Monday, March 21, 2016

Faith to Boldly Ask

Will you break the social rules to ask Jesus for healing?

Will you risk it all to ask Jesus for what you need most?

Mark 5:21-43 records the stories of two people who could say yes to those questions. It's what they did.

Usually I read this whole passage together, but today I want to focus on just the first eight verses. We'll look at the rest in the next post.

Mark 5:21-29 says:
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. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he sawJeus, he fell at His feet. He pleaded earnestly with Him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will live." So Jesus when with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around Him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 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. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

I'm struck by the faith of both of these people. From completely opposite places in the Jewish social system. But, both had a faith that resulted in them taking bold action.

Jairus, a synagogue leader, came to Jesus and asked Him to heal his daughter. A member of the religious elite in Israel had a faith in Jesus that was stronger than what anyone else was saying about Jesus. Jairus believed Jesus could heal his daughter and he boldly asked Jesus to.

The woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and was a social outcast because of it, believed that if she could just touch the hem of Jesus' cloak she would be healed. She risked public shame and scorn to get to Jesus for healing.

The faith example of both of these people is challenging. They risked it all for their bold ask of Jesus. Their faith was enough to push past what anyone else might think of them, just to get to Jesus.

Are we like this in our faith?

Are we willing to risk our reputations to get to Jesus?

Are we allowing anything to hinder our running to Jesus with our own bold ask?

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