So simple and so brief is Jesus' command to Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, that one might question whether a statement like this is sufficient. Considering our creeds, we might be inclined to interject that there is much more to the gospel than this! Indeed, does not James say that faith without works is dead? Brevity is well and good, but is not this statement to the ruler too short?

One should not be quick to change the Saviour's words. In fact, in them we see the Reformation's central slogan: by faith alone! The gospel still has only one central demand: believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Faith, however, is often misjudged, and made easier than it really is. Jesus demands a true and living faith, a faith manifested in deeds of love, and by acknowledgment of the absolute sovereignty of Christ in our lives.

The events surrounding Jairus' daughter make this clear. If anyone had to be helped immediately, it ought to have been Jairus. His daughter was at the point of death. And he was a ruler of the synagogue, one who had the charge of the regular services of worship and all its related administrative duties. He obviously was a figure held in honour among the people, and one for whom people moved out of the way.

But Jesus deliberately appears to relegate him and his concerns to a secondary place. That Jairus' daughter was on the point of death does not make Him rush without delay to Jairus' home. For as He proceeded to go towards Jairus' home, the woman with the hemorrhage comes forward, and the Lord Jesus takes the time to heal her and speak with her. She comes before Jairus! And Jairus must wait for her, even though for him every moment is crucial. We can feel his anxiety, and yet may notice that he perseveres. And he is rewarded, for the miracle he receives far surpasses what Jesus did to the woman, and climaxes this section of the gospel.

It's precisely when the report comes through that his daughter has died, and that because of His own delays Jesus is too late to help, that Jairus' faith is tested to its limits. To believe that Jesus could heal – that was one thing; to believe that He could raise the dead was quite another. For precisely the power to raise the dead distinguishes Jesus from all prophets and teachers that appeared before Him. Now Jairus is faced with the call to believe that Jesus is more than just a special prophet. He must see Him as the Son of God!

So Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.” Literally He says, “Hold on to your faith, keep on believing!” In Luke's account of the same event Jesus uses a word which says, “Now begin to truly believe!” And we may be sure that Jesus wants to include both aspects of the word “believe” in His call to Jairus. Jairus must keep trusting in the one whom he believed could heal his daughter. He must also start all over and believe in Him not only as the one who can heal her, but more especially bring her back from the dead!

Here faith is tested to its limits, just as the Lord often did. In His delays and in what He temporarily withholds, the LORD tests His people. So He tested them in the wilderness, as Moses says, “that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not,” Deuteronomy 8:2. The Lord Jesus also wanted to measure the strength and endurance of Jairus' faith.

And Jairus did believe! At the critical moment, he humbled himself even more, acknowledging that life and death were in Jesus' hands. He manifests a living faith. For faith tested is a working and living faith, a faith supplemented by living deeds. To be sure, he could have thrown up his hands in disgust and despair. But he trusted in Him who raises the dead! And so his daughter was saved, as Luke's account makes clear. For their Jesus says, “Only believe, and she will be well.” Jairus' faith does not bring her back, but is certainly instrumental in his daughter's being brought back by Christ's power.

Therefore the church that stands in the line of the Reformation will not add anything to Christ's simple demand of faith. Still today, the Saviour's call is, “Only believe!” But the church in the line of the Reformation will also not diminish the depth of these words. For as the call is given here it clearly implies acknowledging Jesus as the only Son of God. And this confession simultaneously involves a total self-denial by which we give all glory to God for our whole salvation.

Thus the call to Jairus is still the call given to every true believer today. Jairus had to keep denying himself, and keep following a heavenly Master. It's the same for us, who have a Master who speaks from heaven. Only, we have more living proofs of His victory over the grave, and His power to raise the dead! Thus we must seek Christ where He speaks and where He seals a true and living union with His broken body and shed blood through His Spirit by faith, through the instituted means of Word and sacrament. And just as Jairus, we are to let everything go for the sake of lasting fellowship with Him!

For the call to Jairus makes one thing clear: faith does not rest in words, but includes and culminates in fellowship with the Person of the Saviour. And it tells us that by resting in the fellowship with Him, we inherit the life that never ends. So let us too – through every test of faith – only believe! Then faith will prove victorious in the power of His Spirit.