Jesus Heals in Response to Faith

Meditations in the Season of Epiphany 

February 21, 2022

Jesus Heals in Response to Faith

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.”

Luke 8:45, 50

Read: Luke 8:40-56

In first-century Jewish society, the practical needs for public and private hygiene were codified into laws and rules governing how to remain ceremonial clean. Persons deemed ‘unclean’ were forbidden by these laws and rules with having contact with any other persons because any contact would render the others unclean as well. Two circumstances that were strictly governed were the issues of bleeding and handling dead bodies.

The woman in our story does her best to hide her identity both before and after she touched Jesus because, if discovered, the crowd would angrily shun her. But Jesus calls her out of her darkness to affirm her faith and her new state of wholeness.

Jairus receives the news that his daughter has died immediately after he witnessed Jesus healing the woman. I suspect his heart leaped for joy when Jesus told him “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.” When Jesus arrives at Jairus’ home, he takes the child’s hand, he touches a dead person, and calls her to life.

Jesus’ messianic power is clearly displayed. So is his mission. God’s Messiah took upon himself the ‘uncleanness’ of the people. Jesus came to where the people were, and he intermingled himself into their lives. He got his hands dirty.

Jesus’ interactions with the woman and with Jairus’ family put a very real context on the promise of Hebrews 4:14-16:

“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

My Takeaway: The early church wanted the woman with the bleeding problem to be remembered always. They gave her the name of Veronica, and in the devotional exercise, The Stations of the Cross, she is the woman who wipes Jesus’ face at station six. Both Jarius and Veronica went boldly to Jesus, and both received mercy and grace to help when they needed it the most. Their epiphany invites me to trust Jesus with that which I need the most. Their epiphany invites me to go boldly to Jesus for my needed mercy and grace.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published On the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.