Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-03-08

! Mark 5sz1-4o.
! Golden Text. 'Himseyf took our in
9;17.
When Jesus got back to Capernaum
he had an unexpected visit. 1t was
from the ruler of the synagogue, jail
rus by name. Under other clrcum-
stances Jairus would have been prob
ABLY the last man to have called upon
| Him. but Jairus was in trouble. His
only daughter, a little girl of twelve
years of age, was desperately i'll. There
! could be no doubt but that every means
| at their disposal had been tried, but
! these had been without avail and she
was dying. The end could not be very
! far off, so Jairus pocketed his pride
| and went to Jesus, fell at His feet
| and besought Him greatly to come ana
! lay His hands upon her that she might
! be healed. He believed enough Tor
Jesus to respond. Jairus had probably
seen His work of healing the demoniac
| in the synagogue, and he certainly
knew of the many miracles of healing
which He had performed there in Ca
pernaum 1t was a hard pill for him
| to swallow, but he pocketed his pride
! because he loved the little girl.
His faith was not perfect by any
means but Jesus never declines TO
come where He is asked, even If tina
slightest of faith is exercised. And so
He went with him, followed by an enor-
nous crowd who expected that another
miracle of healing would be performed
and wanted to see some wonder per-
formed.
The crowd was an obstacle; they
moved slowly as crowds do, and it
must have been very trying to Jairus
who was impatient to have Jesus at
his daughters bedside at the earliest
possible moment.
On the way an incident occurred
which consumed some time. There was
a woman who had been sick for twelve
years She had spent everything she
had on physicians and had not only
found no Improvement, but had really
grown worse. Her ailmert was one
which made her very presence in the
crowd obnoxious to the Jews; for had
they known she was present, they
would have all felt defiled. Drained OF
her resources and strength, she felt
that she would turn to Jesus as last
resort She believed that He could
help her but if He could not, there was
no hope for her. She felt if she could
but touch the hem of His garment she
would be healed; and so trembling and
retiring, she pressed toward Him in
the CTOWQ ana IOuCH6u the I<aSoSl VI
His outer coat. Immediately the issue
of blood was stayed and she began to
feel new strength course through her
veins.
Jesus stopped at once and asked who touched
Him. He was sensitive to the need Of someone
in the kingdom. and that there had gone from
Him the strength to supply that need. Peter
replied rather petulently, The crowd is
pressing about you and you ask, Who touched
you? " The question is almost absurd But He
said, II perceive that strength has gone out
from me- And then He made her show her
self before the crowd and make public pro
fession of her needs and what she had done
This was strange in Him because He had no
desire to claim notoriety for what He had done.
Heretofore He had wanted everything hidden;
why do you suppose He wanted this miracle
made public? 1t would have seemed that His
desire for lack of notoriety and her desire for
privacy would have prompted Him to have
acted otherwise; but there Jesus made this
trembling, weak and retiring woman make
public profession of the most personal matter
His reason was obvious though. He wanted TO
do more for her than merely heal her bodily
disease; and when she made a clean breast OF
it He said to her, Daughter, 60, in peace thy
faith hath saved thee" She is the only woman
in all the scripture to whom Jesus spoke using
anything more than a formal manner Of speech.
1t was worth it all. l have but little doubt
but that she was one of those women who fol
lowed Him to the cross itself.
Note that IL was here faith and not her feel
ing that had saved her. She felt well, but that
was not what saved her. 1t was faith before
that. Gods order is faith, fact, feeling. The
DEVILS order is feeling. faith and fact. Our
salvation does not depend upon our feeling but
upon the Interchangeable Word of God. If you
have any doubt of your own salvation, read
John 3:16: John 1924; John 6:3T; John 1886;
Rom. 1O:01O and many others which might
be mentioned. When the devil tempts you
fling one Of these in his face.
The Grace of Interruptions
All Of this delay must have been very trying
to Jairus. When he left his daughters bed
side she was all but breathing her last. He
hurried to Jesus and with great excitement be
sought Him to come and heal her. He thought
is necessary for Him to put His hands upon
Her. While they waiting, a messenger
came from his house to say that the daughter
was dead and there was no need to trouble the
Master any further. II was a severe blow to
Jairus. No doubt he thought that IL this woman
had not come up and interrupted Him, Jesus
would have reached there in time. but Jesus
caImed his fears saying. Fear not; only be-
lieve," and then went on. When they reached
the house the throng that with Him was
increased by the professional mourners about
the place weeping and waiting. All these
disciples. the father and mother and went into
the room where the dead child lay. Taking |
her by the hand He said, "My little lamb, !
get up and Immediately vigorous life re-
turned. he gave her over to her father and
mother who were so overjoyed that they forgot |
everything else until Jesus reminded them she
needed something TO eat. No detail escaped
And so the interruption made possible sweet |
or music in Jairus' life. He learned some ]
thing which he could not have learned without /
il. 1t is the series Of interruptions here and
them the notes would be one monotone. So In /
life, God allows these interruptions to come |
1t is by this means He is making music in your |
life.