Does Jesus save only rich people? No! Religious people? No! Girls but not boys? No! Jesus came to save all people. And today’s story (actually two stories woven together) makes that fact very clear. It also makes clear that Jesus has power over any disease and even death.

One day a great crowd surrounded Jesus. Suddenly, a man named Jairus pushed his way through, saw Jesus face-to-face, and bowed before him. That’s not unusual. People should bow before King Jesus. The leper did this—others too. But what is unusual is that Jairus was an important religious leader: “One of the rulers of the synagogue” (Mark 5:22). Why would a religious leader bow before Jesus? He did so because he was desperate: “My little daughter is dying. But if you come,” he begged Jesus, “and lay your hands on her she will live” (see 5:23). Wow! What faith. He believed that Jesus’s touch could save his little girl.

As they journeyed to the man’s house, a woman then pushed her way through the crowd and touched the edge of Jesus’s robe. Why did she do that? Like the ruler, she was desperate for help and thought if she touched his robe, maybe she would be healed. For twelve years she had been terribly sick. Day after day, year after year, her body didn’t stop bleeding which made her unclean. She went to the doctors. They couldn’t help. In fact, she got worse. Her only hope was Jesus. And sure enough, as soon as she touched him, God touched and healed her. Jesus knew his touch had healed her, so he stopped and called her out, saying, “Daughter, your faith has saved you! Your disease is gone. Go in peace” (see 5:34). Two people with great faith. An important religious man and an unclean woman. Jesus healed the woman, but what about the man’s daughter?

As Jesus continued his journey, people came from the ruler’s house and told him awful news: “Your daughter is dead” (5:35). The end. No, not the end! What Jesus did next was amazing. He encouraged the sad dad (“Do not fear, only believe,” 5:36) and then walked into the house, took the girl by the hand, and said, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (5:41). And guess what? She rose from the dead! She got up, walked around the room, and then had something to eat. Maybe it was a piece of warm raisin bread or a chocolate snowball (a Jewish cookie!). What she ate doesn’t matter. What does matter is that she was really alive. Everyone was amazed! Jesus came to save old and young, men and women, religious and unclean—anyone who believed.