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A Father’s Sacrifice for his Daughter

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Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." [Mark5:22~23]

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When Jesus had been in the world, the high priests, the elders, the Pharisees who thought to believe in God really hated Jesus. At that time, many religious leaders wanted to follow Jesus secretly but it was difficult on how to meet or follow Jesus.

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Judea, where Jesus had lived, had the temple in every town like today's churches. The temple was a place where they worshiped God and it was also used for educational purposes. The people who supervised all of the kinds of worship were called the synagogue rulers.

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One of the synagogue rulers, a man named Jairus, had a twelve year old daughter. His daughter had a bad disease. He made an effort to cure his daughter's disease by looking for famous doctors and showing them his daughter's disease but it was of no use.

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He bought the medicine which some people recommended but her condition didn't get better. In fact, his daughter got worse and worse.

It made his heart ache to see his daughter suffering so much pain.

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Jairus, as a synagogue ruler, heard that Jesus could cure all diseases.

Jairus wanted to tell Jesus to heal his own daughter's disease.

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But he did not have the courage to find Jesus because he was one of the synagogue rulers. If a rumor spread that he had sought Jesus' help then it would cause trouble between the other religious leaders.

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Furthermore, his daughter's disease got worse and worse.

He heard the rumor that Jesus would be crossing the town where he lived. Jairus decided to see Jesus for his dying daughter.

"I must meet Jesus to save my daughter even though I could lose everything that I have and people will blame me."

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He ran to a place where Jesus had come to.

Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet. The people saw and were surprised that a synagogue ruler had fallen at Jesus' feet.

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"Jesus, my little daughter is dying.

Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed

and live."

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As Jairus was begging Jesus to save his daughter, a person from

Jairus' house came and said to Jairus;"Your daughter is dead.

Why bother the teacher any more?"

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Yet Jesus ignored them and said to Jairus,

"Do not be afraid and just believe."

And Jesus came to the home of the synagogue ruler.

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All of the people that were gathered there were crying.

Jesus went in and said to her,

"Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!")

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Immediately the girl who was dead opened her eyes, stood up,

and walked around.

She had been risen from the dead.

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Jairus hugged his daughter and was so glad.

Jairus was not afraid of taking criticism from people for his daughter's sake. And he did not fear about losing his synagogue ruler's position.

She could live again because of his love for his daughter.

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Today is Parents' Day. All of our parents who give birth to us will do like Jairus did for his daughter whatever they can to help us.

We should have a more thankful heart for our parents' love today.

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The Bible says that if you want to be a successful person, you should love your parents. "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you." [Deuteronomy 5:16]