I want to focus on an amazing story that tells you that you can have faith in the interruptions of life. Jesus has time for you and can handle interruptions in your life.

In my last post, I described Jesus healing people with disabilities. In this post, I want to talk about having faith in the disruptions of life.

There is an amazing story of Jesus’s power and great care for us even in interruptions of our lives. It has to do with two women and a man caught between them for different reasons. Jesus can heal people even when they think He has passed them by.

Jesus meets a man who is desperate and full of faith. Sometimes we come to Jesus out of desperation instead of faith, but He can use what little faith we have. Let’s look at on Jairus and a woman with an issue of blood.

A Powerful Testament to Have Faith in Interruptions

Both Jairus and this woman have a powerful testimony of how an interruption works for healing in their lives. Jairus gets Jesus’s attention and thinks it will work out in his favor. A woman with an issue of blood for 12 years interrupts his life.

We must remember that interruptions in life are not always interruptions. They are often moments we can minister to others if we see them as ministering moments instead of interruptions.

We are looking at stories that share the same place in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56). While it could be seen as two stories, this place in the Gospels has a few similarities that make it one-story.

A Man Goes against the Grain to Have Faith in Interruptions

We begin with a man on a mission who has a dilemma – his 12-year-old daughter is near death. Jairus is a synagogue ruler, which means he is surrounded by people who want Jesus gone. I’m sure if it wasn’t for his dire situation, Jairus would still be one of those guys.

But his daughter’s health issues make him a prime candidate in his desperation to do just about anything. Any father would. As we begin looking at his story, we see a man desperate enough to go to Jesus, the enemy.

Matthew differs from Mark and Luke. He says the synagogue ruler said his daughter has just died. The market Luke say she is at the point of death. Perhaps Matthew is making it more dramatic, but I am not sure about this. In each of the Gospels, Jairus is clearly distraught and at the end of his rope. He has no choice but to have faith Jesus can change his daughter’s situation.

A Woman Has Faith, Causing Interruptions

As Jesus goes with Jairus, Mark and Luke tell us that the crowd following Jesus pressed up against Him so that many people were touching Him. Jesus will later exclaim, “Who touched Me?”

It also gives us the reason the woman was able to come up behind Him and touch the fringe of His garments. This was the bottom of his outer garments and may have had the tassels rabbis have on their clothing.

Both this woman with an issue of blood and the daughter have the number 12 in common. This woman has suffered for 12 years and the daughter is 12 years old. Put your feet in Jairus’s shoes. You have just gotten the healing help of Jesus but time is of the essence.

She was near death when he left her side to find Jesus. The last thing he needs is for interruptions like this woman with an issue of blood. If you were in his place, how would you feel while Jesus stopped to talk to this woman? Would you have compassion for her?

This woman is healed because of her faith. She does not have a confrontation with Jesus until after she is healed. But notice that Jesus wants her to confirm that she was the one who touched Him and was healed. All this took time – time Jairus did not have. His faith was winning because of this interruption.

Matthew has the shortest account of this double healing. He has the woman being healed after Jesus says her soft I have told faith has made you well. But the other Gospels have Jesus asking, “Who touched Me?” His healing power was hers when she touched His garment. Then Jesus confronts her to make her declare her healing before others in faith.

This woman spent all her money on doctors who could not help her. I understand what she was going through. I have had neurologists and doctors tell me there is little more they can do now that I have a spinal cord injury. I have told them what this woman believed, that I was not trusting doctors to begin with. I trust in Jesus. He can do the impossible.

Jairus Has Faith in the Interruptions of His Life

Matthew does not tell us of the drama Jairus goes through. Mark and Luke tell us it was worse. While Jesus was dealing with the woman, people came to tell Jairus his daughter had died. What’s amazing about his faith in the interruptions of his life is that when Jesus said, “Do not doubt. Only believe,” that he trusted Jesus at His word.

When they get to Jairus’s house, Jesus tells the mourners she is not dead but sleeping. They laugh at him, a sign of their unbelief. That’s why Jesus does not allow them to see the miracle He does. Unbelief has no place in Jesus’s healing.

Only the girl’s parents and Jesus’s inner circle of disciples (Peter, James, and John) get to see the miracle. As the woman touched Jesus’s garments, Jesus touches the girl’s hand and tells her, “Child, arise.” That’s all it took for Jesus to raise a corpse to life! Faith is the common denominator. Jairus had faith in the interruptions of his life to trust Jesus for what he came to Him to do.

If you have faith in interruptions of your life, they may not be interruptions. They may be moments of meeting with Jesus and seeing His amazing healing in your life. Have faith like the woman and Jairus and there’s nothing Jesus can’t do for you.

Praying for Your Healing

Lord Jesus, I bring my brother and sister before Your feet. We lay ourselves on Your altar and ask You with all the faith we have to heal us of our afflictions. We know You are our only hope. In our desperation, we cry out to You. We are waiting on You. We know only You can heal us. We have heard the record of doctors, but we believe Your report. Thank You, Jesus, for healing us. In Your mighty name we ask, amen.

Up Next

We have seen incredible faith in the face of the interruptions of life. Next, we will look at how Jesus healed blind people, another favorite study of mine.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay