Mark 5:21-24

Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him. (NKJV)

Many people wonder how I come up with titles for my messages and where they come from, well I won’t tell you today, that’s a discussion for another day. Agreed? Now, today’s topic is rather uncommon and unpopular from the outset but we still need to know it from its roots so as to avoid any misunderstanding.

According to wikipedia (not wikileaks) humility is described as thus: Humility is the quality of being modest, reverential, even politely submissive, and never being arrogant, contemptuous, rude or even self-abasing. Humility, in various interpretations, is widely seen as a virtue in many religious and philosophical traditions.

They say desperate times call for desperate measures, at least for Jairus who was a leader of a synagogue. In the same place were people who were opposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ and indeed were looking for an opportunity to do away with Him. Faced with eminent loss of a loved daughter the man chose to forgo his position and try to save his daughter in any way he could, can’t blame him, can you? He came to the realization that the only Man who could save his only daughter was the very Man his colleagues hated so much.

This man might have sought all forms and manner of physicians to treat his daughter for wealth was not an issue with him. All of them had let him down when he seriously needed their help, they could not help in any way to prolong his daughter’s life. As a distraught parent, he sought help from the least expected quarter, Jesus Christ who was the subject their debates in the temples.

Again I am sure the decision to go to Jesus did not come to him lightly; he should have agonised and struggled with it for some time, debating what could happen to his position in the synagogue vis-à-vis the life of his only daughter. I am sure the parental instinct should have carried the day for him to agree to be seen consulting Jesus, unlike Nicodemus he went in broad daylight.

Jesus had just completed His tour of the area where people had rejected His salvation despite having seen what He could and had done for them. Sometimes people are very difficult to understand. The inhabitants of Gadarenes had lived in fear of a demon possessed man for some time, but now he had been healed by Jesus and as harmless as baby.

He was well and they all saw him dressed up eating as any normal person. They could touch, approach him without fear, reason with him and yet they eagerly persuaded Jesus to leave their territory. Whatever they were afraid of in Jesus we are not told, maybe they were annoyed about their loss of the herd of swine but we can’t know for sure. They pleaded with Jesus to leave their area.

It was after this rejection that Jesus crossed the sea into the region of Israel still thronged by multitudes of people that a man came to Him. This man was an influential man; a leader of a synagogue. He was not a simple person by his own right. He was keenly aware of his standing in the society but he was a man with a mission, the healing of his daughter and not a show of power or influence.

Many people would have approached Jesus on basis of their high offices but Jairus no longer regarded his office as important to him not anymore. The Bible says that ‘he fell at His feet’ this action coming from a man who led a group of people was very unusual if not rare. Jairus decided that his rank and position were not important to him if it could not save his only daughter, so he needed Jesus to do it.

He decided to forgo his importance and worshiped Jesus without regard to whom he was or who was watching him or what they would say about his action. The consequences of his actions were not important to him anymore. Jairus forsook his position when he compared it to that of Jesus Christ.

Though not easy but a very necessary move to achieve what he wanted of Jesus; throwing away his importance touched Jesus more than anything else because He taught that he who wanted to be the leader of others he should first be a servant. Not a very popular concept in those days. So Jairus swallowed his importance when he stood before Jesus, Jesus was the Master and him the servant and every servant has a right to receive from his master.

Jairus showed another uncommon level of humility that amazed many in his time; true humility in case I have lost you, is the ability to forget your own self importance and come down to reality of the prevailing circumstances and situation. Jesus was there ready to heal his daughter any time he requested but his approach mattered.

He might have mused in his heart do I go to him as a leader of my people or as a servant, who was to be the leader in this case? He must have come to an answer that Jesus was the Master and with this understanding things started to happen in the spiritual realm.

The same was transmuted into the physical for Jesus immediately agreed to accompany him to his house; he was ready to receive his miracle, by the simple act of knowing who the Master was. This kind of humility was very uncommon in Israel at the time, many people who were holders of high offices were not ready to relinquish their positions easily, not for anything or anybody, and in fact they sought to be recognized. That was the reason why Jesus was constantly warning His disciples against such behaviours.

The Lord was touched by that kind of humility and He had no options but to grant the request of this man. There is blessing in humility but what do we have nowadays? Everybody is somebody and nobody wants to be number two because all consider themselves as number one. Nobody is ready to relinquish their high offices and come down to serve. Majority want to be served, masters, drivers of their own lives and yet there can never be two drivers in one vehicle at the same time.

When Jairus realized that his position could not save his only daughter he sought help from Jesus but first of all not as a leader of a synagogue but as a father of an only girl child. He knew that despite his high ranking in the community, all was not only useless but also irrelevant to him in the situation that he was in; of what good or benefit was his rank to him if he was soon to be a father to nobody? Nothing!

Many times people go before Jesus as though He were an equal, most of them armed with long lists of requests, some quite unreasonable expecting Him to attend to them. This kind of people end up a very disappointed lot because Jesus cannot share His glory with a human being, neither can He be an equal to anybody.

People need to change their attitude towards how they relate with Jesus Christ or else they end  up being miserable while confessing to be born again. I am not saying being born again is not important, it is but what I am saying or asking is what is your relationship with Jesus? Is He a fellow equal or is He just another personality or is He another servant you send on errands? Jesus I want this, Jesus I want that?

Let me tell you brethren, if Jesus is not Master of your life then you are in a wrong relationship. It is unfortunate that most people have made Jesus their errand boy. They make lists of petty runs or errands they want to accomplished. Some pray for wives or husbands but after receiving they start complaining that this is not the kind of a partner I wanted.

Others pray for cars but when something happens, what do they say? I prayed for a car and not an accident! Many others ask for jobs and why they receive them they start to complain to God I asked for a job and not slavery. What a nerve? If they knew or had better choices why did they pray in the first place, one wonders.

Many don’t appreciate Jesus as He the Lord and Master of their lives, instead of being thankful for the gift of life they say; Lord you know I don’t have this and don’t have that. You know my situation, do something about it soon and so forth and so forth. Sometimes they issue ultimatums to Him to fulfil or else. We have to completely and radically change our approach to the way we relate with Jesus Christ otherwise our salvation will be meaningless.

Humility is the key to everything, recognizing Jesus for whom He is in our lives can actually avail much better results than demanding blessing from Him as though from an equal. Jesus has on several occasions warned His disciples that meekness is the key to inheriting the earth, gratitude opens closed doors but show off and arrogance brings pain and frustrations in life. Lets us learn from Jairus and receive the blessing of God.

Philippians 3:7-9

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ  and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; (NKJV)

I say Amen! Modern Christians, here are your marching orders from none other than the esteemed apostle of Jesus Christ not according to the will of man but according to Christ Himself. He laid aside his status as the Pharisee of the Pharisees, his high education and philosophy to serve Christ. What a magnificent word and verse this is!

Apostle Paul laid down every title, weight, praise, even rebuke, and every thought of self importance and counted it all as dung, rubbish, something of no value for the sake of Christ yet we see people moving about lording it over others about how important they are. God help them. He sought nothing of his own, nothing to be proud of or to be praised about but all his work was for the glory and excellence of Jesus Christ.

I wish to categorically say that as long as somebody is led by his own will and not that of Jesus Christ that person will have problems in their lives. As long as one is not ready to bend his/her will to the will of Jesus everything they have or are doing is nothing. More so those who are servants of God.

If and when a ministry is not founded and ran according to the will of Jesus Christ such ministry cannot go far. If it does it doesn’t represent the will of Jesus Christ, if it doesn’t represent Jesus Himself then it represents the enemy who is Satan. Today there many such ministries in existence in many parts of the world, Christians are hereby warned. Satan fills people with pride and self importance such that they find it difficult to bend their own will to that of Jesus.

Brethren let us to resist self exalting spirit; it is quite rampant in our midst. Church elders who see themselves as the pillars of the church are nothing but devils in disguise. They turn the church follower ship into fiefdoms such that the pastor or minister serving in such have a very difficult time. Elders are there to advise their pastor on how best to run the daily issues affecting day to day running of the church.

When praise and worship leaders think of themselves as the centre of attraction and without them nothing will go on, expecting the whole service to collapse. This is an indication that there is a bigger problem in a church. Choir members are holding the entire congregation at ransom because Satan has showed them that they are better than everybody else.

They say absolute power corrupts the soul and mind. Self importance brings curse upon those who practice it. Some are unwittingly led by the devil to their own destruction but those who are humble in their dealings continue to receive blessing and praise from God.

Brethren allow me to persuade you to consider your attitude towards Jesus Christ for that will determine what you are going to receive from Him. Even when you are appointed to serve in His Body at whatever level, please be humble and modest about it; let all glory go to Him. He chose you from among many people for a reason and purpose so allow for that to be realized in your life.

Remember only the humble and meek shall inherit the earth but the proud He detests. He says in: Proverbs 16:19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud; again He says in Proverbs 21:4 A haughty look, a proud heart, And the plowing of the wicked are sin. These verses are telling us to dissociate with everyone proud because pride does not come from God but humility does.

Jesus Himself tells us that He is lowly in heart in Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Brethren, in a world full of troubles and suffering, let us receive this Word from Jesus that the key to true rest from the problems of this world is not in self exaltation but in humble and lowly behaviors. Let’s learn to forget our self importance and bow to the will of the living God. That way we will receive grace, and power to continue our ministries and everything that we do.

Jesus is the Son of God and yet while on earth He insisted that we learn from Him, what is so important about being humble? God said in Deuteronomy 8 that He wanted to humble the children of Israel so He took them through the wilderness for forty years in order to make them a treasure for Himself; again He wanted them to forget their ability and depend on Him alone.

From all this we see that for God to use us effectively we should shed our importance and let Him shape us into the vessels He can use. Many times we want God to use us as we are but that is difficulty because His standards and our standards are not at par. His are always higher than ours so the only alternative is to completely surrender our will to His and let Him achieve His objectives in us.

In the process we receive lots of blessing that way. Are you ready for yours? Kindly humble yourself like Jairus did, it saved his precious only daughter. Let’s live our lives being continuously guided by: 1 Peter 5:5, 6 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

My fellow Christians I rest my submissions of this matter with no apologies to make if I have stated that your position doesn’t matter though it seems so important to you, that’s too bad. I still insist that before Jesus it is nothing, you can however change and let Him occupy the top most position in your life for you own sakes.

God bless you as you undertake to accept that life saving change in your life.

This devotional was written by Bishop Joseph Koburu Mukiira of Maximum Victory and Joy worship Centre Nairobi, Kenya and brought to you courtesy of Journey 2 Joy International Ministries Inc. USA

©All rights reserved by Bishop Joseph Mukiira