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Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
“My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live.”
The synagogue official approached Jesus with faith and begged him to come to save his daughter. This seemed like an admirable petition, well made. But often when we make such petitions isn't it the case that, from our perspective, they appear low on Jesus' list of priorities? This can be especially difficult when Jesus does initially start heading in our direction and then seems to get distracted with this or that other and more urgent task.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
How difficult it must have been for Jairus to hesitate for even a moment when his daughter's life was on the line. Nevertheless, Jesus paused to confirm the faith of the woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. Her touch of faith had unleashed healing. And Jesus wanted to build on that by establishing relationship, leading her to confess what she had done, and the blessing she had received. Jesus knew, as Jairus could not know, that there was time for this as well.
Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
Sometimes we have overly specific expectations for how Jesus will act. We want to see someone healed, but his priority is to see them resurrected. Often the ways in which God's timing do not match our own allows greater goodness to be unleashed leading to greater faith. Or at least it does if we don't give up when the messengers arrive to tell us it is hopeless, a lost cause. Even if our expectations of Jesus have limited him to solving a problem in one way that is now closed, if we remain open he may show us something better still.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,”
which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
At the end, once all is resolved, it is easy to point out that had Jairus and Jesus not been interrupted the miracle would have been something substantially less miraculous. Jairus, had he been asked, would probably never would have signed up for this more amazing and unexpected outcome. But we can be sure that, having seen what he had seen, he wouldn't trade it.
God's timing is seldom our timing. But it important not to give up and go home with the neigh sayers. We haven't reached the end of the story yet. We have only seen the beginnings of the power of Jesus and how he can bring good even from the most apparently hopeless of circumstances.
let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us
and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,
the leader and perfecter of faith.
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