Last time we looked at the familiar story of Jesus casting out a legion of demons from a Gadarene man somewhere along the southeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. We saw that this healing and the lesson it conveyed was the very purpose for which Jesus and His disciples had crossed the lake. We also saw that all of the Gadarene people with the single exception of the man who had been healed were afraid of Jesus and asked Him to depart from them. Jesus did not attempt in any way to convince them otherwise, or to preach to them of the kingdom of God, but departed from them as they had requested after instructing the healed man to proclaim what the Lord had done for him. We saw that Jesus honoring the Gadarenes’ request for Him to depart, was a picture of God’s gift of free will to mankind, and that His final directions to the healed man were a picture of Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples throughout the whole Earth.
Continuing now, with…
Luke 8:40-56 (Matt. 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43)
40So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. 41And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, 42for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 43Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
45And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?'”
46But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” 47Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
48And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
49While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.”
50But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” 51When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. 52Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” 53And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.
54But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” 55Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. 56And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.
_____________________________
Luke 8:40
So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him.
We can see from this verse that Jesus’ fame was beginning to spread, and crowds were beginning to follow Him wherever He went. In Matthew’s gospel, it says that He returned to “His own city” after casting out the demons in the land of the Gadarenes. Presumably, Matthew means the fishing village, Capernaum – the home of Peter, James & John, not Jesus’ own home town of Nazareth.
_____________________________
At this point, all three synoptic gospel narratives are laid out in a very strange way, with two stories interleaved within one another. For convenience let’s skip over verse 41 and the first half of verse 42. We’ll cover the story of the woman’s healing first, then return to the story of the raising of Jairus’ daughter.
Luke 8 42b-44
But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 43Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
We have no way of knowing how debilitating this woman’s hemorrhage was. She would almost certainly have been anemic, meaning she would have been perpetually tired and short of breath. In the extreme case, such bleeding could certainly have killed her, however, the story says she had survived this malady for 12 years before seeking healing from Jesus. Furthermore, the flow of blood made her ceremonially unclean under the Mosaic law, unable to partake in the temple worship in any way, or even to enjoy practically any human interaction at all.
Leviticus 15:25-27
25“If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, other than at the time of her customary impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity. She shall be unclean. 26Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity; and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. 27Whoever touches those things shall be unclean; he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
Many people can certainly relate to her frustration and despair at the inability of the physicians to heal her. In fact, Mark says that she…
Mark 5:26
…had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.
When she walked up behind Jesus and touched His garment, it wasn’t on a whim. She sincerely believed if she could only touch Jesus’ clothing she would be healed, as indeed we see she was.
Mark 5:27-28
27When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
_____________________________
Luke 8:45-46
45And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, “Who touched Me?'”
46But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”
Of course Jesus didn’t need to ask who had touched Him. He most certainly knew already. But Jesus used every waking minute of His time on Earth to teach. When He asked this question, it was for the benefit of those listening, to help them grasp the lesson of the healing in response to the woman’s faith. This lesson is as valid for us today as it was for the woman, for the multitudes, and for Peter.
Luke 8:47
Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
Of course, it would have been profoundly embarrassing for this woman to come forward, and tell what the Lord had done for her. She would also have been overwhelmed with emotion at the sudden healing of this malady which had plagued her for 12 years. But those aren’t the reasons she was trembling and fell before Jesus. Recall what we just read in Leviticus. Her flow of blood had made her ceremonially unclean, and by mingling in the crowd seeking to get close to Jesus, then touching His garment, she had also made everyone who had touched her, and the great Rabbi Himself, unclean. No doubt, she expected an outpouring of anger from the crowd and from Him. She likely expected to be beaten – possibly even stoned.
Instead, Jesus reassured her.
Luke 8:48
And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
If Jesus had just healed the woman and let her silently slip away again, He would have been unable to press home the important point that it was her faith that had healed her. Jesus spoke of faith, and its relationship to healing and forgiveness many times.
Giving Bartimaeus his sight…
Mark 10:51-52
51So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”
52Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
Speaking to the woman who anointed Him at Bethany…
Luke 7:48-50
48Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Speaking to one of the ten lepers He had cleansed – the single one who had returned to thank Him…
Luke 17:19
And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
_____________________________
Now, let’s return to the story of Jesus’ raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead.
Luke 8:41-42a
41And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, 42for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
Although, it’s not explicitly stated in the text, it is a fair assumption that the synagogue of which Jairus was ruler was the one in Capernaum. In accordance with Jewish tradition at the time, a synagogue was established for any community in which at least 10 adult Jewish men resided. The word ἄρχων archon translated as “ruler” here means ruler, commander, chief, or leader. Americans like me bristle at the very word “ruler,” but Jairus’ duties would have been somewhat more benign than the word might seem to imply. He would have been caretaker of the physical facility, and would have been in charge of arranging Sabbath worship and other synagogue activities.
As we meet Jairus, we find him in desperation at the impending death of his daughter. Like many of us, Jairus came to faith in the LORD Jesus in his most desperate hour. Being the stubborn, rebellious creatures that we are, many of us will only call upon the “outside” help of our LORD once we feel we’ve exhausted all other avenues in our arrogance.
Isn’t it wonderful to know that our God accepts us in our hour of need, even though we may have rejected His calling year after year? He knows us perfectly, and understands where He must take us before we will be ready to turn to Him.
Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
The classic example, of course, is the story if the thief on the cross.
Luke 23:39-43
39Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”
40But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
43And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
In His wisdom and love, God brings each of us to the appropriate point of decision at which we decide for ourselves that we are unable to continue in life without the LORD. Sadly, many in their pride will still reject the Gospel, even knowing it is true.
Matthew 7:13-14
13“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Thankfully, Jesus will not abandon His calling of us when we reject Him. He will continue to call us while He can.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Revelation 3:20-22
20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
22“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ ”
Each of us has a unique moment and situation in which we are ready to hear His Spirit’s calling, and God has known that moment for each of us since before the foundation of the world. For Jairus, the moment came when his daughter’s life was in jeopardy. In fact, Matthew reports she was already dead.
Matthew 9:18
While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.”
Both Matthew (Matthew 9:18 above) and Mark make it clear that Jairus had complete faith that Jesus could restore the child’s life.
Mark 5:22-23
22And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.”
I was listening to J. Vernon McGee the other day on the radio, and he said that for him, Jesus’ casting out demons were His greatest miracles. With all due respect to the late Dr. McGee, for me, Jesus’ greatest miracles were His raising people from the dead.
Death is our great and fearful enemy which entered into the world on the heels of Adam and Eve’s original sin in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:17-19 [God speaking to Adam]
17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
Of course the important lesson we men can glean from this passage is never to heed the voices of our wives…
…but seriously, Paul describes the onset of death in…
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned”
But Jesus has overcome our great enemy, death. He is the very Word of God by which all things were created…
John1:1-4
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Just as Jesus – the Word of God – is the original Creator of life, even so is He able to restore life. Recall Jesus’ response when John the Baptist sent his disciples to enquire whether Jesus was the awaited Messiah or whether they should await another…
Luke 7:22
Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
We already looked at one such miracle when He interrupted the funeral of a widow’s son in the town of Nain, and brought the dead son back to life (Luke 7). Now we will see Jesus do the same for Jarius’ daughter…
_____________________________
Luke 8:49-50
49While He was still speaking[to the woman whom He had just healed of the discharge of blood], someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.”
50But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.”
Once again, we see that Jesus’ healing was contingent on the faith of the person asking for the healing. We see this aspect of His healing in many of the miraculous healings we read of. For example, immediately following Matthew’s account of the raising of Jairus’ daughter, we read of Jesus giving sight to two blind men, contingent on their faith in Him…
Matthew 9:27-30a
27When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”
28And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
29Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” 30And their eyes were opened.
In proclaiming the power of prayer to heal, James proclaims that such prayers must be made in faith…
James 5:13-15
13Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Before we move on, we need a note of caution…
James 5:13-15 is one of the most misunderstood and abused passages in all scripture. When people pray for healing in accordance with its direction, and do not experience immediate healing, then they may start to doubt their own faith. Furthermore, false “faith healers” may claim, if “unsuccessful” in praying for healing, that the person asking for healing didn’t have “enough” faith, as if faith were some sort of commodity that can be measured, and as if God won’t heal us until we’ve paid in “enough” faith.
How can we possess the faith that God requires? The Word of God makes it clear that this faith is, itself, a gift from God…
Ephesians 2:8-10
8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Nor does God require our faith to be perfect in order that He might do work in our lives…
Mark 9:17-24
17Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
19He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” 20Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
21So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. 22And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Jesus didn’t require the father’s faith to be perfect before He would cast the demon out of the child. He could discern the father’s heart, and had compassion on him, not only healing the son, but also giving the father an extra measure of faith.
The faith Jesus speaks of here is trust in God, that His will reigns supreme, that His chastisements are righteous, that His love is infinite, that He is Allmighty.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
_____________________________
Luke 8:51-53
51When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. 52Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” 53And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.
Of course Jesus knew that the girl was “dead” as human beings would describe her condition. His point is subtle, and it gets back to the passage we just saw in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. Mankind has an eternal soul. Our bodies certainly die, and our souls depart from them, but our being is in the soul, not in the body. We should not set our minds on earthly things…
Philippians 3:20-21
20For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
When God (Jesus) first created man, He formed his body from the dust. But Adam was not a person with a soul quite yet…
Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Similarly, in Ezekiel 37, when God showed the prophet the valley of the dry bones, asking “Son of man, can these bones live.” when Ezekiel prophesied to the bones, in accordance with God’s direction, indeed the bones reformed into complete bodies, but they didn’t have life in them until after God directed Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath of life that the reformed bodies lived again…
Ezekiel 37:9-10
9Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath,’Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” 10So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Of course, the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 were not literal dead and dismembered bodies of real dead people. They were a symbolic vision of the restoration of the nation of Israel which took place in the 20th century after the people had been scattered abroad over the entire Earth for almost 2,000 years. Nevertheless the point is that God alone possesses the power to impart the breath of life into His creatures, and to restore the breath of life to those who have perished. So by raising Jairus’ dead daughter, Jesus was demonstrating the power of God.
Having said that, we must also beware that even our enemy possesses the power to give the illusion of restoring life. He will use that deception to fool people into worshipping him…
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
9The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Revelation 13:1-4
1Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
_____________________________
Luke 8:54-56
54But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” 55Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. 56And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.
The story of the miraculous raising of Jairus’ daughter out of her “sleep” speaks for itself. Notice, that it was the Word of God – Jesus – which restored life to her, just as it was the Jesus – Word of God – who created all things and imparted the gift of life itself in the beginning.
As I said earlier, to me, the raising of people from the dead is the most amazing thing that Jesus did in His ministry on Earth. So that begs the question, why did Jesus command that Jairus’ family and the other eyewitnesses remain silent on the matter? I think it has to do, once again with the subject of faith. On the way to Jairus’ house, Jesus told him…
Luke 8:50b
“Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.”
Jairus’ faith in Jesus’ power to raise his daughter from the dead, came before the miracle, not because of it. Jesus alludes to this in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). When the rich man finally concedes that his own fate is sealed in torment in Hades, he asks Abraham to intercede on behalf of his brothers by sending Lazarus to them…
Luke 16:27-31
27“Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’29Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'”
_____________________________
The miracle of Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter out of death in this account is awesome indeed, but it truly pales in comparison to Jesus’ own resurrection and His promise that we too may partake in it. Let’s close with what Jesus has to say about that…
John 10:7-18
7Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
Of course, we know that the reason Jesus did willingly lay down His life for us, His sheep, is so that we might be redeemed from death, our ancient fearful enemy, the rightful punishment of a Holy and Just God for our sins. Therefore as Paul said…
Romans 8:1-2
1There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.