Luke 8 tells the story of a man named Jairus. He has a twelve year old daughter who is very sick. She is dying. As any loving father would, Jairus desperately looks for help. He finds Jesus, falls at his feet, and pleads with him to come to his house and help his daughter. Jesus agrees to go with him. On his way back home, a messenger comes to tell Jairus that it is too late. His daughter is dead. Can you imagine what his heart must have felt hearing those words? It’s too late. There is no hope. It’s over. She’s gone.
But Jesus tells him, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.” What? How is that possible? Didn’t Jesus hear the messenger? She’s dead! What other alternative is there? Yet Jairus keeps walking with Jesus toward his home, toward an impossible situation, wondering what he will say to his grieving wife.
When they arrive, all Jairus’ friends and family are present. They are weeping and wailing. They stare at him. “Why did you still bring Jesus? It is too late. She is dead! Go, hold your wife, and join us in our weeping.”
Jesus turns to them and tells them to stop weeping. “She is not dead. she’s only asleep.” They don’t believe him. They start laughing at him. They know she is dead. Jesus must be a fool to believe otherwise, and Jairus is even more a fool to believe him. But Jairus doesn’t listen to the crowd. He gets his wife and goes into the home with Jesus.
Why would Jairus do that? Why put himself and his wife through this ordeal? How can he believe in the face of the obvious? Perhaps he remembers Jesus’ words: “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.”
What happened? Jesus took the daughter’s hand and said, “My child, get up!” Luke records that her life returned at that moment, and she immediately stood up. Jairus kept his faith in Jesus’ words, and what was dead to him came back to life.
Maybe you have a Jairus-type situation in your life. What needs to happen seems impossible. Yet when you pray, you hear God’s voice saying “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.” Everyone around you has given up. They laugh at you when you don’t. Keep the faith. What seems dead can live again. Remember the story of Jairus.
Submitted by a past contributor