This is a devotional with my thoughts added to verses from the Bible. I highly encourage you to dig into the word with your own thoughts. The Daily Devotion series is one way to do this. However, I know that sometimes we want to read other people’s ideas about Bible passages, so I am starting the Everyday series. I hope and pray that these posts will draw you nearer to Jesus.
DAY 1–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 5:35-43 Jairus’ Sleeping Daughter
While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?” But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him, except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing. When he had entered in, he said to them, “Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep.” They ridiculed him. But he, having put them all out, took the father of the child, her mother, and those who were with him, and went in where the child was lying. Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha cumi!” which means, being interpreted, “Girl, I tell you, get up!” Immediately the girl rose up and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and commanded that something should be given to her to eat.
Jairus had been on a rollercoaster ride of emotional ups and downs. His spirits had drooped lower and lower as his daughter’s condition worsened. Then his hopes soared when he heard that Jesus had returned to Capernaum. He must have approached Jesus with a mixture of worry and excitement, which turned to pure joy as Jesus agreed to accompany him. The interruption to heal the woman with an issue of blood would have caused a slight return of anxiety as he impatiently waited for Jesus to finish with the woman. Then confidence would have returned as they began their forward progress again until everything suddenly crashed down around him as he heard the news of his daughter’s death. It was at this point that Jesus asked the synagogue leader to let his faith be stretched farther and trust that Jesus could make everything right. Like Jairus, the biggest tests of our faith often come when we are emotionally and physically wrecked. It is at the depths of despair and bottomless pain, that God calls us to look up to Him and trust Him to take care of us. At those times, our choice to keep walking forward with God does not come from feelings or evidence. In those painful situations, we must simply trust because we know who God is and that He will do what He promises.
Jairus had reached a crisis of belief. Would he accept the evidence in front of him, or would he trust Jesus’ words? Fortunately, he looked beyond the “facts” into the honest face of the Son of God. He saw something there that allowed him to move forward in faith. We also frequently encounter times when faith trembles in the balance in our lives. We are not always as confident in Jesus as we should be. We frequently start out with the strong assurance that God is with us, but then something happens, and we begin to doubt. Maybe, our circumstances worsen, and we feel overwhelmed. Maybe, the pessimism of others begins to affect our faith. Our confidence in God might falter when we realize that we have fallen into sin and feel condemned because of our own choices, or the sins of our fellow Christians might affect our own walk with Jesus. How often do we see our spiritual brothers and sisters operating from a lack of faith and begin to feel depressed and alone? In all of these instances when our belief in God’s care starts to falter, Jesus gives us the same message that He gave Jairus. Do not fear, just keep trusting the One who has been walking with you on the path to healing. It is during these times of testing that we need to step closer to our Savior and look into His face intently to see the same trustworthiness that Jairus saw.
Jairus’ faith in Jesus was justified, and he was able to hold his dear daughter and feel her warm breath on his cheeks. As he gazed lovingly into her animated healthy face, he would have felt the need to shout his joy throughout his community, but Jesus warned Jairus and the others to keep quiet about the miracle. It was not the time to inform the world yet. Sometimes, when Jesus tells us to be quiet and wait, it is more difficult than when He gives us our marching orders to participate in activities designed to bring the gospel to the world. When we have a goal and a project, we feel like we are accomplishing great works for God, but when we are waiting on the Lord’s direction while being prepared for some unknown future objective, we often feel like we are wasting time. In the same way, it may have been harder for Jairus and his wife to remain quiet than if Jesus had told them to declare His works throughout Israel.
As much as we do not like it, God rarely fills us in on His plans. Sometimes, living in the moment and developing a closer relationship with Jesus while gaining more understanding of the scriptures is the best method of advancing the gospel within God’s design. However, it is difficult to wait not knowing what purpose God has for our present situation. We must trust in Jesus and bide our time with a good attitude so that we can fulfill God’s purposes. Too often, when we push forward with our own ideas, we force God to have to work around us rather than working through us. However, when we trust in Jesus as Jairus’ did, we will obey our Savior. We will confidently stride forward when and where we are told to go, but we will also quietly wait upon the Lord when He commands us to be still.
DAY 2–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 6:1-6 Hometown Amazement
He went out from there. He came into his own country, and his disciples followed him. When the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things?” and, “What is the wisdom that is given to this man, that such mighty works come about by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judah, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” They were offended at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own house.” He could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people, and healed them. He marveled because of their unbelief. He went around the villages teaching.
After healing Jairus’ daughter, Jesus traveled to His hometown of Nazareth, which was about 20 miles southwest of Capernaum. On Sabbath, He taught in the town’s synagogue, and the other worshippers reacted with both amazement and skepticism. The local people acknowledged Jesus’ wisdom and His reputation for performing miracles. At the same time, they criticized His lack of credentials. He was a local boy with family still living in the area. As such, how dare He presume to put on airs and act like a rabbi straight out of Jerusalem! In other words, the Holy Spirit had convicted the local people that they were hearing something special, but they refused to listen. Instead, they embraced the spirit of criticism, which always comes from a source other than God.
Skepticism is one of Satan’s favorite methods for turning our ears and hearts away from the messages that God would have us receive. As a pastor preaches the message or a fellow believer gives a testimony, a little voice all too often whispers critical thoughts into our ears. We may fixate on some problem of appearance or the speaker’s poor delivery and miss out on a much-needed spiritual lesson. With the same attitude of criticism, we may be distracted by others in the congregation, and in focusing on trivial slights and distractions, we ignore the beauty of worshipping God with our Christian brothers and sisters. Anytime we find ourselves indulging in negative thinking towards others while worshipping God, we need to stop our thought processes, repent, and turn back to gazing up at our Creator rather than down our noses at unworthy people.
This passage is interesting because it gives the name of Jesus’ brothers: James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon and tells us that Jesus had sisters who lived there in Nazareth. In fact, many of the people in that very synagogue may have been related to Jesus in some way if it was anything like most small communities. This would explain the comment “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own house.” Except for Joseph and Mary, the Bible paints a pathetic picture of the disbelief of Jesus’ own family until after His death. This attitude changed once Jesus was resurrected. In fact, Jesus’ brother James became a well-known leader in the early church and referred to himself as the servant of Jesus. This transformation is a lesson of hope for us today. When family members refuse to believe in Jesus, we should never despair. Instead, we must continue to pray for them and remember that Jesus was faced with the same situation but was able to turn that disbelief into devoted service. God can accomplish the same miracle in our own families.
There are only two places in scripture where it says that Jesus marveled at something. One was the faith of a foreigner in Luke 7:9 and the other was the unbelief of Jesus’ family and neighbors in this passage. We are told here that Jesus could not do any miracles in Nazareth, except for healing a few sick people. The idea that healing a few people is a negative rather than a wondrous accomplishment indicates the great quantities of miracles that Jesus performed daily. Jesus had a proven track record of working signs and wonders, so why were the numbers of miracles in Nazareth so limited? Did the people’s lack of faith inhibit Jesus’ ability to heal, or was it simply that no one brought their demon-possessed or crippled relatives to Him to be cured? God operates within the principle of never coercing people to join with Him. Jesus’ ethical nature would not allow Him to force healing on someone who was unwilling. Thus, one reason why faith is necessary for healing is that it demonstrates our willingness to allow Jesus to change us. God will only work in us to transform our lives to the depth that we let Him. This is not because God does not have the power to manipulate or intimidate us, but because His loving character rejects the idea of using compulsion in His relationships with His people, and that refusal to coerce includes healing us against our will. Our faith is the affirmative that gives permission for God to work miracles in us. Whether the limitation that day in Nazareth was because the lack of faith was a spiritual obstruction or because sick people simply refused to physically approach Jesus, there must have been great disappointment in Jesus’ loving heart that He could provide hope and healing to so few.
Even today, Jesus must often frequently marvel at the unbelief among people who claim to be part of His church. Our prayer should be that we never inspire amazement in God because of our faithless dead religion. Maybe, so few miracles happen in many congregations because of the spirit of criticism and the lack of trust in God that is frequently present in the lives of church members. When Christians commit their lives to living for and through their Savior, the Holy Spirit can perform wondrous acts, but God’s actions can also be limited through the disobedience and faithlessness of His followers. Let us pray that we only amaze God by our trust in Him and never because of our skeptical spirit.
DAY 3–Remember to pray before you begin.
Mark 6:7-13 Training for Mission
He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse, but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter into a house, stay there until you depart from there. Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, as you depart from there, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony against them. Assuredly, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!” They went out and preached that people should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed many with oil who were sick, and healed them.
This experience seems to have been a kind of graduation ceremony for the twelve disciples. They had been apprenticing with Jesus for quite some time, and now they were being sent out on their own without their Master. The disciples would be given the power from Jesus to heal and cast out demons, and then they would be sent out to minister to strangers with only the support of one other disciple.
When Jesus called them together for this special ceremony, the twelve must have sensed that something momentous was about to occur, but they were probably shocked when Jesus informed them that He was dispatching them as His emissaries who would accomplish the same astounding miracles and signs that He had been performing. Then, Jesus did something that gave each man supernatural power and informed them that their message was to exhort people to repent and turn away from sin in order to follow God. The Twelve would back up their message by healing with the use of anointing oil and casting out demons. There would be no material profit gained from their activities and no resources taken along to provide security. Instead, they would rely upon the hospitality of strangers for their immediate necessities of food and shelter.
This was also a kind of practicum or internship. In sending out the twelve, Jesus was preparing all of them for their later positions as apostles. He was letting them learn the wonder of supporting those who needed their help and how to depend on God alone for sustenance rather than trusting in their own preparations. In teaching them that they could survive without money and supplies, Jesus was demonstrating that not only was it possible to travel and be ministers of God with no visible support, but also that they would be successful in serving God in this way. The same lesson is essential for us today. We must always remember that our only security is in God, not in money or a house or a job or material objects or even in ourselves.
In the same way that Jesus warned the disciples that people would sometimes refuse to listen, we also will frequently be snubbed when we pass on Jesus’ messages to others. This rejection should not discourage us; like the disciples, we are to shake off the dust. This was a symbol of judgment against a rebellious town, but it was also a way for the Twelve to let go of any negative feelings and to confidently stride forward to their next objective. The physical process of performing this action would produce a cathartic effect in a person. All too often, Satan tries to taunt us with shame and guilt when we fail. Rather than to allow him to diminish our confidence, maybe we should all shake the dust off a little more often. When apparent defeats dog our path, we need to figuratively (and maybe literally) shake off the dust and trust that God not only knew that the failure was coming but also that He will provide what we need as we continue our progress forward.
This passage provides several insights into the behavior of the God that we serve. First of all, the apostles’ experience demonstrates that God is a delegator. He distributes jobs that He could perform efficiently by Himself to weak, fallible human beings. In other words, God wants to work with us as a team rather than have us act as passive bystanders. These verses also demonstrate that God does not send people out empty-handed even though there might be the appearance of a lack of preparation. He wants us to understand that the only resource that we truly need is having Him accompanying us on the journey. With the Spirit as our partner, it is not necessary to bring material necessities. They will be provided, as needed. We can do without money and food, if necessary, but we can never survive without God. In this passage, God is attempting to teach His followers that we can trust Him to supply our daily bread. That kind of faith is difficult to retain, but He is patient in helping us to learn and relearn and relearn this lesson. Without Him, there is no hope. With Him, there is no unfulfilled need.