who sounds a lot like a teenager or young adult (Mark 9:12);
“Arise” is what follows after Jesus’s own crucifixion and death (Mark 16:6) and
“Arise” is the whole point of your worship. Here Jesus speaks the same Words to
you that He speaks to your parents and grandparents. Jesus speaks to you the
same way He speaks to them because you need the same gifts from God that they
need. The same forgiveness of sins, the same abiding patience, the same love:
these things are now all FOR YOU, and not merely for someone else. Young or
Old: we are all dying. Young or Old: we all need Jesus. Young or Old: Jesus’
Words are the miracle that gives us life!
There is not a whole not of difference between Jesus’ Word to this
girl—“arise”—and Jesus’ Word also to you: “I forgive you all your sins.” In
both cases, Jesus speaks life; in both cases a miracle takes place; in both
cases, those who hear what Jesus says—both you (no matter what your age) and
this girl—those who hear Jesus get everything they could truly ever need: “And
immediately the girl got up.” With the same immediacy, Jesus likewise releases
from you your sins and your death and your condemnation with a single Word!
• Today’s Gospel is not merely a good Gospel for those who are young.
This is also a good Gospel for everyone else, too. Hey, old people: according
to today’s Gospel, what do the young people and the children of the church need
from you—even if you do not have any young people in your house? The young’uns
need you to be the ruler of the synagogue. Stated another way, they need you to
exert yourself in every way to see that Jesus comes to them. Baptism, Sunday
School, Bible stories at bedtime, confirmation class, and yes, continued
worship after confirmation is over. The young people do not need anyone to lie
to them, such as when they are told, “You don’t need church to be a Christian.”
They need you to be serious about their disease, just as this father in today’s
Gospel was serious about his daughter’s deadly condition. They need your eyes
to remain focused on Jesus, too, so that you also get your good gifts from God.
“Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet and implored Him earnestly saying, ‘My little
daughter is at the point of death’” Why do our churches lose so many young
people? Probably for the same reasons we lose so many of their parents:
• They might not fully realize how close to the point of death they are.
Perhaps they are somewhat like us that way. May God help us in our weakness!
• They might not fully realize how life comes and life remains by the
power of Words spoken to them—Jesus’ Words of eternal life. Perhaps they are
somewhat like us that way. May God open our eyes (Psalm 119:18) and increase
our hearing (Mark 4:20), that His Word to us may not return void (Isaiah 55:11).
• More than conferences, more than training opportunities, more than
servant events, we all continually need the Words of Jesus in our life. God
grant that His Word never stop being heard—by old and by young alike.
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