I
sat in a great weekend service on Sunday and The pastor read briefly from Mark
5:35-43. He spoke about Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead.
The story is one I have heard and read a lot in my life but I was really
struck by how clearly God spoke to my heart and wanted to share.
Jesus
is a busy guy. He is going here and there, over the lake in a boat. Where
ever he goes crowds of desperate people follow Him. Wanting Him to heal
them or fix them. In this particular story a man who is a pretty
important guy, a leader at the synagogue comes to Jesus and falls at his feet,
begging Him to come to his house and heal his sick daughter who is close to
death. I love the simplicity of the verse that follows this man's
pleading.. it just simply says, So Jesus went with Him. A
"prayer" and "answer".
The
crowd follows them as they start off towards Jairus' house. No doubt
slowing down the journey. I can imagine Jairus pushing people telling
them to back away, my daughter is dying, Jesus needs to go with me! Then
a woman steps out of the crowd and touches Jesus. Jesus, after asking
"who touched me?" has a short conversation with the woman telling her
that her "faith has made you well, go and be freed from your
suffering." Right after this amazing miracle and show of faith a
servant runs up to the crowd from Jairus' house and says , don't bother Jesus
anymore, your daughter died..it is too late. But Jesus says, "Don't
be afraid, just believe." Can you even put yourself into that moment
as Jarius" I can imagine he was feeling anguish, anger, frustration
and despair. Probably crying, asking Jesus, why did you not hurry?
I told you she was DYING! Did you not understand me? Were all
those people in the crown more important that my daughter?
Jesus
enters the house, everyone is wailing and mourning. He tells them the
girl is not dead, she is sleeping. They laugh at him. They go from
wailing loudly to laughing at Jesus. Can you imagine? Jesus puts
them all outside and takes the parents and disciples into the room where the
little girl lie. then verse 41-42 tells us He
took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which
means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately
the girl stood up and began to walk around . At this they were completely
astonished.
I could not help but be moved by this story. I don't know
any parent who can read this and not be. For me going through the death
of a child I have my heart strings pulled a lot. Then the thought came to
me. What is lying in the "other room" that is "dead"
that I may be wailing and mourning over that Jesus can bring back to life? What
can He speak to and have rise up again? It shook me to my core, I have to
tell you. So many things in our life we think are dead and over. We
think that there is no way anything or anyone can help or heal these
situations. For some it is relationships, marriages, addictions, anger,
frustration...fill in the blank. I read this story and realized that I
may be wailing and mourning loudly something that Jesus can simply speak life
to and be awakened. I have been searching and praying a lot over the last
24 hours. God has spoken so sweetly to me and I have begun to make a list
of these things. I am going to lay them at the feet of Jesus and ask him
to speak life to them. I trust Him. I believe that He can and will
bring them back to life again.
Take a moment, maybe more to write down things in your own life
that may need Jesus to speak life to. Pray for God to reveal them to you.
Then, lay them at the feet of Jesus and let's watch Him bring them back
to life.
<3
Heather
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