New Year's Hope

Once there was a man named Jairus. This is his story and this is my story, and maybe this is yours also.

Jairus had a little girl. She had beautiful brown eyes and dark hair and dimples. Every day when he came home from work she would come running down the path and jump into his arms. She would throw her soft arms around his neck and press a sloppy wet kiss onto his cheek and shout “I missed you Daddy!”

Well, one day she didn’t come. One day stretched to many days that he walked up that path alone only to find her lying in her bed in a dark corner of her room barely breathing. He had to do something but he felt completely helpless. “I’ve got to find Jesus,” he thought. “Maybe Jesus will heal her.” He knew Jesus could heal… but would He?

Jairus could barely move, squished like a pancake in the crowd. All those people with all their needs. Even though he was a leader in the church, he felt small and insignificant. Would Jesus come with him? He wasn’t even sure if he believed. But where else could he turn?

Finally, with Jesus before him “he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly saying “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 5:22,23)

Jesus agreed to come and Jairus leaped to his feet. Hope exploded within him and now he knew he believed. But then--- nothing. Jesus stood still. “Doesn’t he know my daughter is dying?! Why is He not moving?” Jairus watched, his hope deflating, while Jesus stopped to give all His attention to someone else. Jairus watched her be spoken to and healed and loved by Jesus while he himself was crawling out of his skin, feeling every painful second ticking by. And while he waited the voices came—“Give up your hope. Don’t believe anymore. Jesus is too busy to care about you. She is dead.”

But Jesus heard those voices too and He spoke louder. “Do not fear, only believe.”(Mark 5:36)

And then… He came! And this is where it gets exciting so I will let Jairus tell you the story from here.

Yes, He came! My house was full of mourners. Everywhere I looked people were crying and grieving and speaking out that she had died and that there was no hope. My heart was sinking, but Jesus reached out His hand and lifted me up and said with such authority that I believed Him… “The child is not dead but sleeping.”(Mark 5:39) I trusted Him. In the face of impossibility I trusted Him, because I knew that He was no ordinary man—He held the power to heal and… it was His eyes. They overflowed with a compassion I’d never seen anywhere.

Other people laughed and refused to believe. All they saw was death. But Jesus knew the truth and He saw life in my daughter. Jesus pulled me away from them and took me in where I would see the miracle. And then Jesus took her by the hand, my baby girl, and said to her “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”(Mark 5:41) And she arose! Just like that the dying was over. She was completely healed and walking, then running and jumping again into my arms! I laughed and wept and spun her around. And then… words cannot express my joy. I fell at His feet. 

“Jesus I love You. How can You be so good? Thank-you!"

I am Jairus and this is what happened to me, but it was written down for you.

As we begin the new year, I pray that this story, which was written down in scripture for us, will encourage you as it has me. When voices of fear or grief attempt to deflate our hope, I pray that we will hear Jesus’ voice louder. “Do not fear, only believe… The child is not dead but sleeping.”(Mark 5:36,39)

This year we can rejoice because we have this great Hope, the person of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our children’s Savior. So Happy New Year to you all!