Faith through Desperation pt. 1

Luke 8:40-42

40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.

These three verses show us the intimate nature Jesus had even within the largest of crowds. No matter the circumstances or situations Jesus was met with desperation fueled by faith. The people knew who Jesus was, because he returned and the crowd welcomed him. They expected him, if he had left the area of the Gerasenes he would have been close to Capernaum, which was Jesus' home base, he would have had a lot of friends and acquaintances. The crowd would have known about Jesus' miracles, healings, and teachings, but they gathered more out of curiosity then conviction of faith. Jairus pushed and weaved through the crowd to get to Jesus, because his faith compelled him to do so, his little girl was dying. I have three sons and if one of them was ill to the point of death, you can best believe I will do all it takes to get them what they need for healing. Jairus, a synagogue leader would have been like a bishop for the synagogue. He would have been the rosh ha-ceneseth, the one who takes care of the building maintenance and direction of spiritual services. Jairus' status meant nothing to the people in the crowd. They all pushed in and pushed forward to get closer to Jesus.

Luke 8:43-48

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,[c] but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

The verse tells us Jesus was almost crushed by the crowd so it gives you a idea of the intensity of the scene. I have been in my fair share of moshpits when I was younger, so I have a bit of a idea of what the pushing and shoving would be like and maybe you do too. People were nearly on top of each other. A unnamed woman is in the crowd with uncontrolled bleeding. Bleeding which had last for a large part of her life. This gives you yet another small glimpse at the ferocity of the crowd. If the woman was bleeding, by Levitical law she would have been unclean. No one would have touched her or they too would have been unclean. She was taking a great risk. Leviticus 15 tells us anyone she touches, she makes unclean. She could be punished for her blatant disregard for the Law, but it didn't stop her from reaching out for healing by the one who she knew could heal her. The smallest touch and she was made whole. Her healing gave her newness of life. She could be near people. She wouldn't have had a job because of her condition. She was probably very lonely, but Jesus changed that for her. She could find someone to love and they could love her back. She could go to the temple and by the law it would be the first place she would go for confirmation of her cleansing by a priest. The amazing part of the mircalous healing is it happened immediately. In the blink of an eye, the snap of two fingers, the woman was healed by Jesus through her faith. Sometimes it is our desperation that fuels our faith and sometimes it is our faith that fuels our desperation.