18 While He spoke these things to
them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just
died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” 19 So
Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.
23 When Jesus came into the ruler’s
house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, 24 He
said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And
they ridiculed Him. 25 But when the crowd was put
outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.
12 And when He came near the gate of
the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother;
and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. 13 When
the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not
weep.” 14 Then He came and touched the open coffin,
and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young
man, I say to you, arise.” 15 So he who was
dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.
Devotional excerpt from the Bible Recap:
What was your God shot today? Mine was in the necessity of Jesus taking action. A few times in today’s reading, Jesus said things like, “your faith has healed you.” But there’s far more going on there than meets the eye. This happens a lot with Jesus. There are often many layers to what He’s communicating. In order to see what He’s communicating, not just what He’s saying, we have to take a look at the whole story He’s telling us. If their faith alone had healed them, Jesus wouldn’t have had to show up or take any action at all, because their action of belief would have been sufficient. But it wasn’t. Jesus is necessary. He has to make it happen. And beyond that, we’ve seen that He heals people who don’t even have faith at all, like the dead man and the dead girl (reference bible passages). He heals people who don’t ask for it. He heals people who don’t ask for it but who do have faith, and people who do ask for it but who don’t have faith. There is no formula. This is not a combination lock. It’s a relationship with a compassionate God. Our faith on its own cannot heal, no matter how strong it is. But the object of our faith can. Faith in my faith is impotent idolatry. And frankly, I don’t know the future; I don’t know what is best; I don’t know what His plan is. So if I’m trying to mantra my way into healing, that sounds a lot more like demanding something instead of asking for it. And Jesus says, “ask”, not “demand.” Demanding is setting ourselves up to be the god who calls the shots. But God-honoring faith has a goal. It terminates on an object. And it’s not about what we’re believing for; it’s who we’re believing in. Faith in my faith is foolish, but faith in my God who is powerful and loves me is worship. He’s where the joy is.