A Miracle Interrupted

Luke 8 records a miracle interrupted by another miracle. Jesus is on his way to heal a 12 year old girl who was about to die when a woman with a 12 year illness interrupts him.

The Ruler of the Synagogue approached Jesus on his knees to beg Jesus to cure his daughter. The woman who was slowly bleeding to death had no one to intercede for her and had spent every dime she had hoping for a cure. Unlike the Synagogue Ruler she was “unclean” and stigmatized for her uncleanness.

For the Ruler it was like the journey was taking forever… crowds of people thronging Jesus slowing down the travel time. And then Jesus stops and asks, “who touched me?” Another delay… everyone was touching Jesus. His daughter could die at any minute, even seconds could make a difference. If only he could get Jesus to his house so he could lay his hands on her and cure her before it was too late.

Finally the woman comes forward and identifies herself. And then Jesus says something that was probably lost on the crowd but was not lost on the reader. He says, “daughter your faith has made you whole”. You see there were two daughters in this story, one who was 12 years old and one who had been sick for 12 years. They were both important to Jesus. And just as he says those words the father hears some other words… your daughter has died.

One daughter healed and one daughter dead. In the mind of the crowd Jesus is batting .500, but what the crowd doesn’t know is that the game isn’t over for Jairus and his little daughter and Jesus is still batting and when Jesus bats he hits a home run every time.

Sometimes someone dies and people think what a shame she was so young and beautiful almost like if you are plain or ugly it’s no great loss. The learning point for us is that Jesus cares for everyone whether she’s a 12 year old girl or someone who has a disease for 12 years that everyone including the doctors have given up on. Jesus doesn’t give up on people he values and loves every single soul and so should we. Don’t ever give up on anyone… just stay in the game and maybe, just maybe you’ll jack one out of the park with Jesus’ help.