July 2, 2018 Monday

“21 ¶  Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22  And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23  and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” 24  So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him. 25  Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26  and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27  When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28  For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29  Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30  And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?” 31  But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” 32  And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33  But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34  And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” 35 ¶  While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36  As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” 37  And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38  Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. 39  When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.” 40  And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. 41  Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42  Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. 43  But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.” (Mark 5:21-43 NKJV)

            It may seem unusual to have the same passage two days in a row but this passage has a lot of meaning which we can glean to better understand God. In the last devotional we looked at the skeleton or framework of this passage. Now we will look at the heart of this passage and seek to flesh it out.

            It is interesting we are shown Jarius is the name of the father but we are not given the names of the mother, the child or the woman who was healed. It seems as though Mark either didn’t know the names of the others or used the name of Jarius as a witness to show some of the Jewish leadership believed in Jesus.

            Jarius came to Jesus believing if Jesus touched his daughter she would be made well but the woman reached out and touched Jesus believing if she touched Him she would be healed. In both of these miracles touch is a very important part of the healing.

            Both miracles also were an act of faith Jesus could heal and make them whole! For both of the miracles the faith would be challenged as they had to reach out and act on their faith. You could say they had to put feet on their faith.

            It is also interesting in this passage Jesus heals a woman from an issue of blood and raises a young girl to life. Is this a sort of Prelude to the actions of Jesus it would be an issue of blood that would raise us to life in Jesus Christ?  As the Scripture says in the blood there is life!

            There is a difference though as Jesus publicly shares the healing with the crowd for the woman with the issue of blood. The declaration would have brought more attention than if she had just come up asking for healing.

            But Jesus commanded the little girl’s family to not speak about the miracle and to not publicly discuss it. I wonder how hard this was to do as the people in the community saw the daughter who had been dead walking around! And how do you not talk about something that so changed your life and the life of your family?

            Are there things in your life or family you have not brought to Jesus for healing? Are you willing to reach out and to hold on to Jesus as you pray for healing? Will you trust God to bring healing into your life and the life of your family?