spirit

spirit
There is a great story in the book of Luke where Jesus gets off a boat and the crowds are cheering, booing, crying, begging you get the picture. As he steps on to the shore he is met immediately by the the synagogue ruler (sort of like what we would call a pastor) of the town, the rulers name is Jarius. Jarius is frantic because his daughter that is 12 is deathly ill and is about pass away. With no where else to turn he turns to Jesus for help. Jesus hears his story and proceeds to go to Jarius' home to help the daughter. As he and the crowds, of what I picture of hundreds maybe thousands, follow they are stopped by a woman who has been subject to bleeding for 12 years (I know kind of a gross thought). This woman like Jarius has no one left to turn to. For years she has used all of her money in attempts to heal her bleeding problem and money just didn't help, doctors didn't help, priests didn't help, and the list could go on. But with no where to turn she sneaks into this large crowd in hopes just to touch his cloak. She feels if she touches his cloak she will be healed, so she goes through the crowd and touches Jesus and oddly enough her bleeding stops and at the same time Jesus realizes he has lost some of what I call his power. Now remember there is a girl who is dying and Jesus has offered to help her, everyone is in a frantic to get there but Jesus stops and looks to his friends and ask who touched me. They (his friends) very abruptly tell him that there are hundreds of people touching him. The woman realizing what had happened to her falls at his feet and to the shock of the town they see this woman, who they have banished from the town because of her problems, is healed. At this point Jesus goes on to tell her that her faith has healed her. As he is telling her and the crowds this statement a person from the house of Jarius runs screaming to Jarius that his daughter has died. As you can guess everyone is a bit disappointed that Jesus didn't heal this girl. He being Jesus says these words "she is not dead but asleep". The crowds at this moment laugh at him knowing she was dead. But here is the awesome part. Christ proceeds to the house of Jarius and allows his 3 best friends, Jarius and his wife into the daughter's room. When in the room Jesus grabs her hand and says these words "Child get up". The next verse is the key to this whole long story: HER SPIRIT RETURNED AND SHE STOOD UP.
The girl was healed, Jesus took his time and saved a woman that had been ill for 12 years and then raises this girl from death. Here is the thought. In Romans 8:19 Paul writes these words "the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For it was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice but by the one who subjected it….". The cliff note version of that verse is that when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit in the Garden of Eden the world was made sinful, wicked, awful, selfish, prideful, arrogant, dark, bad, corrupt. Mine and your spirits where lost we needed our Spirits to return. This is exactly what Christ did for us when he bared our sin on the cross. He hung on the cross an innocent man and 3 days later rose again. Why? It is simple. The reason is so we could ask for his hand and while we hold his hand (figuratively speaking) the Spirit that was lost at beginning of creation can re-enter us. May we ask the Lord for his hand, may we find his spirit to return to our hearts, and may we stand up and believe in what he has done!