Can you recall the man named Jarius? He was a man whose story is recounted in Mark 5; a man blessed with a daughter whom he valued. That daughter grew ill and died pouring bitterness into his life. While he was out walking, clearing his mind, grieving, being alone with himself, God got off a boat. Jesus, fresh from a demon-induced pig stampede, completed one of many journeys across the Sea of Galilee. We do not know exactly how the grieving Jarius came upon Jesus that day, but we do this distraught synagogue ruler prostrate himself before Christ.
Once when I considered that scene I found myself wondering if Jarius, presumably well-versed in the Jewish histories, recalled the resurrection of the boys way back in Zarephath and Shunem. The great prophets of Elijah and Elisha had been on the scene during those events. As Jarius lived the parallels between the deeds of the prophets of old and Jesus would have been unmistakable.
I have taken my Sunday school class down the trail of Jarius to Elijah and now Elisha. In the midst of Elisha’s Palestinian ministry are found a set of events in Shunem centered upon an unnamed woman. As the pages of her life are turned I found this Shunammite to be very human, very much a real person with an admixture of spiritual strength and weakness. What we see with her is a bitterness of spirit that attended the arrival of her child. It was different than that which Jarius faced.
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