Mark 5:35 – 6:6
While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Overhearing[c] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
(This encounter happens as the woman (from Friday’s reading) is still realizing the full extent of her healing.) Jairus could have just walked away. He could have turned from Jesus after he heard his daughter was dead. But he didn’t. When Jesus said, “Do not fear; only believe.” By what can only be God’s intervention, Jairus did! He went with Jesus!
Faith goes with Jesus no matter how unbelievable it may seem at the moment. Just as Abraham hoped against hope that he would be the father of many nations, so Jairus hopes against hope that Jesus has something more for him. That’s the kind of faith He still longs for us to know; the kind of faith that saves.
When Jesus arrives at Jairus’ house, the mourners are there. The girl is dead. Everyone knows it. She’s not mostly dead. She’s all the way dead. Can’t you just feel the tension in the house when Jesus says in verse 39, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping,”. His point is totally lost on them. They laugh at him. But he knew what he was saying. Death to Jesus is no unconquerable enemy.
Watch as the scene changes…He enters the room, takes the child by the hand, and says to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And she gets up immediately. She is healed. She eats, proving she’s really alive. This is no illusion.
When his little girl died, did Jairus’ faith die with her? Biblical faith is more than trusting Jesus for physical healing. Biblical faith is trusting Jesus for resurrection healing. Jairus was looking for a quick fix to his crisis. Jesus was directing a lasting hope, a resurrection hope. Jesus will ask more of us than we may want to give, but He’ll give more than we could ever imagine.
Every circumstance in your life, in God’s hands, becomes a building block of faith in Him. He is faithful, and he will never fail you, no matter what the circumstances may say. “Do not fear; only believe!”
Joyfully Yours 