Desperately Seeking Jesus

The Bulletin, 4/30/25

One of the most amazing accounts of Jesus’ power occurs in Mark 5:21-43. There a man named Jairus came to Jesus on behalf of his sick daughter. But while Jesus followed Jairus home, a woman in the crowd with a health issue that had plagued her for over a decade took her chance. She had so much faith that she knew she only needed to touch Jesus’ robe to be healed.

But, during this pause in the journey, Jairus’ daughter died. Still, Jesus said, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe” (5:36) and continued to Jairus’ house, where He raised the little girl from the dead. Power over death? Power so strong He could heal if someone so much as touched His robe in faith? It’s no wonder people continued to swarm Jesus everywhere they went—they knew real power when they saw it.

While we can’t go to Jesus for miraculous healing, we still have the powerful Savior who cares for us and can do far beyond what we can imagine. Why, then, do we sometimes forget to pray? Why do we worry and try everything but casting our cares on Him?

Sometimes we are like the woman, realizing that every other avenue has failed at that point we must remember that if we can just get near Jesus it will all be okay. If she could have started with Jesus before all those years of struggling, it seems reasonable to believe she would have. But her suffering led her to him at the right time. For us, Jesus is always near. Any time is the right time to turn to Him for help.

Other times we are like Jairus. He went to Jesus in faith and had the Messiah walking with him to address his problem. And yet, along the way, things took an unexpected twist. The news of his daughter’s death was surely not what Jairus wanted to hear, but we don’t see him panic. Jesus reassured him, and he kept on believing.

We might be steadfast in prayer, trusting God’s ability to carry us through life’s challenges, and yet still meet trials and seemingly unanswered prayers. Like Jairus, we must not fear, but continue in faith.

Jesus is powerful to save—why wouldn’t we go to Him for our every need?