Daily Reading: 6-8-16
Luke 8:40-56 New Living Translations (NLT)
The last few days we have been reading Scripture passages on faith; how our faith will be stretched, because our souls need to rise in spiritual maturity. Since it is impossible to please God without faith, it must be our faith that causes God to move in our behalf. The Word stretches our faith, guides and corrects us, so the Spirit can come and respond to our faith with healing.
Jesus is the Living Word who is filled with the Spirit of Love doing the Father’s will. Here is another way to say the same thing: Jesus has the heart of the Father for all creation, has obediently and flawlessly applied the Word to his humanity, and is filled with the healing Spirit of Love to go about releasing the goodness of God into the world. Jesus is the fullness of God to bring salvation.
Many people claim to know Father God. Do you know the Father’s Son, Jesus, the Living Word in human flesh? Do you realize the gift and value of Scripture when it comes to your life as a child of the Father who is spiritually growing to look like the Son, so you can be useful in the power of the Spirit for God’s kingdom? Timothy said it this way, “All of Scripture is God-breathed; in its inspired voice, we hear useful teaching, rebuke, correction, instruction, and training for a life that is right so that God’s people may be up to the task ahead and have all they need to accomplish every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
In our Scripture passage this morning, let’s hear more about faith, so we may be up to the task, today.
Luke 8:40-56
Jesus Heals in Response to Faith
40 On the other side of the lake the crowds welcomed Jesus, because they had been waiting for him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. 42 His only daughter,[a] who was about twelve years old, was dying.
As Jesus went with him, he was surrounded by the crowds. 43 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding,[b] and she could find no cure. 44 Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.
45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”
46 But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” 47 When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. 48 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking to her, a messenger arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. He told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
50 But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.”
51 When they arrived at the house, Jesus wouldn’t let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, James, and the little girl’s father and mother. 52 The house was filled with people weeping and wailing, but he said, “Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”
53 But the crowd laughed at him because they all knew she had died. 54 Then Jesus took her by the hand and said in a loud voice, “My child, get up!” 55 And at that moment her life[c] returned, and she immediately stood up! Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were overwhelmed, but Jesus insisted that they not tell anyone what had happened.
Jesus responds with compassion to a faith person deliberately (intentionally) bowed in front of him publicly asking for a miracle for his loved one, as well as a faith person who deliberately reached for him from behind hoping to take a healing miracle and go unnoticed. What can we learn from this Word today about faith? Both people of faith experienced a delay. The delay stretched Jairus’ faith as he had to wait for the Lord to continue the journey to his house; the delay caused Jairus to fear. The delay caused the woman to come forward and confess (witness) to why she had reached out and touched Jesus and how He had healed her. It was faith in the Living Word that healed her and Jesus wanted her and the crowd around her to know it. Jairus was a religious leader who’s faith in Jesus was evident to others, but Jesus wanted this woman to know her faith was of equal value to Him and she too must confess His Love and goodness.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for responding to my faith in the work of Jesus Messiah. Help me to remain faithful during the delays You allow. Holy Spirit, help me to stand strong and hold onto my faith in Your Word without fear and cause me to speak the Truth of Your goodness to me when You respond. In Jesus’ name. Amen.