Luke 8:40-56
What a thrill it must be to walk with Jesus and go from town to town. Imagine being Peter or Matthew. The excitement never ends. Not once would we regret leaving everything behind to follow Jesus. He is the Messiah. He will save Israel and sit on David’s throne.
Jesus and His disciples make their way back from Gerasenes and arrive on the shores of Galilee. As the boat enters the harbor, there is a crowd of people waiting for their arrival.
The disciples are likely wondering, “What’s next?” It has been an exciting year. Luke tells us what happens next. After getting off the boat, they are met by a man named Jairus.
Jairus is an official in the synagogue. We don’t know which synagogue Jairus is from. But, we cannot help but wonder if Jairus is from the same synagogue as the centurion we read about in chapter seven. In that passage, we learn that the centurion sends Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come and save the life of his slave. The elders beg Jesus to help the centurion because it was he who built their synagogue (Luke 7:3-5).
Jairus falls at the feet of Jesus. He is desperate. Jairus has one child, a daughter around the age of twelve, and she is dying. He is in the same situation as the centurion whose slave is dying. Surely, if Jesus will help a Roman centurion, he will help a Jewish elder from the synagogue. He begs Jesus to come to his house and help his dying daughter.
Notice how Jairus approaches Jesus. He does not tell Jesus that He needs to help a Jew because He helped the Gentile centurion. He does not tell Jesus that He should help because of his position as an official in the synagogue. Jairus approaches Jesus with humility and falls at His feet asking for help. He is willing to beg. He doesn’t care that there is a crowd of people. Being embarrassed is the last thing on his mind. His daughter is dying.
Jairus approaches Jesus as a humble beggar. What about us? How do we approach Jesus? Our external posture and the words we speak reveal what is in our hearts. We need to be careful in our approach to Jesus. There is nothing trivial about Him. His closest disciples call Him, Master. He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, Creator God. Let’s not approach Him as we would just anyone. Never approach Jesus with an attitude of entitlement. Jesus does not owe us anything. We are in His debt. Each time we pray to Jesus, we increase our debt. We lift up our cup of salvation and ask for Him to fill it up.
Jesus is good. He is not counting up our debt on a balance sheet. Fall at the feet of Jesus and give Him the glory for being a loving Savior.
Jesus wants to heal Jairus’ daughter and begins His way towards his home. A crowd surrounds Jesus and His disciples.
In the crowd is a woman who suffers from an embarrassing ailment. For twelve years she is hemorrhaging blood. There is no cure. She visits many doctors, but none are able to help. After going to doctor after doctor, her situation gets worse (Mark 5:25-26).
Imagine going twelve years of hemorrhaging blood. She suffers for as long as Jairus’ daughter is alive. Her illness makes her unclean. She cannot go to the synagogue. She hears about Jesus and knows He can help.
Like Jairus, she is desperate. She pushes her way through the crowd. It is not hard to imagine that in doing so, some people are offended as she jostles her way forward. She might see this opportunity as her only shot at getting close to Jesus. Her goal is simple. She believes that all she has to do is touch Jesus, perhaps even the hem of His garment, and she will be made well.
She fights the crowd and presses in and touches the fringe of Jesus’ cloak and immediately her hemorrhage stops. Jesus says no words. He doesn’t touch her with His hand. All Jesus does is walk along the crowded street. He doesn’t even know she is there.
Both Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage are desperate for Jesus. They have need of his healing touch. They have physical ailments. But, they have a greater need. They need forgiveness for their sins. They need healing of mercy and grace.
Jesus does miracles for a reason. Jesus heals people and does signs and wonders, such as calming the storm because He wants people to put their faith in Him. He wants us to know that He saves us from sin. Jesus came to seek and save lost sinners.
Jesus is not interested in temporary fixes. After the storm on the Sea of Galilee, there will be countless more storms. He didn’t come to earth to fix the weather. Jesus didn’t come to cure the world of leprosy. The cleansed lepers will still die. Jairus’ daughter and the woman with the hemorrhage get healed, but they eventually die. The healings of Jesus are temporary solutions.
Jesus came to fix the underlying problem of this world, which is sin. The reason for storms and sickness is because the world has a sin problem. We need to see the big picture, and the big picture is our need to be forgiven and made righteous. Jesus wants Jairus, the woman with the hemorrhage, and everyone else present to know He is the Messiah. He performs temporary healings in order to point to the greater healing of making us holy and righteous.
If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, the storms of life and the physical ailments that lead to death are nothing in comparison to the trouble you will face after you die. Sinners who face God’s judgment will discover the storms of life and the pain of sickness are nothing compared to eternal torment in hell. Jesus did not come to heal everyone of their sicknesses. Jesus heals people of their sickness so they trust Him to be Savior for their sin.
Everyone listening to this message may be healthy today. But if you don’t have Jesus, you need to realize you desperately need Jesus. Without Jesus, you have no future of happiness, but only sadness.
We need to be aware of our need for Jesus to save us from our sins. We desperately need Him to save us. The woman with the hemorrhage is aware of her need, and she desperately seeks Jesus.
Jesus feels the healing power drain from His Spirit as the woman touches the fringe of His cloak. He looks around and asks, “Who is the one who touched Me?”
Perhaps Jesus wants His disciples to know a miracle just took place. It will increase their faith, just as our faith finds strength from hearing of this event.
Everyone but the woman denies having touched Jesus. It seems she is trying to go away unnoticed. Peter speaks out what is obvious. How Jesus could ask such a question? He says, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.”
Jesus explains to Peter that He is aware of the power going out of Him. The woman hears Jesus. She knows God is working through Jesus, which is why she seeks His help in the first place. She realizes that her act of touching Jesus did not escape notice.
She trembles and kneels before Jesus. Even though her situation is embarrassing, she declares in front of all the people why she touches Jesus. She responds to Jesus with humility. She tells Him that she is cured. Her healing takes place in an instant.
Jesus does not shame the woman, but He honors her. He commends her for her faith. He tells her that her faith is what makes her will. In other words, there is nothing special about the fringe of Jesus’ cloak. There are many people touching Jesus, but only one is healed. Jesus tells her, and we can hear the affection in His words, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
Do you have the faith to make you well? I am not talking about curing sickness, but about the faith to make you well spiritually? Do you put your faith in Jesus to make you spiritually well? All those who believe Jesus can save them from sin are made well. The rotting sickness of sin from the top of our head to the soles of our feet is removed when we put our faith in Jesus.
The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all our sin. The woman is healed in an instant, and we can be saved from our sin in an instant. Put your faith in Jesus for forgiveness. Be like the woman, press towards Jesus in desperation. Tell Him right now you believe He can save you. When you do, Jesus says, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
As we think about all the commotion of the crowd and the woman with the hemorrhage, we almost forget about Jairus. He patiently waits at the shore for Jesus’ boat to return. Finally, Jesus arrives, and Jairus convinces Jesus to heal his dying daughter.
After finally getting Jesus’ attention, the crowds make progress toward his home very slow. The woman with the hemorrhage takes away more valuable time and likely increases his anxiety. The death clock for his daughter is ticking.
Perhaps Jairus is thinking, “Why can’t people get out of the way so Jesus can get to my house? Why doesn’t Jesus run? And, what about this woman? She is not dying. She’s had this illness for twelve years. Can’t she wait another hour?”
Jairus gets the word he doesn’t want to hear. Someone came from his house and tells Jairus not to trouble Jesus anymore. His daughter is dead. It’s over. “Jairus, leave Jesus, go home, and be with your family. Stop taking up the Master’s time.”
Imagine the look of sadness on Jairus’ face. His only daughter is now dead. The only hope was Jesus. Now, his friends are telling him it’s too late.
Jesus looks on Jairus’ face. Jesus understands sadness and loss. He created the emotions which Jairus is experiencing. He looks at Jairus and says, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.”
Jesus does not want us to without hope. Jesus promises that if we only believe, we will be made well. Maybe you think that you are too much of a sinner. Perhaps you feel you are without hope. Maybe you are watching this video online because you think your sin is so great, you are afraid to come to church.
Our sin can feel like a mighty mountain that is too high for us to get over. It’s a giant wall that keeps us from God. Sin can make us feel hopeless. Jesus says, do not be afraid any longer. Put your faith in Him. Believe He is willing to forgive your sin. Trust Him with your life. When you do, you will be made well.
Jesus arrives at Jairus' house and has everybody else wait outside except three of His closest disciples, Jairus, and his wife. According to the Law of Moses, the word of three or more witnesses will stand fast. The disciples can witness the miracle and tell people it is true.
When they arrive, people are weeping and lamenting over the death of the little girl. Jesus tells them to stop weeping because the girl is not dead, she is asleep.
It takes a lot of gumption to walk into the home with a confirmed dead person and tell people that they are not dead. Everyone there knows she is dead. They think Jesus is a fool. They doubt the power of Jesus.
The people in the house think Jesus is absurd and laugh at Jesus. Apparently, they haven’t heard of Jesus raising the widow of Nain’s son a few months ago. What is it like for Jairus to hear people laugh at Jesus? What is absurd is to go from mourning and weeping one moment to making fun of a prophet of God and laughing the next. They doubt Jesus.
We need to make sure that we never doubt what Jesus says. We can believe everything in His holy Word. Some things seem laughable. People laugh when they hear the world is created in six days. People think it is a joke when Jesus says we are to be holy and obey His commands. Jesus says that hell exists and there is eternal punishment, and people laugh. The difference between life and death is no joke.
The biggest mistake we can make is to doubt the words of Jesus. Our eternal destiny is based on the words He says that He is coming again to judge the living and the dead. Do not doubt the Savior. Believe every word that comes from His lips.
Jesus ignores the laughter. He takes the girl by the hand and says, “Child, arise!” and her spirit, which had left her body, returns. The girl immediately gets up. Jesus tells them to give her something to eat.
Jesus proves He has authority over death. Those who laugh at Jesus are not laughing now. The disciples are likely elated at witnessing the miracle. The girl no longer feels any illness.
When is the last time any of us were so sick, that we were on our deathbed, then, in a moment, we are up walking and eating? Jesus is all-powerful and has all authority in heaven and on the earth.
Jesus is holding out His hand to all who are willing to receive it. Will you let Jesus take you by the hand? Jesus extends His hand with infinite love and compassion. He cares for us. Jesus wants to make us well. Let Jesus take us by the hand. To those of us who receive His extended hand, Jesus says, “Child, arise!” Jesus is offering to make us children of God. Jesus desires to bring us into His kingdom of joy and gladness. Let Jesus take you by the hand.
The parents of the girl are amazed, as they should be. But, Jesus gives them the opposite instruction that He gives the man in Gerasenes. He tells them to tell no one what had happened.
The Bible does not tell us why Jesus tells them to keep the miracle a secret. The Bible tells us the opposite. We are to tell everyone about the power of Jesus over death.
Perhaps Jesus does not want everyone running to Him for a miracle. He knows the hearts of the people are full of miracle-seeking. It may be Jesus wants people to focus on the big picture; which is that Jesus is come to forgive us of our sins.
Luke includes the story in his gospel. God’s Holy Spirit inspires Luke which gives him permission to speak of this miracle. The parents are amazed. The girl is amazed. Luke is amazed.
Are you amazed? Does this passage stir your heart to have great awe of Jesus? It should. Be amazed at Jesus. Allow His ministry of raising the dead gives you faith to know He has the authority to raise us up after we are dead. Jesus came that we might have life and liberty. Jesus is come to seek and save the lost. Be amazed knowing that the God of the universe became a man because of His great love and desire to save our souls.
Luke writes verse after verse testifying that Jesus is the Messiah who restores life. Jesus didn’t come just for the woman with the hemorrhage or to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead. Jesus came to save all sinners. He came for you and for me.
We gather together to worship Jesus. We read the Bible and listen to the truth about Jesus because He is the Messiah.
Luke writes of what happened over two thousand years ago. Everyone who put their trust in Jesus during that time died. They are buried in a grave today.
One day, we will be in a grave. But, when we believe Jesus is the Messiah who restores life, we no longer fear the grave. We know that after we are dead, Jesus will extend His hand to us. We will sing with joy and say, “The grave has no victory over me. Jesus gives me eternal life.” He will take us by the hand, and just like the girl, we will also eat. We will sit at the great banquet of the marriage supper of the Lamb and we will enjoy the presence of Jesus forever.