By M. U. Adikwu
Introduction
Let us take a look at an interesting reading of the scriptures. Longish as it sees I think we should read all to grant us an “under to our standing.”
“When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cumi!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.”
I could not shorten this long reading because the two stories are related. Both have dealings with sickness and death.
A Large Crowd Followed Jesus
In the days that Jesus Christ was in the world, the Bible recorded that a large crowd followed Him. If all Israelites had come out to follow Him, they would have at best been 5 million people then. Of course, only a handful followed him as most of the people of His time opposed him. Today, I am told there are 2.1 billion Christians globally. In other words, there are 2.1 billion people attending one church or the other. The problem the woman with the issue of blood had were those who were following Jesus. They crowd will not allow you to see Jesus. Today many people are tied to crowd preaching one thing or the other and as such Jesus is difficult to reach. The crowd, are usually the problem of the people. The crowd has avalanche ideas of what is true religion and end up confusing the people. Look at this:
“Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them” (Matthew 19:13).
Those who claim they are closer to God than others are the second line of the problem. The disciples would not allow the children to be brought to Jesus. It would, therefore, take pressing through the crowd in prayers to be able to see the Master and touch Him. Many people will miss heaven because they are closely watching the life of one man of God or the other who may not be imitating the Master. The problem of those around Jesus being the hindrance to seeing Him can also be seen in the story of blind
Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46-49).
“Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on me!” Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
This time, they did not just try to stop him. “Then many warned him to be quiet.” Even when the Bible says, “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18). To the so-called great men of God, anyone who tries to have a contrary opinion must be warned. Anyone one who wants to get a touch of the Master must look beyond the men of God of our generation. Jesus Himself is ready to meet you without the help of any man. He looks at your efforts to reach Him. Jesus is a Man of the crowd. He is not hidden. As He was to the crowd of those days is the same as He is to our generation. The focus should be you touching Him or He touching you.
You Must Look for Jesus
Jesus is easily found by those who look for Him. The woman in our story had to look for Jesus. Where you are too incapacitated to look for Him then someone has to look for Him on your behalf. It is also possible that you have not even heard of Jesus. Those who have heard of Him must bring Him to you as the case of Jairus’ daughter in the story above. The problem we have is that those who claim to know Jesus put themselves in His place and as such they are saying, “See me instead of Christ.” Do not be satisfied
with any man unless he is able to make you to see Jesus. No one comes to Him without receiving something concrete. Look for Jesus yourself. Do not look for Jesus through any man or woman as the Greeks did in the gospel.
“They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. ”Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus“(John 12:21).
Remember that instead of Philip telling Jesus, he went again to tell Andrew. Do not delay your miracle. And remember that like Mary in the Bible, do not stop until you are able to see Jesus (John 20). Mary looked into the empty tomb after the resurrection and saw angels but she was not satisfied with angels. This is unlike many of us who are satisfied with just a man of God and not even angels. Peter will warn over those who lord it over us.
“….not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” 1 (Peter 5:1-3).
Let us be careful over those who Lord it over us. Let’s follow those who have laid good examples for to follow. Again Peter adjourns church leaders to “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them” (1Peter 5:2).
Jesus Must Touch You
All that is needed by any person on earth is the touch of Jesus. When Jesus touches a person, that person must wake up. It does matter whether the person is sick or dead. The woman in the story above was sick for 12 good years. All she needed was the touch of Jesus. When Jairus’ daughter died, all she needed was the touch of Jesus. Talitha cumi! And she came forth alive. For everyman, every man, every village, every town, every state, every country, all that is needed to rise up is the touch of Jesus. What Nigeria needs now is the touch of God. There is no other touch as good as that. In Nigeria, there are killings here and there. Once God touches our Nation, the change shall be permanent. There are very many biblical examples to show for this.
When Jeroboam became king of Israel he was afraid that the people would not obey him because the temple was in Jerusalem (I Kings 12:28). He made two golden images and put one in Bethel and the other he put in the city of Dan. The one in Bethel could not take root because Bethel had been a place dedicated to God through the altars of Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12). His grandson, Jacob also built an altar in Bethel (Genesis 28). Bethel (later translated to Bethlehem after returning from Babylonian captivity) was where Jesus was born. Today Bethlehem is a bubbling city. The city of Dan which had no previous altar is in ruins. All that a city needs to be prosperous is to be dedicated to God. Similarly, all that a nation needs to be prosperous is to be dedicated to God. Such dedication is by the activity of the people. Such activities are necessary in Nigeria if the fortune of the nation has to change. For Nigeria to come out alive, the nation must enmesh in godly activities. Like Jairus’ daughter Nigeria may be dead now but the touch of the Master will make Nigeria to
come back alive.
There may be killings here and there in the Nigeria but the nation will rise up once Jesus appears on the scene. If those being killed are genuine Christians then Nigeria does not need to worry. Killings of Christians can only lead to the multiplication of souls for the kingdom because even the killers will realize their folly and repent. If the people that are being killed are not genuine Christians then God cannot fight their battles. The blood of Christians leads to the spread of the gospel.
Give Her Something to Eat.
God is interested in our health and our body. The command by Jesus to give her something to eat should matter to us as Christians. Jesus told Peter in John 21:17 “Feed my sheep.” Many people have interpreted this to mean feeding with the word of God. This is not exactly correct. It also includes feeding with food. James will say in his epistle, “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you say to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2: 16). The 1 Peter 5:2 is translated in King James version of the Bible as,
“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof.”
Looking at this, shows that the Church has a great obligation towards its members and even the entire citizenry.
In Nigeria alone there are over 20 million Catholic members (Internet gleanings). If the Church decides to set up any business it is easy. Assuming the Church decides that it will raise money through her members this can be painlessly done. The least amount of money in circulation in Nigeria now is N5. If the Church tells its members to donate N5 every week that can easily be done and painlessly too. It this amount of money is collected in one week that will be about 100 million Naira. In a year that will be about 5.20 billion Naira. If this money is set aside the Church can go ahead to set up any form of industry including super markets. In 5 years, the Church will be having about 26 billion Naira. There is no type of industry that cannot be built with 26 billion Naira ranging from textile to the very complex tech companies. If the Church selects very good board members as trustees, very good business will be set up. That is just for the members in Nigeria. This can be made for other nations to give at least a dollar or the least of what every currency they use to help the Nigerian church.
If this is made plain to members of the Church, everyone will be willing to part with the N5 Naira every week. With this, preaching the gospel becomes easier. Crime will be reduced. The society will be happy for it. I will be glad if the Church will give this a good look. I know of people who have changed religion just to get a job. With this, those who want to become members of any church to get a job can do so. When people are properly fed, preaching to them becomes easy. The touch of God becomes permanent when people are touched by God and they are fed.
Adikwu writes from Abuja, and can reached through +234803-437-8988; email adikwum@yahoo.com