Day 168:"Your Daughter"

Mark 5:35-36 English Standard Version (ESV)

So, today is Father's Day, which is hard for me. I wish I could tell you that spending the day praising my Heavenly Father, God was my first thought but I had plenty of moping ideas for this afternoon. Not having a dad around on Father's day is kinda like being single on Valentines Day, even when you know that God is enough, there's a whole day dedicated to celebrating this one type of person and talking about how important His role is. 

Despite the temptation to spend the day in self pity, sending needy emails and texts, God kept reminding me to spend time with Him, so eventually I flopped down on my bed with an open Bible and started to pray about some different things that have been on my mind. As I glanced at the pages next to my head, I recognized my favorite word in the English language, daughter. (I'll be sharing about why that's my favorite word on Never Fatherless soon) It seemed applicable, so I sat up and read Mark 5:21-43. I made an effort to read slowly, taking in the details provided and imagining myself in the shoes of Jairus, a Synagoge ruler, as he asked Jesus to heal his daughter and then had to wait while Jesus healed His daughter. That's right, when Jesus stopped after healing a woman, He called her "Daughter". I wondered how that struck Jairus. Mark doesn't tell us much about his feelings but here's what I imagine: Jairus is overwhelmed with relief and excitement when Jesus agrees to come and heal his daughter. He's frantically leading Jesus to his home in hopes that they will arrive in time for Jesus to heal his daughter before she dies. Then Jesus stops; he asks who touched him. Really, Jesus? Jairus thinks, My daughter is on deaths door step. I don't have time for this! And now this woman is crying at His feet and... Jesus calls her daughter. Maybe now Jairus understands. It was his father's heart that made him so anxious for his daughter to be healed and as it turns out, it was Jesus' father's heart that wanted this woman to be well, and stopped to bless her even after she was healed. Maybe that's why Jesus called her daughter, not only for her sake, that she would catch a gimps of His love but also so that Jairus could understand why He stopped, not because He didn't understand a father's love and desire for his daughter to be well, but because He does. This is when today's verse comes in:

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”

I'll let you read the rest of the story straight from the Bible in Mark 5:21-43. It's so good!!!!! Jesus was a loving father to everyone in this story. 

I realized even more today what a truly good father God is!

Happy Fathers Day!

-L.