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Weekly Devotional

July 2, 2012

God’s Peace be with you all.

Mark 5:21-43  ²¹ When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea.  ²² Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet  ²³ and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live."  ²⁴ So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.  ²⁵ Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.  ²⁶ She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.  ²⁷ She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  ²⁸ for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well."  ²⁹ Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.  ³⁰ Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"  ³¹ And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'"  ³² He looked all around to see who had done it.  ³³ But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.  ³⁴ He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."  ³⁵ While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?"  ³⁶ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe."  ³⁷ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.  ³⁸ When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.  ³⁹ When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping."  ⁴⁰ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.  ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!"  ⁴² And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.  ⁴³ He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Our text for this week’s devotional is actually the Gospel lesson from July 1.  Since I did not preach on the gospel text, let me share a few thoughts on it that I hope get you thinking as well.

• 1)       How often are we in a rush to get God to do something?  The father of this little girl was very much in a rush, he was in “it’s all about me” mode.  All he wanted was for his little girl to be healed, which is understandable.  Parents often will do anything to save their children.

• 2)      In the midst of this larger story is another grace moment.  Where in your life, in the midst of a tragic and perhaps urgent situation, do you see God?  In this story, Jesus is right in the middle of both situations, and in this case, in control of the situations as well.  Grace moments happen all around us; perhaps sometimes we should slow down and look for them.

• 3)      Being honest with God is perhaps one of the hardest things to do.  When we have confession and forgiveness on Sunday mornings, do you really quietly confess your sins to God, or do you assume God just knows?  Actually confessing can be a very humbling experience, and I encourage you to do so if you have not.

• 4)      As much as we want God to do what we ask, we also know God does not reside in a little box that we can put in our pockets and just open when we need/want Him.  The father of this little girl seems to me to be more “leader” mode and less in “servant” mode.  However, we all know that we are servants to God all the time, no matter what.  That means recognizing that there is nothing too big for God to handle, and that perhaps when situations in life seem like they are too big, our thoughts and actions should be more like the sick woman.  Faith can indeed make us well.

In our prayers this week:  Bobby, Ann, Jim A., Mike C., Wayne C., and Pam.   Pam is Bobby’s neighbor who has been a great friend and help to Bobby.  Pam also has survived several rounds of cancer, but now the cancer has come back more aggressive and Pam is nearing the end of her battle.  We pray for this friend who helped one of our own, and we pray that God will be her helper when the battle is over

God’s Peace,