Devotional:

“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.”

49 While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.” 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 to her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.”

— Luke 8:40-42; 49-56

In verses 40-42, Jesus and the disciples return home from the country of the Gerasenes, and many people welcome them back. Jesus is approached by a man franticly pleading for his sick daughter’s life. This man, Jairus, was a religious leader! It says he was the ruler of a synagogue. That is a significant part of this story. Remember, religious leaders did not love Jesus at this point. They wanted him arrested for blasphemy and any other religious crime they could use against him. This was a powerful testament to Jairus’s faith. He was willing to risk his job, status, and even his life, if necessary, just for his daughter to be healed.

Jesus agrees to go to Jairus’s home, so they leave on foot, and the large crowd continues to follow. Yesterday we looked at verses 43-48 about what happened on the way to Jairus’s home and the healing of the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years.  So, we pick back up in verse 49, where they are continuing their journey toward the home, and someone from the household, most likely a servant, comes to find Jairus to inform him that his daughter is already dead and not to trouble Jesus now because it is already too late.

It is essential to stop and reflect on how everyone surrounding Jesus, following Him, and watching his every move still has such limited faith.  Even after everything they’ve witnessed, they have blinders on. What they believed in their hearts about Jesus was limited, and they couldn’t grasp who Jesus really was.

Jesus then says to them, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.”  I believe that at this moment, Jesus was thinking the same thing. How in the world do you still not have faith in me? He knew their faith was small and asked them to believe in Him. Have some faith! They get to the house, and Jesus says she is only sleeping. They laugh, which I think is a strange reaction. If someone told me my daughter was only sleeping after knowing she had been dead for a while, I would not have laughed, I promise you. I probably would have reacted to that seemingly flippant statement, but laughter would not have been my reaction. But Jesus, once again, shows his power and authority over death, raises this little girl back to life and tells them to feed her! He not only shows his power and might, but he cares for this little girl enough to notice she is hungry and in need of nourishment. It says in verse 55, “her spirit returned.” This tells us that this little girl was dead, not just dying. Jesus shows that he is not just a healer sent by God, but he is God, the giver of life.

In verse 56, it is interesting that Jesus says to tell no one what happened in that home. Now we are back to being secret again. Remember, He just returned to Galilee after visiting the Gerasene countryside, where he told everyone to spread the news about the miracle of the demon-possessed man. This is important because Jesus had to be aware of those who wished him harm. Pharisee’s eyes were all around, and he was in more danger in his homeland than in the Gerasene region. He had to have a strategy about these things to make his ministry last as long as possible, and he knew his time was limited.

Jairus could have given up on Jesus that day. This unclean, defiled woman with the issue of bleeding significantly delayed the journey to his home. He could have become infuriated at this woman for disrupting them so much that the daughter died before they could return to her. But Jairus’s reaction was the opposite. He continued believing in Jesus, as crazy as it must have sounded. He had no other option; his only hope was that Jesus would somehow make way for her to live.

These two miraculous accounts are intertwined. Jairus is a religious leader of the highest standing in the Jewish community. This bleeding woman was a nobody, left in isolation and deemed unclean by the religious leaders. She pressed into the crowd that day, not only touching everyone around her but choosing to let her faith come before any risk she was taking. She was not only getting closer to Jesus, but she was also getting closer to Jairus, a leader of the synagogue. And maybe it was the synagogue that said she was no longer welcome in that place.

Faith is a risk worth taking. Jairus could have lost everything as a religious leader coming to Jesus for help. The bleeding woman could have been trampled by the crowd, ridiculed out loud, or even taken by religious leaders and stoned to death for coming into the crowd and breaking the laws of the Jewish faith. They both had faith that it was worth the risk.

Where does your faith in Jesus stand? Is it worth the risk? Or is the risk too great and your faith too small?

We put our own limitations on our faith in Jesus. Fear is the ultimate limiting factor, and fear is the opposite of faith. Fear of failure, fear of pain, fear of loss, fear of abandonment, fear of change, fear of the unknown…we all suffer from fear at some point in life. But we have to choose one. It is impossible to live in fear and live in faith simultaneously. The spirit of fear does not come from God. Fear is the enemy keeping you from knowing that faith is a good gift from God, manifested through the Holy Spirit. Will you live in that knowledge? Or will we choose to continue to live in fear

Pray for faith like Jairus and the woman had that day. Keep these verses in your daily prayers.

“Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” — Hebrews 11:1

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” — Ephesians 2:8-9

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” — Romans 10:17