Jairus was a troubled man.
His daughter was extremely ill and he was struggling with the
situation. Any parent would be showing
concern when their child was sick, but Jairus was really upset because in his
case, his daughter was dying.
Jesus had been delivering some teaching about the parable of
the sower, and even more teaching about a lamp on a stand. He had calmed a storm and restored a man who
had been demon-possessed. At that
particular moment, Jairus was not concerned with all the other things Jesus had
been doing. His primary concern was to
get to Jesus and let him know about his dying daughter.
Jesus was feeling pressed by the crowds following him, but
Jairus finally made it close enough to Jesus to plead with him, "Come
to my house. My only daughter, only 12-years old, is dying." Jesus started in the direction of Jairus'
house, but again all the crowds pressed closely, no doubt slowing his
journey.
A woman from the crowd had another problem. She had been
subject to bleeding for twelve years and she, too, wanted Jesus to help her.
She tried and tried to get close enough to him but ended up coming up behind
Jesus and reaching out to touch the hem of his garment, and immediately her
bleeding stopped.
Jesus knew someone had touched him and he began to question
who it was. “Someone
touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Finally the woman spoke, advising Jesus it
was she who had touched him. Jesus told
her she had been healed because of her faith, and to go in peace.
By that time, word came from Jairus' house
that his daughter had died. The
leader of the synagogue had delivered the news and further advised the people
to not bother Jesus any longer. But
Jesus told Jairus. “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will
be healed.”
When they arrived at the home of
Jairus, Jesus wouldn't allow anyone to
enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the parents of the girl. Jesus told the mother and father to stop their
grieving because their daughter was not dead, but asleep.
They knew she was dead, but they also
watched as Jesus took the girl by the hand and simply said, "My
child, get up!" The Bible
says the girl's spirit returned to her and she immediately stood up.
From this Bible chapter, Luke 8, we can see
Jesus teaching a large crowd. When I
think of a large group of people listening to Jesus teach about sowing of seed of
God's word, and illustrating the hardened soil, the impure soil, the rocky
soil, as well as the pure soil, and likening that to the hearts of men who
receive the word of God, I also think how exciting it would have been to be
there. Something as powerful as that
message deserves to be shared with multitudes.
But we also see Jesus meeting the need of a 12-year
old girl, in bringing her back to life. Only a few were allowed to witness the
restoring of that girl. For crowds of
people or for individuals, if we need an answer for the problems which confront
us, that answer is always Jesus.
<ronbwriting@yahoo.com>
No comments:
Post a Comment