There is Power in the Name of the Lord.

“Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” -John 21:25

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” -John 20:30-31

Imagine the largest library in the world. A building full of books and books. I like to imagine Belle’s library in The Beauty and the Beast, but in reality it’s more like the Library of Congress.

Anywho, imagine this library.

Fat books. Skinny books. Tall books. Small books. Books with covers of every color. Pop-up books. Books written for children. Books for adults.

And now imagine that all of the books tell of the wonders that Jesus did.

Books written about His miracles.
Books about His teachings.
Books about His birth.
Books about His journeys.
Books about His death, and resurrection.

Even a HUMONGOUS library couldn’t contain all of the books that could be written about Jesus’ life. John said even the WORLD couldn’t contain all of the books.

Whoa.

Jesus was a very busy guy.

Yet, even though He was busy, He still had time for the people most everyone else ignored. 

One day, a ruler of the synagogue named Jarius fell at Jesus’ feet. He begged Jesus “to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying” (Luke 8: 41-42).

So Jesus went with him and they made their way through the crowded street.

Nearby, there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years. She had spent all of her money going to doctors, but they couldn’t heal her. Now she was broke, an outcast, and still bleeding.

This woman had heard about Jesus, and came up to Him that day. She touched the edge of His clothes and instantly her bleeding stopped.

Jesus stopped walking for a second, and looked around the crowd. “Who was it that touched me now?”

One of his followers, Peter, said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!”

Jesus shook His head. “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.”

The woman felt terrified. She had been suffering from an unclean disease, and she wasn’t supposed to touch anyone lest they become unclean as well! What would Jesus think when she found out she had made Him unclean?

She fell down before Jesus and told Him about her condition and why she had touched Him.

Jesus gently said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of you disease.”

Meanwhile, someone from Jairus’ house came and told him, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.”

Jesus overheard this and told him, “Do not fear; only believe and she will be well.”

They came to the house and Jesus allowed no one to go into it with Him except for Peter, James and John and the girl’s parents. He told them, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.”

He took the girl by her hand and said, “Child, arise.”

The girl’s spirit returned and immediately she got up.

Based on Luke 8: 40-55 and Mark 5: 21-43

Let’s talk similarities, shall we? Parallels between the two miracles:

First off, we see that both of the people Jesus healed are women. 

I know, I know, you’re thinking, Duh, Kara. But even though this might be an obvious fact doesn’t make it less important.

Jesus’ culture was a major patriarchy. Women were looked down and treated like inferiors. But Jesus loved the women just as much as He loved the men.

Just as Jesus didn’t come only to save the Jews but the gentiles as well, He didn’t come just to save the men. He came to save the women too.

I want to remind you of that. It can be so easy to feel inferior to men even if you know you’re not.

Jesus loves you, no matter what gender you are or what nation you come from.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” -Galatians 3:28

Secondly, we see the time period of twelve years repeated.

The little girl was twelve years old. The woman had been bleeding for twelve years.

For some reason, that connection makes the woman’s condition worse in my mind. She was bleeding and suffering and an outcast for a person’s entire life.

Example of this weirdness: my childhood best friend and I have been friends for about twelve years. Which doesn’t seem that long of a time in my mind until I consider that her youngest sister is twelve years old. We’ve been friends the same length of time that her sister has been alive.

I think that’s why Luke points out that the woman had been bleeding for the same length of time the girl had been alive. It humanizes her condition. It makes us wonder if the woman had a daughter of her own that she had been separated from for twelve years.

Which brings us to our next point…

Thirdly, both the woman and the girl were unclean, yet Jesus touched them.

You ready to dive into Jewish laws? :) Let’s go!

The law addressing the woman’s condition:
“If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not a the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanliness.” -Leviticus 15:23

The law addressing the dead girl:
“Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days.” -Numbers 19:11

Both the woman and the girl were considered unclean by the Jewish law. By touching them during their healings, Jesus showed them that He wasn’t afraid of becoming unclean. He wanted them to know that they were more important than the law.

Lastly, both healings demonstrated faith.

The woman required faith in order to risk touching Jesus to be made well. As we talked about above, the woman was unclean and anything she touched would be made unclean as well. She had the faith to risk Jesus rejecting her and condemning her for making Him unclean.

The woman’s entire motivation revealed faith; she was thinking, “If I touch even his garments I will be made well” (Mark 5:28). She knew Jesus was so powerful that even just touching His clothes would heal her.

Jesus commended her for her faith, saying “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace” (Luke 8:48).

Jairus demonstrated faith when he urged Jesus to come heal his dying daughter. He said, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live” (Mark 5:23). He knew that Jesus had the power to heal his dying girl.

When Jesus and Jairus arrived at Jairus’ house and heard that the girl was already dead, Jesus encouraged him and his wife to have faith. “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.”

Jesus has extraordinary power.

He was able to heal a bleeding woman by her simply touching His clothes.
He raised a little girl from the dead.

And as we talked about at the beginning of this post, Jesus did many other miracles. He healed the blind and the lame. He healed lepers. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He turned water into wine.

I want you to listen to a song real quick about the power of Jesus.

“There is strength in the name of the Lord
There is power in the name of the Lord
There is hope in the name of the Lord
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
-“The Name of the Lord” by Sandi Patty

No matter what you’re facing right now, never forget the strength, power and hope that Jesus’ name brings. Jesus is there with you every step of the way, and you don’t have to face this alone.

Never forget that Jesus loves you, has made you clean, and has great plans for you.

Posted by Kara Beth & filed under Devotionals. This post has one comment.