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[0:00] Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8.

[0:15] How often in our lives do we see things seemingly falling apart?! And later we're impressed with how events have come together to see the situation resolved! in a better way than we could ever imagine.

[0:29] We come today to the recording of an account where two people's situations intersect with a greater impact or great impact on each other.

[0:46] It's the kind of situation that we may face many times in our lives, but we probably don't see it as clearly or think about it as clearly as this situation.

[0:57] And probably, hopefully, not facing such deep-hearted testing as these two face here.

[1:09] Nonetheless, the pattern is the same. Now, we know that these two accounts belong together. One, because it's in the middle of the other account.

[1:20] But they also interact with each other. And there's some interesting facts that Luke puts in here, or ways of expressing things that Luke puts in here to make sure to emphasize that they belong together.

[1:39] Such facts is that the girl had been alive 12 years and the woman had suffered 12 years. The fact that both the father and the woman fall on their faces before Jesus.

[1:55] Jesus later refers to both the woman who was healed and Jairus' little girl as daughter.

[2:07] There are over eight different comparisons in this account that point to the fact that they are one thing and one situation.

[2:20] Jesus will reveal more about himself as we continue our march to the book of Luke. He'll reveal more about himself as we look at the healing of two daughters this morning.

[2:34] We're going to read Luke chapter 8, verses 40 to 56. Luke 8, 40 to 56. Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.

[2:53] 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. For he had an only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she was dying.

[3:08] And when Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years.

[3:19] And though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment.

[3:30] And immediately, her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, Who was it that touched me? When all denied it, Peter said, Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you.

[3:49] But Jesus said, Someone touched me. For I perceive that power has gone out from me. And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling.

[4:02] And falling down before him, declared in the presence of all the people, why she had touched him. And how she had been immediately healed.

[4:13] And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, Your daughter is dead.

[4:29] Do not trouble the teacher anymore. But Jesus, on hearing this, answered him, Do not fear. Only believe.

[4:40] And she will be well. 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.

[4:52] And all were weeping and mourning for her. But he said, Do not weep. For she is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

[5:09] But taking her by the hand, he called, saying, Child, arise. And her spirit returned, And she got up at once.

[5:20] And he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed. But he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

[5:31] Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this passage. I thank you for the glimpse into your heart.

[5:43] I thank you for the magnificent splendor of your divine authority. I thank you for the lessons on faith.

[5:54] I thank you, Father, for your tenderness towards these people and the power you display for them. I pray, Father, your spirit would work and bless that we would understand this.

[6:09] And, Father, it would not just be something we say, Hmm, that's interesting. But, Father, may we be seen in the things that are said and the things that are done.

[6:20] May we be rebuked by Jesus' words. May we be encouraged by Jesus' words and actions. And I pray that, most of all, the wonder and magnificence of Christ and the clearness of the gospel would be seen in this today.

[6:36] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So we have two daughters that need to be healed. The first daughter that needed to be healed is in the first section.

[6:52] And we're going to see, as I mentioned, her story split. Verses 40, 41, and 42. We'll deal with the beginning of that. And then we'll jump to the other daughter.

[7:05] And then we'll come back to this daughter. So a daughter that needs to be healed, a 12-year-old girl is sick. She's the only child.

[7:18] She's a girl. She's of marriageable age, or almost marriageable age, in that culture. And she's sick, and she's getting worse.

[7:30] We can imagine that since she's from a prosperous family, we'll talk more about the family in just a second, but we can imagine that since she's from a prosperous family, at least one doctor has been involved.

[7:46] And it seems as though the doctor would have said almost the same thing to her as doctors said to the other woman. There's nothing I can do.

[7:58] Only with this girl, the doctor goes on to say, she's dying. The parents' worst nightmare.

[8:12] But Jesus is back. He's been over. And remember, he went for a plain purpose to go and to meet with this man who was possessed with a legion of demons.

[8:24] And on the way, the storm erupted, and Jesus silenced it with his words. And they marveled that this is, who is this? But God, Jesus asked them, where is your faith?

[8:36] And that's a theme that's going to continue through this, although much less brashly. But he's been gone. And he went and he healed that man of the legion.

[8:50] And they didn't want him. They said, go away. And so he went back to where he was in Capernaum. They didn't want him. But the people in Capernaum were looking for him.

[9:03] Maybe all along, Jairus, I'm going to have trouble with that all day. Jairus has been thinking all along, I wish Jesus would come back. I wish Jesus would come back.

[9:16] I've seen him do things. I know he can do things. He's heard about Jesus. Maybe he was even there when the situation that we went through in Luke chapter 6, 6 through 11, it was in the synagogue.

[9:28] A man came with a withered hand and the religious leaders were sitting there, of which Jairus was not. He was a ruler of the synagogue, but he was not one of the religious leaders. But maybe Jairus was sitting there as they challenged Jesus.

[9:42] And Jesus says to the man with a withered hand, stretch forth your hand. Maybe he's seen it with his own eyes. And so he can't wait until Jesus gets back.

[9:54] And Jesus does get back before she dies. And he falls at his feet saying, come to my house. My daughter is dying. He begs her.

[10:07] And Jesus does not have to be pushed to be persuaded. He follows along and he's heading towards Jairus' house. And the passage mentions there's a lot of people.

[10:20] And the bustle of a crowd in the city where the streets are narrow, I'm sure that made progress difficult. People were pressing together.

[10:31] I picture if you've been through the Atlanta airport during some of the busiest times. I mean, it's tough. If you want to walk through the airport and be in touch, you've got to be careful.

[10:42] But here they are. They're literally bumping against each other. And it made progress slow.

[10:55] Time was of the essence though. Because Jairus' daughter was dying. And I'm sure he's sitting there wishing, please get out of the way.

[11:07] Get out of the way. I've got to get this man to my house. My daughter is dying. But the crowd is what it is. And it's making progress. In the midst of all that, another story falls into the midst here because it takes place during this trip.

[11:29] During this going from where Jairus met Jesus to his house. It's an unnamed woman. We don't know her name. And she's been afflicted with the discharge of blood for 12 years.

[11:46] Probably something like a 12 year uninterrupted period. And that in itself, I'm sure, was tremendously discouraging.

[12:00] There are other ramifications we'll talk about in just a minute. But other things aside, how unhealthy would she be from being in that condition for 12 years?

[12:17] But the thing I think is evident by the way this is told is it really points to what Leviticus 15, 19 through 30 talks about.

[12:28] I won't read the passage. But if a woman is in her cycle, she's unclean. She can't be around people.

[12:41] Anything she touched would be unclean. And since she had been unclean for 12 years, continuously, we don't know if she had a husband.

[12:53] We don't know how old she is. But she couldn't have participated in any synagogue worship.

[13:06] Any temple worship. She would have never in those 12 years brought a sacrifice. She wasn't clean. She couldn't go to the temple. There was no way to carry on that worship.

[13:20] And even though it may have been embarrassing to speak of, I think everyone in the community knew who she was and what her troubles were.

[13:35] I mean, you can't be unclean in a community like that for that long without people noticing. Oh yeah, that's so and so.

[13:49] Yeah, she's that lady that no one can go near. And it wasn't like she hadn't tried to get help. She'd spent all her money on doctors.

[14:04] We don't know how much money that was. Luke kind of gives the impression she'd spent everything. Everything she could spare. Dowry, if she had a dowry, whatever inheritance she may have had if she had an inheritance, everything she could spare went to doctors to say, help me get rid of this problem.

[14:28] And no one could heal her. She would hear time after time, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do.

[14:41] And so the woman hatches a plan. She's lived apart from people, but not isolated from people. She's heard about Jesus. She's heard of what he's done. And so she hatches a plan.

[14:54] She's unclean. Nobody's going to let her walk up to Jesus. Nobody's going to let her come up and ask anything. It's a crowd.

[15:04] She couldn't have gotten close to Jesus directly because people would have said, unclean, get out of here, get out of here. And she would have literally made those people around her unclean.

[15:19] So she came up with a plan. I'm going to sneak up behind him. Now there was a risk to this. But I'm going to sneak up behind him because people won't be looking.

[15:34] I won't have to come right into view. And maybe even she's thinking Jesus won't be looking. Why would he, this miracle worker, want to have anything to do with me?

[15:50] I'm an unclean woman. She says, I'll sneak up behind him and I'll just touch the hem of his garment. And I'm not sure if she was thinking this or what she was thinking.

[16:02] There's obvious faith there. She was thinking, maybe she was thinking, I won't make him unclean if I just touch the hem. But if I can touch the hem, that's enough.

[16:19] God will heal me. So she carries out her plan and she's healed. nobody notices except Jesus.

[16:34] Who touched me was what he said. Not a regular touch. He had a billion of them. But who touched me?

[16:49] A touch that brought healing. Something he could tell happened. happened. Now, Luke makes it sound like Jesus didn't know what happened.

[17:04] Sort of. By the way he talks, I think he did know what happened. Jesus didn't know what happened. We'll get to that.

[17:15] Who touched me? Peter says, Lord, the crowd! You're asking who touched me? everyone denies.

[17:27] Meanwhile, Jesus, he didn't just, who touched me? He's catching the eye of people in the crowd. And I am sure that at least once he caught the eye of that woman.

[17:44] the seconds or even minutes creep by as Jesus waits and looks at everyone.

[17:57] Now, the tension's building, but there's one person off to the side. The tension is building in a different way. Time is ticking by for Jairus.

[18:12] But Jesus has taken time. He is willing to be quiet and to look and to wait until someone admits touching him in a way where power went out of him.

[18:37] Why must he know? The woman must have thought. Why must he know I did it? He healed me. I trusted him to do it.

[18:48] He did it. Why can't I just walk away? But Jesus holds the moment. Jesus holds her attention. He's asked the question and he's looking until he gets an answer.

[19:00] And the woman it says is trembling. And she relents and she runs and falls at his feet and admits! everything.

[19:11] she recounts the details. How embarrassing to tell one of your most private problems in front of a crowd of people who's indignantly saying Jesus the crowd what are you asking this about?

[19:30] And here she is falling down before him telling the crowd her most intimate details. And wife goes to husband I told you that was what was going on.

[19:48] Was it really necessary? Was it necessary for Jesus to make her tell everyone what was going on? The answer is yes. no one would have known what Jesus had truly done if he didn't stop turn around and say who touched me and make her admit it.

[20:14] It's not cruelty. It was hard but it was not cruelty. And it secured a place for her in society because she was unclean.

[20:33] And now she has admitted everything that has happened and I'm cured. And Jesus has just forced everyone to know that God has done something for this woman and that she's healed and that she needs to be welcomed back.

[20:56] was it necessary? It wasn't only necessary it was mercy it was grace sometimes we get in situations where when we have maybe it's a personal problem maybe it's even sin and it ends up having to come out contrary to what we most wish could we never ever have to say anything about this could we let it all just be buried and never sometimes sometimes that happens but sometimes it's a mercy Jesus has been very merciful to to this lady she gets done she tells everything and Jesus is still looking straight at her and he says daughter this is the only instance in scripture aside from a physical father addressing a physical daughter is the only instance like this in scripture where he turns to a woman who could be older than him and says daughter he's not speaking to her as a man he's the

[22:16] God man and I'm not taking anything away from that but he's speaking to her as the God man think God he's speaking to her showing her what kind of relationship she has with him showing her what he thinks of her this is a term of endearment this is a term where he's establishing this relationship she knows what ground she stands on daughter Jesus isn't mad he cared for her and he wanted her to know she needed to know she didn't steal anything from him she exercised faith Jesus gave it to her and he says to her your faith has made you well she already knew she was well she could feel it she gave testimony to it she already knew she was well but he wanted her and all the people there and all of us to know that he had healed her because she trusted that he could do what he did she looked at him as having the power of

[23:30] God and Jesus wanted everyone to know that that's what she believed your faith has made you well and he also wanted everyone there to know she was well she had been unclean 12 years now she is qualified to enjoy all the benefits of the daughters of Abraham synagogue worship temple worship and beyond that acceptance by God now remember this is a story in a story this is all great we're like yes it was hard but this was such a blessing our God is so good what a blessing but there's one person there for whom this blessing has only been a trial Jairus' daughter was dying time was of the essence and as good as all this was

[24:38] I'm sure he would have never said this woman didn't deserve it he would have never said anything that would have been contrary it just this stood in the way his daughter was dying time was of the essence every second that ticked by was a second in which his daughter's time could run out and it happened the moment this woman was getting the most comforting words for life from the very lips of Jesus Jairus was hearing the words every parent fears to hear your daughter's dead don't trouble the master nothing more can be done come with me let's go home why lord why couldn't you come back to Galilee sooner why couldn't you have let the woman just have her secret healing without having to know did you forget about me do you not care

[25:51] I mean what one of us couldn't put ourselves in that circumstance and feel the gut wrenching hurt of letting that which is so precious to you slip through your fingers because someone took time this woman took time Jesus took time and if we aren't all people who sometimes sometimes look at God and say God why did you have to be so slow why couldn't you have done this or why couldn't you have done that and we don't understand God do you care but Jesus hasn't forgotten and he does care he's been talking with a woman but Jesus hears I'm sure I'm sure not only hears but sees you don't tell a parent that kind of news and they not just fall emotionally and

[27:01] Jesus hears it in concern concern for Jairus Jesus tenderly commands he doesn't request he tenderly commands remember back in the boat when the waves were up the disciples should have known they had already seen things that Jesus did and Jesus says where's your faith here Jesus is very tender because Jairus is not in the same position that the disciples are in and it's his little girl but he still commands Jairus do not fear believe and she will be well and so they keep going to Jairus home where only Peter James and John and the girl's parents are allowed to enter the house the mourners are already there now the mourners were professional mourners there were real mourners there

[28:07] I'm sure but they would hire professional mourners to come in they only had the time from when the person died till sundown to mourn that person's death and so they would hire professional mourners so that it would seem appropriate the body would be buried most likely before sunset and so there were professional mourners there and Jesus as he comes in rebukes these mourners she's not dead but sleeping the mourners are gone we've seen enough dead bodies that person's dead Jesus knew she was dead but he's referring to this girl with the expectation of being raised 1st 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 15 Jesus refers to us when we will die for this we declare to you by the word from the

[29:12] Lord that they who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede! those who have fallen asleep that's dead people that's dead Christians but they're asleep why because there is promise of resurrection because life is coming back different for us than for this girl she's not dead she's sleeping Jesus is in the room we don't know if the mourners are still there or not but he's in the room he takes the child by the hand and at that moment if he wasn't unclean from being touched by the woman with the hemorrhage which he wasn't but I'll explain in a second that moment he takes the hand of a dead person and has not consigned himself to until the sun goes down they're unclean but rather to seven days thou shalt be unclean for touching a dead body but neither made

[30:22] Jesus unclean because he made both of them clean he healed that which made them unclean and so the son of God takes this little girl by the hand wakes her as a mother would his little girl her little girl little girl I say unto you arise mark uses the Aramaic term telekuma I can never say it right it's an Aramaic little girl arise it's it's the way you would picture Jesus talking to little children but it's the same word that refers back to the woman there's this link this compassion he has to those people who are suffering little girl I say to you arise her spirit returned she got up at once we knew that she was dead by some of the testimonies that we've talked about that's how we know that she she's alive she got up at once she wasn't just alive she got up and walked about she was healed remember she had been sick she was dying we don't know how long she had been sick so her situation has totally changed

[31:55] Jesus commands the child be given something to eat I'm sure he knew as God as the God man I don't know what his understanding or knowledge would have been but she had been sick how long had it been since she ate so he commanded the child to be given something to eat I think that strengthened her but I think there's another proof here a proof that she was alive and not just a phantom let me read this from something we'll look at much later in the book of Luke Luke 24 verse 36 this is after Christ's death burial and resurrection verse 36 as they were talking about these things Jesus himself stood among them and said to them peace to you but they were startled and frightened and they thought they saw a spirit but he said to them why are you troubled and why do you doubt why do doubts arise in your heart see my hands and my feet that it is

[32:58] I myself touch me and see does a spirit for I'm sorry for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have and when he had said this he showed them his hands and his feet and while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling he said to them have you anything here to eat and they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate before them this girl was alive she was alive alive she wasn't a phantom she was alive she could move she could move about she could eat she had been restored to perfect health and the parents worst day of their lives just turned into the most amazing day of those parents lives but they couldn't tell anyone seems such an odd mystery everybody's gonna know

[34:00] I mean the mourners saw her dead and now she's out doing what 12 year old girls in that culture did weren't you that girl that was yes she doesn't say a thing more about it now whether they obeyed or not we don't know but she was told not to let anyone know why might that be well if you were don't take time to look there just now but if you were to look at John chapter 11 you would find the account of Lazarus who was sick we're going to see something else here in just a minute!

[34:45] but Lazarus was sick and remember the sisters sent to Jesus come heal Lazarus he's sick and it says that I'll go into the story more in a minute but he eventually was healed do you remember what happened because of that?

[35:04] that that was the culmination that was the pinnacle of the things that Jesus had done and the raising of Lazarus was what eventually caused the scribes and Pharisees to come and arrest Jesus if they had told when it was Jairus' daughter it would have been too early so they were to keep quiet about what was going on this is such a beautiful scene I mean Jesus just glows with brilliance of tenderness power and might the theme of Jesus deity shines through the whole thing he has the power to heal the power to heal within himself he doesn't have to pray and ask someone else to heal he has the power he is God the theme of faith runs through not only this but the other

[36:08] Jairus comes to Jesus initially in faith he has seen Jesus do things he wants Jesus to do this for his daughter now we know his faith struggles because of a little thing like she dies what one of us what one of our faith wouldn't struggle because of a little thing like the person we were praying for died but Jesus says no you keep trusting she will live there are so many times in our lives where what we want seems to be an impossibility!

[36:51] God will be stand on! God and it rightly applies to us we're to stand on that and we're to trust Christ no matter what we see could be financial Lord everything's gone I have no food God promises to provide daily bread clothes a place to sleep maybe not a house but a place to sleep stand on the promises faith is what Christians are to exercise it's the instrument through which we receive what God promises now God does many things for us just because of who he is and what he has planned but there are many things in scripture he expects us to trust him trust his word that we wouldn't receive if we weren't trusting that promise

[37:57] Hebrews 11 6 and without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him you and I are called to obey and stand on the promises the commands that even when our heart is breaking they're still true they're still right friend if you're here today and you don't know Christ as savior these things apply to the promises of God concerning atonement for sin the promises are true Romans 10 90 10 because if you confess through your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God affraised him from the dead you will be saved for the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses is saved and Romans 10 13 for everyone who calls on the name of the

[38:59] Lord will be saved those promises are true and if you've come to understand that what stands between you and a holy God between you and a safe healthy eternity is your sins will then run to this God there are promises that you must exercise that you must trust in because he says that that's what we are to do now we know behind the scenes just like with this woman there's a God who's working his plan and nothing will fail but if you don't know Christ today that's what God is calling you to do turn from your sin trying to earn your own way to heaven and trust what he has done another thing I want us to think about in relation to this is the this is sarcastic so I don't want you missing this the easiest thing you will do from now on that's very sarcastic be patient with interruptions

[40:09] I'm not good at this I'm thankful I have people in my life who help me remember these things but be patient with interruptions God is at work you can trust him even if the promise goes long like those who say where's the promise of his coming since the foundations of the world God has been talking about coming back and we haven't seen anything where's the promise of it when is it going to be fulfilled and Peter tells us to realize that God is long suffering that people might not perish but that he will answer his promises God is at work and you can trust him it would have been a glorious account but how much greater is

[41:34] God because like with Lazarus when Mary and Martha sent to Jesus say come heal our brother for he is sick Jesus waited four days and when the disciples heard that he was dead and Jesus says well he's sleeping Jesus says no he's really dead he says but I'm glad I didn't go so that you can see the glory of God and that's what Jesus did here doesn't explain it but you can see it how much greater how much more glorious is Jesus because this other woman was healed and it took just enough time for this little girl to die so much more glorious because Jesus raises this dead 12 year old girl instead of this sick 12 year old girl now back to your and my life we have things happen we cry out to

[42:47] God and we say God I need this or please help me with that and the answer may not come and it is tough sometimes we get in that situation where it seems like it's past past opportunity we can't we can't see that fulfilled now and we say God why God why God why I don't understand why didn't you do this why didn't you do that and then God answers sometime in this life sometimes after this life and we find out that what God has done is so much more glorious so much greater than we could ever imagine something that only God could do the girl might have gotten better on her own but she didn't she died and there was no getting better on her own from that

[43:49] I don't mean to make light of that but Jesus could heal could raise that little one because Jesus is the one who holds the keys to death and hell as Revelation 1 18 so someday we will see a healing and someday we will see resurrection isn't he beautiful isn't he amazing we should be people who are wanting to rest in him maybe we need to cry out like another man in scripture who had a sick relative lord I believe help thou my unbelief but we need to be people who are trusting god and resting in him let's pray together thank you father for what you've done father we see this in scripture and it and it points to your glory but this isn't the only time you you do this on various scales in our life lives of people around us you do it with countries you do it with all kinds of things lord you show your glory help us to be people as your people help us to be people who rest in your commands rest in your promises obey your commands and

[45:28]  I pray that you would help us to see you for all you are and all you do may our lips be filled with praise even as we finish our service today and sing this last hymn I pray that as we consider what you've done here in your word what we've seen in others lives what we see in our own lives I pray that our lips will be full of praise today for the God that you are and Lord may we be people who not only we pray in Jesus name