Mark 5:22 – Part 1: Being single-minded

And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name.
And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet

Matt 9:18
While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him…

Luke 8:14
And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was the ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet…

To Behold
“Behold” This is the one word that is used in all three Gospel accounts of this event. It literally means to call your attention to. All three Gospel writers are calling your attention to something – in this case to a person called Jairus.

The way that my teachers used to say this was, pay attention. There was something specific that I needed to learn, and the Bible wants us to pay attention to Jairus.

Why?

Have you noticed, that out of the multitude of people that were waiting for Jesus, the Bible has singled out one person? Just one. The Spirit of God has inspired the writers here to call your attention from this large crowd of people to this one man.

Why?

What was it that caused him to be singled out? Was it because he was the ruler of the synagogue? His job title has been given great importance in these verses too. It is surely apparent that we are not only supposed to notice Jairus, but was are also to notice who he is.

Why?

Well let’s see what else the Bible says about this man that may give us some clues as to why we should fix our eyes on him. Notice what the Bible says here – it tells us that Jairus came and fell at His feet.

Think about that for a moment.

The Bible doesn’t seem to make great play on it here, but Jairus “coming” to Jesus and “falling at his feet” is not as easy as it may first seem here. We read in the previous verse that there was a multitude waiting for Him, and He was by the sea. By the sea means that He couldn’t move too far from the boat. There were too many people around Him for Him to do that. He had to preach from the shoreline.

Have you ever been to a football match? I have. I have been in the famous “Cop” end of Anfield football stadium – the home of Liverpool Football Club. I stood in that stand just before it was turned into an all seat stadium. I noticed one thing about that stand – you followed the crowd.
If people leaned forward to get a better view – you leaned forward. You couldn’t fight it. You just had to do it.

If people moved to the left – you moved to the left.
If people moved to the right – you moved to the right.

Your position was dictated by the rest of the people. The reason was because everyone stood so close together, we were all tightly packed into that space. You couldn’t fight the movement of the crowd. If you needed to move – you would have a task on your hands, because everyone was so tightly packed in. I remember trying it. I also remember forgetting about it after I have been elbowed and knocked around by the moving crowd – it just wasn’t worth it.

We will see later that the Bible describes the crowd around Jesus as so tight that it could suffocate a person.

Yet through this crowd there comes a man that not only has the determination to push through the people, but can also create enough space to fall at Jesus’ feet.

Commitment
One of the traits that I see in Jairus, and with the lady that we will also read about is determination. In fact, if I read the Bible correctly, one of the character traits that is recognised and rewarded with such frequency and such bounty is that of determination. Determination is one of the key ingredients to faith. To be determined is to be diligent, it is to be single-minded and focused. It is to be committed.

Jairus was determined that Jesus would heal His daughter. That determination lead to an unwavering commitment and faith in the heart of Jairus. It drove him through the crowd – as difficult as it was, it didn’t matter how many kicks, elbows and knock backs that Jairus suffered – He would get through. He would get to Jesus and He would petition Jesus until Jesus moved and answered Him. That faith is what got his daughter healed. That faith demonstrated in any other human being will also get God moving.

I am telling you there was determination in that man. He gritted his teeth, and he wasn’t about to let a crowd of people stand in his way. He had made up his mind – I’ll get it from Jesus. No-one else can help me – only Jesus can, so that’s who I am going to see.

I am totally convinced that the biggest problem that believers have today is their complete inability to be determined and single minded. It is a failure to be committed. I am convinced of this one point more than any other. If you get double mindedness, and wavering out of your life, and if you become committed – I guarantee that God will work with you. James said so.

James 1:5-8
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of god, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

This, for me, was one of the most eye-opening scriptures that I have ever read in the Bible. It answered so many questions about my life and why it seemed that God always seemed to be answering someone else’s prayer and never mine.

This whole passage is another book in itself, but notice something here – someone who doubts is double minded – consequently someone who has faith is single-minded. When I first realised that, I started to notice a little more about some of the faith men of God, including Jairus – that is whenever they demonstrate faith, they are all very single-minded on their task at hand.

That single-mindedness can be call commitment.

I preached a message one time that I called Commitment, Bondage, Remembrance and the Scripture that I was going to use was the Scripture about David and Jonathan.

The commitment bit I understood – especially in the context of the relationship between David and Jonathan. They had both made a covenant with each other – and the bottom line of that covenant was a commitment to each other that demanded an unwavering loyalty. Jonathan’s covenant with David was greater than the covenant he had with his own father. David knew that he could depend on Jonathan and several times, David placed his life in he hands of Jonathan.

They were committed to each other with a loyalty that went further than a contract of pen and ink, but was so solid that each other would die before breaking the terms of that covenant. I mean – they were serious about this.

When you have a commitment to something that goes beyond simple wishes and dreams, but is something that has you totally sold out to it, then you become in bondage to it. But I understood that God wanted us free from all bondage?

This is not so.

A free man is a man who has a choice over what binds him.

Why are you in bondage to? You are in bondage to your commitment. God tells us that His Word is His bond. In other words, God is bound, or in bondage to His Word. He is totally committed to it. He didn’t have to be, but He is. He has become so committed to His Word, that it is now bondage to Him because He can never escape it. It is always there.

That bondage leads to remembrance. Think about a man who is tightly bound by chains. They are wrapped all over his body and he cannot move his arms or legs. He is held in bondage to those chains – that’s the way God is with His Word. Well, that gentleman held by the chains cannot escape the fact that those chains are there. They will take up more of his though life than anything else. That bondage will always bring to his mind remembrance of that bondage.

Jairus was a man who was committed to the task of getting his daughter healed. That commitment lead to bondage. That bondage lead to remembrance. It was always on his mind. That lead to action.

Jairus was committed to getting Jesus because He had the answer that he needed. No crowd will stand in his way. It didn’t matter that there was the issue of personal discomfort and sacrifice. Faith drove him on. He did something that no-one else in the crowd was doing – he was showing faith.

He could have stood on the outer rings of the crowd and caught the odd look of the man named Jesus. He could have sat their, wishing, hoping. He could have prayed “God help me!”. He could have even got mad at God, “God, why did you let my daughter die – I work for you. People look up to me…” He could have done a million and one things, but I guarantee this, his daughter would not have got healed.