MY SPIN
Jesus left the region and traveled back across the lake. On the other side, another large crowd gathered around him. A synagogue leader named Jairus stepped forward when he saw Jesus. He got down on his knees in front of him and began to beg. “My daughter is dying. Please, come lay hands on her so that she'll get better and live. ”
Jesus went with Jairus.
As they moved along a huge mob followed Jesus, crowding in to be close to him. A certain woman in the crowd had been hemorrhaging blood for twelve years. The physicians hadn't been able to help her. To the contrary, in spite of spending every last penny she had on doctors, she continued to deteriorate. But because she had heard how Jesus was healing people, she mustered enough energy to join the crowd -- hoping that if she could get close enough to just touch his robe she'd be healed. So she maneuvered her way up behind Jesus, reached out and touched his clothes. Immediately the bleeding stopped and the woman could tell that she was healed.
Jesus could also tell that something had happened. He sensed that some power had gone out from him. So, he did a 180 and exclaimed to the crowd, "Someone touched my robe. Who was it?"
His apprentices responded in a slightly snarky tone, "Jesus! Can't you see that there are hundreds of people pressing in against you? Yet you want to know who TOUCHED you?"
Jesus scanned the crowd, looking intently at each person. Then, finally, the clearly shaking but healed woman, stepped forward. She dropped to the ground in front on Jesus and explained what she had done and why she had done it.
He responded with the compassion of a father whose own child had been healed. "Daughter, the reason you're now healed is that you had faith in me. Go in peace!"
Suddenly, messengers from the synagogue leader's house jogged up and interrupted. "Jairus, your daughter has passed. No need to trouble the teacher any more."
"Wait," said Jesus, who had overheard the report. "Trust me. You don't have anything to fear."
Jesus dismissed everyone except Peter, James, and Jame's brother, John. When Jesus and this small group of apprentices arrived at Jairus' house things were in a state of loud chaos. People were wailing and crying. Jesus stepped into the house and immediately took command of the situation. "What's with all this commotion? And why are you crying? She's not dead, you know. She's just asleep."
They all started to laugh at him so he threw them out of the house.
Then, Jesus took the girl's parents and his three apprentices with him to the room where the child was stretched out. Taking her hand he started talking to her; speaking the local dialect he said, "Dear girl, get up!"
And suddenly she jumped up and began to walk around the room. When all of this happened the girl was on the cusp of womanhood -- 12-years-old. Coincidentally the same number of years that the woman healed of the hemorrhaging had suffered bleeding?
When the people in the crowd saw the young woman walking about they went into collective shock. Jesus gave them strict orders to keep their mouths shut -- that no one should know what he had done. Then he instructed them to feed her.
THE COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE
21 Jesus crossed the lake again, and on the other side a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. 22 Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, came forward. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded with him, “My daughter is about to die. Please, come and place your hands on her so that she can be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.
A swarm of people were following Jesus, crowding in on him. 25 A woman was there who had been bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a lot under the care of many doctors, and had spent everything she had without getting any better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 Because she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes. 28 She was thinking, If I can just touch his clothes, I’ll be healed. 29 Her bleeding stopped immediately, and she sensed in her body that her illness had been healed.
30 At that very moment, Jesus recognized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 His disciples said to him, “Don’t you see the crowd pressing against you? Yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But Jesus looked around carefully to see who had done it.
33 The woman, full of fear and trembling, came forward. Knowing what had happened to her, she fell down in front of Jesus and told him the whole truth. 34 He responded, “Daughter, your faith has healed you; go in peace, healed from your disease.”
35 While Jesus was still speaking with her, messengers came from the synagogue leader’s house, saying to Jairus, “Your daughter has died. Why bother the teacher any longer?”
36 But Jesus overheard their report and said to the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid; just keep trusting.” 37 He didn’t allow anyone to follow him except Peter, James, and John, James’ brother. 38 They came to the synagogue leader’s house, and he saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “What’s all this commotion and crying about? The child isn’t dead. She’s only sleeping.” 40 They laughed at him, but he threw them all out. Then, taking the child’s parents and his disciples with him, he went to the room where the child was. 41 Taking her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Young woman, get up.” 42 Suddenly the young woman got up and began to walk around. She was 12 years old. They were shocked! 43 He gave them strict orders that no one should know what had happened. Then he told them to give her something to eat.
