Lent 2014: Jairus' daughter

Mark 5:21-24, 35-43

image credit

If Jesus were seeking fame and fortune He would have stayed with the crowd or allowed the group of mourners to watch Him heal the girl. Instead He chose individuals over groups, even leaving instructions for the miracle to be concealed. He didn't heal the girl to prove His power to His followers. He healed her out of compassion.
.
Jairus had to trust Jesus when everything indicated that the situation was beyond hope. The girl was dead. She wasn't just sick with a passing illness. Her death was witnessed by a crowd of people who told Jairus to give up. She had crossed the line that no one could recover from. Looking at her and at her situation, Jairus had no reason to believe he would ever talk with her or hold her again. Yet Jesus told Jairus to believe in Him. He encouraged him to look at the Healer rather than the girl. With nothing left to hope for in the girl's recovery, Jairus believed Jesus at least enough to stick close to Him and not fill himself with disappointment.
.
Our hope is not in our circumstances or in the situations we face. Those will always disappoint us. Our hope is rather in the Lord, who is not limited by natural law and can choose to heal when there is no hope for healing. Only He can cross the line between death and life and only He can bring hope into our hopelessness.