Luke 8:40

The Bible says in Luke 8:40-42, “And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him. And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay dying. But as he went the people thronged him.” In the rest of Luke chapter eight there are two individuals that met Jesus. There are also several important spiritual lessons for us to learn.

It’s interesting to note that before Jesus met these two individuals He was once again pressed upon by the crowd. Luke 8:4 says that “the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him.” As Jesus was walking to the house of Jairus, Peter said to Jesus in Luke 8:45, “Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee.” In spite of the crowds being everywhere, Jesus dealt with individuals. People get saved one at a time. Groups do not get saved. Individuals get saved through an individual contact with Jesus Christ. Unless you have individually and personally met the Lord Jesus Christ, then you have not been saved. You are not saved because of some association with a group. You can only be saved if you have personally and individually come into contact with Christ, and given your life to Him, and turned from your sins and turned to Him. True Christianity, more than anything else, is a personal and individual relationship with Christ.

It’s important to note that even though Jesus was pressed upon by the crowds, He had time for the individuals. The crowd pressed upon Him, but He was not pressed: He was not hurried. You may seem insignificant to the crowds around you, but you are not insignificant to God. Jesus will always have time for you. Jesus values contact with you, if only you will reach out to Him from the crowd. In an age of busy people, it’s also important for us to note the deliberate and un-hurried pace at which Jesus went about His daily ministry. He had a lot to do, but He did not do it hurriedly or impatiently. He was under control, and He always had time to do whatever he needed to do. God has given you twenty-four hours. That’s plenty of time to do whatever He wants you to do. If you are in too much of a hurry, maybe you are trying to do some things that God does not want you to do, because He is not going to give you too much; or maybe you need to find another way of getting done the things that you believe God wants you to do, like enlisting the help of others. Remember God has called us to a long-distance race, not a sprint. “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Out of the crowd Jairus came to Jesus for the sake of His daughter who was dying. We are told that she was twelve years old and that she was the only daughter of Jairus. God knows what kind of pain can be involved in losing a child and especially an only-child. God knows and cares about whatever we suffer. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” As Jesus went with Jairus to attend to his daughter, Jesus is interrupted on the way by a woman seeking His help. These kinds of interruptions when someone is busy are the kinds of things that many people have a difficulty dealing with and being patient about. Of course, Jesus had no such problem.

Luke 8:43-48 says, “And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stopped. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and do you say, Who touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody has touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith has made thee whole: go in peace.”

This woman had a medical condition that had lasted for twelve years without improvement. No one could help her, no one but Jesus. Don’t wait as long as she did to take your problems to the Lord, but make sure that you do the same thing that she did. Make sure that you take your physical problems to both the physicians and the Lord. God might use the physicians to help you, but even if they can do nothing, God can still help you.

This woman reached out and touched Jesus as He passed by. She was desperate. She had a chance to get help from Christ, and she took her opportunity and did not let it pass by. Jesus passed by her way, but He did not help her until she reached out to him. She realized how serious her condition was. She had undoubtedly heard what Jesus had done for others, and then she knew that He could do the same for her. One good way of spreading the gospel is to simply let other people know what Jesus has done for you. Then they will be smart enough to figure out that what He has done for you, He can also do for them.

After the woman was healed of her ailment, Jesus said to her in Luke 8:48, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith has made thee whole: go in peace.” Jesus called her, “Daughter.” At the beginning of this passage, Jairus had come to Jesus for his own daughter’s sake. Every woman is someone’s daughter, and every man is someone’s son. Everyone can come to have God as their spiritual Father. When Jesus called this woman, Daughter, He was saying that she was now a child of God. God helped her because God cared about her just as a father cares for his children.

Jesus said to the woman, “Be of good comfort.” God is interested in our physical and spiritual well-being. In order for someone to be comforted, it helps if they know that they are not alone. If you have God as your companion, then you have the greatest source of comfort. He’s called “the God of all comfort.” Some people cannot be comforted in the midst of their sorrows and trials because they have not learned to be comforted by God. You can be comforted in any trial. If you are not, then maybe you’re looking in the wrong place for comfort.

Jesus told the woman how she became healed. He said, “Thy faith has made thee whole.” When Jesus healed someone in the gospels, it was always symbolic of salvation. Jesus healed by the same means that He saved from sin: the means of faith. When we have faith in God, when we rely upon God: we are connecting ourselves to Him and His saving and healing power. Without faith we remain disconnected. We cannot be saved without faith, we cannot serve God without faith, and we cannot please God without faith.

This woman touched Jesus and she had faith in Jesus. But Jesus made it clear that she was not healed because she touched Him. Of course, He knew she touched Him. But He healed her because of her faith. He would have healed her even if she had not touched him. When a person first comes into contact with Christ, that person does not know all the doctrines of the Bible. That person may have some ideas that are false, just as this woman falsely thought that she needed to actually touch Him to be healed. But she did have the one most important of all concepts. She believed in Jesus. She had faith that He could help her. That’s why there are probably true Christians in all of the various denominations, even in some that are way off in their doctrines. They may have superstitions and they may have some ideas that are not true, but if that person puts their faith in the Son of God, they will be received by Him and He will honor their faith. The Christian life starts with faith that can be as small as a grain of mustard seed. It may be an imperfect faith, and it may be a weak faith. But if that faith has as its object the only begotten Son of God, it will always be a saving faith.

The faith of Jairus was not as strong as it could have been either. We remember the centurion who was praised by Jesus for having such a strong faith when the centurion said that he knew that Jesus did not really need to travel to his home to heal his servant. He knew that Jesus could say the word only right where He was. The faith of Jairus was not that strong. Jairus thought that Jesus had to travel to his home, and as we will see in the next few verses, Jairus also thought that all hope was gone once his daughter had died. He had faith that Jesus could heal, but he did not have faith that Jesus could raise someone from the dead. If you have a weak faith, you will be able to trust God for the small problems, but not for the big ones. God wants your faith to be strong enough so that no matter what happens, you will still be able to trust in Him and have confidence in Him.

But at least what faith Jairus had, he directed to the right place. He directed it to Jesus, and so his faith was honored. Jesus was headed to the house of Jairus just as Jairus had asked Him. As is your faith, so be it unto you. As Jesus was still in route to the house of Jairus, something else happens that we are told in Luke 8:49-50. It says, “While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not; believe only, and she shall be made whole.” These people thought that once the daughter had died, it was over. There was no more hope. But the story of Jesus Christ is a story of hope that extends even beyond the grave. Jesus allowed all of these things to happen in the life of Jairus in order to show that Christ has the power to give life after death, and probably also to show that there is no problem too great for Him to handle.

Once the people had given up and had said, “Trouble not the Master,” Jesus responded by saying, “Fear not; believe only, and she shall be made whole.” Jesus said, “Fear not.” Fear is one of the great enemies of mankind. How many discoveries have been left undiscovered? How many opportunities have been lost forever? How many lives have been eaten with worry? How many people have been paralyzed by inaction? And it all happens because of fear. The best way to conquer fear is to have faith. If you have the right kind of faith, you will have no fear. If you have faith, then you will be courageous, you will be secure, you will be confident, and you will be ready to take on any challenge, face any obstacle, and fight any foe. If you have faith, you will even be able to say to a mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea.” In other words, nothing shall be impossible unto you. If you have faith, you can take several words out of your dictionary and never use them again. You can take the word “impossible” out of your dictionary. You can take the word “can’t” or “cannot” out of your dictionary. Remember that with God all things are possible. If you have faith you will be able to have this kind of a positive and confident attitude because your faith will be in God and in Christ instead of in yourself.

Jesus said, “Fear not; believe only.” Jesus said to believe only. He did not say to believe and do one other thing or two other things. He said to “believe only.” There is nothing else to do but to believe. It certainly is true concerning salvation. The only thing to do in order to be saved is to believe. If you believe the right way, the biblical way, then you will be saved entirely because of your belief in Christ. There is no word and no action required on your part other than to believe in Christ. Jesus paid it all in His death on the cross. It says in Romans 4:5 that “to him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

In describing the raising from the dead of the daughter of Jairus, the Bible says in Luke 8:51-56, “And when he came into the house, he permitted no man to go in, except Peter, and James, and John, and the father and mother of the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but she is sleeping. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.” The girl was dead, but Jesus said that she was asleep. He said that she was asleep probably because He knew that He was going to soon bring her to life again. Saying that she was asleep is also a reminder to all of us who are Christians to not fear death. If someone dies in the Lord, you do not have to weep and wail for them like someone who has no hope. The Lord has taken them to a place of rest and peace. If they died, it’s similar to going to sleep, and they have awakened in a far better land and a far better place than we are in.

In describing the young girl being raised from the dead by Jesus, the Bible says in Luke 8:55, “And her spirit came again.” A person dies when their spirit leaves their body. And God decides when this shall happen. You will not die until God takes your spirit out of your body. That day will come. “It’s appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Repent of your sins and trust in Christ, and then when you die, you will awaken in His glorious kingdom.

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