Seeing the Forest Behind the Nearest Tree

My probing of the Spirit for information on this idea of "prophetic living" led me to look at the miracles of Christ in a new way. One passage that felt like it was lifted to a higher level of "meaning" was the pair of miracles that happen in Luke 8.  Pardon the long Bible quote, but it is pertinent to the notes I wrote in the journal relating to it.

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

(Matt. 9:18–26; Mark 5:21–43 )

40 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. 41 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.

But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

45 And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”

When all denied it, Peter and those with him  said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ "

46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

49 While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.”

50 But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” 51 When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John,  and the father and mother of the girl. 52 Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” 53 And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.

54 But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” 55 Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. 56 And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

June 7, 2005

I've written on this passage before; but now in this 'prophetic lives' vein, I see the miracles here in a different light.  I see Jairus' daughter as representing the Hebrews, and I see the bleeding woman as representing the Gentiles in their "unclean" death march. 

1) The bleeding woman gets saved "along the way" as Jesus is on the path to save another (Israel.)

2) She is at the end of all her resources for bringing life to herself, and no physician has been successful.  All she has left is her faith.

3) But, most of all:  His pausing to stop for the bleeding woman means the little girl dies before He gets to her.  In this age, we Christians see our healing already; but the first sons of Abraham, the Jews, seem as if dead to us in their rejection of Christ. His timing was indeed "off" by their calculations, seeing they didn't perceive the "suffering servant" that He first came to be.

4)Now here is the part that is still a mystery, but a wonder.  Jesus continues on His way to raise the little girl from the dead!
That He calls for it to be kept secret, and only takes a few in for its happening, and is ridiculed by the majority in the house--these are things to be pondered.  What are we to make of them in this light? What does it mean that the woman had bled for as many years as the girl had been alive?  These details are there for a reason.  God doesn't add local color to a story without a larger purpose--something more than just an embellishment. I haven't got the answer to that yet.

But this I know, with these two miracles, He fulfilled Isaiah 57:19--"I create the fruit of the lips; 'peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near' says the Lord, 'And I will heal him.' " 

Looking back on this now, after I've seen more Biblical events "come alive" in this prophetic casting, I see other elements of the story in different Gospel tellings that make all the more sense under this expansion of the significance of these two ladies.  For instance, why should this be one of only a few miracles in which we are told the literal Hebrew words He used in a healing? 

And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.  Mark 5:41 

Might the Hebrew be deemed worthy of Gospel mention because in this miracle is the foretelling of  a "greater" later miracle, one even we Christians hear as Hebrew words because it predicts the healing of the Hebrew nation? I know there is another like it--a blind man being healed maybe? And do I remember that the method of healing that man was rather odd.  Maybe not so odd if I read it now.  I must go find it again, and read it with this Spirit-overlay. 
Little wonder re-reading the stories never gets old. 

That summer of 2005, I began to mine Bible stories with this new eye, and I saw a larger efficiency layered over the top of many of them, a significance that I never imagined existed.  I began to see Christ's receptivity of His Father's direction in a much more cosmic way as the miracles became far less random, and what seemed like odd asides in the Gospel stories became touchstone elements for defining the larger story hidden behind each miracle. I realized He is brilliant in a way I'd hardly even begun to fathom. Some of that level of perception has slipped away from my reading over the years.  I am glad for the reminder to open my eyes again.