Mark 5:21-34
“And when Jesus was
passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him:
and he was nigh unto the sea. And,
behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and
when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My
little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy
hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.” (Mark 5:21-23)
When Jesus returned to the area around Capernaum, a
multitude flocked to meet him. One of
the people in the crowd was Jairus, one of the leaders of the local
synagogue. He fell at Jesus’ feet
begging him to come and touch his daughter and heal her because she was at the
point of dying.
“And Jesus went with
him; and much people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of
blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had
spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When
she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes,
I shall be whole.” (Mark 5:24-28)
Jesus went with Jairus and the crowd followed around,
pushing and shoving to be close to him.
As they went, a woman who had an ongoing menstrual discharge heard he
was coming, she had spent all the money
she had trying unsuccessful treatments that seemingly only made things
worse. Embarrassed by her problem, she
pushed her way in to touch Jesus in the belief that just touching his clothing
would be enough to heal her.
“And straightway the
fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was
healed of that plague. And Jesus,
immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him
about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
And his disciples said
unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched
me?” (Mark 5:29-31)
The woman was healed instantly
and could feel the difference in her body.
Jesus was also aware that the healing had happened, and asked who had
touched his clothing. With the crowd
pushing and shoving to get close, the disciples couldn’t believe he was
concerned about one person touching his clothes.
“And he looked round
about to see her that had done this thing.
But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came
and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.” (Mark 5:32-33)
Jesus looked for the person who had touched him, and the
woman, fearing he would be angry finally confessed to touching him, explaining
why she had done so. She had thought he
wouldn’t even notice such a little thing.
“And he said unto her,
Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy
plague.” (Mark 5:34)
Jesus was not angry, he just wanted her to know he cared
about even her problem, no matter how small it was. Unfortunately, we frequently forget that God
is concerned about even our smallest problems.
The cure for her problem was the same as that for others with bigger
problems, just trusting him to heal them.
This is a beautiful example of Jesus' love, compassion and grace. It was the inspiration for a dance that we choreographed for our dance ministry, to music for which I wrote the lyrics, entitled "Save Me Jesus." Thanks for the great post.
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