JUST BELIEVE
Opening Prayer
Lord, I need Your special grace to love as You love.
Read Luke 8:40–56
Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,[a] but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”
50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”
51 When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”
53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” 55 Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
Footnotes:
a Luke 8:43 Many manuscripts years, and she had spent all she had on doctors
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
When you have two equally important tasks to deal with, how do you choose which needs attention first?On his return to Galilee Jesus receives a welcome tinged with sadness and despair. Among the crowd are two people (Jairus and the woman) in very different distressing situations. The common factor is that they both turn to Jesus in faith.
The critically ill girl actually died (49). Her parents must have been inconsolable. Jesus knew all that. But he also knew that he had sovereignty over death as well as sickness. And that he had other pressing business to attend to on his journey.
Meanwhile the bleeding woman has been healed without any conscious intervention on Jesus’ part. But he knows it has happened, and he knows there is more to be done. The woman needs words of confirmation and of peace. She needs to be guided to step out from her anonymity and to publicly confess her faith.
Jairus’s daughter and the unnamed woman will remember this day for the rest of their lives. Both have been touched by a power beyond anything they could have imagined. And these events bring hope to us that, however unsolvable our problems seem, Jesus can bring his touch to us in an unforgettable way.
Apply
Jesus said to Jairus: “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” Spend some quiet time thinking about what these words mean for you personally.
Closing prayer
Lord, I pray for all those who need the touch of Jesus.
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