Slices
Prepare
Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously wrote, ‘Only believers obey; only the obedient believe.’ Our beliefs are not measured by our statements, but by our actions. Review the past week in the light of this thought.
Bible passage
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.
Explore
Jesus told the woman he met on the way to Jairus’ house, ‘… your faith has healed you …’ (v 34). Now he tells Jairus, ‘… just believe’ (v 36).
Faith plays a key role in Jesus’ healing miracles. Jesus was restricted by the lack of faith of his home town (Mark 6:6); elsewhere faith seemed to unlock healing. If someone is healed, we cannot take credit because we believed; nor can we say, ‘You were not healed because you didn’t have enough faith.’ But if faith is in the mix, whether it is the faith of the person who is sick or of the person who loves them, the atmosphere changes.
One commentator uses this striking phrase: ‘Faith opens the door to the power of God.’* It is not that faith is the power that heals, but it lets the power of God in.
As they make the long walk to Jairus’ home, Jesus encourages him to play his part. As a father he would do anything for his ‘little daughter’ (v 23). The best, and only, thing he could do for her was to put his faith in Jesus.
*DE Garland, The NIV Application Commentary (Mark), Zondervan, 1996, p227
Respond
Who is on your heart at this time? Rather than focusing on the problem they face, hold them before Jesus and pay attention to his kindness and power.
Deeper Bible study
‘O let me hear thee speaking / in accents clear and still, / above the storms of passion, / the murmurs of self-will’.1
Jesus had been in conversation with Jairus when the woman interrupted, touching his cloak. He was speaking to her when messengers arrived with tragic news. Jesus gave the woman and the synagogue president equal attention. Leaving the woman overcome with relief and joy, Jesus went to Jairus’ home and raised the girl from death. Her father, too, would have been overjoyed. Jesus fulfilled the deepest need of two people from widely separated strata of society. Jairus’ daughter and the nameless woman are both healed, but the woman must go to the synagogue, perhaps even to Jairus, to be declared clean and to rejoin the community. Perhaps they met on the road and would recognise each other.
Jesus lived in a multicultural society. On the road, in a diverse crowd, Jesus spoke koine Greek, the lingua franca of the Roman Empire. Inside the house, however, he spoke Aramaic. ‘Talitha koum’, he said, using a term of endearment (v 41): ‘Little girl … get up!’ (literally, ‘little lamb’). Uniquely among the Gospel writers, Mark saw significance every time Jesus spoke Aramaic, recording the exact words and translating them for his Greek-speaking readers throughout the empire. It was the language of all children whose life was still spent at home. Mark’s Jesus had been born into village and home life. He understood the lives of ordinary folk, identified with them and talked their language. He spoke to the girl, gently calling her back to life. She heard and responded. Aramaic was Jesus’ mother tongue, Mary’s language, the language of home. As a final mark of his total humanity, when Jesus comes to die on the cross he will speak to his Father in the language of his mother.
Jesus, Lord of our humanity, speak into our hearts and minds in ways we understand. Speak through our tiredness, our dullness and distraction. Call us back to life.
1 John Ernest Bode, 1816–74, ‘O Jesus, I have promised’
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Jeremiah 44–46; Psalm 119:49–72
Pray for Scripture Union
Earlier this year, a Local Mission Partner told of how a child attending a school-based Guardians of Ancora club had become a Christian, is now going to church (with their family too) and is soon to be baptised. Thank God and pray that many more young people will be transformed through this ministry.
You’ll notice some changes to WordLive in January
We want to make you aware of some changes to our WordLive offering. As of January, we will no longer be featuring our ‘deeper’ exploration on the WordLive page or in our WordLive emails.
You may be aware that WordLive currently features notes from Daily Bread (Explore) and Encounter with God (Deeper Bible Study) and, in response to increased feedback from our readers wishing to cover more of the Bible in a shorter space of time, we have decided to make a change to the passages we cover in the notes we produce.
As a result of this, the Bible content in Daily Bread and Encounter with God will now be different, so to save confusion we’ll be removing our ‘deeper’ exploration section.
We hope that you will bear with us as we make the changes and we assure you that we continue to be committed to producing Bible notes that honour God and that inspires and equips you in your day-to-day walk with him.
