It appears that it is too late. As Jesus is
about to resume his walk to see the little girl, the father, and Jesus, are
brought the news that she is already dead. The message is that there is no
point in continuing. Don’t bother the teacher! But Jesus has no thought of
turning back; and there is nothing to indicate that Jairus does other than
expect him to continue,
We would assume that Jairus does not have
any inkling of what is about to occur, and yet it is surprising that he makes
to attempt to suggest that continuing is pointless as it is too late. Denis
McBride (The Gospel of Mark: A Reflective Commentary) suggests that – “the
image of Jairus walking with Jesus , after the messengers tell him is daughter
is dead and advise him to trouble Jesus no further speaks its own language of
quiet faith. It tells us of someone who has faith in Jesus as more than a healer,
someone who can walk towards the unspeakable loss off death with the one who
can meet death itself with a power of new life.”
The story is a healing story, but it is more
than that. It is a story of profound and challenging faith. I wonder how our
faith stands up when it is subjected to extreme testing.
This is a story of highs and lows, of hope
and loss, and restoration. It has a happy ending. Jesus takes the girl by the hand,
and tells her to get up. Remarkably, she does exactly as instructed. But the
story ends, as do several of these healing encounters, with a request not to
spread the news. Is it that Jesus does not want things to get out of hand? Is that
Jesus does not want to be bothered by too many people? We do not know: but what
we will discover is that there is a lot more to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment