Time After Time

February 23, 2009 by admin.

Is there something that you have experienced every day of your life since 1997?

1998?…1999?…2000?…2001?…2002?…2003?…2004?…2005?..2006?…2007?…2008?…since January 1, 2009?

What about pain? The woman that was healed in Mark 5:21-32 bled for that long. Aside from the likely pain that accompanied her every day for those 12 years, the ceremonial laws that she lived under declared her unclean from day one. That means that for twelve years, this woman was not allowed to: touch her husband (if she had one before she began bleeding), touch her children (if she had any), hug her friends, sleep in the same bed as anyone, sit in the same seats as anyone, worship in the synagogue, touch any food that anyone would be touching…you get the point. Her relationships had to have suffered. Not to mention that the stigma of being unclean in her culture was worse than the stigma attached to AIDS in our culture.

Among all of this, what really gets me is the timing of all of this. Imagine that for 12 years you’ve been dealing with this pain. Now, you hear of this Jesus who has been travelling around performing miracles – including healing! You want to meet him, to be touched by him, to be healed. You also know the risks. He’s become popular, so wherever he is, you’ve heard a lot of people crowd around him. You have one chance to find the right opening, avoid touching anyone else, maybe just barely touch the edge of his cloak, and get out of there before anyone notices that you dared to make a man unclean.  All the pain, frustration, fear, doubt, tears, anger, and hopelessness of 12 years culminates in this one opportunity for it all to end, or for one big embarrassment. She believed. She was healed. She was freed.

The timing of Jairus’ situation did not lose its impact for me either. Imagine being in his situation. You take the risk of missing your daughter’s last breath so you can find the one man who can make her breath again. Feel the urgency of his situation. Amazingly, you find him in time. Jesus agrees to come with you, and then… an unclean woman interrupts the whole convoy, captivates the attention of the healer, and then has to explain everything.

How does 12 years pass in our eyes? For the woman, it crept by moment by painful moment. For Jairus, it flew too quickly as his precious daughter went from a small baby to the young girl that was now dead. To God, Peter says a day is like a thousand years; and on that day in Galilee everything swirled around in a dance with the Great Physician.

Have you been struggling with something that God just won’t deliver you from? Is there something that binds you with a pressing urgency that you can’t fix?

Jesus knows your need. No matter what your circumstance or your social status is, Jesus has the power to say to you, time after time: “Go in peace, and be freed from your suffering.” Will you take the risk of believing in him?

Discuss: Name a time when God met your need. Was it after a long time of waiting? Was it immediately after you asked?

Posted in Jairus' Daughter, Mark Chapter 5, God | Print | 2832 Comments »