Read
35While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from Jairus' home and said, “Your daughter has died! Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36Jesus heard what they said, and he said to Jairus, “Don't worry. Just have faith!”
37Jesus did not let anyone go with him except Peter and the two brothers, James and John. 38They went home with Jairus and saw the people crying and making a lot of noise. 39Then Jesus went inside and said to them, “Why are you crying and carrying on like this? The child isn't dead. She is just asleep.” 40But the people laughed at him.
After Jesus had sent them all out of the house, he took the girl's father and mother and his three disciples and went to where she was. 41-42He took the twelve-year-old girl by the hand and said, “Talitha, koum!” which means, “Little girl, get up!” The girl got right up and started walking around.
Everyone was greatly surprised. 43But Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. Then he said, “Give her something to eat.”
Reflect
“God’s timing is not our timing.” We have probably all heard that sentence, sometimes used to comfort; often it may just be frustrating.
Here we see it played out in a life and death drama. Jesus is on his way to Jairus’ house to tend to his dying daughter. The bleeding woman who is healed by her faith and her touch of Jesus’ clothing interrupts Jesus on the way there.
Jesus pauses in his journey with Jairus long enough to address the woman, hear her story and bless her. That could have taken a few moments, moments too precious to lose for Jairus who receives the tragic news that his daughter has died in the meantime.
I wonder if he felt frustrated with Jesus?
There are echoes in this story of Mary, Martha and Lazarus in John 11, when Martha says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Yet, in both of those situations, Jesus’ power was demonstrated in incomparable ways, by raising Lazarus and the 12-year old daughter of Jairus from the dead. His timing was perfect, for everyone concerned, but primarily for inspiring worship and awe of God, and presumably drawing others closer to him.
We probably all have things that we have been asking of God for years. We wonder why he does not seem to hear, or answer in the way we would prefer. Trust is a decision. It can be hard to do. But, in this passage we see that Jesus is on the way. And in the end, it will be to his glory, not our convenience.
Respond
Thank you God for these accounts of your miraculous healing, a power even to bring the dead to life. We think of what is dead in our own lives: it may be our faith, our trust in you, our confidence in the church or in others, and we ask you to bring it back to life. We trust you. Help us to trust you. Amen.
Karen Stiller
Karen Stiller is a senior editor of Faith Today magazine and an award-winning freelance writer. Her work has appeared in magazines and journals across North America. She is co-author of two books about the Church: Shifting Stats Shaking the Church: 40 Canadian Churches Respond (2015), Going Missional (2012); and editor of Evangelicals Around the World: a global handbook for the 20th century (Thomas Nelson, 2015), and The Lord’s Prayer (Wipf & Stock, 2015), by faculty at the University of Toronto (Wycliffe College). She lives in Ottawa.