Never too Busy

In Mark 5:21-43 are two stories intertwined with one another. The first story is that of Jairus and his little girl who is near death. Jairus finds Jesus, begs him to heal his 12 year old daughter, and Jesus leaves with Jairus to go meet the little girl. While on his way, Jesus is surrounded by a crowd, in which is a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years. Seeing her chance, she hedges her way closer to Jesus, sneaks up and touches the him of his tunic, and at once she is healed. Jesus, noticing that power has gone out from him looks through the crowd, seeking the person who had enough faith in him that they were able to be healed without his knowing. The woman came forward and told her story, and while Jesus was sending her on her way in peace, someone came to inform Jairus that his daughter had already died. Discouraged and ready to give up, Jairus thought about letting Jesus off the hook, but Jesus wasn’t done yet. Determined, Jesus went to Jarius’ house, found his dead daughter, grabbed her hand, and told her to get up. At once the little girl got up and had something to eat, and with that, Jesus had performed two impressive miracles in a short amount of time.
 
These two stories are interesting individually, but even more so together. A 12 year old girl dies – her blood stops flowing – while Jesus heals a woman who’s blood would not stop flowing for 12 years. Jairus loses faith in Jesus’ ability to raise his daughter from death while the woman in the crowd had so much faith that she didn’t even need Jesus to pay her any attention for her miracle to occur. In many ways, these stories are connected, sometimes paralleling one another while also contrasting. The depth in these stories is immeasurable, and we could spend much more time with these stories than one blog entry allows.
And I think that is what I find so fascinating. There is so much going on in these short and quick verses. In the length of time that it takes Jesus to walk to Jairus’ house he not only brings a little girl back from the dead, but he also taught a short lesson on the value of faith, changed the attitude of an entire wake from mockery to amazement, and showed compassion and healing to a woman who no one had been able to help for 12 years. Not bad for part of an afternoon. And what else did Jesus accomplish on that day? Looking at the rest of Mark 4 and 5, it seems quite possible that Jesus started his day before the sun came up when he had to calm a storm that threatened to sink his boat, healed a man possessed by a legion of demons, got kicked out of the Gerasenes, and then still had time to take a trip back home to Nazareth. Busy guy, Jesus. But not too busy.
 
That’s the thing about Jesus – and extendedly, God – he is never too busy. No matter what work needs to be done, Jesus gets the work done. Certainly there were times when he grew tired and withdrew to a quiet place by himself, but even then he was often followed there by crowds, and he still met their needs. We would do well to remember that even the feeding of the five thousand happened when Jesus was trying to find some quiet time but was followed by a crowd demanding more, and Jesus did not disappoint. No matter when, where, or who, the more that people demanded of Jesus, the more that he was full of compassion, mercy, forgiveness, grace, and love. He was dependable, available, caring, concerned, and willing – at all times. And no task was too much, or too time consuming, or too burdensome. So of course Jesus stopped to heal a woman on his way to Jairus’ house, and of course he took the opportunity to teach about faith, because nothing is too much or too hard for Jesus. 
 
So why is it that you think Jesus doesn’t have time for you? Why is it you think Jesus may not care about your problems, as if your concerns do not concern him? Why is it that you’d rather let Jesus off the hook and go home to your life and not bother Jesus? Did you forget that he always has time? Did you forget that your concerns are his concerns? Did you forget that you do not bother him, rather he desperately desires to be bothered by you? Jesus is not too busy for you, and you do matter to him, so “come to Jesus all who are weary and heavy laden, and he will give you rest.”