Last issue, we noted that the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus experienced the Lord’s miraculous ability around the same time. In fact, the two would be remembered in the Gospels together, side by side.

We don’t read what Jairus was thinking when Christ took time to heal the woman with the issue of blood. Any of us would certainly have been tempted to impatience. Indeed, this woman was in a bad way; however, to Jairus, his daughter’s condi­tion would have seemed far more acute. However, Christ’s delay would benefit Jairus in the long-term. Christ would stretch his faith, teach him patience, and give him a greater answer to prayer than he initially had even hoped. Most importantly, He would leave Jairus with a greater under­standing of Himself.

The Trouble⤒🔗

Jairus held an important place in Israel. The Bible calls him a ruler of the synagogue, which was quite a position, even in a small town like Galilee. Such a ruler would act the part of a chief elder, executing the policies of the synagogue. He also managed who would speak in his synagogue.

We don’t know what Jairus thought of Jesus before we come to this narrative. If he was like the other rulers of the synagogue, he may have had his doubts. He may have wor­ried about what controversy Jesus would bring to town, if He ever came to his synagogue.

If this was true, everything changed one day when his only daughter, twelve years old, became sick. Apparently none of the local doctors were able to help. Maybe Jairus tried a few things, but matters only went from bad to worse. His daughter soon reached the point of death. So when Jairus heard that Jesus was coming to his area, he hurried out and came and “fell down at Jesus’ feet” (Luke 8:41).

Imagine Jairus prostrating himself before Christ. Pour­ing out his need before the Lord, he pleaded with Him to come to his house and lay His hands on his daughter (Mark 5:23) so that she might be healed. Notice how Jairus speci­fied how Christ should answer his request. Nevertheless, Christ did not reprove him, but agreed to go along (Luke 8:42). How willing Christ is to help those who have no other helper.

The Test←⤒🔗

The healing of the woman with the issue of blood was mar­velous for her, but it was a nail-biting experience for Jairus. After all, every minute was important. All the anxiety, how­ever, reached a pitch when, off in the distance, Jairus saw someone come running from his house. If Jairus couldn’t anticipate what the man would say, he quickly learned his worst fear: it was too late. It was of no use. He had tried and failed. His precious, only daughter was no longer alive. Anxiety could go, for grief had come.

What a temptation that would have been for Jairus to despair! The messenger only rubbed it in, when he said, probably meaning well: “Trouble not the Master” (Luke 8:49). There are times in life when well-meaning coun­selors give us advice, but not according to faith. And the Bible teaches us that whatever is not according to faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). Granted, we have no warrant to believe that God will raise our loved ones again before the general resurrection in the last day. Still the question remains: does unbelief triumph over faith in our hearts when the stark reality of death invades our lives? Or do we listen to the voice of Christ, who said to Jairus: “Fear not: believe only” (Luke 8:50)? The Lord was propping up Jairus’s sinking faith. Christ saw inside of him, where something seemed to die along with his daughter, and the Savior made sure it was not Jairus’s faith. With the power of His word, He resurrected the faith of Jairus long before He resurrected the daughter of Jairus.

The Triumphant One←⤒🔗

Hearing the news of the girl’s death, Christ directed His steps towards the house of Jairus. Death had come there and seemed to have triumphed. The lamentation of the professional mourners confirmed it. Their laughter and scorn toward Christ reveal how pathetic they were (Luke 8:51). To swing from loud mourning to scornful laughter seems almost devilish. At any rate, Christ permitted none of them to be present. Only six people would be in the girl’s room with Jesus: three of His disciples, Jairus and his wife, and the daughter.

To Christ, death is no more powerful than sleep. He explained it that way Himself (Luke 8:52). What a comfort this is when we think of those who have “fallen asleep in Jesus,” as Paul put it (1 Thess. 4:14). Christ simply needs to stir them, and death is shaken off like sleep. In Jairus’s house, that is exactly what happened. Jesus took the girl by the hand and said: “Maid, arise” (Luke 8:54). Mark records it like this: “Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Dam­sel, I say unto thee, arise” (Mark 6:41).

Christ’s power triumphed over death, not just because He was the Son of God, but because He was giving signs of what He would do in His death on the cross. There He would “destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb 2:14-15).

This little twelve-year-old girl was a wondrous sign to behold. Like a living parable of Christ’s coming victory, she went about her life as evidence that Christ “hears the needy when they cry, He saves their souls when death draws nigh” (Psalm 68, rhymed). As a sign that everything had been restored to normal, He instructed her parents to give her something to eat (Luke 9:55). Death could not hold her when the Triumphant One took her by the hand and awakened her.

All of God’s children have this same comfort as they face death. Death is the last enemy, but it is not the final Victor; that title belongs only to Christ. One day, returning on the clouds, His almighty Word will open the graves of all His sleeping children, and through resurrection power He will raise them to life forevermore.

Questions←⤒🔗

1. The man from Jairus’s house told him not to trouble Christ. From this miracle, what can you find that actually troubles Christ and what does not?
    
2. Why do you think Christ refused to do the miracle in front of the mocking crowd? Wouldn’t this be such evidence so as to put their unbelief to shame?
    
3. Christ willed that only seven people witness this miracle; yet we are witnesses in the sense that we are able to read its testimony. In what sense is the truth of it still hidden from those who do not believe, but revealed to those who do believe?
    
4. How was the miracle that Christ did in Jairus’s heart even more important than what He did to Jairus’s daughter?
    
5. Christ did not limit His miracles to adults; the text mentions explicitly that she was only twelve years old. Imagine yourself talking to a group of twelve year-olds. What could you tell them about what Christ says to them through this story?