Physical illnesses can be one of the most devastating and emotionally draining situations we humans face. When we get hit with the diagnosis, our hearts sink, our breath is taken away and we often ask, “Why?” At those moments we realize that the illusion of power and control we have so comfortably created for ourselves has just burst like a child’s bubble mix bubble. We create this bubble to keep ourselves from living in the untenable and very uncomfortable position of faith. Or at least we think faith is the alternative, trusting in something we can’t see, like jumping of the cliff into the unknown hoping there is a branch that we can catch.
But this is not faith!
Our text gives us two accounts of people who were desperate for a cure. They wanted, no, they felt they needed a divine intervention. One was for a relative with an apparently sudden illness, and the other for themselves from a chronic, debilitating condition.
What ties these two together is faith. They had both heard about Jesus, and His ability to heal miraculously. You see faith is not jumping off the cliff into an unknown emptiness. That is stupidity. Faith is stepping into the arms of someone who has proven themselves to you over time. Faith is the young daughter jumping into the arms of the loving father who has shown he is strong and safe, even though the pool water is scary. Faith is stepping into the known.
The man named Jairus had everything to lose by coming to Jesus. He was part of the religious hierarchy, the very structure that was plotting to kill Jesus. This group of men had begun indicating that anyone who supported Jesus would be kicked out of their “circle of trust” as Robert De Niro’s character in Meet the Fockers says. And yet he risks this excommunication because his daughter is about to die. Wouldn’t you risk it if you child was about to die?
The woman comes because she has exhausted al l her resources in the process of seeking a cure. He condition would have isolated her from friends and family. Unexplained bleeding was not something that is even accepted today. Back then there was even less tolerance and understanding. She would have worn a label. “That woman” would have been part of the whispers. There were probably open comments and pointed fingers during those many years of suffering.
Both Jairus and this woman come to Jesus for physical healing because they had heard about His power to heal. They were not walking up to a random person and asking them to heal. They were coming to Jesus, the one who has healed so many. Jesus was like the Mayo Clinic on steroids. Jesus had a reputation for helping even the worst, impossible cases. They had hope that He could do something when no one else could. Their hope was based on the fact that Jesus had helped so many others.
The Arnold Journey 