A Sandwiched Miracle: Building Faith! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Mark 5:36,

"Jesus told him, 'Don't be afraid; just believe.'"

Here are the words spoken by Jesus to a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader. He had a twelve year old daughter who had fallen fatally ill and approached Jesus to beg him to heal her (she hadn't yet died). Jesus was willing and on the way to Jairus' home an interesting thing happened...

Enroute, a woman, who had a serious malady that she was struck with the same year Jairus' daughter was born, approached Jesus. (The juxtaposition of the twelve year period between these two can't help but be noticed: is this when the Lord set things up for this encounter?) The woman had suffered greatly during the twelve years, spent all she had on many doctors, and only grew worse. Now, at this exact moment, she approached Jesus in great humility and faith for healing. Her faith was so strong that she was convinced if she only touched Jesus' garment, that would be enough to heal her.

As the story goes, when the woman touched his cloak and was healed, Jesus made a point of what she had done, demanding her to make herself known to the crowd, his disciples, and importantly, Jairus. This was a woman of great faith! Where Jairus had begged Jesus to come to his home and lay hands on his daughter, this woman knew she only had to touch Jesus' garment. Before Jairus (and Jesus, his disciples, and the crowd) the woman told the story.

Jesus told the woman that it was her faith that healed her. I think this is important because the very next thing that happened was that Jairus learned his daughter had died and was told to not bother Jesus anymore. Here is the importance of the woman who suffered for twelve years: Jesus told Jairus to not be afraid and "just believe" - and had provided this miracle for his consideration, to help him in this very regard!

Certainly, the compassion of Jesus to help where faith may struggle says so much about him. How does this account impact my faith? 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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