People Flocked to Jesus and were Taught by Him (Contd):
Power of Faith: Two extra-ordinary instances of profession of true faith are recorded by the Evangelists during the journey of Jesus to the home of Jairus. In the crowd that followed Jesus, there was a woman suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had spent all she had on treatment without any improvement and her condition had grown worse. Her knowledge about Jesus was what she had heard from people about him without any direct contact with him. But that was enough to inspire a deep faith in her about the efficacy of Jesus' power, which she thought of "stealing" from him. We say "stealing" in the sense that it was done without the knowledge of Jesus as she was unable to confront him in the crowd milling around. Although she touched only the edge of his cloak, Jesus knew that power had gone out of him and a cure had taken place. He looked for the beneficiary of the cure not to condemn her but to extol her faith as a model for everyone (See Mark, 5: 25-34).( We have already discussed her faith in a previous Post under the caption 'Faith'.)
The second instance is about the faith of Jairus himself who received a message from his home that his daughter was already dead and that there was no need of troubling the Rabbi any further. Overhearing the message that was delivered to Jairus, Jesus told him not to be afraid but only have faith. Then Jesus made a tactical move in order to clear the atmosphere of all the elements of confusion and disbelief since what was required at the moment was complete faith in him from the beneficiary of his intervention. "After this he allowed no one to accompany him except Peter and James and James's brother John" (Mark, 5: 37). What must have persuaded Jesus to take this drastic step was the comment made by the messengers of the sad news of the girl's death. Out of concern for Jesus or devotion to the president of the Synagogue, i. e., Jairus himself, the messengers were keen to add their own interpretation to the situation. They decided that there was no further need to disturb an eminent personality like Jesus with an arduous journey that was going to be useless. Their thinking was bound by the confines of this world and death was the limit no one could cross as they did not know the one who came to conquer death itself. Jesus saw that out of their ignorance they were spreading a virus that was going to infect everyone in the crowd through whispers and murmurs. Eventually that was bound to get to Jairus himself whose faith could seriously be threatened Therefore, asking Jairus to have faith Jesus immediately took action to rid the atmosphere of all rumors and proceeded taking with him only his closest disciples along.
On reaching the house of Jairus, Jesus noticed that a perfect atmosphere was created whereby any fledgling faith Jairus may have had in spite of that painful situation could come easily crashing down within no time. So great was the commotion created by everyone crying and wailing, as was the usual custom, even an unaffected person like a mere onlooker could be moved to tears. What would have been the mental agony and internal conflict faced by Jairus, the father of the girl? How could he still keep his faith in the power of Jesus? On the verge of falling away from faith, he must have looked forlorn and desolate. Having seen the particular situation Jairus was placed in, Jesus wanted to keep his faith burning in his heart that was necessary for the performance of the imminent miracle. Thus Jesus took a stance that was contrary to common sense and accepted wisdom and announced that the child was not dead but only sleeping. The people laughed at him as they did not understand the meaning of what Jesus said. For him death was only a sleep, albeit a long one as his vision of the world was different from theirs. For them death was the end of everything and for Jesus it was but a new beginning. For those who believe and have faith in Jesus, there is no insuperable condition in this world including death which is the end of everything for those who don't believe. Faith could be expressed in many ways as we see in the case of raising Lazarus from the dead (See John. 11: 40) as well as the son of the widow of Nain (See Luke, 7: 13). Again Jesus took action as at the beginning of this journey by sending out all those mourners and weepers and taking with him only the child's parents and his own companions. Jesus commanded the child to get up and immediately the order was followed. The girl not only got up but also started walking. She was a girl of 12 years old. For further proof of her real return to this world, Jesus asked the parents to give her something to eat. When the girl came back to life, the parents were beside themselves with amazement that they probably did not know how to thank Jesus or how to reward him. The only reward Jesus expected was their compliance with his strict orders not to publish it as it would not have been taken in the right spirit by the public and would have posed as an obstacle to his true mission (See Mark, 5: 35-43). For the public that does not believe, it would be enough to know the girl was just sleeping and was woken up by Jesus. The disbelieving public, that laughed at Jesus on his remark that the girl was sleeping because they were sure that the girl was dead according to all available worldly criteria, would be the first to announce that the girl was only sleeping now that she was alive and was back in action. Therefore it was essential that the truth of her death and life be revealed to only those who have faith . The same logic applies to the resurrection of Jesus and his many appearances to the believers and not to the general public (1 Corinthians, 15: 3-8). (To be Contd).
Power of Faith: Two extra-ordinary instances of profession of true faith are recorded by the Evangelists during the journey of Jesus to the home of Jairus. In the crowd that followed Jesus, there was a woman suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had spent all she had on treatment without any improvement and her condition had grown worse. Her knowledge about Jesus was what she had heard from people about him without any direct contact with him. But that was enough to inspire a deep faith in her about the efficacy of Jesus' power, which she thought of "stealing" from him. We say "stealing" in the sense that it was done without the knowledge of Jesus as she was unable to confront him in the crowd milling around. Although she touched only the edge of his cloak, Jesus knew that power had gone out of him and a cure had taken place. He looked for the beneficiary of the cure not to condemn her but to extol her faith as a model for everyone (See Mark, 5: 25-34).( We have already discussed her faith in a previous Post under the caption 'Faith'.)
The second instance is about the faith of Jairus himself who received a message from his home that his daughter was already dead and that there was no need of troubling the Rabbi any further. Overhearing the message that was delivered to Jairus, Jesus told him not to be afraid but only have faith. Then Jesus made a tactical move in order to clear the atmosphere of all the elements of confusion and disbelief since what was required at the moment was complete faith in him from the beneficiary of his intervention. "After this he allowed no one to accompany him except Peter and James and James's brother John" (Mark, 5: 37). What must have persuaded Jesus to take this drastic step was the comment made by the messengers of the sad news of the girl's death. Out of concern for Jesus or devotion to the president of the Synagogue, i. e., Jairus himself, the messengers were keen to add their own interpretation to the situation. They decided that there was no further need to disturb an eminent personality like Jesus with an arduous journey that was going to be useless. Their thinking was bound by the confines of this world and death was the limit no one could cross as they did not know the one who came to conquer death itself. Jesus saw that out of their ignorance they were spreading a virus that was going to infect everyone in the crowd through whispers and murmurs. Eventually that was bound to get to Jairus himself whose faith could seriously be threatened Therefore, asking Jairus to have faith Jesus immediately took action to rid the atmosphere of all rumors and proceeded taking with him only his closest disciples along.
On reaching the house of Jairus, Jesus noticed that a perfect atmosphere was created whereby any fledgling faith Jairus may have had in spite of that painful situation could come easily crashing down within no time. So great was the commotion created by everyone crying and wailing, as was the usual custom, even an unaffected person like a mere onlooker could be moved to tears. What would have been the mental agony and internal conflict faced by Jairus, the father of the girl? How could he still keep his faith in the power of Jesus? On the verge of falling away from faith, he must have looked forlorn and desolate. Having seen the particular situation Jairus was placed in, Jesus wanted to keep his faith burning in his heart that was necessary for the performance of the imminent miracle. Thus Jesus took a stance that was contrary to common sense and accepted wisdom and announced that the child was not dead but only sleeping. The people laughed at him as they did not understand the meaning of what Jesus said. For him death was only a sleep, albeit a long one as his vision of the world was different from theirs. For them death was the end of everything and for Jesus it was but a new beginning. For those who believe and have faith in Jesus, there is no insuperable condition in this world including death which is the end of everything for those who don't believe. Faith could be expressed in many ways as we see in the case of raising Lazarus from the dead (See John. 11: 40) as well as the son of the widow of Nain (See Luke, 7: 13). Again Jesus took action as at the beginning of this journey by sending out all those mourners and weepers and taking with him only the child's parents and his own companions. Jesus commanded the child to get up and immediately the order was followed. The girl not only got up but also started walking. She was a girl of 12 years old. For further proof of her real return to this world, Jesus asked the parents to give her something to eat. When the girl came back to life, the parents were beside themselves with amazement that they probably did not know how to thank Jesus or how to reward him. The only reward Jesus expected was their compliance with his strict orders not to publish it as it would not have been taken in the right spirit by the public and would have posed as an obstacle to his true mission (See Mark, 5: 35-43). For the public that does not believe, it would be enough to know the girl was just sleeping and was woken up by Jesus. The disbelieving public, that laughed at Jesus on his remark that the girl was sleeping because they were sure that the girl was dead according to all available worldly criteria, would be the first to announce that the girl was only sleeping now that she was alive and was back in action. Therefore it was essential that the truth of her death and life be revealed to only those who have faith . The same logic applies to the resurrection of Jesus and his many appearances to the believers and not to the general public (1 Corinthians, 15: 3-8). (To be Contd).
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