A dead girl and a sick woman (part 1)

Not all the religious authorities felt threatened by Jesus. Here was Jairus, a leader in the synagogue (place of worship), hoping intensely that Jesus could heal his dying daughter. He fell at Jesus’ feet with his request. Very undignified! What would they say about him on the next Sabbath? But he’d do anything for his daughter. Jesus agrees and, accompanied by the usual crowd, goes towards Jairus’ house.

But now we have a story inside a story. A woman suffering from constant internal bleeding sees her chance and interrupts. She has spent so much money on the useless doctors of those days (there was no government health care). Could Jesus help her? Embarrassed to mention her condition in public, she got near enough to touch Jesus’ clothes. She had extraordinary faith, even if it was a bit like belief in magic. And she was rewarded. She was healed. Jesus immediately knew that healing power had gone from him (his healing work had an effect on him, too) and asked who had done it. His friends thought that was a crazy question, as if you were to ask, ‘Who touched me?’ in the middle of a rugby scrum! But Jesus knew, and the woman knew.

She came to Jesus

She came to him and told him her whole story – the pain she had suffered for 12 years, and how people avoided her because of her condition.

It is not so hard to confess to one who understands us like Jesus. Jesus was not at all annoyed. Instead, he welcomed her and told her that her faith had ‘saved’ her – or made her well. Of course, it was the combination of his power and her trust that fixed the problem.

That word ‘save’ in the original Greek means both to ‘make well’ and to ‘rescue’ people for God. Readers of the story would realize that Jesus’ power was available for them too. His power could repair their lives and put them back in a relationship with God. If only they, like this woman, would trust him.