Today's readings are Genesis 15.1-21 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Gen.+15.1-21 ) and Mark 5.21-43 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Mark+5.21-43 )
We probably have Genesis 15.6 memorized, though we might not know it by reference. "And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness" (ESV). Abram believed the Lord. What did the Lord do with that belief? Something more important than giving him the promise he had discussed - an inheritance on earth. The Lord rather counted this belief in Abram as righteousness, regardless of Abram's sinful nature, regardless of many instances of sin in Abram's past. The Lord counted his belief as righteousness.
Not infrequently I have heard preaching and teaching which has condemned people for their lack of faith. We are told that we are not receiving the glorious life on this earth that the Lord wants for us due to our lack of faith. While there's a grain of truth to that teaching, we certainly can't demonstrate it from the passages we read today. These are positive examples of not only human faith but divine choice and encouragement of human faith.
In Mark 5 we see two examples of faith which resulted in healing. This is the passage where Jesus is interrupted on his way to heal one person by someone else seeking healing. First, the woman who interrupts Jesus. We see that she had no human reason for faith. She was not looking just for another physician. She had been to all the physicians, she had received all that she was able to receive, and it did her no good. She was looking to Jesus as her last chance hope for a miracle. This woman had not been afraid to ask for help. She had done it many times in the past. Maybe she was fearing the disappointment she would face if she didn't receive healing. Maybe she was afraid of being found out in this crowd, as her physical condition made her unclean and should have prohibited her from entering into public life in any way. Yet she came to touch Jesus' clothing in hopes that she would be healed. Notice how Jesus then interrupts her by telling her that it was not touching his clothes that healed her but that her faith had made her whole. He blesses her by telling her to go in peace. This abiding peace that Jesus has for the woman is the true healing. Regardless of her physical condition, because she will surely become ill again as she advances in years, Jesus is proclaiming peace upon her because she believes in him.
Likewise, Jairus has come to Jesus to ask him to heal his daughter. He doubtless had many means available to him and likely tried them, yet it was not within his ability to help his daughter. We often focus on the fact that Jesus raised the daughter from the dead. Sometimes we are probably tempted to praise Jairus for his great faith that would possibly even do something like enable Jesus to do such a miracle. Yet that puts the focus in the wrong place. Jesus is able to raise Jairus' daughter from the dead whether Jairus wants him to or not. He is able to do as he pleases. Just as it was in his power to come and heal the girl, it was within his power to go somewhere else and do something else, or even not be anywhere in the area when the girl was taken sick. No doubt, that very day, many people died. But Jesus healed this girl. We can't explain why he healed her, only that he did it. Yet observe that against popular opinion, Jesus had reminded the father to continue in his faith, that he brought the parents into the room with him, and that they were amazed when they saw the wonder that Jesus did in raising the girl back to life.
Is our faith fading, like that of Jairus' parents? Do we expect Jesus to work only in one way in our lives when he plans to work a different grace? Our Lord and Savior encourages us. "Trust in me," he says, "and I will do what is right, according to my mercy."
"Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."
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