Do Not Fear, Only Believe

The five senses. We were taught about them in school: sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. We use them every day and it is through them that we make connection to our world. If we lack one or more of them, or one of them is lacking in some capacity, then we are viewed as having a disability. We take them for granted until one of them is taken away or damaged.

Although they are all important, we tend to live our daily life most closely connected to what we hear and see.  It is through them that we tend to make sense of what goes on around us. We hear a report on the news but somehow we need to “see it with our own eyes” to complete the process of confirmation. If someone, even a close friend, tells us an “unbelievable” story, we will be more accepting of it if we can verify it with our own eyes.

What happens, though, when disaster or tragedy strikes, and we are called upon to believe beyond what we see or hear? When our world comes crashing down around us we are told to “have faith”. It may be an attempt to encourage us but it is a very rare commodity and is hard to come by in stressful situations. Even if we do “have faith”, our assurance will only be as secure as the object in whom or what we place that confidence.

There is an account in the Bible of a tragedy that struck the family of one of the synagogue rulers whose name was Jairus. His daughter had become gravely ill and he had heard that Jesus was in his area. Word had spread that Jesus had already healed many so Jairus made his way over to where Jesus was and implored Him to come by his house in order to heal his daughter before things took a turn for the worse.

On His way to Jairus’ house, Jesus was delayed. Because of this, some people from Jairus’ household came to give him the devastating news. We pick up this account in Mark 5:35, “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?’” He had begged Jesus to come and heal his daughter before she died but now, what was the point? She was beyond help. She was beyond healing. His hope perished with this news. BUT…

The account doesn’t stop there. Read what verse 36 unveils, “But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.” Jesus was not giving this poor father a mere platitude to ease his pain. He was calling him to go beyond what he heard and what he was about to see with his eyes. In fact, the wording in the original Greek gives us the feeling that he was telling Jairus that there was nothing he could do to improve the situation and the only requirement of him was to believe. He had called on Jesus to help him in the first place and was  now told to focus on Him and He would complete that request, as seen in verses that follow.

Jesus calls us to move BEYOND what our senses tell us. We may be surrounded by circumstances that are devastating and well beyond our control but we do not have to give up hope if we place our trust in Jesus. Faith is the heart telling the eyes and ears what to believe…not the other way around.