A Healing Journey: A Dying Child!
Scripture: Mark 5:21–24
I have witnessed the raw
anguish in the eyes of a mother who was burying her child. Her body trembled
under the weight of the sword that has pierced her soul. No parent wants this
experience. This was true of the father we meet in this passage. He is a
prominent religious leader, but his desperate concern for his dying child ties
him to the plight of every parent everywhere in our world who has a child who
is ill.
So Jairus fell at the feet of
Jesus and begged him to heal his “little daughter who is at the point of
death.” Come”, he implores him, “lay your hands on her, so that she may be made
well, and live” (v. 23, NRSV).
Jairus’s story offers us key
stepping stones on the healing journey. The pain he carried for the child of
his flesh pushed him to find Jesus, propelling him beyond the propriety and
status of his position. On a journey of healing, we too are pressed beyond our
comfortable ways of being. That discomfort invites us to turn toward Jesus. And
if we are wise, we acknowledge, along with Jairus, our personal impotence. We
identify with his desperation, “Come lay your hands on her!” Within our cries,
there is a healing affirmation: we cannot cure our own sickness, but you can!
Jesus went with Jairus, just as He comes with us, to whatever brings us pain.
Today, as you sit with this
passage, is there something, some place, some relationship so painful for you
that your heart carries a weight you can’t fully express? In prayerful silence,
turn inwardly toward Jesus. Let Him go with you to that painful place.
Prayer: Lord Jesus I welcome the embrace of
your everlasting arms, as you cause me to see You, in this painful place.
The Reverend Joanne Browne Jennings
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