Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
There are many lessons to be learned from the story-within-a-story narrative of Mark 5:22-43. A simple one is also important: don’t give up. Both the afflicted lady and Jairus had to persist in presenting their needs to Jesus. If this woman had walked away from Jesus, she would have died from her chronic illness. If Jairus had given up, he would have been standing over the grave of his little girl that same day (for the Jewish people buried their dead on the day of death). Luke 18:1 tells us that Jesus “spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint [to give up].” We do not currently have the opportunity to approach Jesus physically as the two in Mark 5 did, but the blessed privilege of prayer is always available to us. Whether we have a chronic problem such as the lady had or a crisis such as Jairus experienced, we cannot give up hope. One key way that we demonstrate this hope is through prayer. Don’t give up on praying; don’t give up on the One Who hears and answers prayer.