Finishing Chapter Eight

In regards to the account that Luke recorded, the man who had been demon possessed, begged to go with Jesus on the boat. Jesus told the man to go back to his people and tell them all of the good things that God had done for him. Undoubtably, there were some relatives who, at the mention of “God”, probably thought that they liked their kin better, when he was crazy and not Godly.

On the side of the lake where the miracle took place, there was great fear and the people wanted Jesus and His disciples to leave as soon as possible. On the other side of the lake, the crowds waited on the shore with open arms after hearing about the healing of the demon possessed man.

We are fickle creatures who can witness something great and fear it while the rest of us merely hear a rumor about that same incident and can’t wait to embrace it.

When Jesus and the apostles arrived back to Galilee from Gerasenes, there was a crowd of people waiting to greet Him. A man named Jairus, who was a leader of the local synagogue fell to the feet of Jesus and begged Him to come home so as to heal his only child, a twelve year old daughter.

As Jesus went with the man, they were surrounded by a huge crowd of people. In the crowd there was a woman who suffered from menstrual bleeding for twelve years. I would like to quote the actual verse from the King James regarding this incident and make comments next to each line in bold print.

8:43And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, This poor woman was in a constant state of hemorrhaging for years and must have been in total misery. In addition to the infirmity, those around her probably judged her as being cursed because of her ailment.

8:44Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. She was humble on how she approached Jesus. Probably hoping to not make a fuss, more or less a “get in and get out” strategy. I am impressed by the faith of this woman who was the lowest of the lowest (because of her infirmity) from a society standpoint, but would not give up.

8: 45And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? I can picture Peter stammering just like any of us would do when the boss asks us a question and we don’t have an answer. Peter is probably thinking, “what is He talking about - who touched Him? Can’t anyone see that there are like a million people around us now?- they are all touching- boy, somebody else has got to be in charge of crowd control in the future”

8:46And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. This brings us back to the reality that all power came from the Father and Jesus was the vessel of that power and pointing up the reality that Jesus was, in every sense, human.

8:47And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. The woman acts like we all do when we have been healed and empowered in Christ, we recognize the miracle of that salvation and share our testimony with others.

8:48And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. Again, a consistent message that all who are healed in Christ, should live by.

During this healing of the woman in the crowd, a messenger came and told Jesus that Jairus’s daughter had died and that it wasn’t necessary to come, after all. Jesus told the messenger to tell Jairus and his family, not to worry, but to trust Him as the girl would be all right. When He arrived at the house, Jesus and Peter went inside and upon hearing the weeping and wailing of the relatives told them all to stop weeping because the girl was not dead, only sleeping.

Now, just a side note. Imagine that you are at a funeral for a relative or friend and in walks a fellow who you have never seen before and he tells you not to worry, your friend wasn’t dead, only asleep. Exactly. We would act just as those people did in Luke’s account, laughing with disbelief, right up until the point that he told the dead person to get up and they did just that.

A recent article in the Associated Press, found on the internet tells the story of a young man who appeared dead after an accident, lay in a coma for almost two months and is walking today. The story goes as follows:

Four months after he was declared brain dead and doctors were about to remove his organs for transplant, Zach Dunlap says he feels "pretty good."

Dunlap was pronounced dead Nov. 19 at United Regional Healthcare System in Wichita Falls, Texas, after he was injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident. His family approved having his organs harvested.

As family members were paying their last respects, he moved his foot and hand. He reacted to a pocketknife scraped across his foot and to pressure applied under a fingernail. After 48 days in the hospital, he was allowed to return home, where he continues to work on his recovery.

On Monday, he and his family were in New York, appearing on NBC's "Today."

"I feel pretty good. but it's just hard ... just ain't got the patience," Dunlap told NBC.

Dunlap, 21, of Frederick, said he has no recollection of the crash.

"I remember a little bit that was about an hour before the accident happened. But then about six hours before that, I remember," he said.

Dunlap said one thing he does remember is hearing the doctors pronounce him dead.

"I'm glad I couldn't get up and do what I wanted to do," he said.

Asked if he would have wanted to get up and shake them and say he's alive, Dunlap responded: "Probably would have been a broken window that went out."

His father, Doug, said he saw the results of the brain scan.

"There was no activity at all, no blood flow at all."

Zach's mother, Pam, said that when she discovered he was still alive, "That was the most miraculous feeling."

"We had gone, like I said, from the lowest possible emotion that a parent could feel to the top of the mountains again," she said.

She said her son is doing "amazingly well," but still has problems with his memory as his brain heals from the traumatic injury.

"It may take a year or more ... before he completely recovers," she said. "But that's OK. It doesn't matter how long it takes. We're just all so thankful and blessed that we have him here."

Dunlap now has the pocketknife that was scraped across his foot, causing the first reaction.

"Just makes me thankful, makes me thankful that they didn't give up," he said. "Only the good die young, so I didn't go."

The very first thing that I would do, if I was this young man, would be to change my status regarding organ donation on my license. The second thing I would do, would be to thank God for the second chance to live.

It is evident that God is God and He can do what He wants, when He wants, in any of our lives. Sometimes, He may just want to remind us of that fact.