Isolations and death are the worst possible things we as humans face.
These are the judgements for sin. Songs about death and loneliness abound. We all fear it. We all know that if our true selfs were to be revealed we there would be a darkness that that would repel even the most loving human. But not this man. Not Jesus. He is not repeled, but comes to the worst, he comes to the most needy and saves them in there need.
40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. Here the crowds welcomed him and waited for him, while the Gasarenes had asked him to leave. Jesus attracts or repels. You hate him or love. we see this throughout. And the more you know of Jesus the more this will be the case.
41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
Jairus was a ruler of the synagogue. This was a position of prestige and local authority. For a man of his standing to fall at the feet of Jesus was a radical abandonment of and humility.
To fall at Jesus feet, is almost always associated with worship. By doing this in public (Luke 8:40) Jairus was essentially signaling that his social status meant nothing compared to his desperation as a father. In the light of death we are willing to let everything go to find life.
The feet of Jesus is the great leveler of all humanity. Today we have A wealthy respected, member of Jewish society falling at Jesus feet, and in verse 47 we have an impoverished unclean woman fall down at his feet. The only status that people have at Jesus feet is their own need. The word for “implored” is a strong word, meaning he was continually pleading with Jesus. It captures the frantic, repetitive nature of a parent in crisis.” He needs him and need him now.
Jesus hears the cries of the leader and goes but definitely does not go as quickly as Jarius would have liked for on the way he meets a woman.
The LORD of life: On the way to resurrect a 12-year-old dead daughter, restores a daughter that bled for 12 years.
- The daughter that was bleeding.
- The daughter that died
The daughter that was bleeding
As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone.
As a girl is on the doorstep of death, we take an intermezzo as if to say, “Jarius, this can wait.” Jesus is not rushed. He is always on time. You never see him anxious, or running around. It is as if he knows his time is Gods time. When someone interruptus in the middle of something we tend to get frustrated. Jesus sees it as an divine opportunity.
We meet a woman. And Luke gives us quite a detailed description. He tells us three things. Frist she has a discharge of blood, that means she was unclean, an outcast in society. No one would have had too much to do with her. We read in Leviticus 15:
“If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. And whoever touches these things shall be unclean…”
She was unclean – a form of social death. Not only was she an outcast but secondly she had nothing to offer him.
She had spent all her living on physicians. No resources to offer. Nothing to bring to Jesus. She came empty-handed. Everly last penny gone.
And on top of that she came with a sense of hopelessness and desperation. It says that she could not be healed by anyone. There was no human remedy for the disease. It was hopeless.
She came as an outcast, with no money, with no human hope. But she came and thought if she could only get to Jesus to touch him, she might be healed. Desperate, this is exactly what she did.
44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. Immediately. No begging. No Money. No doctors. No waiting. Immediately what must have felt like a lifetime of ostracization, isolations is gone. She is clean. This is the power of the creator God. In a moment she was restored. This is not a long drawn our process with lots of doctors visits. This is instant. This is ressureciton power. The power of restoration. This is the power of God.
Dear church, When you are healed it is in a moment. iF jesus comes to you and finds you in whatever place you are in, and heals you, Your life is transferred form darkness to light. From death to life. From a declations of guilt, to justified. Instantly. When he returns on the last day. It will not be a long drawn out process. It will be instant.
45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” Here is a man’s daughter who is dying, and Jesus takes time to stop and find out who touched him. Obviously, she was afraid of telling the truth… for everyone is denying it. And of course, the forward disciple that Peter is, he says exasperated, “Master there are all kinds of people touching.” But Peter did not know there was one that touched him with definite purpose.
46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” He knows this person needs to be restored to relationships and life. He wanted the woman to be more than just physically healed; He wanted her to be socially restored and personally known, even if it "cost" Jairus precious minutes. He wanted her to acknowledge him before men, and he wants to acknowledge her. He insists that someone touched because he knew that power had gone out from. The power that he had to heal – he has given to her.
47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down ThiThe word trembling captures her fear of the social consequences. Having a discharge of blood made her "unclean" under Levitical law; by touching Jesus, she technically made Him unclean as well. But she can no longer hide from the light of his presence. And she falls down before him.
before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed.
Here is a public declaration of all that Jesus has done for her. Just as the man was told in the last story to tell of all he had done, so this woman comes out of her shell and tells exactly what happens. She acknowledges before all that Jesus has power, and he also acknowledges her publicly, restoring her, and calling her daughter.
48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well;
This is the only time that Jesus calls someone daughter. Each daughter is as precious to God as Jarius daughter is to him. Jesus publicly adopts her into the family of God. We go to Jesus to get this and that problem solved, but he wants far more. He is not there to solve our problems but restore us whole. We are called to be a beloved family member. Jesus would not let her escape and think it was some magical thing, that healed her. No, it was her faith in him. Her relationship to him brought healing. And this restored Peace.
go in peace.” Jesus is telling her that her exile is over. She is physically whole, socially restored to her community, and spiritually right with God. Shalom. Not just an absnce of conflict, but the fullness of life. God in peace. We could end there! But Jesus is not done.
While all this is going on, you can imagine Jarius there, wondering what is happening. And while Jesus is talking the worst possible news comes.
We read, “ While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.”
The daughter that died
For Jairus, the wait was agonizing. But Jesus is teaching him, he is not just a doctor to be summoned, but a Lord of life to be trusted. By the time Jesus finished with the woman, the news arrived that the girl was dead. Jesus pushed Jairus past the point of "fixing" a problem into a place where he had to trust in a resurrection. Where he was as helpless as the woman.
50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” To the woman he has just said “your faith has made you well.” Jarius must have heard this. And now Jesus looks at Jarius and says, “Only believe and she will be well. Don’t fear. Don’t fear like the disciples did when the storm came on them in the boat. Don’t fear like the Gaserenes that asked me to leave. Don’t let your circumstances dictate your reaction, but let me be the one. Jarius, did you see what I just did for the woman who believed. She was restored to life. Fullness of life in relationship with God and others.
And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. He takes his three closest with him. The ones who would go to the mt. of transfiguration, the ones who would watch and pray in the garden. The reason he does so hear is because the upstairs room where the girl lay was likely not very big. And It would have been full. These three would tell the world what happened in that room.
As they go you can imagine the scene. In those days they had professional mourners, and there would have been loud weeping for the girl.
52 And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” This is amazing. What is Jesus saying here? He is not saying that the child is actually sleeping. The Child had officially been pronounced dead. There was no heartbeat, no pulse. That is why we read. 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
No, he is not saying they were wrong in that she was physically dead. But he is saying something about the power of death that was to be broken by the power of life. By faith in Christ, death is not final and is as reversible as waking someone from sleep. He is saying for those who believe, death is simply a falling asleep, and waiting to be woken by the voice of life.
54 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” 55 it just means “get up.” Jesus is doing exactly what this child’s parents might do on a sunny morning. He sits down, takes her hand, and says, “Honey, it’s time to get up.” And she does.
Jesus is facing the most implacable, unescapable enemy of the human race and such is his power that he holds this child by the hand and gently lifts her right up through it. “Honey, get up.” Jesus is saying by his actions, “If I have you by the hand, death itself is nothing but sleep.”
He is reframing death itself. For those in Christ, death has been downgraded to "sleep" because Jesus has the power to "wake us up" at any moment. What a comfort! Death is dead. Ew don’t have to live in slavery to it anymore.
And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. Beautiful Life restored. Eating. Have some breakfast. A life we were all meant for beloved. Of family of embodied relationship. A life that is eternally possible with Jesus. This daughter would have died again. Or rather fallen asleep again, she would have seen others pass away. Maybe her parents. But she would remember that there is one who lives who has power over death. Here resurrection is hope for us.
56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.
Why? Because his time had not yet come. People had to follow him not for what he did but who he was. The Messiah – the one who came to give life. And restore to relationship. A woman could enter in society again, a girl received her family back. All because of what he did. But in order to do that he would have to take their isolation, their death on himself. He touched both of them.
There is nothing more frightening and terrible then being alone. Isolated. Cut off. There is nothing more devastating and terrible then losing a child. There is nothing more isolating then people avoiding you.
And this is nothing compared to Jesus own loss.
He lost his Father’s hand on the cross.
He went into the tomb so we can be raised out of it.
He lost hold of his Father’s hand so we could know that once he has us by the hand, he will never, ever forsake us.
Amen