Asking the Seemingly Impossible? Mark 5:21-34

Text: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?”

Matthew 7:11.

Good morning, impossibly needy Christian!  You believe, and have perhaps been genuinely saved and on the road serving Christ for many years.  Yet, you have a very profound need in your life, in the life of a child; or a family member perhaps, that seems just too impossible to be met.  This need is so seemingly impossibly great that you are wary of even praying to the Lord God for it to be met.  If this describes you, beloved Christian Reader – read on, for the Word of the Lord has good news and encouragement for you today.

“Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for everyone that asketh receiveth; and he/she that seeketh findeth; and to him/her that knocketh it shall be opened.”  (Matthew 7:7-8)

In our March in Mark’s Gospel this morning, we find the case of a man called Jairus, asking the Lord Jesus Christ to do what was seemingly impossible.  Jairus was a ruler of the local synagogue, with religious authority in that location – but he was powerless to do anything for his seriously sick daughter, who was by then lying, “…at the point of death…”  (V.23)

Jairus did what we believers all must do in such seemingly impossible cases – he did the very best thing he could do – he took his unsolvable problem to the Lord God in prayer, and beseeched Him to do the impossible: “…I pray Thee, come and lay Thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.” (V.23)

Fervent prayer to the Lord God should be the FIRST thing we believers do, when all else seems humanly impossible!  Divine power is Sovereign and unlimited!

So often when we have brought our seemingly impossible prayer requests to God, we want a miracle to happen right away, for our human patience is at all times challenged by waiting.  However, the Lord God is a Sovereign Lord God, and always works in His own Sovereignly ordained time frame.  But the Lord will often send us HOPE and encouragements, as we wait upon Him to answer our sincere prayers.

“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart (entire essence of being): wait, I say, on the Lord.”  (Psalm 27:14)

The Gospel writer, Mark, continues on in this account of events, and reveals the fact of Christ’s encouragement of Jairus, as he journeys with Christ towards the eventual healing of his seriously ill daughter.  Jairus could well have been thinking, ‘Oh dear, this is all taking too long.  Jesus will never reach my home in time to heal my poor daughter, it seems impossible that I can receive the help I need for her.’

The Lord Jesus had agreed to go with Jairus to help his daughter, and as they travelled to Jairus’ home – “…much people followed Him, and thronged Him.”  There always seems to be hinderances placed upon Christian service, by others, and in the case of healing Jairus’ daughter, there was no exception.  Jairus must have begun to despair of ever reaching his daughter in time to save her life.

Proof of Christ’s Healing Power:  What greater encouragement could the Lord Jesus give Jairus at this time of profound anxiety about his sick daughter, than to actually show Jairus His power to heal a dear woman along the way?

This dear woman had tried for twelve full years – all the entire lifespan of Jairus’ daughter – to have physicians heal her “…issue of blood…”, without any success.  But fully believed that, by merely touching the hem of Christ’s garment as he travelled nearby – she could indeed be every whit healed.  This is true Christian faith in action!  Praise God!

“For she said, If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole.  And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.”  (V.28-29) Hallelujah!  With God, nothing shall be impossible!  (Luke 1:37)

“And He said unto her.  Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”  (V.34)

Jairus had been also renewed in hope/faith that Christ could heal his sick daughter also.

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“Let us mark, in the second place, how different are the feelings with which people draw near to Christ. We are told in these verses that “much people followed” our Lord, “and thronged him.” But we are only told of one person who “came in the press behind,” and touched Him with faith and was healed. Many followed Jesus from curiosity, and derived no benefit from Him. One, and only one, followed under a deep sense of her need, and of our Saviour’s power to relieve her, and that one received a mighty blessing.

“We see the same thing going on continually in the Church of Christ at the present day. Multitudes go to our places of worship, and fill our pews. Hundreds come up to the Lord’s table, and receive the bread and wine. But of all these worshippers and communicants, how few really obtain anything from Christ! Fashion, cus­tom, form, habit, the love of excitement, or an itching ear, are the true motives of the vast majority. There are but a few here and there who touch Christ by faith, and go home “in peace.” These may seem hard sayings. But they are unhappily too true! (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels 1816-1900)

I believe it was a much more encouraged Jairus, a Jairus granted a real boost of renewed faith, that travelled on with Christ in his journey home to heal the daughter he loved.

Thought: “Thou art coming to a King – large petitions with thee bring.”  (John Newton, 1725-1807).  Pray on, needy Christian, the Lord's healing is on its way.