When Jesus brings healing to two very different people, he teaches us a lesson on faith. Faith doesn't begin with a certain personality or set of experiences. It always begins with a desperate realization that the world can't save you, and coming to Jesus as someone who can. From there, Jesus cultivates our faith in the same way he does with the woman and Jairus. He changes our focus, so that our faith becomes about him and not what he can give us. And he comforts our fears, so that our faith isn't about getting control, but giving control to him. In both healings, we see Jesus as the one who delivers us to true life, hope, and peace, through his own death and resurrection.

Application Questions: 

1. How have you experienced what Jairus and the woman experienced—that the world can't save you?

2. Is your faith characterized by need, or something else?

3. How have you come to Jesus for something, and found him showing you someone?

4. When have you struggled with God's timing? How can the gospel comfort and embolden you to trust him regardless?