Slices
Prepare
Remind yourself of our three ‘Respond’ questions (Thursday 18 June). Then go searching in today’s verses for reasons to love Jesus more dearly, believe in him more wholeheartedly and follow him more adventurously. ‘Holy Spirit, please guide me.’
Bible passage
Jesus raises a dead girl and heals a sick woman
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered round him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, ‘My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.’ 24 So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed round him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 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. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realised that power had gone out from him. He turned round in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’
31 ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, ‘and yet you can ask, “Who touched me?”’
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’
Explore
So, as you’ve followed Jesus today, maybe even – once again – from the back of the crowd, peering over shoulders, what did he do for your faith?
Both Jairus (vs 22,23) and the sick woman (vs 27,28) take bold leaps of faith to get to Jesus with their need, making themselves vulnerable, risking their reputation, possibly looking foolish if it doesn’t all turn out the way they hope. And then the pivotal moment for the woman, when Jesus calls attention to her and suddenly it’s a public drama (vs 30–33). But somehow Jairus and the sick woman both ‘see’ that, in Jesus, heaven is breaking in, and that life need never be the same again (v 34).
What have you risked to have faith in Jesus? What do you ‘see’ but can’t prove?
‘What then is faith? It is what gives assurance to our hopes; it is what gives us conviction about things we can’t see’ (Hebrews 11:1, The Bible for Everyone).
Respond
‘Every knee will bow before me...’ (Romans 14:11). Just as Jairus and the woman fall down at Jesus’ feet (vs 22,33), adopt a physical position of humility, if you can. Pour out your heart to him, in faith that he can mend your brokenness.
Deeper Bible study
‘For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.’1
After healing the demon-possessed man, Jesus was asked to leave the area and he returned to Galilee. A woman suffering from prolonged haemorrhage came quietly to Jesus. From the description that Mark gives us (vs 25–27), this woman was in a very lonely, painful, pitiful and desperate situation. According to the Law of Moses, her condition made her unclean and all that came in contact with her were made unclean as well.2 She could not socialise. If she had a family, her husband and children would have left her.
Knowing her condition, she approached Jesus from behind by touching his cloak. Amazingly, she was healed immediately. She thought she could go away from the crowd quietly, but this was not to happen. Jesus realised what happened and wanted to identify her. Why would Jesus do that? For Jesus, identifying this woman was not to shame her publicly for her unclean condition. It was a public declaration that she had been healed instantly and she did not need to wait for seven days to perform the ceremonial rituals required by the Law of Moses.3 More than that, Jesus also wanted to restore her to her community so that everyone knew she had been made whole. She could now socialise. She could touch, hug and kiss someone, something she had not been able to do for the last 12 years. Imagine her joy!
Jesus crossed ritual, religious and gender boundaries to heal this woman. Today there are many boundaries that separate us from others: social-economic status, educational level and, in some communities, the caste system. Are we willing to cross these boundaries to reach out to others who need a healing touch from the Lord?
Lord, grant me courage to cross the boundaries that divide us so that I can be your willing servant to share your love with others.
1 Eph 2:14 2 Lev 15:25–28 3 Lev 15:28–30
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Chronicles 13–15; Ephesians 2
Pray for Scripture Union
This week’s prayers all relate to this article.
Please pray that God will give churches across the country a vision for the future. Pray he will give them the wisdom to know which old ways of doing mission they need to lay down, which new ways of mission they need to pursue, and equip them with any new learning and skills they need.
