This Week's Story

Desperation drove Jairus and a bleeding woman to Jesus.

This Week’s Story relives American history and the Bible through brief inspiring stories presented on mp3 audio recordings and text for reading.

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People, like swarming bees, pressed to reach Jesus. A religious leader fell in front of Jesus’s feet.

“Please sir, I beg you, come to my home! My only child is dying!”

“I will go with you.”

Charged with curiosity the crowd of men, women, and children followed. Their chatter filled the air.

“Jesus is going to the home of Jairus.”

“What? Why would Jairus, a Jewish synagogue leader, want help from Jesus. The Jewish religious leaders hate Jesus.”

“Maybe Jairus is different.”

“If that is true, he must be desperate!”

A woman inched towards Jesus. She bent and touched the tassel on His clothes.

“Who touched me?” he asked.

People answered, “I couldn’t!”

“I didn’t.”

“Why would he ask, ‘Who touched me?’ Was something different about the touch? Many people are shoved against Him.”

Peter, a disciple of Jesus, said, “Master, people are packed around you. How could anyone answer your question?”

“Peter, someone deliberately touched me. Healing power went from me.”

A trembling woman fell at his feet. “Jesus, for twelve years I have been bleeding. I have been to many doctors. None of them have helped me. My money is gone. When I touched you, my bleeding stopped. You healed me.”

People muttered, “What is the matter with that woman? She has no decency to be talking about her private bleeding.”

“How could she know if she was healed?”

“Don’t get near her. By our laws she is unclean. Even if Jesus healed her, which I doubt, she needs to stay isolated for seven days.

“I don’t know, but our women would never talk in public like this woman. Something has made her unafraid of people rejecting her.”

Jesus spoke. “Daughter, your faith has made you well. May peace go with you.”

As Jesus blessed her, a messenger came to Jairus. “Your daughter has died; there’s no need to bother Jesus.”

The message was passed to Jesus. He said to Jairus. “Do not despair. Trust me. She will be well.”

They came to Jairus’s home. High-pitched wailing filled the house with despair.

Jesus said to them, “Stop your weeping. The child is not dead. She is asleep.”

 People laughed nastily. “You think Jairus’s daughter is not dead. She was checked. She’s dead. We cry in sympathy for Jairus and his family.”

Jesus took the parents and three of his followers to the child. He held the girl’s hand and spoke loudly. “Get up, my child!”

Her parents and the three followers watched as the girl’s limp body gathered life. She stood.

Jesus ordered, “Get food for your daughter.”

Jairus and his wife were flooded with joy, questions, and wondering. What happened? Our daughter was dead, and she certainly is now alive. What did Jesus do? Who is he?

Jesus instructed them, “Do not tell anyone what happened.”

Jairus thought, I trusted Him; and today my family has seen Jesus!

This is Barbara Steiner with a desperate father and a despairing woman whose stories are recorded in the Bible. You will find them in the section called Luke 8.

Find many more stories in English and Spanish at the website www.thisweeksstory.com.

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