Hope has knocked my door several times but never did it fill me with as much optimism as a passage from The Bible - Mark 5:21-43 did. (I encourage you to read the hyper linked passage before you proceed).
Image Courtesy: Google Images
Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”You know how it is to be in a crowd. The jolting, the noise and the sense of being herded in a direction you did not choose. All you want to do is get out of the crowd as soon as you can. It was
one such crowd amidst which a woman who had a bleeding problem touched not Jesus, but merely his cloth and Jesus knew. No matter how many sweaty bodies rubbed against Jesus, no matter how many elbows shoved and tried to be close to Jesus, He still knew that a woman, filled with hope had come in contact with him for He, felt “the power go out of him”. Jesus knew that this touch was not the normal collision of shoulders and elbows or of sandals or hips. He knew that this touch had a need, had a faith, a hope of God’s deliverance and humble plea of healing. This women who had spent everything she had on doctors but found no cure still trusted and hoped for Jesus to heal her. With a hopeful heart she believed and the instance she touched His clock her bleeding stopped. She was cured of her bleeding problems of 12 years!
Mark beautifully, clubs the story of two people in one chapter. One of Jairus, the synagogue leader, full of power and not afraid to walk up to Jesus seeking his mercy; he fell at Jesus feet, pleading for his daughter. Other of the bleeding woman who had no status in the society, too afraid to approach Jesus that all she could muster was the strength to touch Jesus’s clock and disappear into the crowd. Though vastly different in the position the two characters held in the society, one thing between the two remained similar. Faith and hope. They both believed that Jesus could deliver them.
Despite her fear, despite her low opinion about herself Jesus, noticed her and called her daughter. Meanwhile Jairus’ daughter died and people sent message to Jairus not to bother Jesus. Yet, all was ignored and Jesus bought back to life Jairus daughter.
Image Courtesy: Google Images
Reading this passage from the Bible fills me with hope that it does not matter who you are. What your status in the society is or, if you are timid or shy; weather you are a leader or an outcast. Jesus does not care who you are. He still loves you and cares for you enough to hear your cries and gives you what you ask of him. He is there to comfort you and lift your burdens off your shoulders. No matter what your temperament, your personality or even your past sinful life, there is nothing that can stop Jesus from loving you.I find my hope and I am filled with optimism to know that no matter who I am or, what I have done, Jesus will always love me, forgive me and wipe my tears and put me on the right track.
I find my hope in every word that the Bible speaks. Where do you find your hope?
