Daily Devotions – The Powerful Touch of Jesus

Daily Devotions – The Powerful Touch of Jesus

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

 

Mark 5:21-43 (NIV)
Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
21 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. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 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.” 24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 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. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” 35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” 36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” 37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

 

Of all the people trying to attract the attention of Jesus, why did these two get it?

 

Heavenly Father, sometimes I am like the people in the crowd in today’s reading. I pray for my favorite team to win, for a good parking place, for things to go the way that I think they should, or that my life is blessed. The people in the crowd wanted to see what they could get from You as you walked by. Some had legitimate issues, sicknesses, and pain and others hoped to see miracles. They all wanted to see what You were going to do. Forgive me when I treat You like a genie in the bottle. In this reading, Jairus and the sick woman stood out above the crowd. They both were desperate. Both Jairus and the woman demonstrated considerable faith in You. Jairus was convinced that Your touch would make his daughter well, and the woman was convinced that just touching Your garment would heal her. Faith is a key component in both of these stories. Your power brings salvation even to the most hopeless situations. I believe that You can do the impossible. I reach out to touch You today. I lay those incurable things that only You can heal at Your feet. When I am seized with alarm or struck with fear, help me to keep on believing. When I don’t see immediate results, help me to keep on trusting. Lord, thank you that it is by faith that I encounter you. Lord, increase my faith. Amen