We could list hundreds of things we place our faith in each week. Everything from the chair we sit on, to the car we drive, to the close friendship we have with another, to our employer. We have faith our chair won’t collapse when we sit on it. We have faith our car will start in the morning. We have faith our friends care about us. We have faith our employer will treat us fairly and keep paying our salary.
Faith is part of everyday life.
In Mark 5:21-43 we meet Jairus, a man who expresses his faith in two moments as he approaches Jesus. He makes us asks the question: what does it look like to put our faith in Jesus?
Following his restoration of a man in chaos, Jesus has crossed back over the Sea of Galilee, seemingly doing a lake tour with his entourage of disciples. Waiting in the crowd is Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, who approaches Jesus seeking help for his sick daughter who is close to death.
As a leader in the synagogue, Jairus held an important position in the religious life of his community. He more than likely attained it because he was wealthy, and he would have been some mix between a church secretary and an executive pastor, organising the synagogue so the rabbis could conduct their ministry. Unlike other religious leaders we read about in the gospels, Jairus seems open and trusting of Jesus.
Who of us wouldn’t do what this father is doing? His young daughter is at death’s door. He may have tried every other medical option to help her recover. He has no doubt heard of Jesus, and given the seriousness of her illness he pleads with him to come and heal her.
Jairus is a reminder that it takes faith to approach Jesus, to approach God. He comes believing Jesus can do for his daughter what he has done for others: heal her and restore her.
Is approaching God in this way something you do?
Every time we come to the Father in prayer, every time we reach out to Jesus and ask for his help, every time we pray for the Spirit to move in our lives, in our circumstances, and in those around us, we are approaching in faith.
We don’t know the answers to the prayers and requests we bring to God, but in faith we trust they are heard. In faith we trust they will be answered according to the will of God and for his good purposes. Sometimes that is hard to hold onto when the reality of our broken world plays out in front of us, as bodies fail, relationships break down, and circumstances seem to be against us.
Like Jairus, we can approach God, coming to him in praise or to plead. In fact, Jesus wants us to. His words in Matthew 11:28 to “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” are a great comfort and assurance. Paul tells us that “through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Ephesians 2:18). And John writes in 1 John 5:14-15,
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.
How great is it that we can approach God in faith!
The reformer John Calvin called prayer “the chief exercise of faith…just as faith is born of the gospel, so through it our hearts are trained to call upon God’s name” (Institutes 3.XX.1).
From Jairus, the lesson for us is to have faith to approach God for your needs.
King Jesus: A Series in Mark’s Gospel
Part 1: King Jesus: The Beginning of The Good News
Part 2: King Jesus: The Messenger
Part 3: King Jesus: The Love of God the Father
Part 4: King Jesus: The Kingdom of God
Part 5: King Jesus: The Calling of The Ordinary
Part 6: King Jesus: Place and Purpose
Part 7: King Jesus: The Authority Behind The Words
Part 8: King Jesus: The Power of Jesus
Part 9: King Jesus: The Leper
Part 10: King Jesus: The Paralytic
Part 11: King Jesus: Restoration From Chaos
Part 12: King Jesus: Faith to Approach
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