Mark 5:21-43

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I have been reading through the Gospel of Mark this past month.  When I came to this story about Jesus going to heal the sick daughter of a religious leader in the community, I couldn’t help but think of myself as Jairus, whose daughter lay at home dying.

As I approached Jesus to inform him of my need: “My little girl is dying, come help so that she may live,” I could sense the great relief when Jesus agreed.

For many of us, faith begins when we sense that Jesus is a God who is with us and for us.  We get pumped up to know that He cares about us, and wants to go with us through this crazy journey of life.

Then, however, smack dab in the middle of their hurried journey to heal Jairus’ daughter, Jesus gets interrupted.

As Jairus, I’d be standing off to the side looking at my watch, nervously thinking about my daughter, and saying–okay Jesus heal this other person but let’s get going.

This is where our faith gets challenged; when it feels like Jesus had been interrupted, or taken his focus of OUR plan.

Imagine how Jairus felt when his friends said, “Your daughter is dead,” they said, “why bother the teacher anymore?” I would be desperate, distraught and angry with God.

He promised and He failed to meet my deepest need.  Livid wouldn’t even contain it.

My faith would no longer matter; If I was Jairus as the synagogue ruler, I’d go through the motions of my faith just to keep my job and status, but I would be done with God; I’d give up on God since He gave up on me.

Have you ever felt Jesus got interrupted from your life?  How would you respond when Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid, just believe?”

Because the good news is that is not the end of the story.  Just when we think Jesus has given up, and the time has run out–He amazingly redeems the situation.