When someone you know is sick, how do you respond? Do you press in with compassion and prayer, offering to take a meal? Are you tempted to withdraw and leave their needs to others? In today's passage, we will see Jesus repeatedly draw near to people in their time of need.
The Gospel accounts provide a powerful picture of Jesus’ compassion toward the needs of people. Some of these suggest His intentional pursuit of people, while others demonstrate a pause—or even a detour—to meet someone's needs. Yet, in both cases, as Jesus provided for the physical needs of people, He also demonstrated His power as the Son of God through His miraculous works.
Jesus had become known for His ability to bring dead things to life, heal the incurable, and bring change where no one else could. As a result, people gathered around Him everywhere he went.
In this week’s story, we see the great faith of a desperate woman. She literally reached out to Jesus, seeking healing from a long-term disorder. The woman believed in Jesus for the same reason Jesus commanded Jairus to believe: because Jesus holds the power to save—to bring the dead back to life, both physically and spiritually.
Jesus was always in pursuit of people and was never too busy to pause to meet the needs of others along the way. But Jesus came to offer much more than physical healing. The life He came to give them would result in eternal salvation.
Jesus' encounters with Jairus and the woman remind us that God cares about the brokenness of this world. We can be confident that His promise to undo the curse of sin will be fulfilled. As we read Jesus' miracles, we see glimpses of a fallen world being redeemed as the Son of God heals and brings life. Greater still is the hope we have to trust in Jesus' power to renew our hearts and bring salvation. He is working now to sanctify us and bring inward transformation until the day we will see Him and be like Him.
Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.
FAMILY TALKING POINTS
CHRIST CONNECTION
This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.
- Babies & Toddlers: Jesus can heal and give people life.
- Younger Preschool: Jesus showed His power to heal and give life. Jesus died on the cross and rose again to save people from sin and death.
- Older Preschool: Jesus showed His power as the Messiah. Jesus can heal and give dead people life! Jesus died on the cross and rose again to save people from sin and death. When we trust in Jesus, God forgives our sins and changes us to be more like His Son.
- Kids: By healing the woman and raising the little girl from the dead, Jesus showed His power as the Messiah. Jesus died on the cross and rose again to save people from sin and death. When we trust in Jesus, God forgives our sins and changes us to be more like His Son.
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER
This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.
- Younger Preschool: Is Jesus God or a person? Jesus is both God and a person.
- Older Preschool: Is Jesus God or a human? Jesus is both fully God and fully human.
- Kids: Is Jesus God or a human? As the Son of God, Jesus is both fully God and fully human.
KEY PASSAGE
This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.
- Babies & Toddlers: Jesus is God’s Son. John 1:18
- Younger Preschool: Jesus shows us what God is like. John 1:18
- Older Preschool: No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son … has revealed him. John 1:18
- Kids: No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him. John 1:18
** Next week: Jesus Fed Many People (Matthew 15; Mark 8)