If we but have faith, the mountains can be moved, chains loosed, captives set free. We just have to trust and believe that Jesus can do anything. "Trust and obey/for there's no other way/to be happy in Jesus/than to trust and obey." Sing the song, hum the tune, now believe it to be true.
The woman did. The sick woman whom no doctor could help. She'd been bleeding for twelve years, and she desperately wanted to be free. Unlike many who were willing to just test the waters of Jesus' power, she fully believed Jesus to be capable of healing her. So sure of this was she, that all she needed was to touch the hem of His cloak.
She thought it'd go unnoticed, that she could melt back into the crowds and be secretly healed. But Jesus knew. And He told her, her faith had healed her.
I can't think of another inventive way to say Questions...
-Why do you think the woman did not want Jesus to know she had touched Him?
This study hypothesizes that she was "fearful to ask for help - fearful of Jesus, fearful of embarrassment, perhaps fearful that he might refuse."
While this may very well be the case, I have another hypothesis. And since this is all speculatory, here go my thoughts.
Maybe she was humble. Jesus said, "your faith has healed you." She obviously had great faith that Jesus could heal her, and if she believed that He could heal her, it logically follows, especially with His pattern of healing people, that He would heal her. So why would she be afraid He'd refuse? Maybe she recognized her sin, how unworthy she was of His gift of healing, and that held her back. Maybe she felt so unworthy of going up to Jesus and asking to be healed, realized she didn't deserve to be healed, and that kept her back.
-Do you think Jesus' delay from helping Jairus was intentional?
I don't think Jesus was thinking in, "if I wait and talk to this lady, then Jairus' daughter will die, and then I'll get to display my awesome power and raise her from the dead." I think Jesus was just serving. He was serving the woman, and then He served Jairus. He knew the girl would die because Jesus knows everything, but that's because He can see the whole plan of life from start to finish, He doesn't see it in the same linear manner we perceive life. He sees the big picture, we only see the pixels. So I don't think it was an intentional, conscious thought that He wanted the daughter to die, I think Jesus was just doing His thing, and that included raising her from the dead.
-Why would Jesus was Jairus to wait?
Because waiting builds patience and strengthens our faith. In our own lives, Jesus often does not give us the things we ask for right away. Sometimes it's because they're bad things we shouldn't have, and sometimes it's because it's not the right time. It wasn't the right time to heal the daughter, it was the right time to heal the woman. Jairus' faith was strengthened because he had to be patient and trust that Jesus knew best, even thought it seemed problematic at the time.
-If you could have Jesus heal anything without anyone's knowing, what would it be?
Anything? Well. Everything! Hah.
On a large scale - I'd want slavery ended. But that's not really a healing...so I guess I'd want hate healed. I'd want broken hearts healed. I'd want whatever makes people willing to treat other human beings with such contempt healed. I'd want this world to actually operate on love.
Small scale, I don't know for sure. I mean I want my little brother healed, but I want people to know about that! That's the thing, I think I'd want everyone to know about the healing. Maybe private things, like addictions or something, I don't know.
-Why is faith so important to Jesus?
It's the base of everything. If we don't have faith, we don't have life in Jesus. The New Testament preaches faith in just about every chapter. Because we don't see Jesus, we must have faith He is there. And by having faith, it shows we trust Him. We give Him our lives, our love, through faith, and that's what He wants, our hearts.
-Why is humility so important to Jesus? Why is humility so important to faith?
Because we have to realize and recognize our own puniness on the grand scale of everything. We have to realize that we don't deserve Jesus' gift, because when we understand how unworthy and broken we are, we can begin to understand the extent of His love. We have to be humble, because Jesus is perfect and we are dust.
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