I recently had the privilege of teaching a story from the Bible about a religious leader whose twelve year old daughter suddenly became deathly sick.
This man was well known throughout his community, he had power and prominence, and was probably very wealthy.
However, when tragedy struck in his household, his popularity, his prominence and his wealth meant nothing. Suddenly, his priorities became crystal clear. All he could think about was finding a way to help his daughter.
He had heard that Jesus was in the area and he made his way to Jesus. He pleaded with Him to come to his house and heal his daughter.
Being moved with compassion, Jesus of course agreed. As they began their journey to the leader’s home something remarkable happened.
A woman had pushed her way through the crowd and was able to barely touch the hem of Jesus’ garment.
Who was this woman? And why did she reach out to Jesus?
See, she too had her own tragedy.
For twelve years she had been dealing with a physical ailment. She spent all of her money on doctors and was not getting any better. In fact, she had only gotten worse.
Jesus felt healing power go out from Him the second she touched His hem. He then looked at her and said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, your suffering is over.”
He then followed the ruler to his home and healed his daughter.
This story allows us a glimpse into the lives of two people on very opposite ends of the spectrum.
On the one hand we see a powerful, and successful leader. Respected by those in his community. He had spent twelve years enjoying his home filled with laughter and the joys of raising his daughter.
On the other hand we see a woman who for those same twelve years suffered, not only physically but economically and socially. These twelve years for her became more and more hopeless as they passed.
Both individuals experienced tragedy. One’s tragedy came on very quickly. The other’s lasted for twelve years.
How have your last twelve years been?
Maybe you have experienced great prosperity and success with very few real hardships. You have been blessed with a great life, raising children and enjoying a satisfying career. If that’s you, praise God.
Conversely, maybe you have had a long string of tough breaks. Maybe you have experienced a very challenging physical sickness. Perhaps you have suffered economic hardships. If that’s you, don’t lose heart.
We appreciate this story because we can relate to the situations that both the leader and the woman find themselves in. Sometimes life is going along just fine and out of nowhere, tragedy strikes.
Other times it seems like we’re living in a perpetual tragedy.
In both situations the people in our story knew that the solution to their problems was to reach out to Jesus.
No matter where you find yourself on this spectrum we must realize that we all need God in our lives.
Jesus is waiting for us to reach out to Him with our problems. When we do, I promise you that He will hear us and He will respond.
If you would like to know more about this story you can read it for yourself in the Gospel of Mark chapter 5. May God richly bless you.
Rivers Drown
Crescent City