God Sees You | Mark 5

Jesus raises a dead girl back to life, right? I just love the bookends of like, it starts with Jesus casting out demons, going to the spooky graveyard, and then it ends with him being gentle with a little girl. And it's like, Jesus is a complete man. He can handle kids, he can handle crowds, he can handle demons, honey can do everything. - That's right. - And yeah, Jesus is growing me in those things. I'm not complete there. But yeah, I love that. - Trying to progress. - We're all in progress. - This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people. Just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. (upbeat music) - Hey, I'm Chuck. - I'm Mish. - I'm Caleb. - I'm Kirsten. - We're in Mark chapter five. Shortest of the Biographies of Jesus' life, action-packed. And this is an action-packed chapter. It is. And if I were to say, what's the through line here? It is that this Jesus has power. This Jesus has authority.

Not just over the physical realm, but over the spiritual realm. So which of the stories kind of bubbled up for you as you read it or what struck you as you read this chapter? - Maybe it's 'cause we're like, bearing down on Halloween, but. (laughing) - Dude, the story of the demon possessed guy living in a cemetery, cutting himself, being possessed by multiple demons, having like some scary, like, my name is Legion type of voice. - Yeah. - That's wild. - Do you think that's what he starts like? - You have to do that like seven times. - Oh, okay. - It'd be like seven of those at once, that would be what's up with it. - Yeah, that's right. - I don't know. It's just, again, I think I've said this in the past, it's really easy to read it and just like be disconnected from it. But if you put yourself in that story, like that is terrifying. - Yeah. - I'm trying to avoid that guy. And Jesus just walks right up to my life. Jesus is bold and brave.

And it shows God's power over the evil one. Like, it's not even a close match. - That's exactly right. - And sometimes I think it's like, you know, God and Satan is like, a heavyweight battle is not, dude. It's like God and flicking an ant or something. - That's exactly right. That's the first time I've heard that told, like a spooky hollow type. That's so great. Like, honestly, that probably is how it was. Someone who is this demon possessed that legion, which really means a lot of his spirits are speaking out of him. That's scary stuff, man. - And he had superhuman strength. - Yes. - Right? - Exactly. - Mm-hmm. - Yeah. - Wow. Oh, now another nightmare to. (laughing) - Well, what I love about was what you said is like, you know, Jesus, I've had to learn is like, in my mind, I imagine Jesus need to get real loud, you know? Get out of it, I don't think so. - Right. - I think Jesus could be like, go. - Yeah. - And that was all he needed to say for the Lord.

- Yeah. - 'Cause he had that kind of authority and that kind of power. I need that. I need a Jesus that has that kind of authority and power. - Yeah. - You know, I got demons in my own life, you know? I got demons of family history stuff that I don't want to repeat, right? - Yeah. - I got demons of the deep, deep fears and how that shapes how I view the world. And I need a Jesus that has that kind of power and authority. So I am encouraged by these stories to know that yes, he's a wise teacher, he's also a power. And I need that. - Yep. I always, always am drawn not only to when Jesus interacts with women in scripture because it is something that the most faith building thing early in my faith is someone saying like, these authors had no reason to write about women at all. And yet they are so often. So the woman that was healed from her illness and her suffering, but it wasn't enough for Jesus to heal her. It was to see her, to know her. And I'm just like, he does that to me. He's just so beautiful. And even when he's like going somewhere, people love to use this story to be like,

Jesus is never in a hurry. I think he was in a hurry. He just like didn't let that dictate what that meant to that woman and the crowd to witness that. So, yeah. - I love that idea of he saw her and he gave dignity to her. I think a lot of times we forget the context of these stories where demon possessed, isolated, yes. - This woman, because of her physical ailment, had to do with blood, she would not have been welcomed into the temple. There have been places she physically couldn't wouldn't have been able to go. - She was in the recipe where she was. - Oh, exactly. - She was breaking the unbroken rule. And so not only is Jesus physically healing these people, but he's restoring them to the community, right? - And it's funny 'cause with the demon-possessed guy, he had, people were clearly avoiding him and he's like, "Go, tell people," and people would believe him because he's a new man. This woman, if she goes and tells, they might not believe her and be like, "Eh." So, almost was like, "Jesus, I need to do this for you. "I want to do this for you "because I don't want you to have to struggle "through the rest of this alone." - Where's a place where you felt seen by Jesus

in that way, like he did for her? - It was, I mean, I mean, talking about our church, but it was at our church. It was the first time I got to go to this thing we do called Man Camp, we have tons of camps, right? I got to go to Man Camp. And that was-- - Bunch of guys. - Bunch of guys. - In the woods. Primitive camping. - Yep. - Yep, and there's like some big gatherings that happen as a part of this scene. - Oh, I'm a man. - No, it's actually way better. - No, it's actually way better. - We go right out of this scene, not like that at all. - That's right. - That's right, that's right. - I was at the group of men who, through the spirit and power of Jesus, I felt so seen, and I was healed emotionally. I felt so cared for and loved. - Wow. - I felt so accepted for who, exactly who I was, someone who's a nerd, but also like sports and is a jock, and also introspective, and like does not have to fit a certain box and barrier and things that I feel like I put myself and other people have put me in. It was there, and like my encouragement, if you're looking for a place to feel seen, heard like come to our church,

because this is what we're about. That's the thing that made me start coming to this church. It was the work that we get to do outside the walls and the acceptance you feel. The preaching, the people who talk on stage, they're all right, yeah, they're all right. (laughing) - But they'll wear green. (laughing) - Yeah, weird. - But seriously, it's the community you get to experience here and like the service, the serving you get to do. That's, well, and I hear you say that, and I think about like, it's a lot of you guys, you're watching and you're in a facility, you're incarcerated or whatever that may look like. You're part of our church, like this is you coming to our church, this is you being a part of our church, and I think you're right, there's a part of that, that's just the heart of Jesus, because Jesus sees you. He sees you right where you are, and we wanna be a church that does that too. I think it's so good. - Mm-hmm. - How about you guys, where you felt that scene? How have you felt that scene by Jesus? - You're wondering the things that I love, we're just gonna cover every story in this chapter. At the very end of the chapter,

Jesus raises a dead girl back to life, right? I just love the bookends of like, it starts with Jesus casting out demons, going to the spooky graveyard, and then it ends with him being gentle with a little girl, and it's like, Jesus is a complete man. He can handle kids, he can handle crowds, he can handle demons, honey can do everything. - That's right. - And you know what, that I feel seen by Jesus when I just get to spend time with my kids. - Yeah. - You know, like I don't have to have, I don't have to wear any masks with them, I don't have to like project anything, and I know, because I put them to bed every night, they do not want to go to bed before dad goes to bed, because they want to know that dad's up and doing his thing. Dad's keeping the house safe. You know what I'm saying? Like dad's shutting, I'm checking the window, checking the door, doing the thing. And so I just, I'm trying to be both those things. That Jesus is, he was a protector, he went after the demons, he kept, you know, and he could hang with the little kids and be tender with them. And yeah, Jesus is growing me in those things, I'm not complete there, but yeah.

- I love that. - Trying to progress. - We're all, we're all in progress. - I love that, I love that. - I don't know, I just had the generic, like when I fully learned and believed that God was my dad, like I have daddy issues, and that's when I felt the most seen as learning. Like not only do I have a God who created me and knows me, but also I have a dad that so deeply loves me and wants good things for me and wants good gifts for me. 'Cause I always felt like I didn't deserve it, or if I did, I had to earn it myself. And knowing that that's not how a dad works, that's not how a dad works at all. And I felt so seen by that, and I felt so like released of so much pressure that I had put on myself for so, so long. So, yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - I'll share one for me. It actually happened at man camp, it was the last man camp happened for me. There's a prayer tent and you go in the prayer tent and this was super cool. You go in the prayer tent and there's like two, usually two volunteers and they're kind of listening. You make sure I'm a little bit of your story. Well, I didn't want to share much of my story So I sat down with a guy that I kind of know and another guy that we were gonna pray together.

And he was like, hey, we got these guys here from another church that are praying. You wanna pray with them? Like, I mean, I know you'd be great to pray with you. But like, I'm like, great, I'll go with them. And so I go over them and we are praying and they had some things to say that just felt like it was absolutely what I needed to hear. And then this thing happened. I had on a black like jacket and it had a little orange crossroads cross hat, or symbol trail marker. The guy pulls out his phone and he says, "Before I came to man camp, I asked God, "like maybe are there some advanced words "that you wanna have?" And he said, and one of the things he wrote down, he shows me these words, he's like, "You're gonna have someone come and pray with you "that has a little bit of orange on. "And I want you to tell that person "they're the apple of God's eye." - What? - What? - And I'm like, okay, wait a second. I wouldn't have been praying with those guys. - Right. - Random, like, "Hey, would you be?" - Right. - Wow. - I only had the code on 'cause it had rained, and so I had that on, otherwise it wouldn't have had that on. - Right.

- And you could say that's coincidence. I don't think that's coincidence. I think that was God's scene. - Yeah, man. - And it just felt so good to be seen by God in that way. So, man, I hope you feel that today that God sees you. He sees you, like, yes, he has the capacity to love everybody in the world and see you. And I hope they give you some joy today. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)