Rony Kozman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
EXPECTANT FAITH
LUKE 8:41–42, 49–56
We can approach Jesus with all our needs. (41–42)
In Luke 8:40–56 we read about the healing of Jairus’ daughter. Jairus was a synagogue leader whose 12-year-old daughter was dying, and Jairus came to Jesus to ask Him to come to his house so that Jesus would heal her. We can compare Jairus with the Roman centurion of Luke 7:10. The centurion had a sick slave who was near to the point of death, and he sent for Jesus to heal his slave. But whereas Jairus asks Jesus to come to his house to heal his daughter, the centurion said that he was not worthy to have Jesus come to his house and that Jesus only needed to speak the word and his slave would be healed. We see the greater faith of the centurion.
But this is not to denigrate Jairus’ faith. That Jairus “fell down at Jesus’s feet and pleaded with Him to come to his house” to heal his daughter is a demonstration of his faith. Jairus’ act of coming so close to Jesus and asking Jesus to come in his house shows his great faith for Jesus, which contrasts with how the people of the Gerasenes respond when Jesus heals the man possessed by many demons (26–39). In that incident, when Jesus sent the demons into the herd of pigs, and when the people heard about it and saw that the demon-possessed man was better, “they were afraid” (v. 35) and asked Jesus to leave (v. 37). This is in marked contrast to the healed man himself, who “begged Him earnestly to be with Him” (v. 38), and it is also in stark contrast to Jairus, who exhibits a positive response in falling at Jesus’ feet and pleading that Jesus come to his house.
We can trust Jesus when things seem to go awry. (49–53)
In the middle of the story of Jesus healing Jairus’ daughter, we encounter a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. She comes near to Jesus, touches the edge of His robe and is healed. When Jesus asks who touched iHm, the woman trembles. But unlike the people of the Gerasenes who in fear told Jesus to leave their region, this woman falls before Him and confesses that she touched Him, and Jesus affirms that her faith saved her.
We can trust Jesus to provide what we need. (54–56)
But now Jairus receives word that his daughter has now died and that there is no use for Jesus to come. But Jesus reiterates the importance of faith. Just as He commended the woman with the flow of blood for her faith, now Jesus tells Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved” (v. 50). As the story unfolds, Jesus enters Jairus’ house and raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead, suggesting that Jairus did in fact believe just as the woman with blood believed. We learn from this story and the others surrounding it how we must beware that fear does not keep us from Jesus but that we draw near to Him. And we also learn that if we believe, if we trust in Jesus and draw near to Him, like Jairus’ daughter we will be raised from the dead, for Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25) and everyone who believes in Him will never die again.
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