Lent Day 21: Jairus

Pause

Are there situations in your life or the lives of those you love that feel hopeless? Lift those to God today and ask Him to prepare your heart for what He has to teach you.

Read & Journal

Read Luke 8:40-56. Focus on Jesus’ interactions with Jairus and his daughter. Ask yourself:

• What do you learn about Jesus’ character from His interactions with Jairus and Jairus’ daughter? About His mission or purpose?

• How do you see Jesus entering into brokenness in today’s passage?

• Consider Jesus’ interaction with the mourners at Jairus’ house. What do you learn about Jesus in this interaction? About the mourners?

• How have you seen God at work in “hopeless” situations in your life in the past? How can you see Him at work now?

Ponder

As a leader of the local synagogue, Jairus would have been well respected among the Jewish people. To ask Jesus anything would have been out of the ordinary—but for Jairus to come and ask Jesus to heal his daughter was a humble act of faith. Jairus’ daughter was dying, and Jairus was desperate. Jairus trusted that this itinerant teacher from Nazareth had the power to change the outcome. But before Jesus can do anything about Jairus’ request, messengers arrive with news. The worst has happened. Jairus’ daughter is dead.

Nothing can be done now, right?

Not according to Jesus. He says the child can be healed and heads to Jairus’ house. When Jesus proclaims that Jairus’ daughter isn’t dead but merely sleeping, the gathered mourners laugh. These people were well acquainted with death. The child was dead, and they knew it. To them, Jesus was a foolish man to not recognize that. But the worst had happened, and Jesus hadn’t turned away. Instead, He walked into the worst with Jairus, and He helped Jairus and the others gathered to see a new reality.

You’ve probably experienced a few worst moments in your life. The death of a loved one. The death of a dream. Rejection. The end of a relationship, a marriage, a career you loved. A diagnosis, the long goodbye of dementia, and the sudden heartbreak of an accident or suicide. We live in a world where the worst happens—but like Jairus, we need to remember that Jesus doesn’t leave us alone in the darkest places of our lives. He walks in and often where we only see death and destruction, He sees a new reality, a greater truth, an opportunity to know more of Him.

In those hopeless situations—in the worst moments—don’t turn away like the mourners at Jairus’ house, convinced you already know how the story ends and what God can or can’t do. Simply trust the One who walks into the darkest moments with you and seek to live out His instructions to Jairus: “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.”

It doesn’t mean that He always answers our prayers the way we want Him to or that the situation gets instantly easier. But it does help us to see that all of these situations have a greater purpose—and more than that, we are not alone in them.