A Father’s Longing

A Father’s Longing

Jairus’s Daughter

Read: Mark 5:21-24

As she felt the anesthesia begin to relax her body, Tonya’s thoughts focused on her father rather than on worries about the success of the surgery. Her dad had been one of her best encouragers over the past few years, driving her to doctors’ appointments and later to dialysis treatments. When her doctor stressed the urgent need for a kidney transplant, he immediately volunteered. Tonya questioned the wisdom of his giving up a kidney at his age, but he was adamant. Although her cousin was also a good match for the donation, Tonya’s dad insisted that his kidney be used. He wanted to be the one involved in his daughter’s healing.

Today’s Bible passage tells of a twelve-year-old girl whose father longed for her healing. Jairus was a local synagogue leader whose only daughter had become deathly ill. Falling at Jesus’ feet, the distraught father earnestly begged Jesus to come and lay his hands on her so she wouldn’t die. The little girl lay at home on her sickbed, unaware of the depths of her father’s grief or his desperate efforts to find a way to save her life. She had no idea that her father’s faith would soon lead to her receiving a touch from the very hands of God.

Each one of us has a Father who earnestly longs for our healing. Jesus willingly died so that we could be healed of the fatal disease of sin that leads to eternal separation from God. God further desires to heal us from anything that keeps us from fully enjoying the life he intended for us: wounds from our past, harmful habits, and sinful tendencies that prevent us from being spiritually healthy. If only we knew the depths of our Father’s grief over the things that hurt us, we would reach out for his healing touch.

O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed.

Jeremiah 17:14