In my other post, I talked about Jesus’ sassy moments, so in this one I will talk about a moment where we see Jesus’ compassion and gentleness. The account of Jesus I will discuss is found in the book of Mark 5:21-43.
The thing about this story is that there are two happening in one, and it is one rollercoaster of emotions.
There is this man named Jairus, a Synagogue leader, who comes to Jesus begging for His help because his daughter is dying. He asks for Jesus to come to his house so that He can heal his daughter. So Jesus and the disciples with Him, start their way to Jairus’ house. But as they were walking, this large crowd was following and pressing against Jesus.
Now in this crowd was a woman who had a blood issue for 12 years. For 12 years this woman has been bleeding, and all kinds of Jewish laws play an underlying role in her story, in which I will only give a summary because I want to focus on Jairus.
This woman has spent all her savings on going to doctors for help, and nothing has worked. The Bible actually says that instead of getting better, she got worse (Mark 5:26).
But, this woman heard about Jesus, and somehow pushed her way through the crowd and touched Jesus’ cloak.
Note: Not Jesus, but His clothes.
Immediately she is healed.
At this Jesus feels that some power has left him so He goes, “Who touched my clothes?” (Mark 5:30).
Here. If I were Jairus at this moment, I would have been so annoyed.
Jairus doesn’t know about this woman who had a 12-year bleeding problem. He is unaware that this woman has touched Jesus and received healing. All Jairus knows is that his baby girl is dying, and this crowd is slowing them down from getting to his house.
But then, if that’s not frustrating enough, Jesus suddenly stops and goes “Who touched my clothes?”(Mark 5:30), I would have been so upset. Like we don’t have time for this.
The disciples were even caught off guard, and said “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, “Who touched me?’”(Mark 5:31).
That saltiness sure did rub off.
Nevertheless, at this moment, Jesus is able to bless this woman for her faith, and she received complete healing.
As this beautiful miracle is happening, some people come from Jairus’ house, and they tell him his daughter has died, and not to bother Jesus anymore.
While reading this I can only imagine how Jairus’ heart dropped.
He was literally on the way to his house.
With Jesus.
The only person he could turn to for help. And you’re telling this man before he could even get Jesus to step foot in his house, his daughter died. Brutal. Then you’re going to say “Why bother the teacher anymore?”, Jairus is already feeling defeated and then you are going to hit him with that statement? I’m sure he felt hopeless. Logically, there is nothing else that can be done. Once someone dies, there is nothing else you can do.
But Jesus overhears them talking to Jairus, and I just imagine Him putting His hand on Jairus’ shoulder as He says, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe.” (Mark 5:36).
So Jesus continues to Jairus’ house but with just Himself, Peter, James, and John. As they are approaching, they see these people wailing and weeping as they mourn the loss of the little girl. Jesus then asks them why they are making such a commotion.
I know those people were looking at Jesus sideways. Like can’t you see that someone has passed away?
That’s not all He said. He said, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” (Mark 5:39) In which they laughed at Jesus. The joke’s on them, they got kicked out of the house.
After putting them out, Jesus went to where the little girl was with his disciples and her parents, and he took her hand and said, “Little girl I say to you get up!” (Mark 5:41).
Jairus’ daughter immediately stood up and began to walk around, and he told them not to let anyone know about this, and to give the little girl some food.
What a wild ride of emotions. In this hopeless and stressful situation, Jesus just takes His time and as if the situation wasn’t dire, calmly wakes the little girl up. To clarify, she was indeed dead. In John 11:11-14 when going to see a friend named Lazarus, Jesus also said then that Lazarus was sleeping. But His disciples didn’t understand what He was talking about, so He told them plainly “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14).
All things considered, we get to see how Jesus took care of the people around Him in such a caring way. He could have declined to go to Jairus’ house, but He went. He didn’t have to stop and talk to the woman who touched His clothes, He was already on His way to help someone else. Yet He blessed her. The people who delivered the news to Jairus that his daughter died, He could have told them all off instead of saying those few but comforting words. In all of these situations, he attended to each of them in a way that showed He sincerely loved people.
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