Tag Archives: daughter

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – A MOTHER’S DESPERATION

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A MOTHER’S DESPERATION

24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”
30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Mark 7:24-30

Why did Jesus respond to the Syro-Phoenician woman in this way? Was He testing her faith or trying to put her off? Did He have no intention of healing her daughter or was He trying to find out what was in her heart? Knowing His love and compassion, it would seem that He was testing her faith. Did she view Him as some sort of magician or did she recognise something in Him that was not in the gods of her people?

The exchange that took place between them shows a mother’s desperation, confidence and persistence. Although she was not Jewish, she had confidence enough in Jesus, probably because of what she had heard about Him, to know that He would do something for her child even if she were not entitled to anything from Him.

Jesus was using the imagery of His day to test her trust in His nature. He called the Jews “children” and the Gentiles “dogs”. Did He really mean that He regarded her as a “cur”? The Jews did but I don’t think Jesus did. What was her reaction? Was she insulted by the title? It seems not. In her humility, she simply requested a few crumbs from the table!

Jesus melted at her reply because her compassion for her daughter matched His compassion for oppressed people. Her child, and we don’t know how old she was, was being oppressed by the devil. (God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power and He want about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with Him,” Acts 10:38) and she would not pass by this opportunity of getting help for her.

Does God sometimes hold out on answering our prayers and meeting our needs or someone else’s need because He wants to know how serious our intention is? Does our compassion match His compassion for desperate, tormented, oppressed people? Does our desperate cry for help melt His heart and move Him to action?

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – THE POWER OF THE TALITH

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THE POWER OF THE TALITH

25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in pe Mark 5:25-34 

Despite this seeming interruption, there is a strong connection between these two miracles. Both stories focus on an aspect of the Messiah that is highlighted in Malachi 4:2. Encapsulated in the tassels (tsitsit) of the prayer shawl (talith) is the symbolism of everything that Messiah stood for; God’s name YHWH; God’s Word; God’s nature; and His unity in diversity. Everything that God is, was represented in the tassels.

When the woman with the issue of blood crawled through the crowd to get to Jesus, she had only one thing in mind, “Touch the tassels, touch the tassels.” according to Malachi 4:2, the kanaph – the corners of the talith – came to symbolise Messiah’s wings – the protective covering of God’s presence which represented restoration to wholeness – tekkun olam, fixing everything that was broken to the vanishing point.

The woman wanted to position herself to receive all the benefits that the tsitsit on the kanaph of the talith represented. She fastened her faith in the promise of Malachi’s prophecy.

There was an instant connection with the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus as she touched the tassels, and divine energy surged through her body, restoring everything in her body that was malfunctioning. Jesus knew it, felt it and used the opportunity to reassure her that her faith, although risky because she had violated the Torah by touching someone who was tahor – clean, had made the connection with God’s compassionate power. She had acted on Jesus yoke – His mercy and compassion – and it had paid off.

Jesus also used the opportunity to pave the way for permission to go into the room where the dead child lay. If the people around Him believed that He was tamai – unclean – , He would be permitted to enter her room, otherwise not. They did not know that He could never become tamai because everything He touched became tahor. Once again in the child’s presence, he used the talith to reveal His Messiahship.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – DESPERATE SITUATION…DESPERATE MEASURES

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DESPERATE SITUATION…DESPERATE MEASURES

21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him. Mark 5:21-24

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. Mark 5:35-43

Once again, the impact of the details of this story jumps out at us. Jesus, ever-popular because He was meeting people’s needs, was back on the Jewish side of the lake. He was thronged by the crowds as He disembarked. One man pushed through the crowd with an urgent plea, Jairus, a man of some importance and influence in the religious community.

Would he have been one of those who opposed Jesus, either because He did not live up to his religious scruples or, because He did not match his expectation of Messiah? Whatever Jairus’ religious stance was, it crumbled in the face of a looming domestic disaster. His twelve-year-old daughter lay dying and he was helpless to do anything about it.

Whatever he believed at that moment meant nothing in the face of this impending loss. He knew what Jesus had been doing in his region and he had seen the effects of His presence among his people. And, miraculously, Jesus was right there then. Flinging every caution to the wind, he pushed through the crowd to Jesus and begged for help.

It’s funny how our own scrupulous belief system falls apart in the face of desperate need. When the chips are down, our carefully constructed doctrinal, protective castle collapses and we run, screaming, to Jesus. Even those who have argued or reasoned their way into atheism, cry out to God in a crisis. Why is that? Is it because fear or despair melts all our antagonism towards God and we stand naked before Him with our broken hearts, knowing instinctively that He is the only one who can help us?

Jairus was no longer the synagogue ruler, but a desperate father, crying out to the only one who had the power to help him. His need immediately connected him with Jesus’ compassion and He set out with him to his home where his child was slipping away from him beyond his voice and his touch.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TASSELS

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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE TASSELS

“While He was still talking, someone from the leader’s house came up and told him, ‘Your daughter died. No need now to bother the Teacher.’

“Jesus overheard and said, ‘Don’t be upset. Just trust me and everything will be alright.’ Going into the house, He wouldn’t let anyone enter with Him except Peter, John, James and the child’s parents.

“Everyone was crying and carrying on over her. Jesus said, ‘Don’t cry. She didn’t die; she’s sleeping.’ They laughed at Him. They knew she was dead. Then Jesus, gripping her hand, called, ‘My dear child, get up.’ She was up in an instant, up and breathing again! He told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were ecstatic, but Jesus warned them to keep quiet. ‘Don’t tell a soul what happened in this room.'” Luke 8:49-56.

What is it with Jesus? One minute He’s shouting, ‘Who touched me?’ and the next He’s telling the parents not to tell anyone what happened in the room where their daughter was raised from the dead!

None of this will make sense until we understand about the tassels. In Numbers 15:37- 38, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels (Hebrew – tzitzit) on the corners (Hebrew – kanaph) of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them…'”

Each tassel had five knots and four spaces, representing the five books of the Torah and the four letters in the name YHWH. They were to put the tassels on the four corners of their outer garment or cloak (Deuteronomy 22:2) which eventually became the prayer shawl or talit. The corners (kanaph) of the talith were called the wings.

Now Malachi’s prophecy in Malachi 4:2 (NLT) begins to take on a new meaning. “But for you who fear my name, the Sun (it can also be translated “servant”) of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings (kanaph),” This was a Messianic promise.

When the woman with the issue of blood touched the tassels of His prayer shawl, she must surely have understood Malachi’s prophecy and experienced the healing which the tassels symbolised.

Now let’s look at the phrase Jesus used when He spoke to the child. Mark recorded Jesus’ actual words: ‘Talitha koum.’ The translation into English blurs the true meaning. It should read ‘Talit ha koum’ — ‘The talit is here. Get up.’  Jesus, the Messiah was there, in the room, wearing the talit which symbolised the name, the Word, the nature and the ways of God.

This entire episode, to the man who was intimately involved with the life of the synagogue, the centre of religious activity in the town, must have had deep significance. He and his wife had actually witnessed the fulfilment of Malachi’s prophecy.

Just to be told not to tell anyone that Jesus raised his daughter from the dead made no sense because they all knew she was dead – Luke made sure of that when he said that they laughed at Jesus – and they all saw her alive again. It only makes sense when we understand that Jesus forbade them to tell anyone how it happened.

It was always Jesus’ intention that people decide for themselves, based on their interpretation of the evidence, who He was. The final proof of His identity was yet to come, in His resurrection from the dead. In the meantime, He did not want to attract followers who were either out for entertainment by watching His miracles or after him for what He could give them.

And Jesus is still looking for true disciples who follow Him because He is Lord! Are you one of those?

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – HER RISK PAID OFF

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HER RISK PAID OFF

“At that very moment the haemorrhaging stopped. Jesus said, ‘Who touched me?’ When no one stepped forward, Peter said, ‘But Master, we’ve got crowds of people on our hands. Dozens have touched you.’ Jesus insisted, ‘Someone touched me. I felt power discharging from me.’

“When the woman realised that she couldn’t remain hidden, she knelt trembling before Him. In front of all the people, she blurted out her story – why she touched Him and how at that same moment she was healed.

“Jesus said, ‘Daughter, you took a risk trusting me and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed.'” Luke 8: 45-48.

This was unusual behaviour for Jesus! Why did He insist on putting this poor woman on public display? Apart from the demoniac He had set free across the lake, He normally told people to keep what He had done for them under wraps.

But here He was broadcasting to the entire crowd that someone had touched Him. Could He possibly have had a reason other than simply letting everyone know that yet another person had been healed? Did He want to disgrace her for contaminating the entire crowd by infecting them, and Him, with her uncleanness?

But it was never in Jesus’ nature to do that. Besides, people were immediately cleansed when they came into contact with Him. He must have had a more significant reason than showing off His power.

Jesus was on His way to the home of a man whose child lay dying and was possibly already dead. It was not permissible for a rabbi to come into contact with a dead body except if he, too, were unclean. The only way to gain access to the child was to give the people the impression that the woman had made Him unclean by her touch! Brilliant!

Jesus also had another motive for insisting that the woman own up. He wanted to complete her healing, not just of her physical ailment but also of her heart. Thinking she was in trouble, she came forward to acknowledge what she had done in fear and trembling. She did not know what to expect from this rabbi.

The words He spoke were the words of life to her. His first word was the reassurance that she was somebody; not a nameless, despised, unclean outcast but ‘Daughter!’ Imagine how she felt to be called a daughter in Israel, regardless what anyone else might think or say. She was not only healed but also whole. She understood that.

To be whole – “shalom” – was to be restored to God’s original intention for her. She could put her twelve years of suffering behind her, knowing that she had been fully accepted as a member of God’s people.

Her very demeanour reveals what she thought of herself before she came face to face with Jesus.  She had hoped to remain anonymous, creeping up behind Him, being healed and creeping away again to enjoy what she knew He could do for her. But once again Jesus made a public display of a woman whom the people had cast aside as just a bit of filthy trash but whom He treated with compassion and restored to her rightful place in society and in God’s eyes.

Imagine her joy as she made her way home to pi ck up the pieces of her life…

In the meantime, Jairus was waiting, anxious and impatient. How did he feel about the interlude that interrupted his mission? The minutes were ticking by and his daughter was dying. Would this delay mean the difference between life and death for her?

How often we feel like that too! Time will make the difference between hope and despair, so we think. But time is not the issue with Jesus. It’s not about time; it’s about trust. Anxiety, fear, impatience, cancels trust. Jesus is never too late!