September 2025 – Page 3 – What Does This Mean?

Jairus and His Daughter

[Sixty-Fifth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: Jairus loved his daughter very much. As the leader of the local synagogue, he was a respected man. When he bowed down before Jesus, he sacrificed much of his dignity. What made his daughter’s illness especially painful was that she was twelve years old. At the time of Jesus, a child became an adult in the eyes of the community in their twelfth year. Plans for her marriage were likely under way. She would have been seen as a survivor, since many children died before their twelfth year.

The woman who interrupted Jesus’ trip to see Jairus’ daughter had also been ill for the same twelve years. Her illness was also very disruptive, since it meant that she could not go to the temple nor worship in the synagogue. Nothing any of the doctors could do for her helped her. Jesus was her last hope. And his healing made all the difference in the world for her.

When Jesus was delayed as he went to Jairus’ house, his daughter died. Jesus told Jairus to trust Him and not be afraid. No one knew what Jesus would do, just that He cared about the sick. When Jesus raised her from the dead, everyone was amazed.

The healing miracles of Jesus show us several things. They demonstrate he is God himself and that God has compassion for the sick and suffering. In fact, Jesus shared our sufferings and took them to the cross. There he died for the sins of the world and bore the sufferings that came because of it. His resurrection is the promise of the ultimate healing of all our sickness, sorrow, grief, and death. At his second coming, he will bring an end to it once and for all when he dries every tear from our eyes.

Jesus wants us to have compassion for the sick, too. He tells us to love them, to pray for them and to take care of them. He continues to show mercy to people who suffer through our care. In these ways, we show people that God loves them, too.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Jesus Calms a Storm

[Sixty-Four in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: For people in ancient times, the sea was a symbol of chaos and evil. They had a good reason to think this way. Not only was the sea a place that could become violent at a moment’s notice, but they had no way of knowing about coming storms as we do today.

The disciples were veterans of the sea, not bothered much by the wind and waves, even when it was rough. That evening, the sea was in much trouble. They could not use their sails, which would be blown to pieces. So they labored to row against it. They soon became afraid they would sink.

Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat, sleeping on the sails and the sack with rocks to keep the boat balanced on the sea. When they woke Jesus, he yelled at the wind and waves the way we would yell at a barking dog. The disciples shouldn’t have been afraid, since Jesus was with them. They realized then that Jesus is God and were more afraid of Him than the sea.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Jesus and the Woman at the Well

[Sixty-Third in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: The long-standing hatred between the Jewish people and Palestinians has its roots over three thousand years ago, when the Assyrian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Israel and when the Babylonians conquered Judah. These empires left people behind in the land, who married people from these kingdoms and established their own traditions. The Jews who returned from exile in Babylon thought of them as traitors and sellouts. The Samaritans resented the Jews and their temple. By the time of Jesus, Jews would avoid traveling through Samaria. Jesus and His disciples did not.

The woman at the well had good reason to be surprised by Jesus. For him to take water from her would make him ritually unclean — unable to make sacrifices in the temple or enter the synagogue. More than that, she was considered a very immoral woman, the kind even Samaritans warned their sons to avoid. In speaking with her, Jesus showed her unexpected love and mercy.

Jesus engages her in a spiritual discussion by speaking of living water. At first, she may not have understood what he meant. She thought it would be great to go without drawing water from a well! Jesus followed up by telling her things that he could not possibly know — she had been married five times and now lived with a man to whom she was not married! Now she knew Jesus had to be a prophet and needed to know how to make things right with God.

Jesus told her things had changed; He is the Messiah! She went back to town and brought her friends to hear him teach. For two days, Jesus stayed with them. So it was that the first Gentiles came to faith in Jesus.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Matthew and the Pharisees

[Sixty-Second in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: The Pharisees loved God so much that they tried hard to keep all of his commands. They even added more rules to be sure that they did this. They believed that if all of God’s people did everything God wanted them to do, then the Messiah would come, defeat the Romans in battle, and rule the world from Jerusalem forever.

But they had so many rules, it was hard to learn them, remember them, and keep them. Most people could not follow them all, so they really did not try hard. This upset the Pharisees so much that they called these people “sinners.” They thought they were as bad as tax collectors, who worked for the Romans and made themselves rich at their neighbors’ expense.

So, when Jesus saw Matthew at his tax collecting booth and called him to be a disciple, they were outraged. It got worse when he went to Matthew’s house to eat dinner. In the Middle East to this day, inviting someone to dinner is a sign of deep friendship. Sinners and tax collectors were considered unclean, and to eat with them would make you unclean. To the Pharisees, this meant Jesus didn’t take the law seriously at all. What they missed was that Jesus came precisely to save the lost, so he needed to go where they are.

Later, Jesus would remind his disciples and the Pharisees that everyone is sinful and cannot be good enough to please God. He came to die for us all, to pay for our sins, and to bring the forgiveness of sins to us. He came to look for us, find us all, and to save us. So, people like Matthew are just the kind of people he wants as his disciples.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana