44. Healing by Faith

A large crowd waited to welcome Jesus back from his trip across the Sea of Galilee. When he greeted them, a man pushed through the people and fell at Jesus' feet. His name was Jairus. He was a leader in the synagogue.

"Please come see my daughter," he begged. "I'm afraid she is dying."

Jesus followed the man back to his house. Many people crowded around them as they walked by, but suddenly Jesus felt he had been touched by someone.

"Who touched me?" he said. His disciples answered that many people had reached out to touch him.

"But I feel that some of my healing strength has left my body," Jesus told them.

Then a woman appeared from the crowd and told Jesus that she touched him because she was very sick. As soon as she touched his coat, she felt well again.

"Go now and live in comfort," Jesus said to her. "Because you have faith in me, you are healed."

While Jesus talked to the woman who touched his coat, two messengers from Jairus' home came up to them.

"You do not need to bring Jesus to your house, Jairus," they said. "Your daughter is dead."

Jairus was very upset. The little girl, his only daughter, was just twelve years old.

Jesus heard what the messengers said. He told Jairus, "Don't be afraid. Keep believing, and your daughter will be all right."

When they reached Jairus' house, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him to the girl's room. The mother sat crying by her daughter's side.

"Don't cry," Jesus said. "The girl is not dead. She is only sleeping."

The crowd laughed at Jesus because everyone knew the girl was dead. So Jesus told them all to leave and took the girl's hand and told her to get up.

The parents could not believe their eyes. Their daughter got up from bed, and Jesus asked them to get her some food.

Jesus and the disciples left Jairus' house to go back out among the crowd. Two blind men were following Jesus. They begged him to have mercy on them because they could not see.

"Do you believe I can give you back your sight?" Jesus asked them. When they answered yes, he touched their eyes, and both men were able to see again.

Jesus didn't want the word to spread about the great miracles he was able to do. He told Jairus, his wife, and the two blind, men not to tell anyone what he had done for them. That did not stop them from telling the story all over town. Soon the Jewish leaders called Pharisees heard about Jesus' miracles.

One day a group of people were talking about the way Jesus chased away an evil spirit from a man who could not speak. He got his voice back and was able to speak.

"If he can talk to demons and scare them away, then he must be a demon himself," the Pharisees said.

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