Jesus Raises a Girl Back to Life, Heals Woman of Bleeding

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
^{Tuesday July 16, 2024}

Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43, Luke 8:40-56

Father, please help me to walk humbly before You so that my prayers for healing and deliverance may be answered. Please help me to minister to those who cross my path. I want to have the attitude that whomever I am with is the most important person in ministry for me. Father, please lead me to ask for the healing that I need. Prompt me to bring each and every concern before You. Father, please help me to be a man of hope - for myself and for those who are desperate for healing. I don't want to be the naysayer, the doubter, the pessimist, or the sceptic. Please forgive me for each and every time that I have mocked hope in miracles. The absence of such miracles may be caused by my lack of belief in them. Amen.

Father, the text tells us that Jesus, and the disciples, sailed across the Sea of Galilee to return to where they had been before. A large crowd was expecting His return. On one side of the Sea of Galilee, the people essentially told Jesus to “get lost.” On the other side of the Sea of Galilee, the people eagerly waited for His return. This is a clear geographic metaphor of those who seek Jesus, who are in heaven, and those who reject Him, who are in hell.
Who was Jairus? The only thing we know about him was that he was a synagogue leader. However, other synagogue leaders have been referred to in the gospels, but they were never named. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that Jairus was not your ordinary synagogue leader. He was a man of power, influence, and distinction. Just like the old EF Hutton television commercials, when Jairus spoke, the people stopped what they were doing to listen to him.

His only daughter, who was 12 years old, was dying. He must have loved his daughter dearly. His heart was broken. He has concluded that he was not in control of his life. There is nothing his money or influence could do to rescue his daughter. As has been true for millions of people throughout history, it is only when we discover how powerless we are to get what we so desperately want or need that we finally humble ourselves and cry out to God.

Jairus had been humbled by his daughter’s illness and he was feeling desperate. In fact, he was feeling so desperate that he was willing to do the unthinkable for a synagogue leader: approach Jesus and ask Him to save his daughter. Synagogue leaders had been united in their criticism and rejection of Jesus. They had all received the memo with the talking points: “tell everyone Jesus is just a man who violates the laws and who blasphemes God by claiming to be the Son of God.” Therefore, Jairus approached Jesus in open defiance of what his “peeps” told him to believe. As they say, there are no atheists in foxholes. There is also no defiance of Jesus when your daughter is dying and there is no other hope for her salvation.

Jairus fell on his knees before Jesus as Jesus disembarked from the boat.

“My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live (NIV).” 

It is clear that, regardless of whatever doubts this man had before about Jesus, he now believes Jesus has the power to heal. He has so much faith that Jesus doesn’t hesitate to follow him to his home to heal his daughter.
Father, I’ve seen many videos in my lifetime of sports and entertainment celebrities trying to walk down a sidewalk or hallway when they are accosted by desperate fans seeking autographs. The fans envelop the celebrity, pushing their papers and pens into the celebrity’s face. This gives me some idea of what was going on as Jesus tried to walk to Jairus’ home to heal his daughter. It was slow going. I can imagine His disciples attempting to act as security guards, trying to clear a path for Jesus to walk. It is not inconceivable that a few of His disciples, who have yet to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which will occur at Pentecost, became angry and pushed people out of the way. This might explain why His disciples are about to display an attitude when Jesus asked who was it that touched Him.

In the crowd of people surrounding Jesus was a woman who had been “bleeding for 12 years.” While we cannot know for sure today what her ailment was, medical professionals have suggested she either had severe hemorrhoids or excessive menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia). A clue as to what her ailment was is that the text reports that her internal symptoms stopped the moment her bleeding stopped. Women with menorrhagia often report having fatigue, abdominal pain, and cramps. These symptoms would qualify as internal symptoms.

If her ailment was menorrhagia, her suffering was not just physical; it was also social. According to Leviticus 15:25-30, a menstruating woman:

• Was considered unclean.
• Caused anything she sat or laid upon to be considered unclean.
• Caused anyone who even so much as touched what she sat or laid upon to be considered unclean and would need to wash up.
• Would remain unclean for seven days after her bleeding stopped before she would be considered clean.
• Would need to sacrifice two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for the sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.

This was a big deal in her life. It was no small inconvenience. She was most likely a social outcast. She couldn’t go to worship. She couldn’t visit people’s houses. She couldn’t have a husband. Therefore, she was desperate to find relief, so much so that she’s been lining the wallets of doctors for twelve years even though they never did heal her. Consider how desperate she was – she bumped into many people as she fought her way up to Jesus. Each one of those people were now unclean thanks to her touching them. She didn’t care. She just wanted relief.

Another sign that her ailment was menorrhagia is that she didn’t want to have a conversation with Jesus in front of the crowd. She feared everyone would know she was having menstrual issues, the last thing she wanted to underscore at that moment. She decided to touch Jesus’ cloak , hoping that would be enough to heal her without having drawn attention to herself. The text tells us that she was healed immediately upon touching His garment. Was she healed because her hand touched Jesus’ garment? No. She was healed because of her faith that Jesus was the Son of God who would heal her. Jesus confirms this by saying, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”

Jesus stopped what He was doing. He turned to His disciples and told them someone had touched Him, and power had gone out from Him. His weary and irritable disciples then mocked Him, suggesting Jesus was not the sharpest knife in the drawer since, obviously, many people had touched Him.  However, it was the disciples who were ignorant, not Jesus. Jesus continued to scan the crowd looking for the woman who had touched Him seeking healing. Aware that Jesus was looking for her, she revealed herself and fell at Jesus feet, terrified that she had done something wrong. Instead, Jesus comforted her, telling her that the opposite was true, that He was pleased to see such faith in her. He told her that she can go in peace and be freed from her suffering. No need to worry that she had done something wrong. No more bleeding. No more discomfort. No more isolation. No more shame and humiliation.

There are many who have accused Christianity of being patriarchal and sexist. However, here we have clear evidence that Jesus had empathy for a suffering that only women experience. He understood it more so than any other man could ever understand it. Jesus’ heart is just as compassionate for the needs of women as it is for the needs of men.

There are two lessons to be learned from Jesus’ encounter with the woman. Even though Jairus’ daughter was dying, and there was urgency for Jesus to save her, Jesus determined His highest priority of the moment was the healing of the person in His presence.

• Whomever you are with at any given moment, that person is the highest priority in your ministry. Jesus and the Holy Spirit orchestrate “divine appointments” so that people come into our presence so that we can minister to them right then and there.
• When we reach out to pray to Jesus, just like this woman reached out to touch His cloak, we become His highest priority. If we refuse to pray in our time of need, believing or disbelieving that Jesus will take care of us even if we don’t ask Him to, there will always be others who are praying to Jesus, seeking His face. Will they have a higher priority with Jesus? Perhaps. After all, to whom did Jesus give attention to in this crowd? The two people (Jairus and the “bleeding” woman) who came to Him and approached Him. The text doesn’t tell us that Jesus approached any other needy person in the crowd. Prayer is an act of faith, approaching the Father believing He is interested in what concerns us and that He is capable of resolving it.

People arrived from Jairus’ home and announced to him that his daughter had died. They counseled Jairus that there was no further reason to bother Jesus and to leave Jesus alone. They implied that Jesus not only could not raise anyone from the dead but that He also didn’t care about Jairus or his family.

Father, how many miracles have been blocked throughout the church age because of skeptics, pessimists, and naysayers who discourage anyone from exercising hope through Jesus Christ? A true friend in Christ is not a realist. A true friend speaks of the opportunity for a miracle even in the darkest of circumstances. They encourage their friends and loved ones to believe that Jesus can do anything He pleases to bring joy into a season of suffering. While Jesus may bring material or physical relief to some from the suffering they experience, He will bring spiritual relief to the rest who ask. Father, I believe healing, in some form or another, does take place every time we call out to Jesus for relief.

The text tells us that Jesus called Jairus to hope, telling him not to be afraid but to believe. I believe Jesus’ words suggest that He knew that Jairus was afraid to believe in the resurrection of the dead. It is one thing to have faith in Jesus when healing seems within the realm of possibility. It is something else to have faith in Jesus when healing seems completely impossible. Jesus called Jairus to not be afraid and take that final leap and believe that Jesus could raise the dead. The text implies that Jairus chose to believe that Jesus could raise his daughter from the dead.

Jesus commands the crowd to stay behind and to not follow Him to Jairus’ house. This seems to be in contradiction to the first chapter in textbooks about public relations and marketing.

“Jesus, think of the social media followers you will get if the crowd watches you raise the girl from the dead! Imagine all the likes on Facebook! This will go viral and everyone everywhere will hear about it!”

Jesus wants none of that. Father, I believe that true spiritual awakening and transformation never takes place in a crowd. An individual needs to be alone with Jesus for His message to penetrate the soul and take root. The focus of Jesus’ ministry in this event was the spiritual transformation of Jairus, his wife, his daughter, and the disciples who were present. Jesus wanted them to have one-on-one private time with Him, away from the ignorance and noise of the crowd.

When they arrived at Jairus’ home, people were crying and wailing while others were playing pipes . In other words, a funeral had already begun. Nobody in the crowd at the house had hope in the resurrection of the dead through Jesus. When people die, all is lost. The mourning was not like the mourning of those at the funeral for a Christian in the 21st century. There was no “she is now with the Lord” statements meant to encourage the grieving family. In this culture, Jairus’ daughter had ceased to exist. Therefore, the mourning was truly that of hopelessness and despair.

However, Jesus looks upon their despair as an act of rebellion. If these people had taken to heart the Old Testament prophecies, they would know that there is life after death. They would know that there is judgement and that there is a place of eternal punishment for those who rebel from You. They would know that there is hope for the resurrection of the dead. They would know that the Messiah will come to save the people from their sin. What is He saving them from? Eternal judgement. Therefore, these mourners, who grieve without hope, are rebels from You. They are either ignorant of the truths of Scripture or they are unbelievers.

It is in this context that Jesus asks them why they are mourning. Jesus was calling them out, essentially saying, “why don’t you believe?” Jesus tells them the child is not dead , as in never to be awake, alert, or conscious again. The child is only sleeping . When we think of sleeping, we think of waking up. Jesus is saying this child will wake up once more.

Why did the people laugh at Him?

• They believed the experts knew better than Jesus. The experts had gone into see the child, looked at her vital signs, and determined she had died. Along comes Jesus, without any training in medicine, saying that the absence of vital signs does not mean she is dead. The people trusted the words of the “experts” more than they trusted the words of the Creator. Oh, this is so true in America in the 21st century. Father, as You know, there is a hand-painted sign on a neighbor’s lawn near where I live. The sign reads, “In Fauci we trust.” The owner of the home is making the statement they trust a celebrity scientist more than they trust You.
• To the ignorant, truth seems ridiculous. To those who believe that journalists are noble and honorable, always telling the truth without bias, it is laughable to believe that journalists could mislead the public with propaganda. To those who are ignorant of life after death, it is ridiculous to believe in the resurrection. Jesus was laughed at because He was allegedly the fool, the naïve simpleton who was dumb enough to believe in life after death.

With Proverbs 18:17 in mind, the first to make their case (the crowd that laughed) seemed right until someone else came along with a counter argument (Jesus with the resurrection of the girl). Most likely with the authority of Jairus, who was the father of the deceased child and who had invited Jesus to come, Jesus commanded the crowds of doubters, pessimists, and disbelievers to leave the house. Miracles don’t share the same space with doubt, pessimism, and disbelief. Jesus cleansed the house of disbelief.

Six adults gathered in the child’s room, looking upon her lifeless body. The adults included Jesus, Peter, James, John, Jairus, and Jairus’ wife, the mother of the dead girl. Jesus grabbed her hand and then said, “Talitha koum!”, which means, “Little girl, get up!” As if she had just been asleep, the 12-year-old girl woke up, stood up, and began to walk around.

Father, I can imagine what You did not share with us in Scripture.

• The parents hugged and kissed their daughter, asking if she was alright. They discovered that not only was the girl alive, but the injury or disease that was the cause of her death was also gone.
• The parents couldn’t stop praising and thanking Jesus.
• Jesus used the moment to share with the five other adults, and the young child, that He is the resurrection and the life. Though people die, they will be raised from the dead if they believe in Him.
• The writers of the books of 1 and 2 Peter, John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation witnessed the raising of this child to life. This was a key transforming moment in the spiritual growth of Peter and John.

We don’t know what became of Jairus, his wife, and the 12-year-old girl. However, it is likely that this family became leaders in the church during the time of the book of Acts. I can imagine Jairus, staring at Jesus hanging on the cross, believing that Jesus would rise again from the dead.

Once more, Jesus tells people, the parents in this case, not to tell anyone about the healing. Huh? Father, at first glance, that does not make sense. As soon as the child would step foot outside of the house, the community would know that a miracle had taken place. It was inevitable, regardless of the parent’s silence, that news of the resurrection would spread throughout the region, as the text said that it did. Therefore, what did Jesus mean?
Father, I believe Jesus’ command was to let the miracle (the child walking all around town) speak for itself. The crowd of mourners, who had been skeptical of the resurrection, would be more silenced by the girl’s life than by a theological discussion about what Jesus had said in the privacy of the home. Father, it is our testimony of the works of Your ministry to us that is far more powerful than a theological discussion about doctrine. A man may never come to believe in the resurrection by listening to an academic debate. However, he will believe in the resurrection when he sees his neighbor brought back to life. A man may never conclude from a theological discussion that Jesus loved others. However, he will conclude that Jesus is loving after experiencing the love showed to him by believers in Jesus. Father, empower me with good works that prove the love of Jesus to others.

Jesus instructed the parents to resume normal life and prepare this child for ministry by getting her something to eat. The parents are not to dwell on the miracle any further, but they are to take advantage of her new opportunity to serve God. She needs to be refreshed and strengthened before she steps out of the house and then has to deal with the crowds fawning over her. Jesus understood the challenges of ministry and the preparations required before ministry. We are raised from spiritual death to show others there is life in Christ. The girl has a new purpose in life and her purpose was to step outside the door of the house, strong and ready to serve Jesus.
Father, it is fascinating to compare and contrast these two miracles.

Each healing is unique to the person’s situation. There have never been two people in the history of the world who have been ministered to by You in the exact same way. The circumstances each individual has in life is the makings of a unique testimony of Your goodness and mercy. No one else has ever had or will ever have the story to tell of what You have done, or can do, in my life. I am the only one in world history who will ever live where I live, in the time period I live, know the people I know, does what I do, has the particular skills and gifts that I have, and has experienced what I have experienced in life. While my testimony is certainly not more important than other people’s testimony, my testimony is unique and, therefore, is a treasured story to be added to the celebration of who You are and what You have done. Father, please help me to share my testimony often and in many places and help me to share it with courage and skill for the building of the Kingdom of God. Amen.