Matthew 9 keeps the miracles coming: Jesus forgives and heals a paralyzed man, calls Matthew the tax collector, eats with publicans and sinners, heals two blind men and a man who couldn’t speak. Then comes a verse worth slowing down on: He looked at the crowds and was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd. The harvest was huge, He said, and the labourers were few (Matthew 9:36–38). His answer was to call and send more helpers.
That’s Matthew 10 and Luke 9: Jesus calls twelve Apostles, gives them power to heal and cast out evil spirits, and sends them to preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mark 3:14 says He ordained them). He gives them counsel (be wise as serpents and harmless as doves), warnings (people will reject you), and comfort: not even a sparrow falls without Heavenly Father knowing, and the hairs of your head are numbered. For new deacons, this is the pattern of their own ordination: priesthood power is given by the laying on of hands by someone with authority, in a line that goes back to Jesus Christ. The Church still has twelve Apostles today, called as special witnesses of Christ. Young Women and young men alike are called and set apart in class presidencies and are sent out to minister.
Today’s readers’ theater is Mark 5:22–43. Jairus, a respected leader of the synagogue, falls at Jesus’s feet begging Him to heal his dying twelve-year-old daughter. On the way, a woman who has been sick for twelve years, who has spent everything on doctors and only gotten worse, pushes through the crowd and touches His clothes. She is healed instantly, and Jesus stops everything to find her and call her “Daughter.” Meanwhile messengers arrive: Jairus’s girl has died. Jesus tells him, “Be not afraid, only believe,” goes to the house, takes her hand and says “Talitha cumi” (Mark 5:41: “Damsel, I say unto thee, arise”), and she gets up and walks. The April 2017 general conference talk “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives” describes the woman’s physical stretch through the crowd as a symbol of the spiritual stretching we do to draw on the Savior’s power. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk “Fear Not: Believe Only!” (April 2022) is also good background. If a youth has lost someone they prayed for, acknowledge it gently: faith doesn’t always change the outcome, but Jesus never leaves us, and because of Him everyone will rise again.
Luke 9:23–25 is the cost: disciples deny themselves and take up their cross daily. The Joseph Smith Translation of Luke 9:24 clarifies that to save your life you must be willing to lose it for His sake. For 11- to 14-year-olds, keep it concrete and real, not heavy: sacrifice looks like getting up early to fast, giving up a game to go to the temple, or passing the sacrament with your whole attention. Faith doesn’t mean never being afraid; Jairus was terrified. It means bringing the fear to Jesus and walking with Him anyway.
