Last week we crossed the Sea of Galilee with Jesus and his disciples. This week he crosses back to where he started, and again he is met at the lakeshore by a crowd, hungry for his teaching and healing. There are even some 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.” So he went with him.
I am moved by the humility of this synagogue leader whose name has been handed down along with his story – that doesn’t happen with everyone in the Gospels, as we will see in the second part of this week’s reading. 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 daughter.
This is what I do when I am anxious and distraught about someone or something – I repeat over and over, “Please Jesus, please, please be where I cannot be; please fill this person (or cat…) with your healing peace.” Only when I've heard things are better do I slow it down to every other waking thought.
All Jairus could think of was getting help for his dying daughter – and most likely Jesus was the only hope he had left. I can imagine him seeing the boat returning, the seemingly endless minutes until it put ashore and Jesus 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 laying his hands upon his little girl, make her well, give her life. This 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. We need to be that humble, willing to lay aside our dignity, our disappointments, our doubts, and just let the prayers rise from our gut, even when we don’t know what will happen. As we’ll see, Jairus’ story takes a few more turns before he knows the outcome.
Sometimes I have prayed like this, desperately, completely, full of faith in what I know God can do, and not seen the answer to prayer I wanted with all my heart; the answer was not the life I wanted to see. I have since learned that to pray in faith means to expect blessing, even if it’s not the one we look for.
And I know this: when we fall at Jesus’ feet, praying over and over again, we’re as close to him as we can get. That can help us live through the outcomes we grieve and those in which we rejoice.
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