Day 12: Life Restored
“Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”
Mark 5:34
I’m outnumbered in my house, being the only girl among 5 boys, (if you include our dog that is). The boys are very into everything Star Wars, superhero and ninja related and like to act out (sometimes a little too enthusiastically) what they see on the telly. In their wee imaginations they are skilled, strong and invincible in a lightsaber duel against an evil villain.
But you know what? They’ll always be my babies and I like to remind them of that fact often, much to their annoyance. “Mummy, I’m not a baby anymore!” They correct me. But it’s how I’ll always feel about them, it’s a nurturing love that runs ceaselessly through my albeit sinful, human veins.
Now, picture a guy, well known in town, a respected religious leader, falling to bits with anxiety over his sick, dying daughter. He’s weak, out of control and terrified watching this impending, inevitable catastrophe coming at him like a freight train. His sweet girl was about to be taken from him forever and he was utterly powerless. So, he runs to Jesus.
“My little girl is dying…” Can you feel the father’s desperation leaping off the page? My little girl. She was twelve years old, not far off marrying age in those days but to him this was his baby, his sweetheart. Jesus willingly goes with this man to grant his request; he perceives his faith.
Let’s jump back in time to around when this wee girl was born. Simultaneous to this joyous event, another life in another place sadly began to bleed out – that of a poor, suffering woman, an outcast. She wasn’t receiving DLA or having people bring her shopping in for her. For twelve long years she suffered alone, no end in sight. No obvious reason for it, no promised reward at the finish line. Powerless and hopeless. Fast-forward twelve years to our passage…
In faith-shrouded desperation, this ‘unclean’ woman reaches out to touch perfect Jesus’ hem, hoping to be unseen, but believing she’d be healed. The seemingly endless bloody flow ceased immediately, like the raging sea Jesus told to ‘be still’ in the previous chapter. She was indeed healed but she was not unseen. Weak and terrified, she confessed, expecting rebuke but instead heard her real name in gentle tones, like rushing water, her true identity spoken over her cowering, trembling body by creator God himself:
‘Daughter’. - A term full of tender-hearted, personal, endearing and relational compassion. Perfect love flowed through his sinless veins.
Later on, Jesus utters equally sweet words over another precious ‘daughter’, one that is now tragically dead. Her short life — finished. Pause a second to consider that this broken father didn’t know the next part of the story like we do. Can you sense that nauseating realisation he must have endured as he no doubt felt the ground beneath him crumble away? His baby was gone, Jesus was too late. This nightmare was his only reality in that moment. But then came the words from God in flesh,
“Talitha Koum.” (Little girl, I say to you, get up).
Jesus not only had love for this child, her father’s sweetheart, he had power to save her, to regenerate her. As Jesus’ life-giving breath left his lips, something unseen was being knit back together in this little body. Her brain activity returned, her cold heart twitched back into action, her lungs drew in fresh oxygen, her body temperature rose, muscles contracted. She got up and walked.
Who is this man who can heal instantly and breathes new life into dead bodies?
- Even flesh and blood obey him.
Who is this man who hung on a tree in weakness for my sin and yours who calls me ‘daughter’, inviting me daily to follow him, to find eternal life in him, to find meaning, joy, peace, rest?
- Even death obeys him.
Because Jesus rose from the dead in power, he is able to raise you too, as a son or daughter of the King. How can this be? - Bring him your cold, sick, dead heart, your secret shame, your hopeless desperation and he will speak into you new life making you a precious child of God, eternally.
Trust in Jesus’ living words for you today from verse 36,
“Do not be afraid, only believe.”
Written by Cara Bell.
Passage for today: Mark 5:21-43
A thought to remember: Through faith, Jesus restores bodies and souls to life
A question to ask: Does Jesus' compassion compel you to trust him today?
A song to sing: Flee From Sin / Run to Jesus