Luke 8:40-56--Jesus Heals a Woman and Jairus's Daughter

Luke 8:40-56
English Standard Version

Jesus Heals a Woman and Jairus's Daughter
40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 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.

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. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 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!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

​49 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.” 50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” 51 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. 52 And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

---

Jesus returned from his ministry on the other side of the Lake, the area known as the Decapolis.  The passage doesn't say where he returned to, but all the Gospels give the same details that Jesus was being welcomed by the crowd and they were following him again (they did not seem to go across the Lake to look for him this time), and one of the rulers or leaders of the local synagogue named Jairus came to meet Jesus.  He implored Jesus go come to his home because his 12-year daughter, and only child, was dying.  Again, we see that many of the Jews believed in power by proximity and thought Jesus had to be physically present in the same room for the miracle to occur because that's what they are used to with the prophets from the Old Testament.

This story gets interrupted by something else though as a woman who is "unclean" because of bleeding issue (See Leviticus 15, specifically verses 25-30 to explain why she was "unclean" under the Law and what the implications of her uncleanliness would be)..  This woman risked disobeying the Law to come out in public, in a crowded space too, posing a risk to all these other people as this Law was meant to protect the people from diseases that would be spread and transmitted by bodily fluids--specifically those related to reproductive organs--because she had heard about Jesus and His ability to hear people and she had tried everything and spent all of her money on conventional wisdom and conventional medicine.  None of the wisdom of this world had been able to heal her.  Now she felt she had to approach Jesus, but she believed a little differently than others.  She didn't even think that He had to know about her.  She imagined that she could quietly sneak into the crowd and just touch the hem of His garment and that she would be healed and no one would be any the wiser.

She does sneak into the crowd and touch the hem of his garment (probably one of the tassels that was required to be there according to the Law), and Jesus feels the power come out of Him and He stops to interrogate the crowd asking, "Who touched me?" The disciples seem to be astonished at such a question because there is a large crowd pushing in all around Jesus and they were sure all kinds of people were bumping into Him, but that's not what Jesus was concerned about.  He knew this woman touched Him believing that by touching Him she would be healed, but He was not going to let her get away unnoticed.  He clarified "Someone did touch me, for I felt the power come out of Me" and it was only at that time when the woman realized that she had not escaped notice that she could not possibly remain hidden she came forward.

Why would she want to hide?  Well, this was shameful for her.  Also, as we mentioned before, she was breaking the Law to come here.  We know that she knew immediately that she was healed from this passage and from others--not only saying that the issue was gone but that she could feel that it was gone.  She still would be unclean for a period of time now according to the Law, so even her coming forward to admit what she did, even if the issue had stopped now could still mean that everyone else in the crowd who might have accidently touched her would also be unclean according to the Law.  Jesus is not going to let her shame get in the way though and He's going to put her faith on display for all to see, stopping the procession to heal Jairus's daughter (this is going to be important in just a moment) to make sure that this woman's faith is revealed.

The woman comes forward and is trembling in the midst of all the people afraid what Jesus might say and what might happen to her now that she has been revealed.  Jesus tells her not to be afraid and that her faith has made her well.  He wasn't there to condemn her, and He tells her to go in peace.  In the middle of this, messengers from Jairus come telling him not to both the Teacher anymore (that apparently is all that Jairus thought of Jesus is that He was a Good Teacher) because his daughter was dead.  They knew Jesus could heal, but apparently they had forgotten that Jesus could also raise the dead which we just say in Luke 7:11-17 and was one of the signs of who Jesus really was that was given to the messengers of John the Baptist in Luke 7:22-23.  Either Jairus's servants didn't hear about this, which is unlikely, or they didn't believe that Jesus would do this for them--that it would be too bothersome or troublesome to ask Jesus for this kind of a miracle.  Jairus maybe thought himself in a position of good enough standing with the LORD to ask for his daughter to be healed, but not for her to be raised from the dead.  The words of Genesis 18:14 ring in my ears here, "Is anything too hard for the LORD," and Jeremiah 32:17, "Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you." and Jeremiah 32:27, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.  Is anything too hard for me?," and finally Mark 10:27 where Jesus was talking about the seemingly impossible task of saving mankind and He said, "With man it is impossible, but not with God.  For all things are possible with God."  That last one is often times taken out of context, but I think it fits here as the power of resurrection is something that is absolutely impossible with man.  It is just as impossible for us to save ourselves as it is for us to bring ourselves or any other human back from the dead.  Once that person is really dead, there is nothing we can do for them (and there's nothing we can do to save their souls at that point either).  Death can bring a feeling of desperation and hopelessness because there is nothing more you can do within your power to help the person.

Jesus overhears the servants, and I think He might have even cut them off (this story is a story full of interruptions) and tells Jairus not to fear, but that he only needs to believe and his daughter would be well.  That is a completely different kind of faith that Jesus is asking Jairus for.  Now, we know that God controls life and death and this delay was not accidental as Jesus likely wanted to show everyone again that He had the power not only to make sick people well, but to make dead people alive.  There's a lot of people that have the theological view that they are just spiritually ill because of sin and it's up to them to take the spiritual medicine that God is prescribing them.  No!  You are spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins (read the book of Romans).  You are like this little girl and like the other woman in this story, beyond the help of any modern medicine or wisdom of men.  You may have even spent all your money trying to make yourself well, but none of it will work and it might even actually make you worse off than when you started.  Jesus is the only one that can heal you and bring you back from the dead.  Jesus didn't just come to make bad people good or to make unclean people to be clean, He came to make dead people alive.

If I were Jairus, and I am glad that I am not, I may have been thinking much like Mary and Martha that we studied about in the book of John with the sign of the resurrection of Lazarus (which hasn't happened yet in the timeline here, but I'm making a connection).  Remember how they said, "Lord, if only you hadn't waited, our brother would still be alive."  They blamed Jesus for Lazarus's death because Jesus delayed going to Bethany for several days.  I think Jairus would be tempted to blame this woman and Jesus' delay to deal with her for the death of his daughter.  "If only He didn't stop and get distracted by this.  We were so close."  Yet Jesus tells Jairus to continue to have faith that his daughter will be made well, and he does.

Jesus asks Peter, James and John, his three closest friends among the disciples, and the child's mother and father to come into the room with Him, but permitted no one else in.  He said to the crowd that was mourning for her death (maybe even some "professional mourners" as that was a thing in that culture) that they could stop weeping because the child was not dead but only asleep.  This seems like a strange statement from Jesus, but we'll see Jesus use this idea of sleep other times to talk about someone who has died but will be resurrected.  It may seem confusing to us if we think Jesus didn't know the difference between sleep and death--clearly He does if we read the story of Lazarus in John 11, specifically verses 10-15.  Jesus knows that the girl has died, but it is no harder for Him to "wake her up" from death than it is for Him to wake her up from a nap.

Jesus takes the girl by the hand and commands here to "Get up," and she does after her spirit returns to her.  Jesus doesn't just care for the soul though here, he also cares for the body and directs that something be brought for her to eat (this probably also stopped some of the superstitious people who imagined that she was just a ghost or some sort that didn't need to eat as we see Jesus eat in front of His disciples after His resurrection to prove that He is not a ghost).  Jesus then returned the girl to her father and mother, but in this case He charged them not to tell anyone about this.  Why is that?  Why all of a sudden is Jesus now concerned about word getting out about the miracles that He's performing?  Hasn't he been very public in His ministry?

There are a few reasons that we see in the text, but I think the last passage we studied where Jesus went across the Lake to the Decapolis is a shift in Jesus' ministry.  He is going to be more private in His instruction with His disciples.  While He is still going to tell parables to all of the people, He is going to pull the disciples aside and ask them if they understood the parable and explain it to them.  He's also going to do miracles that not even all the disciples see (this one was only seen by Peter, James and John), and He's going to start telling people not to tell others about the miracles He performs, because He knows that things are reaching a tipping point with the Pharisees and that it is not yet time for all the people to want to coronate Jesus like we will see on Palm Sunday.  Jesus must "fly under the radar" for a bit in order to maintain the timeline that He knows to be correct.  He will minister largely in areas outside of Israel and in private for a while and He will say things that will make many of the crowds following Him decide to go home (intentionally).  There will be a very public return to Jesus' ministry though right before His crucifixion, and we'll see that Jesus is still going to attend all the required Feasts and that there is going to be conflict with the Pharisees every time He goes to celebrate and they will always be waiting for Him trying to trap Him, but Jesus is in control of the timeline here.  See if you don't also notice this shift in what Jesus is saying and doing, and then see if you don't pick up on when things ramp up again when Jesus starts to get very confrontational and very direct with the Pharisees in a few chapters and Jesus will start teaching only in parables so as to conceal the truth from those who do not belong to Him and reveal the truth to those who do belong to Him.