are you desperate?

have you ever been desperate? what were you desperate for? was it ever for your health? more specifically, was it a life or death thing?

last night my wife and i visited a small group meeting with our friends paul and pam. i didn't have any preconceived notion other than having a great time of sharing and fellowshipping. i got more than that.

the discussion centered on these verses:

When Jesus went back across to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. A leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, came and fell down before him, pleading with him to heal his little daughter. "She is about to die," he said in desperation. "Please come and place your hands on her; heal her so she can live."

Jesus went with him, and the crowd thronged behind. And there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors through the years and had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she was worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched the fringe of his robe. For she thought to herself, "If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed." Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel that she had been healed!

Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

His disciples said to him, "All this crowd is pressing around you. How can you ask, 'Who touched me?'"

But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him what she had done. And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. You have been healed."

jairus is desperate as we begin reading the verses, and he gets to talk to Jesus! he shares the story about his daughter, and Jesus is going with him to heal her. imagine ... imagine Jesus is coming to your house to heal your child who is sick, and you're sick with grief over you child. jairus must be excited!

then Jesus stops. i can only imagine what is going through jairus' mind. maybe something like this, "hey! Jesus, we're not there yet! why are you stopping?" however, Jesus stops and asks, "who touched Me?"

remember Jesus is gaining popularity, and He has crowds where ever He goes, and He asks, "who touched Me?" imagine what the disciples are thinking, "well, everybody. anybody could've touched you Jesus."

now to backtrack a little here, there is a lady (and remember how high in society women were) who has been hemorrhaging for 12 years ... 12 ... years. that's a long time, y'all. not to mention how women were treated while they dealt with something like this thing on a monthly basis. remember women were not able to socialize during that week, if i'm not mistaken, and then there was a time that they had to go through before they could come back into society. so this lady has been out of society for 12 years. she's out of "touch". she was an outcast. do you think she was desperate. darn tootin'!!

think of this too, have you ever given blood before? can you go out and play basketball, or softball, or whatever after you give blood? well, you're not supposed to, because you may pass out, and cause yourself harm. this lady has been "giving blood" for 12 years!! you think she might be sapped? even with her condition, she braves the crowds, and pushes through, and thinks, "if i can only touch the hem of His robe ... i can be healed." WHAT FAITH!! WHAT PERSEVERANCE!!

now back to the story, this lady has touched Jesus. how many other healings do remember the person being so bold as to touch Jesus? she is desperate, y'all. she thinks He wouldn't do it, or the crowd would shew her off. i think she does it on her own, because she feels she has to.

now jairus is thinking, "who does she think she is stopping Him from going to heal my daughter, and Jesus even calls this lady his daughter?!" come on, do you really think jairus is just standing there patiently? i think not. the group last night didn't read the other verses that followed where jairus learns that his daughter is already dead. its too late. now how do you think he feels? i don't know, but i am pretty sure he is not happy, but Jesus takes care of that.

this story makes me think of the leper. who says to Jesus, "if you want to heal me ..." what was Jesus' reply, remember the answer is the same in all three of the synoptic gospels that have this story of the leper, at least its the same verbatim in the version of the bible i use. it reads, "I want to."

that is Jesus' answer to all of us. we have to want it. we have to ask. He wants to. what did He say to the woman He healed? it was her faith that healed her. why didn't the others that were crushing around Him get healed? they didn't have faith. they probably wanted to have the feather to put in their hat, so to speak, of having been with Jesus. He tells her that her faith has healed her. what a great faith. don't you want that kind of faith? i do.

oh by the way, the scripture was mark 5:21-34 nlt.