Mark 5:34, 35  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” 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?” (NIV)

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My bride and I got to spend the evening with our two local granddaughters last night. Their parents went out on a date, which we were pretty happy about. That gave us the opportunity to take the girls to dinner and then spend the rest of the evening playing. 

We dined at Salsa Limón. We spilled a cup of water, we spilled salsa, and we enjoyed tasty morsels. Walking to the car after our meal, we reflected that the laughter and conversation of those moments together in the restaurant sounded a lot like heaven. 

We laughed on the way home. We laughed as we played in the backyard. We laughed as we played in the house. Is there anything more delightful than the squeals of little girls at play? 

When Baby Sister went to bed, we sat down to watch what the older sister called “a little TV.” We watched The Tigger Movie. My bride was on one side, and I was on the other, as our granddaughter placed her tiny hand on top of mine and snuggled up tight. At one point, she put her arms around both of our necks and pulled us in tight. Then she said it was a little too tight, and created a wee bit of separation on each side.

Little girls have a way of wrapping their grandparents around their little fingers. I do not mind this at all. These girl’s mom did the same thing to me as a dad. My favorite roles in life are husband, father, and grandfather. I love my family. 

A man named Jairus no doubt loved his family as well. His little girl was badly ill, so badly ill that she was near death. He had heard about Jesus’ miracles, and he desperately wanted a miracle for his daughter. 

Verse 21 says that Jesus was immediately surrounded by a large crowd as he got out of the boat. People tend to crowd around you when you heal the sick and raise the dead. 

Jairus fought through the crowd to get to Jesus. Verse 22 tells us, “When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.” Every dad who has ever desperately sought relief for one dear to him understands. 

Verse 23 says, “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.'” There is a tender urgency in those words. They convey so much more than they actually say. 

Verse 24 begins so simply: “So Jesus went with him.” 

Jesus always accompanies us in our urgencies and emergencies. 

This verse also tells us that the circumstances haven’t changed. “A large crowd followed and pressed around him.” A father in a hurry, a daughter near death, and a crowd where each member wanted Jesus to do something for them. 

As Jairus had fought through the crowd, so someone else fought through the crowd to get to Jesus. A woman who had endured 12 years of serious illness, the kind of illness that caused her to be considered unclean and unwelcome in any crowd, made it her mission to just touch his clothes. If she could do that, she knew she would be healed. 

And she was. 

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

Jesus was not concerned about someone wrinkling his wardrobe. 

His disciples pointed out that a large crowd was pressing in. Everyone was trying to get a piece of Jesus. How in the world could he ask who had touched him? 

A little girl’s hand intentionally placed on her grandfather’s is very different from brushing against someone in a crowd. Intention and affection flow from one and not the other. 

Jesus has stopped the procession. Jairus had urgently sought him out, urgently wanted him to come with him, and urgently wanted him to get moving again, but Jesus stopped the procession. 

Jesus wasn’t moving until the person who was healed identified herself. Verse 33 says, “Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.” 

When Jesus stops the crowd and demands an answer, it sends shockwaves through everyone gathered. No one more so than this woman on her knees at his feet. Pay close attention to what Jesus said to her. 

“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

If Jairus was lost in the moment and had somehow forgotten his errand, this statement from Jesus to the person delaying him from reaching his daughter certainly reminded him of the urgency of the matter. 

Jesus called this woman at his feet “daughter.” It was a term of tender affection. It let her know that she was indeed dear to him. She, who may not have had a loving familial moment in years, was embraced by the grace of our Savior. She was healed. She was whole. She was freed from her suffering. 

Jairus was not. His daughter was not. And then things took a turn for the worse. 

Verse 35 says, “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?’” 

These two sentences sound more like an accusation than information. Because Jesus delayed with this woman, he wasn’t able to get to Jairus’ daughter before she died. 

There are moments in life where we are frozen in place. Jairus couldn’t move forward, and he couldn’t move back. Time stood still. If only he could go back a few moments. If only he could have hurried Jesus along. 

Verse 36 says, “Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, ‘Don’t be afraid, just believe.'” 

Jesus and Jairus, along with Peter, James, and John, arrived at the house to find a crowd in commotion. People were crying and wailing loudly. While everyone was losing their mind, Jesus kept his peace and purpose. He spoke into the confusion with these words: “The child is not dead, but asleep.” 

Verse 40 says, “But they laughed at him.” They knew sleep. They also knew death. One is like the other in name only. One you get up from; the other you don’t. 

Many people laugh at Jesus. Many people laugh at us because of our relationship with Jesus. The next few words in this verse ought to bring us encouragement. Jesus, “put them all out.” 

Jesus gave his full attention to the matter at hand, not to those who were causing confusion, who were derisive toward him. They laughed at Jesus while a mother and father wept at the kind of loss no parent should ever have to deal with. 

Verse 41 says, “He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha koum!,’ which means ‘Little girl.’ I say to you, get up!” 

Mark here employs one of his favorite words in this book. He says, “Immediately.” Verse 42 more fully says, “Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around. (She was 12 years old). At this they were completely astonished.” 

A woman had a bleeding disorder for 12 years, and she was healed. Jesus called her Daughter. 

Jairus’ daughter, who was 12 years old, had died, and now lived again. 

While everyone was just standing there, Jesus told them to give her something to eat. It was time to find some sweets and celebrate like it was a birthday party. 

Heavenly laughter filled a home that had so recently overflowed with tears. 

Mark chapter 1, verse 1 says this: the beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God . . . .” 

Acts 1:1 says, “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach . . . .” 

Jesus continues doing what he started. He will also finish what he started. 

Jesus began undoing the pains and problems of this world. Heaven will not be you and me sitting on clouds, strumming harp strings, and singing hymns. There will be songs. There will be the best music ever. More importantly, there will be a world the way it was always intended to be, and better than it ever was. All the brokenness will be healed. All the pain and problems of the past will be washed away. 

That’s worth fighting through the crowd to get to Jesus. That’s worth taking Jesus to the dying. That’s worth elbowing your way through derisive laughter. That’s worth living with your eyes set on a new horizon.

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I will laugh with all of heaven in the joy that Jesus gives. 

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Our Father, thank you that laughter seems to be the language of heaven. Thank you for the little bit of heaven we get to enjoy on this earth. Thank you for the renewal of all things that’s coming our way. Fit our hearts now for that timeless day. Amen.