This new series considers encounters with Jesus by the sea of Galilee found in the Gospel of Mark. This second message considers what it is to come in humble faith seeking Jesus in all of life (Mark 5:21-43) as seen through Jaurus, the healing of the woman, and the raising of the daughter.

Erasmus, a contemporary of Martin Luther, says in the preface of his Greek New Testament: “These holy pages (Gospel of Mark) will summon up the living image of [the mind of Christ]. They will give you Christ Himself, talking, healing, dying, rising, the whole Christ in a word; they will give Him to you in an intimacy so close that He would be less visible to you if He stood before your eyes.” (Wuest)

Abdul Halim al-Attar, a refugee from Syria who was photographed selling pens in the streets of Beirut in 2015, became the center of a global outpouring of compassion. The image was of Abdul Halim selling pens with his daughter draped over his shoulders in the sweltering heat – all for a couple of dollars a day.

Gissur Simonarson, an activist from Oslo, Norway, and Carol Malouf, a Lebanese journalist, launched a crowd-funding page urging users to collect funds for the struggling family of three. It was labelled the #BuyPens campaign that raised more than $190,000. He now has started two restaurants in Beirut that employ 24 other refugees, with another business in the pipeline.

Abdul Halim al-Attar was a desperate man trying to survive. The narrative of Mark 5 describes two equally desperate people seeking the help of Jesus Christ. One is Jaurus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, who we find begging Jesus to heal her daughter who was at the point of death. The other is a nameless woman that has endured twelve years of shame, disease, pain and suffering. Both individuals fall at the feet of Jesus, and the outcomes are wonderful