Quotes:
"Patience is love for the long haul; it is bearing up under difficult circumstances, without giving up or giving in to bitterness. Patience means working when gratification is delayed. It means taking what life offers--even if it means suffering--without lashing out." (59)
"Be aware that when you go to Jesus for help, you will both give to and get from him far more than you bargained for." (64) "If you go to Jesus, he may ask of you far more than you originally planned to give, but he can give to you infinitely more than you dared ask or think." (66)
"When I looked at the delays of God in my own life, I realize that a great deal of my consternation has been rooted in arrogance." (67) "We're not God, but we have such delusions of grandeur that our self-righteousness and arrogance sometimes have to be knocked out of our heart by God's delays." (67)
Scene: Jairus, a synogogue ruler, pleaded for Jesus to heal his dying daughter (Mark 5:21-24). On the way, a desperate woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years, touched Jesus' cloak and her bleeding immediately stopped (Mark 5:25-30).
Power (Gk dunamis) Left Jesus when the Woman was Healed
If we want to be a source of healing for others, we will have to lose power, as Jesus lost his power to heal the woman (Mark 5:30). No one will be healed if we are unwilling to lose power.
Patience
To help this woman tell the whole truth (Mark 5:30-33) surely tested the patience of Jairus, and irritated his disciples, as Jesus took his time. What Jairus feared happened. News came that his daughter had died (Mark 5:35). Knowing how Jairus felt, Jesus calmly said to him, "Don't be afriad; just believe" (Mark 5:36). It meant, "Trust me. Be patient. There's no need to hurry." Every culture has a different sense of time. Yet, God's sense of timing will confound ours, no matter what culture we're from. Jesus' grace rarely operates according to our schedule. When we are in a major storm of life, is God's grace entirely sufficient? (2 Cor 12:9) Do we feel the strong urge to impose our understanding of schedule and timing on God and others?
God Expects More from You, and Gives More to You
Jairus expected Jesus to come before his daughter died, yet she died. The woman expected just to be healed privately, but Jesus asked more of her and demanded that she go public. Why?
She had a superstitious understanding of Jesus' power. She thought his power was manageable. Jesus made her identify herself so he could say, "Your faith has healed you. Go in peace" (Mark 5:34). Jesus wanted her to know that through faith she is in a life-transforming relationship with him. There's a huge difference from a superstitious healing, and a life-transformed follower of Jesus for all eternity. God expected more from her, and gave more to her.
To Jesus There's No Difference between Raising the Dead and Curing a Fever
It seemed to Jairus and the disciples that Jesus was delaying with the woman for no good reason. But they didn't have all the facts. Often others and ourselves are unable to understand why God isn't coming through for us, or why he is delaying, as Jesus did with Jairus.
Jesus knew she was dead, but said she was sleeping (Mark 5:37-40). He said, "Talitha koum!" and immediately the 12 year old girl got up (Mark 5:41-43), which in our vernacular would be, "Honey, get up." Jesus, the Lord of the universe, is saying by his actions, "If I have you by the hand, death itself is nothing but sleep."
Christ Crucified in Weakness Gives God's Power to the Weak (2 Cor 13:4)
Christ became weak so that we can be strong. There's nothing more frightening for a child than to lose the hand of the parent in a crowd or in the dark, but that is nothing compared to Jesus' own loss. Jesus lost his Father's hand on the cross, so we could know that once he has us by the hand, he will never, ever forsake us. He went into the tomb so we can be raised out of it. The only way for Jesus to give us this power and life was to go through weakness and death.
Questions: Are you trying to hurry Jesus? Are you impatient with him and with the waiting? If God is delaying something in your life, are you ready to give up? Can you simply trust him with peace? Can we see how powerful, loving and tender God is even in his painful delays?
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