12 Years

In Luke 8:40-56, Luke writes about the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and about Jairus’ 12 year old daughter who was about to die. For as long as Jairus’ daughter had lived, this other woman had been bleeding for that period of time.

So the passage starts off with a crowd of people who knew Jesus was coming to town. They knew He was coming and they were EXPECTANT of Him. When He arrived, they WELCOMED Him. Woah. How many times do I go to church, sit down to do my devotions, go to serve in some way, pray, and yet do it without an expectant, welcoming heart for Jesus? Too many times. You see, these people were desperate for Jesus. They knew Jesus was coming to move and to heal. They knew Jesus was coming to serve them and save them. They knew Jesus was coming to love them and forgive them. Our hearts should be expectant of what Jesus is going to do in and through our lives!

The passage goes on to say that Jairus, who was a LEADER of the synagogue, came to Jesus and fell down at His feet and pleased with Him to come to his house because his 12 year old daughter was about to die. Did you catch that? A LEADER needed Jesus. He FELL at His feet. So many times leaders are so quick to hide their need for Jesus to fix or act as if they have it all together, including myself. We are supposed to be the ones leading others right? The ones that already have it all together so we can help others? WRONG. Leaders need Jesus just as much as the people they are leading do. And I love that Luke wanted us to know that Jairus was a leader who needed Jesus because Jairus knew that Jesus was the real leader, and he was His follower. I am a leader that needs Jesus, because I am following Him!

So as Jesus is on His way to heal Jairus’ daughter, the crowd begins to press against Him almost crushing Him and this woman who had been bleeding for 12 years comes up behind Jesus. She had seen a numerous amount of doctors yet wasn’t healed. You see, this woman…people saw her as unclean. People shamed this woman. No one wanted to be near her or around her. Can you imagine why she waited so long to approach Jesus? If event the lowly wanted nothing to do with her, why would Jesus? This woman finally had a little faith to approach Jesus. She had faith that He could heal her. I see myself when I read about this woman. No, I haven’t been bleeding for 12 years. But for almost 21 years of my life I was looking to other things and other people to heal me, to satisfy me, to fix me…when really, Jesus was and still is the only one who can. When this woman fell at Jesus’ feet and touched His robe, her bleeding stopped. When I cried out to Jesus to save me and forgive me, my “bleeding” stopped. Jesus felt this woman touch Him, yet He asked who it was. Why did He ask? I think about when God was walking in the garden in Genesis and asked Adam and Eve where they were. He knew where they were, but He wanted them to face their sin and stop hiding from Him. Jesus asked who touched Him because He wanted this woman to realize she had been noticed, He wanted her to see that even her little amount of faith in Him healed her. After 12 years of going unnoticed and unwanted by everyone else, Jesus noticed her…Jesus wanted her. When she saw she was noticed, she FELL DOWN TREMBLING, WORSHIPING JESUS. Before, this woman did not want anyone to know she was unclean. It was a shame for her to tell and a shame for anyone to know. But now…because of JESUS…she wanted people to know that she had been unclean but because of JESUS she was healed. That is beauty of Christ. It’s all because of Him, and not because of us, and He gives us the strength to speak boldly in His name!

So after this woman is healed, Jesus continuing on to Jairus’ house, someone comes to Jairus and tells him not to bother Jesus anymore because his daughter is dead. A few things come to my mind here.

1. I am sure Jairus was impatient when Jesus stopped on the way to his house to heal the bleeding woman…I mean, his daughter was dying! God’s timing is perfect though even if we have to wait for His best to come when He is ready to give it to us.
2. How many times do we “give up” on things we have prayed and asked Jesus for? Too many.
3. How many times do we have people try and get us away from Christ? Someone came to Jairus and told him not to bother Jesus anymore. We need people who will encourage us, speak truth to us, and point us to Christ.

BUT WAIT. Jesus heard this, looked at Jairus and said, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” Those five words we need to engrave into our hearts friends. I know I do anyway. If there is anything I feel like I struggle with the most, it’s fear. Jesus just wants us to trust Him in any and all circumstances.

So…he gets to Jairus’ house and everyone is crying and mourning for Jarius’ daughter. Jesus looks at them and says, “Stop crying, for SHE IS NOT DEAD BUT ASLEEP.” Okay…so JESUS just told them she WAS NOT DEAD right?

Get this…

They start LAUGHING at Jesus because they “knew” she was dead. Hold on. Wait.

Didn’t Jesus just tell them she wasn’t dead? And they start laughing because they thought they knew better than Jesus? Woah. How many times do I catch myself trying to tell God what I want or what I think I need or what is best for me? Too many. Yet, He continually tells me His ways are higher than mine and He knows best. We can be the same way these people were being. We need to realize that Jesus tells us over and over again in His Word that we just have to have faith and follow Him. We have got to believe what He tells us and stop thinking we know better than Jesus…because we don’t.

Anyways…Jesus takes Jairus’ daughter by the hand, calls her Child, and tells her to get up…and she got up!! She got up!!

We can approach Jesus with every need we have. We just need to have faith, trust His timing and His way.