Joining Jesus in the In-between
Today, as the Underground, we come together in prayer and fasting, collectively joining our hearts in a “laser-focused” way.
Today’s theme: Joining Jesus in the In-between
All of us have something that we’re hoping for. We’ve asked God to provide for our family, heal our hurting loved ones, bring justice in the broken places of our city. Many of us are still waiting to get there.
Our lives are a long journey between where Jesus has brought us, and where He’s taking us next. Today, as we join in prayer with our brothers and sisters across the city that we love, we ask the question: How can I join Jesus on the way there?
In the same way that we always seem to be headed to the next destination, appointment, or challenge, Jesus spent the last three years of his life traveling. Let’s read a story that shows us how Jesus made space to serve and heal others, even while he was on the way to the next stop.
Read
When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” Mark 5:21-32
Reflect
Jesus was on a clear mission, to heal Jairus’ daughter, and He ends up doing just that.
What strikes me most about this story, though, is what happens while Jesus is on the way. Surrounded by huge crowds, and with Jesus focused on the task at hand, this sick woman is desperate enough to fight her way to Him. She swims through the crowd, makes her way to Jesus, to get just close enough to touch his cloak.
Think about her faith and desperation in that moment, Jesus had healed her before he had even noticed her. Her faith had healed her.
When Jesus notices what has happened, he turns around and tells her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
As you spend time today with the father, spend some time reflecting on what it would look like for us to be interruptible in that same way.
What would it look like to join Jesus not just at each destination, but in the in-between as well?
Take a few moments to highlight some of the places where Jesus may be asking you to join him today, even if it isn’t where you are headed.
Pray
Father, you have guided us through every turn. To and from every destination, we are so grateful for your guiding hand. Today, as we pray for where you are taking us, and where we are dreaming of joining you, would you show us the ordinary spaces in-between where we can join you today?