Last week we crossed the Sea of Galilee with Jesus and his disciples. This week they return to where they started, and again he is met at the lakeshore by a crowd hungry for his teaching and healing. There are even religious leaders there, full of faith in Jesus’ power to heal:
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 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.’
What humility is shown by this synagogue leader, whose name has been handed down with his story – that doesn’t happen with everyone in the Gospels. This Jairus is completely and utterly focused on getting help for his daughter. He falls at Jesus’ feet, and begs him – repeatedly, we’re told – to come and heal his beloved little girl.
This is what I do when someone I love is sick or injured or heartbroken. “Please, Jesus; please Jesus.” All Jairus could think of was getting help for his dying daughter – and most likely Jesus was his last hope. I can imagine him seeing the boat returning, the seemingly endless minutes until it had put ashore and Jesus had disembarked. And then the crowd gathering around – Jairus had to push his way through, fall at Jesus' feet and beg. That begging tells us he had faith that Jesus could, just by touching his little girl, make her well, give her life. That wasn’t just desperation, it was faith. And Jesus honored it. He went with him.
What in your life do you want as badly as Jairus wanted his daughter to live? Are you willing to throw yourself at Jesus’ feet? Jesus doesn't need for us to humble ourselves like that – he needs nothing from us. But perhaps we need to humble ourselves like that, be willing to lay aside our dignity, our disappointments, our doubts, and just let the prayer rise from our gut, even when we don’t know what will happen. As we will see, Jairus’ story takes a few more turns before he knows the outcome.
Sometimes I have prayed like this, desperately, completely, fully believing in what I know God can do, and have not seen the answer to prayer I wanted with all my heart. Other times it has felt like deliverance came, life prevailed. We always dance with mystery in our life with God.
Yet I do know this: when we fall at Jesus’ feet, praying over and over again, we’re as close to him as we can get. That relationship will help us live into the outcomes we grieve and those in which we rejoice.
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