A Father's Love

Devotional

Day 1: Falling at Jesus’ Feet When Daughters Can’t Breathe

A synagogue leader’s pride meant everything – until his child gasped for life. Jairus abandoned social standing, peer approval, and religious protocol when desperation drove him face-down before the wandering teacher. True fatherhood emerges not in board meetings or titles, but in the dirt where knees meet ground and tears water the earth. Wealth and influence crumble before a parent’s primal cry: “Save her.” The cost of love is measured in surrendered crowns. [15:42]

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4, NIV)

Reflection: What status symbols or social protections have you struggled to release when your child’s wellbeing demanded vulnerability? How might kneeling physically in prayer reshape your priorities today?

Day 2: Waiting Through Broken TVs and Mocking Crowds

Patience wears thin when clocks tick toward death and boys hurl locks through screens. Yet kingdom fathers plant feet like oaks amid life’s chaos storms – not because circumstances calm, but because roots dig deep into divine timing. Jairus bit back urgency as Jesus paused for a bleeding woman, modeling the brutal grace of trusting another’s schedule. True protection often looks less like frantic action than stilled hearts. [01:19:16]

“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.” (James 5:7, NIV)

Reflection: Where has delayed answers frayed your composure this week? What broken “TV” in your home might God be using to train your hands in gentle response?

Day 3: Clearing the Room of Laughter When Death Lingers

Mockers always gather where miracles brew. Jesus didn’t negotiate with professional mourners or tolerate cynical snickers – he expelled them. Fathers guard sacred spaces where resurrection whispers, banning toxic voices from hospital rooms, dinner tables, and teenage hearts. Protection sometimes swings doors shut hard, leaving only the faithful few who still believe dead girls might rise. [01:28:35]

“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.” (Psalm 118:8-9, NIV)

Reflection: Which relationships or influences currently threaten your family’s peace? What courageous boundary have you avoided setting that this story compels you to enact?

Day 4: Silencing Celebrations to Feed Resurrection Life

Obedience tastes like post-miracle fish sticks, not fanfare. After raising his daughter, Jairus didn’t throw a feast but followed Jesus’ quiet command: “Feed her.” True fatherhood resists the spotlight, prioritizing daily bread over public glory. The real test comes after the crisis – will we still listen when heaven says to focus on simple sustenance rather than sensational stories? [01:36:18]

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16, NIV)

Reflection: What mundane act of care (packing lunches, paying bills, bedtime routines) has felt insignificant lately that God might be calling your most holy obedience?

Day 5: Touching Garments While Daughters Take Final Breaths

Two desperate stories intertwine – a father’s public pleading and a woman’s furtive fingering of frayed threads. Both required reckless faith: one shouting requests, one silent except for trembling hands. Our children’s crises often intersect others’ hidden battles, teaching us to walk compassionately through crowds where every soul carries secret wounds. Healing flows when we notice both collapsing daughters and bleeding strangers. [01:02:07]

“He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.’” (Mark 5:34, NIV)

Reflection: Whose quiet struggle have you overlooked while focused on your own family’s storm? How might your trial equip you to recognize others’ hidden pain this week?

Sermon Summary

Mark 5 puts Jairus right in front of Jesus with a need he cannot fix. Jesus has already been healing, casting out demons, teaching, and showing that God’s power is at work in him. Jairus is not just anybody in the crowd. Jairus is a ruler of the synagogue, a man of prominence, authority, wealth, and reputation. Yet Jairus falls at the feet of Jesus because his little daughter is at the point of death.

Jairus shows that a father’s love is unselfish. His status does not matter more than his daughter. His reputation does not matter more than her life. Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, but Jairus comes in the open, in front of the crowd, with everybody watching. His love is willing to lose standing, comfort, and control if only Jesus will come and lay hands on his little girl.

Jesus then stops on the way, because the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touches his garment and is healed. The delay could have felt unbearable for Jairus. Every second mattered, and then the word comes from the house: “Your daughter is dead.” Jesus answers that word with another word: “Do not fear, only believe.” Jairus is not shown dragging Jesus forward or telling him to hurry up. A father’s love is patience, because faith has to wait on the Lord even when the clock seems to have run out.

Jesus comes to the house and finds commotion, weeping, wailing, and people who laugh when he says the child is not dead but sleeping. Jesus puts them all outside. Jairus allows Jesus to decide who gets access to that room. A father’s love protects, even when protection means cutting off mockers, naysayers, bad influences, and even family voices that do not want the good thing God is about to do.

Jesus takes the girl by the hand and says, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” The girl gets up, walks, and Jesus tells them to give her something to eat. A father’s love is obedience. If a father wants children to listen, that father must first listen to God. Christ does not call fathers to be perfect, but to listen, obey his commandments, delight in his statutes, and set the bar high enough for children to reach even higher.

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Key Takeaways

1. Love lays status down. Jairus had position, authority, and a name people knew, but none of that was worth more than his daughter’s life. A father’s love becomes clear when reputation is no longer the thing being protected. Faith may require public humility, not private curiosity, because desperation for Christ strips away the fear of what people might say. [65:07]
2. Patience waits under holy pressure. Jesus stopped for the bleeding woman while Jairus’ daughter was dying, and that delay would have tested any father’s heart. Patience does not mean the situation feels calm or easy. Patience means the father’s heart keeps trusting Jesus when urgency says, “hurry,” and Christ says, “Do not fear, only believe.” [78:00]
3. Protection shuts mockers outside. Jesus did not let the laughing crowd into the room where resurrection was about to happen. A father’s love has to guard the child from voices that mock faith, poison hope, or pull the family away from Christ. Protection may cost comfort, relationships, and approval, but a child’s spiritual well-being is worth that cost. [88:35]
4. Obedience teaches children to listen. A father who wants obedient children must first show what obedience to God looks like. The command is not perfection, because no earthly father can offer that. The call is to listen, pray, serve, give, and let children see a man under the authority of Christ. [01:37:21]
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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[56:37] - Jairus Comes To Jesus
[58:20] - Reading Mark 5
[61:39] - The Woman Healed On The Way
[63:10] - Jairus And Nicodemus Contrasted
[65:32] - A Father’s Love Is Unselfish
[68:20] - Faith Outside The Church Building
[71:05] - Humility And Putting Others First
[75:05] - The Delay Before Death
[77:42] - A Father’s Love Is Patience
[82:03] - Fathers As Examples Of Faith
[86:32] - Jesus Enters The House
[88:35] - A Father’s Love Protects
[96:49] - A Father’s Love Is Obedience
[102:31] - Becoming Better Fathers In Christ

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Mark 5:21-24, 35-43
“And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.’ And he went with him. While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand he said to her, ‘Talitha cumi,’ which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.’ And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.” [58:20]

Philippians 2:3-4
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” [01:11:15]

James 5:7-8
“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” [01:21:46]

Psalm 118:8-9
“It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.” [01:34:11]

Observation questions

What details in Mark 5 show that Jairus was a man with status, and what exactly did he do when he came to Jesus? [01:05:07]
What happens between Jairus asking for help and Jesus arriving at the house, and what news comes from Jairus’ home during that delay? [01:15:05]
When Jesus arrives at the house, who is there, how do they respond to his words about the child, and what does Jesus do with them? [01:28:35]
In Philippians 2:3-4, what are believers told not to do, and what are they told to do instead?

Interpretation questions

Jairus comes publicly and falls at Jesus’ feet in front of a crowd. What does that reveal about how real need can strip away pride and reputation? [01:03:10]
Jesus tells Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe,” after the message that his daughter has died. What does that say about faith when circumstances seem beyond fixing? [01:17:18]
Jesus puts the mockers outside before he raises the girl. Why might that moment matter for understanding how faith and protection work together in a home? [01:29:29]
Jesus tells the family to give the girl something to eat after raising her. What does that detail show about his care, and how might that shape the way a parent thinks about spiritual care and everyday care together?

Application questions

Jairus was willing to lay his status down for the sake of his daughter. Where is pride, image, or fear of people still making it hard to seek Jesus openly in family life? [01:13:49]
Waiting on Jesus can feel especially hard when the need is urgent. Where has fear been rising because God’s timing feels slow, and what would it look like to “only believe” there? [01:18:00]
A father’s love protects by shutting some voices outside. Are there mocking, unhealthy, or faith-draining influences around the home that need clearer boundaries? [01:30:29]
Protection can cost comfort, approval, or even close relationships. Has there been a situation where keeping peace with people was easier than guarding the spiritual health of the family? [01:31:18]
Children usually learn obedience by watching it before they practice it. What would the people closest to the group members say they see right now: prayer, listening, serving, repentance, and trust in Christ, or mostly stress and self-reliance? [01:41:01]
God does not call earthly fathers to perfection, but he does call them to listen and obey. What is one area of clear obedience that needs attention right now? [01:41:32]
Setting a high bar in Christ gives children something worth reaching for. What kind of example is being set in the home right now, and what is one change that would make that example clearer this week? [01:42:13]

Sermon Clips

61s

“``We wanna be obedient to the father. We want our children to be obedient to this. We gotta show them what the example is like by being obedient to Jesus. We as fathers and as men can go in front of our families and say, hey. I'm I'm I'm I'm talking to God. I'm praying to God. I'm listening to God. God has told me to do this. So just as I'm asking you to do this, son, that's what g God is telling me to do, to listen, to pray, to go to church, to give, to serve, to be unselfish, to be just, to be holy. He's not calling me to be perfect because I can't be. He's calling me to listen, to obey his commandments, to delight in his statutes, to behold him in everything that he is. That is what he's calling us to be.”

64s

“But her father's love protects. He has the mindset of Jesus said no, you're out. Whatever Jesus commands, that's what we're gonna do. Because that's what a father's love is supposed to be. We are to protect our children. Protect them from the people that mock them. Protect them from the people that might ridicule them. Protect them from the people that are the naysayers. Protect them from the people that have no interest in their betterment, have no interest in their well-being, have no interest in the miracle that's about to happen in their lives. Jesus said, if you don't wanna be a part of the good thing that's about to happen, if you're gonna mock me because I said she's asleep and she's asleep, you have no part of this. I am not going to waste my time. It's basically what Jesus told them. And to that tune says, your time is done. Go. If Jesus wants no part of you, I want no part of you.”

78s

“Every second is is is precious and important, and we don't know what's gonna happen. And then in verse 35, we find out what happens. While he, Jesus, was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, your daughter is dead. The words no parent wants to hear about their child. he is finally and he just laid it all out there, sacrificed his his position and his career and his authority. Jesus didn't make it in time. So you might be thinking it was all for nothing. I laid it all out there for nothing. There came from the one of the members of his house says, why trouble the teacher any further? Say to Tyrus, leave Jesus alone. Let him go about his way. It doesn't matter anymore. Your daughter is dead. Verse 36, we're overhearing what they said. Jesus said to the rulers of the synagogue, do not fear, only believe.”

53s

“And that might include family and friends that might come into a situation where your children are involved, and they said, well, you should do this. You should do that. You should allow them this. You should allow them that. And they wanna be like a side passenger parent or quarterbacking on Monday and all this other stuff about what you should have done or what you could have done. But, yeah, as a father, your job is to protect them. You're gonna protect them from the bad influences in their lives, and that might be friends and family. And that might be cutting people off you love. But what's more important? Protecting your children or giving in to the people that are negative influence in your life?”

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What does unselfish love look like for fathers

How should fathers practice patience while waiting on God

When should fathers enforce protective boundaries against negative influences