The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE RULER’S DAUGHTER
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE RULER’S DAUGHTER
Lesson Plan:
1. Jairus Seeks Help (vs 21-24)
2. The Faith Touch (vs 25-34)
3. Jairus" Daughter Restored (vs 35-43)
Lesson Setting:
Time: Probably on the same day as our last lesson, on the return of Jesus and His disciples from
Gadara to Capernaum.
Place: The seashore and Capernaum.
Scripture Reading: Mark 5:21-24
1. Jairus Seeks Help
v 21 ... "And when Jesus was passed over again," from the land of the Gadarenes who had besought Jesus to go away, unto the other side to Capernaum. And he was nigh unto the sea, near the city. Matthew seems at first sight to place the scene at Matthew’s house in the city, during the feast he had given to his publican friends. But Matthew in his Gospel masses a number of miracles after the Sermon on the Mount, without regard to the time when they took place. And he does not say that the words in 9:14-17, were spoken at that feast, nor in the city, but somewhere, perhaps among the crowds meeting the Lord on the seashore. He was talking with the disciples of John when Jairus came to Jesus with his plea for help. Much people gathered unto him. They had seen the boat approaching from afar, “for they were all waiting for him” on the shore to welcome Him (Luke).
v 22 ... "And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue." One of the elders, or presiding officers elected to have charge of all synagogue affairs. They formed the local Sanhedrim or tribunal, they convened the assembly, preserved order, invited readers and speakers, managed the schools connected with the synagogue. Jairus must therefore have been one of the more prominent Jews of the city.
Jairus by name: Jairus had doubtless seen and heard much of Jesus, for many notable miracles had been wrought in Capernaum. He had very good reason to be convinced of His power, and accordingly expresses unhesitating faith, so far as the words of his prayer go. Yet we never read before this that Jairus was a disciple. Never, till the hand of death seemed laid on his daughter, had the father yielded full homage to Christ. Sorry and death are strong messengers, and men who have shut their ears to all others, listen to them. He fell at his feet, dropping upon his knees, and bringing his forehead to the ground at the feet of Jesus, the Oriental method of reverence and worship.
v 23 ... "And besought him greatly," because of the urgency of the case. My little daughter lieth at the point of death. Matthew reports it, “My daughter is even now dead,” as if he had said, ‘She was dying when I left home; I fear she is dead by this time.’
v 23 ... "Come and lay thy hands on her" as the means of communicating His divine power. Even if Jesus could heal without His presence, as in the case of the Centurion’s servant, it was comforting to have Jesus in the family and in the presence of the dying girl. Moreover, he knew that in most cases Jesus came into personal contact with those He healed.
v 24 ... "And Jesus went with him." He is more willing to give than we are to ask. And much people followed him. There was intense interest in every case of healing, both because they at any time might need His help, and because it made it more clear that a prophet had come from God. Consider the faith of Jairus. Faith is accepting God’s revelation and acting as if it were true. Faith, however simple, is not proved to be real, until it ventures into act. Jairus was now in Christ’s Training School of Faith”: (a) He had some faith, founded no doubt on what he had seen and heard. (b) He had need of more faith, if he was to become a disciple of Jesus. For it was a very hard thing for a respected leader of the Jews to go contrary to the whole synagogue, and to stand up alone against the great body of his associates and friends, the influential Jews of the day. He needed the answer to the prayer which the disciples once uttered, Lord increase our faith. (c) His faith was increased by Jesus’ willingness to help. By the intensity of his needs. By recalling the miracles Jesus had already wrought. By putting into action, as he was doing, the faith he already had. By the new proof of Jesus’ willingness and power as exemplified by the incident that follows, on their way to his home.
Scripture Reading: Mark 5:25-34
2. The Faith Touch
Jesus heals an incurable disease by a touch. This was one of the wayside ministries of Jesus. Perhaps it is given here not only for the healing, but maybe for its lesson in faith, too. Walking along with the throng following Jesus is a woman with an incurable disease. She had ‘suffered many things of many physicians,’ and when one recalls the kind of physicians and their methods of cure in those days, we do not wonder that she suffered, and that they failed to cure her, although she ‘spent all that she had’ in the vain endeavor. But now was her opportunity. The Healer was near, and on the way to cure another person. It was probably true of most who followed our Lord in the throngs that there was the infinite longing of His love, the infinite desire of His compassion, the infinite willingness of His help. The woman timidly came in the crowd behind and touched His garment, the border of hem, or one of the tassels that may have hung from; its corners, one corner of the garment being thrown over His shoulder behind Him. This act was not superstitious, as if the garment were a charm or amulet, warding off evil, but it was the simplest and most modest way of coming into touch with Jesus, whom she knew was the power of God for healing. Immediately she was ‘healed of her plague.’ It was the touch of faith. Jesus perceived that the healing power which was in Him had done forth, turned about in crowd and said,
v 30 ... "Who touched my clothes?" It was a costly thing to heal any one. Real sympathy (suffering with another) is a drain on any one’s powers. The disciples were astonished that Jesus surrounded by crowds who were continually touching Him, should ask such a question. Then the woman came trembling to Jesus, fell down before Him, and boldly declared in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him, and how she was healed.
v 34 ... "Jesus said unto her Daughter," a word of tender and pure love, ‘Be of good cheer.’ Jesus was the chief among encouragers. Thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. Let us not fail, as we go on with Jesus toward Jairus’ house, to glean, like Ruth in the field of Boaz, some sheaf of instruction from this wayside ministry of Jesus: (a) The strange delays of Jesus by the way, here and in the case of Lazarus (Jn. 11), were to strengthen faith by its trial, as the storm blast upon the oak makes it strike its roots deeper in the soil. It taught Jairus a new lesson of faith to meet the greater need of faith when he learned that his daughter was dead. Delays are not denials, but doors to larger blessings. We are not always fitted for the larger blessings. It took many inventions before electric lights arrived on the scene. And so with almost every blessing of civilization. (b) Christ requires that our faith make an open confession and obey His Holy Word, not merely seeking after Him in secret. For such confession and obedience is necessary for the development of faith, and the growth of spiritual life. A seed kept under ground or hidden in a dark cave, dies or has feeble growth, and does not bear fruit. (c) The faith touch and the world touch. The crowd touched Jesus and received no healing influence. The woman touched Him in faith, and was made whole. Multitudes in Galilee never saw Jesus as He really was. A few by faith “beheld His glory, full of grace and truth.” Men still go through the world with eyes and no eyes; one writes a book, another sees nothing. In sermons, Dr. William Harrison often compared some people to birds on a phone wire, who are utterly unconscious of the messages of sorrow and joy, business and friendship; messages sometimes affecting whole nations, which are passing under their feet. It needs the battery and connecting instruments in order to read what passes on the wire. It needs hearts of love and faith, longings for holiness, and the spirit of prayer, if we would receive the blessings which Christ has for us all. What Christ is to us, we should be to one another. Our lives should radiate sunshine and healing.
Scripture Reading: Mark 5:35-43
3. Jairus' Daughter Restored
Another test of faith: "While he yet spake" to the woman, saying, “Thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace” (v 35).
v 35 ... "There came ... certain which said, Thy daughter is dead." Here was a new trial and test of Jairus’ faith. It seemed too late. “Oh, that the Master had not delayed by the way.” This test was made more severe by the words of the messengers, Why troublest thou the Master any further? They believed that the case had gone beyond even His power.
v 36 ... "Be not afraid, only believe." Luke adds, “and she shall be made whole.” There was no limit to Christ’s power; the only danger was that Jairus’ faith might fail, and he not be worthy to receive the earthly blessing, because he had not accepted the spiritual blessing. The greatest benefit of Christ’s miracles of healing was their effect on the spiritual life. Faith joined the soul to Christ, making spiritual blessings flow from the temporal.
Jesus and the chosen three: "Suffered no man to follow him" (v 37), He passed away from the crowd as He approached the house, and permitted only Peter, and James, and John the brother of James, the sons of the fisherman Zebedee, to enter the sick room with Him. It was necessary that there should be witnesses to testify to the reality of the miracle. These three would be the most help to Him by sympathy and faith in Him. On at least three different occasions the Savior selected these same three for special privileges or work with Him (Lk. 9:28; Matt. 26:37), and here there was no favoritism in this selection. He simply advanced to higher studies those who, by faithfulness in the lower, had made it possible for them to understand and use the higher; without doubt because they were the most advanced in the knowledge of Him and of His kingdom, so that they were best able to receive new light, new visions of truth. All their faithfulness, love, and consecration to their Master had prepared them for these higher experiences. There is no way to the best things of God, the brightest visions, the sweetest experiences, the largest truths, except through the faithful use of daily life in work, in faith, and in love. There are those in the body of Christ who are thus called, not to places of honor, but to special usefulness, to larger giving, to freer sympathy with the needy, to clearer visions of God and heaven. But it always comes according to the principle, ‘To him that hath shall be given.’
In the presence of death: Here was a still greater test of faith through all the signs of death, and the spirit of unbelief pervading the household.
v 38 ... "Seeth the tumult." There was always a horrible clamor at Eastern funerals; and the preparation had begun, for early burial was and still is usual among the Jews. Them that wept and wailed. Including professional mourners, designated by Matthew as ‘minstrels.’ The weeping was a dolorous rather than tearful series of ejaculations, and the wailing was beating of the breast, rendering the outer garment, tearing out the hair, without cries, in which neighbors joined.
v 39 ... "The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth." That He meant this figuratively (comp. Jn. 11:11- 14; 1 Cor. 15:6, 51; 1 Thess. 4:13) is scarcely to be doubted from Luke 8:49, 52, esp. 55, and from the whole spirit of the narrative. It was natural that He should so speak here also, because He proposed to restore her immediately to life. To speak of death as a sleep is an image common to many nations and languages. From such a statement, the reality of the death is not denied, but only the fact implicitly assumed that death will be followed by a resurrection, as sleep is by an awakening.
v 40 ... "And they laughed him to scorn." They were so sure that the girl was really dead; and they did not perceive that Jesus was speaking figuratively from the knowledge of what He intended to do. This is given as an unquestionable proof of the reality of the miracle. Put them all out. The hired mourners, whose presence was a hindrance to spiritual good.
The restoration to life: "He took the damsel by the hand" (v 41). Jesus usually touched those He healed, no doubt expressing His personal sympathy, and showing that the power came from Him. And said unto her, Talitha cumi, the Aramaic Syriac, the form of Hebrew then used by the common people, meaning Damsel, arise.
v 42 ... "And straightway the damsel arose, and walked," showing the completeness of the cure, without a long period of convalescence; shown also by His commanding them to give her something to eat. And they, especially her parents (Luke) were astonished with a great astonishment.
v 43 ... "And he charged them straitly that no man should know it," not that they should never tell; but while the crowds were excited, and would have insisted on the Lord raising others from the dead, without spiritual receptiveness.
The resurrection and the life: (a) Jesus here, and in the other restorations of the dead to life, gives us examples of the soul’s existence after the death of the body, and apart from the body. He proves by facts, not merely assertions, that the soul does not die with the body. (b) These miracles prepare us to accept the fact of His resurrection, on which depends the truth of the Gospel and the proof of His Messiahship. If Jesus can raise others from the dead, there is nothing incredible in His own resurrection, and the immortal life it proves. (c) Jesus is still the resurrection and the life. We will be raised again by Him to a life much more glorious than the life here, as a plant in full bloom is more glorious than the seed from which it sprung.
