Mark 5:41-43

FOR WEDNESDAY, April 10

Passage

Jesus reaches out and takes the little girl’s hand in his.  He says to her, “Girl, stand up.”  Immediately the girl stood up and was walking around.  Everyone was amazed.  The girl was twelve years old when this happened.  Jesus charged the people that they shouldn’t tell others about this.  He also asked that the girl be given something to eat.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The little girl was twelve years old.  Remember that the anonymous woman that Jesus had just finished healing from her hemorrhage had the bleeding for twelve years.  Literally, that woman had been bleeding for as long as this girl had been alive!  Yet here was a girl right on the cusp of adult life in those days.  Jesus healed her as quickly and as easily as Jesus stopped the twelve year flow of blood.  Jesus heals the young and the old.

How does this understanding speak to Jesus’ openness and willingness to accept anyone into His company?  How can this passage help us understand that anyone can come to Jesus if they are willing?

Second Thought:

Jesus charges the adults in the room to not tell anyone.  This would be no small task.  There were mourners who had seen the girl die – they would know the girl was no longer dead.  So why would Jesus give this command?  Jairus was a synagogue leader.  If Jairus went around proclaiming every great thing that Jesus did, there would definitely be conflict.  That conflict would come sooner than Jesus was prepared to die.  His disciples still had a good bit of training to undergo.  Things couldn’t happen too fast.  It isn’t that Jesus doesn’t want the story to get out; it is that Jesus is concerned that things be allowed to happen on Jesus’ timeframe.

Does it make sense for Jesus to give permission to Jairus and the others to not be vocal about what Jesus has done here?  What does it say to you that Jesus is willing to look after and protect others?

Third Thought:

Jesus asks for the girl to be brought some food.  The girl had been sick.  Then she had died.  Now she was raised from death.  It must have been quite a traumatic day for her!  {That’s an understatement of the year!}  Jesus shows compassion on her.  Once she is healed, she immediately gets up and moves around like she hasn’t been able to do the whole while she had been sick.  But Jesus also knows that she needs to eat something and keep up her strength.

How neat is it to see Jesus have compassion not just in healing her but in caring for her needs afterward?  What can this story teach us about caring for big and small needs in others?

Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 6:1-3