Ready to Surrender

Lately I’ve been reading through the book of Mark during my morning quiet times. It always happens that you can read over a part of scripture a few times in your life without thinking too much of it until the Holy Spirit reveals something so profound that you wonder how you ever missed it in the first place. I’ve been stuck on this passage over the past few days alone and I’m still not done learning from it.

Mark 5: 21-43 is entitled “Jesus raises a dead girl and heals a sick woman”

First off, Jesus is barely stepping off the boat when this large multitude runs up to him. Like how did Jesus not become overwhelmed with so many people? In this multitude is a man named Jairus who happens to be a synagogue leader. Now a synagogue leader running to Jesus in itself stopped me in my tracks. This man lived his life in religion, following rules and regulations. Most religious leaders didn’t (and don’t) care much for Jesus and actually saw him as a threat to everything they knew. Messiah was supposed to be a strong military leader who set his people free, not one who ran with a multitude of society's outcasts. Yet here is this religious man running to Jesus and “fell at his feet” as soon as he saw Him. The man’s request? That Jesus would come into his house to heal his dying daughter. This man abandoned all religion to finally surrender to Jesus, the ultimate authority.

Along the way to Jairus’ house we are introduced to a woman with a problem of bleeding. In scripture we learn that this woman “suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.” This woman went through a great deal of seeking healing from the world. No doctor or medicine could cure her and in fact made her condition worse. In Jewish law, a woman in this condition would be considered unclean and would have to seclude herself from others. Yet here she was, risking everything to be in the multitude close to Jesus.She surrendered the world’s diagnosis of being incurable and of the rules of the law that told her she did not belong. So in one brave move, she stretched out her hands to touch the tassels of Jesus “and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”

Two very different people from very different backgrounds were only able to come to the feet of Jesus once they surrendered all that they knew.

The story doesn’t end there. At different moments, Jesus comforts each at their lowest moments. Jesus stops the crowd and makes sure that this woman knows she is seen by Jesus not just as another in the crowd but she is seen as his child. “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” Then the unthinkable happens to Jairus, one of his servants meets him with the news that his daughter has passed away. Before another word is even spoken, Jesus immediately says to Jairus “Don’t be afraid, just believe.” Jesus isn’t an impersonal God who is just there to perform signs and wonders and leaves. No dear friend, He is one who comforts us and sees us when the world tells us that our situation is beyond hope. He is “El Roi” the God who sees us.

Am I Giving My All To The One Who Gaves His All For Me?

During my time serving Him, I have experienced this first hand. While in the middle of outreach I felt myself running on fumes and wondering if God was even near. I was frustrated and holding onto a spirit of self-pity when He sent His assurance in a way that only He can. We were serving a youth group in Georgia when one of the young adults asked my leader, “this is random but do you happen to have anyone named Christina on your team?” After being pointed out,this woman who I’ve never met before walked up to me and began to share how God had given her a word for me. She began to speak in detail about things that I had only told God about and then in the most comforting voice she said,“God sees you.” That evening I surrendered all that I was holding onto and for the first time in a while I was able to rest in the unexplainable peace of Jesus.

He hears your cries and sees the struggles that you are going through. He wants to heal you from the inside out and is eager to replace all the world’s lies with His truth. The only question is: are you ready to surrender?