Mark 5:22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet
Today you sometimes hear people talking about multitasking, doing or thinking two things at the same time. Actually, people may microtask, switch quickly between one task and the other, but you can only focus your brain on one thing at a time. You cannot read War and Peace and the New York Times at the same time. You cannot talk to you mother and call your child at the same time. You have to have focus on one thing or the other. Many times I’ll be reading a book or something and my wife will begin talking to me. She’ll say, “Are you listening to me?” and I’ll say, “Uh huh.” But, I’m really not. I can’t focus on her words and the words I’m reading at the same time. I have to decide what I’m going to focus on.
That is the way we are. Really, none of us are multitaskers in the sense that we can only devote our energies and mental faculties to one thing fully at a time, but the Lord is different. He is not merely a person. God can concentrate on my needs and the needs of someone else at the same time. That means I don’t need to begrudge God’s helping someone else because it is not as if it is a finite pie, like if God helps them, God will not be able to help me.
An example of this is found in Mark 5. Verse 22 begins with an interesting story about a man named Jairus who was a ruler of the synagogue. He was beside himself when he came to Jesus and said, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come and heal her and she will live.” You think this is the story of the healing of Jairus’ daughter.
Then you get to verse 25, and you have a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years. She had tried many physicians to be healed, but she just grew worse. She touched Jesus and was healed. The next ten verses tell the story of this lady’s healing. You almost forget that this is the story of Jairus’ daughter. Jesus is on His way to heal her when all this happened. This all sounds wonderful, but if you had been Jairus, you would have been very impatient. Jairus is basically taking Jesus by way of ambulance to the need, and all of a sudden this woman steps out of the shadows, breaks in the line, and takes Jesus’ attention. You almost forget that this is not a story about this lady but about Jairus’ daughter.
By the time we get back to the story of Jairus’ daughter in verse 35 as Jesus was still speaking to this lady, people came from Jairus’ house and told him that his daughter was dead and to not bother Jesus any further. Can you imagine how frustrated you would be? You ran to Jesus, got His help, are rushing back home, and all of a sudden this lady breaks line. None of us like people who cut in line. Yet, Jesus healed her and it seemed in consequence that Jairus’ daughter died.
Jesus replied to the message about Jairus’ daughter by saying, “Be not afraid, only believe.” He was laughed to scorn, but Jesus raised this girl from the dead anyway. If that sound extraordinary and impossible, that is because it is. Things like this don’t happen every day, every week, or every year. They are notable and were to show who Jesus is. The truth is, if you can get past “in the beginning God created,” believing that there is a God, then any of this is possible. If there is not a God, then the most benign miracle could not happen. We are not suggesting that a person could do this; we are suggesting that God can do what no man can do and that what God can do naturally extends beyond my capacity to comprehend Him. He supersedes my abilities and my experience. So, what Jesus did here is utterly remarkable and that is why we are remarking on it now.
The lady who cut in line had her illness for twelve years, which was the whole life span of the girl who was sick and died. My tendency would be to say, “You’ve waited twelve years, what is twelve more minutes? Don’t get in the way because I have Christ’s attention! Get out of the way!”
The wonderful thing is that twelve years was the lady’s entire problem and the girl’s entire life, yet Jesus had time for both of them. He is truly a multitasker. God is able to do what I cannot. I am never being cheated because God is focusing on the needs of another person that I know or that I do not know. God can take care of me and them, He can think about me and them, and He can do it all at the same time. Jesus is the great Savior and the multitasker. He can concentrate on your needs today. We should reverence Him as we ought and take our cares to Him because He hears, He cares, and He is able.