24  Jesus’ Compassionate Power  (Luke 8:40–56)

And as Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. And there came a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue; and he fell at Jesus’ feet, and began to implore Him to come to his house; for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him. And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.” When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.” Butwhen Jesus heard this, He answered him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.” When He came to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him, except Peter and John and James, and the girl’s father and mother. Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, “Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Child, arise!” And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately; and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat. Her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened. (8:40–56)

Ever since the fall, life on the cursed earth has been subject to disease, disaster, and death. Tragedy, sorrow, misery, and suffering are woven into the fabric of human existence. Death is a universal experience, and all sophisticated modern medical technology can do is postpone the inevitable. Because of man’s God-given capacity for love and relationships, sickness and death also produce intense grief and sadness.

Jesus understood the suffering associated with disease and death. He was, as Isaiah predicted, “A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). As He observed the outpouring of sorrow and grief over the death of Lazarus, “He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled” (John 11:33; cf. v. 38) and “wept” (v. 35). The Lord, of course, knew that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. But He grieved over the universally devastating impact of sin in a fallen world.

But despite the ruinous effects of sin, there is still hope. There is One coming who has the power to reverse the curse; to heal all diseases and restore paradise. He is the One promised by the Old Testament prophets; the Messiah, Savior, and King. He will set up the millennial kingdom, an Eden-like world where long life spans will be the norm (Isa. 65:20). After the millennial kingdom, the present earth and heaven will be destroyed (2 Peter 3:10), and the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth from which disease, death, sorrow, and suffering will be forever banished (Rev. 21:1–5; cf. Isa. 65:17; 66:22).

The New Testament makes it unmistakably clear that only one person can accomplish those things—the Lord Jesus Christ. All other claimants are charlatans, fakes, and frauds (cf.John 10:7–8).The New Testament was written to establish that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, Lord, and Savior; the second person of the Trinity incarnate. He alone was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, rose from the dead, and demonstrated absolute power over the natural realm and the spiritual realm.

This section of Luke’s gospel presents two more illustrations of Jesus’ supernatural power over disease and death. It is the story of onemiracle, the raising of a synagogue ruler’s daughter, sandwiched around another miracle, the healing of a woman with a hemorrhage. This account provides insight into the personal aspect of His ministry; what He was feeling. It takes us as far into the nature of the God-Man as the human mind can go, revealing that the Lord Jesus Christ not only had the power to heal, but also the compassionate desire to do so. As the story unfolds, eight aspects of Jesus’ ministry to people become evident: His accessibility, availability, interruptibility inexhaustibility, faithfulness, perspective, power, and priority.

HIS ACCESSIBILITY

And as Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. And there came a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue; and he fell at Jesus’ feet, and began to implore Him to come to his house; for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. (8:40–42a)

As the story opens, Jesus had just returned from the region of Gadara, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The Lord had gone there seeking relief from the ever-present throngs of people that followed Him wherever He went. On the voyage to Gadara, Jesus and the disciples had been caught in a powerful storm, which He miraculously calmed (see the exposition of 8:22–25 in chapter 22 of this volume). After they arrived, Jesus encountered two demon-possessed maniacs and cast the demons that infested them into a herd of swine (see the exposition of 8:26–39 in the previous chapter of this volume).The terrified inhabitants of the region then begged the Lord to leave, and He got into a boat and returned across the Sea of Galilee to the familiar town of Capernaum (8:37).

Upon His arrival, Jesus immediately was engulfed by a large crowd (Mark 5:21) who, in contrast to the people of Gadara, welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. Many in the crowd were crippled, blind, deaf, and plagued by various other diseases. They had been anxiously awaiting His return, hoping to be healed. Jesus was a hero for those already healed, and for some the ultimate celebrity. They were captivated by the miraculous signs He performed and further hoped that He would use His power to free them from the yoke of Roman occupation.

Unlike most religious leaders in Israel, who avoided the common people so as not to be defiled by them, Jesus secluded Himself only occasionally to rest, to give further insight and instruction to His disciples, or to spend time alone in communion with the Father. Apart from such occasions, His entire ministry was spent in public, mingling daily with the people in town and village streets, the fields, along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and wherever else they gathered. Summarizing His ministry to Pilate, Jesus said, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues [cf.Matt.4:23;9:35] and in the temple [cf.John 7:14, 28], where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret” (John 18:20). That was consistent with His purpose in coming into the world—to proclaim the gospel message of repentance and forgiveness (cf.Mark 1:38).

Despite their eager welcome of Jesus, the crowd was fickle. Some, easily led by the hateful religious leaders, would eventually scream for His blood and cry out, “Crucify crucify Him! … His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Luke 23:21; Matt.27:25). Others were sign seekers (Luke 11:29) who would soon become disenchanted with Jesus and abandon Him (John 6:66). Only a few were enduring, true followers of Him (Matt. 7:14; 22:14; Luke 13:23–24).

Among those anxiously waiting for Jesus to return and resume His healing ministry were two very contrasting souls. One was a man, the other was a woman. One was rich, the other poor. One was a respected leader of society, the other a rejected outcast. But each had a desperate need that only Jesus could meet.

Luke introduced first a man named Jairus, who was an official of the synagogue. The Greek text includes the word idou (“see,” “behold, ““look”), which notes that his appearance was something unexpected or startling. As an official of the synagogue he was a respected leader, steeped in the Old Testament, and devoted to the religion of Judaism. He was one of those responsible for overseeing all activities in the synagogue, the focal point of Jewish religious life in his city Jairus was a leading figure in Capernaum’s religious establishment, which in turn was connected with national Judaism, which was mainly in the hands of Pharisees and scribes, who were hostile to Jesus and sought to destroy Him. For a local representative of the very leaders who hated Him to fall at Jesus’ feet, and … implore Him to come to his house was a stunning development.

But Jairus did not come as a representative of the religious elite, but as a grief-stricken father whose only [cf. 7:12; 9:38] daughter, about twelve years old, … was dying (literally at the point of death [Mark 5:23]). He was no longer concerned about what his fellow leaders in the synagogue or the scribes and Pharisees might think of him. All that mattered to him was that he get to Jesus and bring Him to his daughter before it was too late.

Jesus had performed many miracles in Capernaum (cf.4:38–40) one of which, His casting a demon out of a man in the synagogue(4:33–35), Jairus, as a synagogue official, may have witnessed. Word of the Lord’s raising a young man from the dead at Nain (7:11–15), only about twenty miles away, had certainly reached Capernaum, making Jairus aware of His power. Such information led him to believe that Jesus could heal his daughter. Perhaps, unlike the rich young ruler (18:18–23), he came to Jesus humbled by the reality of his own unworthiness, as he desperately sought help for his daughter. He must have been relieved and grateful to find Jesus, as always, accessible.

HIS AVAILABILITY

But as He went, (8:42b)

Jesus was not merely accessible in the crowd, but also was available to individuals. Having heard Jairus’s desperate plea, He went with him. Despite the relentless demands of the crowds that constantly surrounded Him, the Lord spent time with individuals. The Gospels are filled with the stories of men, women, and even children (Matt. 19:13–14) to whom Jesus gave personal attention. As the Creator walked with people, He felt their pain and had compassion on them; He was a comforter and burden bearer. “Come to Me,” He said, “all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28–30). Isaiah prophesied of Him, “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes…. A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish” (Isa.40:11; 42:3).

Of all the impressive miracles He could have done to prove that He was God, Jesus chose to do those that relieved people’s suffering. Instead of flying off the pinnacle of the temple, He rescued His terrified disciples from a life-threatening storm. Instead of instantly creating a cow or a horse, He created food for thousands of hungry people. Instead of lifting up a mountain and casting it into the sea, He healed the sick and raised the dead. His choice of miracles revealed not only Jesus’ deity, but also His divine compassion (Matt.9:36; 14:14; Mark 1:41;8:2; Luke 7:13).

Jairus’s heart was breaking. Whatever he had thought about Jesus, or what the religious leaders might think of him for going to Him, was of no concern to him. His desperate need drove him to the compassionate, available Savior. Jesus responded to his weak faith and natural pain with a powerful demonstration both of His power and His compassion.

HIS INTERRUPTIBILITY

the crowds were pressing against Him. And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. (8:42c-44)

As He endeavored to go with Jairus, the Lord found His way impeded by the crowds that were pressing against Him. The thick mass of bodies was immobile, all desperately wanting Jesus’ attention. Jairus’s anxiety and frustration at the delay in getting Jesus to his house must have been intense. Every passing moment brought his beloved daughter closer to death. Suddenly, to Jairus’s dismay, the Lord’s slow progress through the crowd was halted completely by an equally desperate person. A woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak. The delay she caused could and would prove fatal to Jairus’s daughter.

Jesus was used to being interrupted. Once while He was preaching a sermon, some men tore open the roof above Him and lowered a paralyzed man on a stretcher (Luke 5:17–19). On another occasion He was interrupted when “someone in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me’” (Luke 12:13). Despite the overwhelming demands, Jesus was never indifferent to individuals in need.

This woman had lived with a severe medical problem, a hemorrhage, for twelve years—as long as Jairus’s daughter had been alive. While he and his family enjoyed watching their daughter grow up and looked forward to her future as a wife and mother, this woman had endured twelve years of misery and suffering. Her condition produced severe physical effects; continual bleeding, fatigue and lack of strength from the blood loss, fear that the condition might eventually prove fatal, and perhaps constant pain. But the social effects were even more severe. According to Leviticus 15:19–27, a woman with a bleeding problem like hers was ceremonially unclean for as long as the condition persisted. That meant that she could not go to the temple, or attend the synagogue. No one in her family could touch her or anything she touched or they too would become ceremonially unclean. She was an outcast, both in society and in her own family.

Her situation was hopeless, since like everyone else at that time she could not be healed by anyone. The woman’s cure was beyond the limited medical knowledge of that day. All her desperate attempts to find relief had only increased her suffering; she had, as Mark records, “endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse” (Mark 5:26). Ancient, useless treatments prescribed for women with her condition were bizarre:

Her money and hope gone, cut off from friends and family, she desperately and anxiously forced her way through the crowd to reach Jesus. Embarrassed and humiliated by her perpetually unclean condition and seeking to avoid disclosure, embarrassment, and resentment from the people, she came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak. In the Old Testament law God had commanded the Jews, “You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself” (Deut. 22:12). Those tassels, on the fringe of their robes, served as a reminder of their obligation to obey God’s commandments (Num. 15:37–41). The Greek verb translated touched suggests that the woman did not merely tap one of the Lord’s tassels, but grabbed one and clutched it (the same verb is translated “clinging” in John 20:17). Matthew records that she kept “saying to herself, ‘If I only touch His garment, I will get well’” (Matt. 9:21). After twelve years of suffering, Jesus was her only hope, so she literally and figuratively clung desperately to Him.

Jesus honored her faith, and as she grasped the tassel of His robe immediately her hemorrhage stopped. Jesus often healed those who had no faith, but never saved anyone who lacked it. This woman, her physical problem solved, was on the way to salvation.

HIS INEXHAUSTIBILITY

And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.” When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” (8:45–48)

There is an inexhaustible thoroughness in what Jesus did. Not content with restoring the woman physically, the Lord restored her socially by making her healing known publically He also restored her spiritually to God.

After the woman grasped the tassel of His robe Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” Obviously, the omniscient Lord was not asking for information. He knew who had touched Him, and was calling for her to reveal herself. And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” Following Peter’s lead the rest of the disciples asked incredulously, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’“ (Mark 5:31). The Lord’s reply is one of the most profound things He ever said: “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.” The power of God is not an impersonal force flowing from Him to people. He was fully aware of its action. No one ever receives the power of God into his or her life without acute awareness on His part.

Realizing that she could not hide, when the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling in reverential fear and fell down before Him in homage and worship. She then declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. Not content merely to restore her physically and socially, Jesus said to her, “Daughter (the only time in the Gospels that Jesus used that word to address a woman) your faith has made you well; go in peace.” The phrase made you well translates a form of the verb sōzō, which is the common New Testament word for salvation. This same phrase in the Greek text appears in Luke 7:50, where it clearly refers to salvation from sin. It is also used in Luke 17:19 to describe one of the ten lepers who returned to worship Jesus. While all ten were healed, he alone was saved. Further, the Lord’s calling her daughter indicates that He received her as a child of His kingdom (John 1:12). She was restored, physically, socially, and spiritually through the grace and personal power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

HIS FAITHFULNESS

While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; do not troublethe Teacher anymore.” But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.” (8:49–50)

While Jesus was still speaking to the now-healed woman, Jairus received the news he had dreaded. Someone came from his house and told him, “Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.” The delay had proven deadly, and Jairus’s worst fear was realized. While Jesus was ministering to a lowly outcast, the child of one of Capernaum’s leading citizens had died. The unnamed messenger evidently did not believe Christ could raise the little girl from the dead. Therefore he saw no further need to keep Jesus from His ministry to others in the crowd. Didaskalon (Teacher) was a title of great respect. It was appropriate for Jesus since teaching, not performing miracles, was the primary focus of His ministry (cf.Mark 1:38).

Though Luke does not record it, at this point Jairus said to Jesus, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live” (Matt.9:18). Unlike the doubtful messenger, Jairus believed that Jesus had the power to raise his daughter from the dead as He had the young man at Nain.

When Jesus heard Jairus’s report of his daughter’s death He answered him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.” Jesus was not making Jairus’s faith a condition for resurrecting his daughter, but was encouraging and reassuring him. Although Jairus had faith that Jesus could resurrect her, his faith was mingled with fear (cf.Mark 9:24). The Lord exhorted him to stop being afraid and to keep believing in His promise that his daughter would be made well (cf.Matt. 17:19–20).

HIS PERSPECTIVE

When He came to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him, except Peter and John and James, and the girl’s father and mother. Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, “Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. (8:51–53)

After a significant delay in getting there (enough time had elapsed for the mourners to have gathered and the funeral to have started), Jesus finally came to Jairus’s house. Since the Jews did not embalm, the mourners would have been put on notice that the girl wasdying. By the time the Lord arrived, the funeral was in full swing. In contrast to modern funerals, which are usually quiet, somber, and sedate, a first-century Jewish funeral was a scene of barely-controlled chaos. The mourners, both the friends and family of the loved ones as well as the traditional hired female mourners, would be loudly screaming, wailing, and tearing their clothes. Others would be playing dissonant music on high-pitched flutes. The end result was a cacophony of confusion. Since Jairus was a well-respected leader in the community, the funeral for his daughter would have been even larger and louder than most.

Having arrived at the house, Jesus did not allow anyone to enter with Him, except Peter and John and James (here singled out from the rest of the disciples for the first time as they would often be in the future), and the girl’s father and mother. The rest of the disciples and the crowd remained outside. Once inside the Lord witnessed “a commotion” (Mark 5:38), with “the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder” (Matt. 9:23) all weeping and lamenting for the dead girl. He abruptly ended the funeral by commanding the hired mourners to “stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.” Astonished, they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. But the Lord put the mocking mourners out (Mark 5:40).

Jesus’ declaration that the girl had not died, but was asleep brought a revolutionary new perspective to death. By likening it to sleep, He redefined death as temporary; thus sleep is used in Scripture as a metaphor for the body in death (John 11:11–14; Acts 13:36; 1 Cor. 11:30; 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thess. 4:14–15; 5:10; 2 Peter 3:4). But while the body sleeps temporarily in death, the soul does not (cf. 16:19–31; 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; Rev. 6:9–11).

HIS POWER

He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Child, arise!” And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately; and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat. (8:54–55)

Having entered the room where the child’s body lay (Mark 5:40), Jesus took her by the hand and called loudly saying, “Child, arise!” Jairus had asked Him to lay His hand on her and restore her to life (Matt. 9:18), and the Lord willingly did so. The Gospels were written in Greek, but Mark records the actual Aramaic words Christ spoke, “talitha kum” (5:41), which means, “Little girl, arise.” Using the power by which He had created everything (John 1:1–3; Col. 1:15–16), Jesus commanded life into her.

Death’s hold on the girl was shattered, and her spirit returned. Life came back into her body—not just any life but her life, just as was the case with the widow’s son (7:11–15), and would later be true of Lazarus (John 11:43–44). When her life was restored, she got up immediately. Like all of Jesus’ healings, this was not a progressive healing; there was no rehabilitation and no recovery period. The Lord spoke and she was instantly and fully restored to life.

After the child got up, Jesus gave orders for something to be given her to eat. This again reveals His tender, compassionate care. It also shows that this was not an illusion but a real resurrection (cf. Luke 24:42–43). Her spirit had returned to her body and she had resumed living a normal life, sustained by food.

The resurrections the Lord performed during His earthly ministry demonstrated the power He will one day use to resurrect all people. In John 5:28–29 Jesus said, “An hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His [Christ’s] voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” The bodies of believers will be raised and reunited with their spirits to live forever in heaven; the bodies of unbelievers will be reunited with their spirits to experience everlasting punishment in hell. Believers need not fear death because they have put their faith in the One who conquered it.

HIS PRIORITY

Her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened. (8:56)

In addition to being overjoyed that their daughter was restored to life, her parents were amazed. Amazed translates a form of the verb existēmi, which literally means “to stand outside oneself,” and is translated “He has lost His senses” in Mark 3:21. It signifies that the girl’s parents were extremely astonished to the point of being terrified, as were the disciples (v. 25), the people of Gadara (v. 37), and the woman healed of a hemorrhage (v.47) earlier in this chapter.

That the Lord instructed them to tell no one what had happened does not mean that He did not want people to know about the miracle. The news was impossible to keep secret (cf. Matt. 9:26), since everyone would see the resurrected girl. There were times when Jesus did not want the news of a miracle to be spread, because the resulting crowds of curiosity seekers would hinder His ministry (cf.Mark 1:40–45) or seek to make Him king by force (John 6:14–15), or as an act of judgment, hiding the truth from those confirmed in their rejection of Him(Luke 9:21). As noted above, the news would spread on its own. The parents could enjoy being reunited with their daughter, and rejoice in Christ’s goodness, grace, and mercy to them.

All of those matters could play a part in the restriction of silence Jesus put on them—but they are not the main reason. Our Lord frequently called for this kind of silence (Matt. 8:4; 9:30; 12:16; 17:9; Mark 1:25, 34, 44; 3:12; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26, 30; 9:9; Luke 4:41; 9:21).The real reason is given in Mark 8:30–31: “And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” He did not want to be known as a healer or miracle worker—or even only as the Christ—those were true but incomplete. When He is proclaimed, it must be as the crucified and risen Savior. There is no gospel of Jesus Christ without the cross in all its meaning and the resurrection with all that it accomplished. Paul summed it up when he said he would only preach “Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2) and proclaimed that salvation is for those who believe that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9–10).

This account of two of the countless miracles the Lord Jesus Christ performed reveals His personal, compassionate concern for hurting people. To the oppressed and burdened He offers rest (Matt. 11:28–30; for the troubled He provides peace (John 14:27; 16:33); and most important of all, to those enslaved by sin He offers salvation (Luke 4:16–21; 19:10) through the cross and resurrection to come.