Posture Matters
Recently, I strained something in my neck by sleeping on it wrong. Nothing says I’m in my 30s like that last sentence. Anyways, I decided that rather than perpetuate the problem by sleeping on my previous pillow, I caved and bought a bigger, nicer pillow. Long story short, my neck feels way better, I’m resting more fully, and I’m more energized when I wake up.
As I was thinking about this experience, I found myself considering how many people may have similar moments in life yet are either not able to fix their issue or are able but continue to live through the pain. It must be exhausting, debilitating, and incredibly challenging. It must feel like one is stuck and cannot do anything to progress or heal.
I’ve also thought about how there is an offer for healing, wholeness, and connection that supplies what we need. I’ve considered how this offer is for each person and how, unlike my fancy pillow, it’s absolutely free to receive. I’ve wondered what we can do in order to receive this and actualize living in the promise given.
Maybe you’re following, maybe you’re still thinking about what kind of pillow I got. My point is that I believe this past season for me is remarkably similar for many in the Church and I feel as though the Lord is speaking a word to His people who feel stuck and are waiting for a solution: posture yourself for His promise.
How many of you know that posture matters? That’s at least what my chiropractor tells me. In all honesty, I believe the Scriptures reveal to us the importance of posture. There are many narratives that are filled with characters and depictions in which posture is highlighted to show the importance of not just if we act, but HOW we act.
One such example is found in John 11 when Jesus goes to visit Mary and Martha after Lazarus has died. Martha comes forward and tells Jesus that if He would have been there, her brother would still be alive. Jesus’ response is a declaration of the truth (which is of vital importance to us), “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
Mary comes forward right after this brings Jesus the same line as her sister, but His response is different. He weeps.
Same place, same line, same thing, but one difference. Mary falls at Jesus’ feet. Why is this important? Because posture matters.
Beloved, I believe the Lord is calling us to posture ourselves in ready reception for His promise in our lives. This means for those standing in the front, it may be time to sit in the back. This means for those serving behind the scenes, it’s time to step up on the front lines. This means that we may be shifting places, titles, locations, and other variables, but more than anything each one of us is called to these things: to come to Jesus, fall at His feet, and stay with Him.
I have recently been quite moved by Mark’s account of Jesus traveling across the Sea of Galilee with His disciples in chapters 4 and 5. Within these stories, the disciples encounter a storm that almost sinks their boat and drowns them, a demonized man who is called Legion and hangs out around dead things, and a crowd that presses against them and Jesus so much they are almost crushed. But within these stories, Jesus calms the wind and waves after taking a nap in the storm. He casts out each demon and empowers this man to not only come back to his right mind, but to be an evangelist. And He then heals a woman who had been ill for 12 years and raises a girl from her deathbed.
In other words, when storms, powers of evil, and the voices and weight of the crowds surround us, if we come to Jesus and stay with Jesus, we will find His promise and presence in the midst of these things. Our world has been filled with storms, forces of evil, and a plethora of voices trying to envelop and shape us, while Jesus is calling us to posture ourselves differently.
He’s calling us to come to Him and find rest in the storms.
He’s calling us to come to Him and go forth into dark places with His light of deliverance.
He’s calling us to the same posture of being at His feet as we witness His miraculous move together.
He’s calling us to speak truth in the midst of crowds and bring healing and life to those who are seeking a touch from God.
When Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee for the second time in these chapters, He is immediately met by a large crowd and a man named Jairus. This man was a synagogue ruler and his daughter was dying. He approached Jesus, falling at His feet (because posture matters) and asking if He would come to heal his daughter, and Jesus went with him.
On their way, they encounter a woman who had been sick for 12 years. She presses through the crowd, thinking that if she could only touch Jesus’ cloak she would be healed. As she reached out to feel one tassel of our Rabbi’s robe, she was immediately healed and Jesus felt power go out from His body. As He asks who did this, she comes forward falling at Jesus’ feet (because posture matters). She shares her story and then Jesus calls her daughter while commending her faith and confirming her healing.
There are many things to say about this account, but I find one thing interesting when we think about posture: what was Jairus thinking? Jairus is a religious man. He holds power and authority in his community, and he must have risked this to seek help from this Jesus that some believed to be the Messiah and many others hated and wanted to kill.
Jairus must have been so excited to see this healer start to travel with him and think that his daughter was about to be healed. But his moment with the Messiah is interrupted by this sick woman. What thoughts are in his mind and heart? I’m sure he would be saying, “How could this unclean woman take away my daughter’s healing? We’re on a time crunch, my daughter’s about to be healed, and this outcast decides to reach out and stop us with her filthy existence! How dare she!?”
I have read this story dozens of times, but never considered what this must have been like to Jairus until I felt this notion from the Lord for us to posture ourselves for His promise. I wonder how many people have sensed God promising them something only to witness another person receive it before them. I think about all those who have asked God for something to find themselves waiting in suspense. I consider those who feel like somebody else took their blessing or like they’ve lost it when others have what they have been asking for.
But then I realize what Jesus does in this story: He calls those around Him to be fully present by giving attention to this woman. He calls her daughter and gives her space to share her testimony. This restores her humanity, elevates her status, proves her healing, and reconciles her into the community. These are all things worth celebrating, and in His being present with her in the midst of the crowd, it seems to me that there is an invitation for those with Him to be present and celebrate as well.
I wonder if while we wait for God’s promise in our lives, we should be those who position themselves in a posture of celebration. Beloved, there is much to celebrate right now. God’s Church is thriving. People are being rescued from sin, hell, and the grave. Lives are being transformed. Marriages and families are being restored. People are discovering their calling and purposes. The Church is advancing, hell is receding, God is still on the throne, today is the day of God’s favor and salvation, and all of these things are worth celebrating!
God’s calling us to celebrate His work and to stay present. We must celebrate what God is doing and as we do, we will find that we are better positioned to stay with Jesus and remain in the posture of being at His feet, witnessing and bearing witness to the mighty move of our Savior.
The other thing I love about this story is found in the last few things Jesus does and two statements.
The first statement is when Jairus’ people came to let him know that his daughter had died and he shouldn’t bother Jesus anymore. Jesus turns to Jairus and says, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
In the midst of bad news, Jesus declares the truth, and we know that His truth will set free (Jn. 8:32). In our world today, it takes only a moment to pick up a phone, open an email, click a link, or watch a video that will fill our hearts and minds with bad news. There is a reason that anxiety is the number one mental health diagnosis in the world. It’s also interesting how quickly these infiltrations of fear-inspiring reports can become our internalized processes and externalized tendencies. In other words, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks (Lk. 6:43-45). And I would add, it’s out of that same overflow that we act and treat one another.
Yet, Jesus gives a vastly different offer to respond here. He invites Jairus not to posture himself in fear, but to position himself in belief. Jesus calls him to step above the noise of the crowd and to not allow the diagnosis of his people deter him from who was right in front of him: the Healer.
Not only does Jesus declare this truth to Jairus, but He continues to prove it and protect him as they move forward to resolve Jairus’ request. Once they get to Jairus’ house, Jesus doesn’t allow any of the crowd to come in except for Peter, James, and John. Once they are inside the house, Jesus puts out those who are laughing at His words. He even goes to the extent of correcting what others were saying and speaking words of life.
In other words, Jesus doesn’t just ask His followers to do something without providing what they need, protecting them with His truth, and proving His words to them through love, grace, and just mercy.
Beloved, He’s calling us to position ourselves with hope and faith rather than fear. I’m not saying that we can’t feel fear. I am saying that fear is a liar and that if our Lord calls us to trust Him, trusting Him is the best move. I am saying that fear is not God’s heart for His people. I am saying that our posture in this season should not be filled with news reports of fear, the chants of the crowd around us, or even the mockery and the lies that are in our homes.
Our posture should be to stay focused on His truth in the midst of the crowd, in the midst of our homes, and in the midst of our whole lives. His truth will set us free.
And here’s some truth in the action Jesus does and the other statement that Jesus speaks out near the end of this narrative.
First, Jesus raises this little girl from her slumber by His word. If you read the last point and have been thinking to yourself, “I don’t have enough faith for…”, then I have some good news for you: neither did this little girl. Her family said she was dead. Jesus said she was sleeping. Either way, she wasn’t conscious and didn’t have the faith in this moment for her healing.
There was One who had faith and His faithfulness proved enough for her to be raised up. This One was, is, and will always be Jesus. Maybe our posture should be simply resting in His faithfulness and knowing that when we don’t have enough faith, He does.
Secondly, Jesus speaks something powerful and beautiful to this little one. He says, “Talitha, koum!” (Which means little girl, I say to you, get up!), and in this phrase she rises to life and is given something to eat (or so I think…Jesus always has a knack for resurrection meals).
I’ve written a lot of words thus far, but if you’re going to take any of them, please take these: if we’re going to posture ourselves for God’s promise, we must do what Jesus says. And I believe He’s calling us to get up and eat! It’s time to taste and see that the Lord is good. It’s time to drink in deep of the cup that He’s filled to overflowing. It’s time to arise and partake of the meal He has set up in the presence of enemies. It’s time to get up and be filled with the divine supper of communion in God’s presence.
If you’re reading this, God’s not done with you yet. If you’re still waiting, don’t give up. If you’re hoping for breakthrough, posture yourself at the feet of Jesus. If you’re longing for healing, hope, and wholeness, know that this is what the meal of the Lord is all about.
Center yourself in God’s truth, fill yourself with His word, build up your faith from the limitless source of His faithfulness, and find life in His proclamation, “Little one, I say to you, arise.”
For too long, people have been walking in pain, misery, and hopelessness. And all along, all it takes to move them into healing, hope, and life is a change in posture. The change is before us and the offer is eternally good.
Come to Jesus. Find rest at His feet. Know that He’s speaking truth, healing, and resurrection over your life, and He’s contending for it to be your present-tense reality. His Words and Presence are greater than the crowds. His joy and call is for us to release our fears and receive of His provision, meal, and goodness.
Beloved, it’s time to believe. It’s time to get up and eat. It’s time to stay positioned with Jesus no matter what it looks like around us. Our posture matters, so let’s get ready for His promise. Amen.
