Two remarkable accounts

Two remarkable accounts in Mark’s gospel display the faith of these two desperate people. But they aren’t the point of the story. The real center of these two accounts is Jesus. Their stories display Him as the sovereign Lord of life, and the Destroyer of death.

We learn that Jesus is sovereign over all disease in the healing of an anonymous woman who came up behind Jesus and touched his garment. She had genuine faith in Christ. It was not His robe that made her well – it was Christ Himself. That day, Jesus rescued a woman from her physical scourge, and from her sin.

Jesus also did the same for Jairus, a wealthy, powerful leader. Christ’s delay in pausing to heal the dying anonymous woman proved deadly for Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:21-43). But it was God’s plan. This is a statement about the Person of Jesus. It is a revelation, an unveiling of Who He is. He is Lord. He is Yahweh.

Hopeless apart from Jesus Christ

Both Jairus and this anonymous woman had seen or heard about Jesus’ teaching and miracles. And through very different and very difficult circumstances, God had brought both to the end of themselves. They were hopeless apart from Jesus Christ.

What they learned about Jesus and experienced in their circumstances brought them to a spiritual crossroads. They could either come to Jesus and put their whole confidence, their lives, their eternities in His hands, or they could keep trying to work it out themselves.

But God had prepared their hearts just as Jesus had explained in a parable the day before. God had prepared the soil of their hearts to receive the truth of who Jesus was and both had responded in faith.

It was flawed faith to be sure, but it was genuine faith in Christ.

God’s point in difficult circumstances may be to bring you to the end of yourself, to a place where you are absolutely hopeless and where your only hope is to look up. Your only option is to run as these two did to Jesus and to fall at His feet as a beggar.

As was true for them, your only hope for spiritual rescue is Jesus alone.

If you’ll run to Jesus, He will receive you, just as He received these two desperate people.