“Daughter, Your Faith Has Healed You”

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Mark 5:21-34

Jesus disciples were accompanying Him on an urgent mission. When their trip was interrupted. The daughter of Jairus, a ruler in the synagogue was dying. Time was of the essence.

Jesus saw this as an opportunity to minister to a suffering woman. Her illness had made her ceremonially unclean and unable to participate in community life for 12 years.

While Jesus was talking to this woman, Jairus’ daughter died. It was too late – or so it seemed. But the delay allowed Jairus to experience an even deeper knowledge of Jesus and His power – even power over death.

Sometimes our disappointment can be God’s appointment.

Look for God’s purpose in your next interruption.

Our Daily Bread – May 19, 2014