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Luke 8:49–56
“Jesus on hearing this answered [Jairus], ‘Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well’ ” (v. 50).
During His journey to Jairus’ house, Jesus healed a woman who drew close and touched His garment, as we saw in our last study. Jesus had to ask who had been healed, for He did not see her actually make contact with Him but only felt His divine healing power go out from Him (Luke 8:40–48). Here we see evidence for the church’s confession of the two natures of Christ, one divine and one human, that are perfectly united in the one divine person of the Son of God without confusion, change, division, or separation, “the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ” (Definition of Chalcedon, AD 451). The healing power in this episode manifested Jesus’ true divine nature, and His ignorance of who touched Him manifested His true human nature.
Today’s passage returns to Jairus’ predicament—his daughter’s illness. Remember that Jairus was a synagogue ruler (Luke 8:41), an important position in first-century Judaism. Synagogue rulers were laypeople who took care of the public synagogue meetings, kept things in order, and appointed those who would read Scripture during the services. Yet when Jairus implored Jesus to help his child, he did not appeal to his role as a reason for the Lord to help him (Luke 8:41–42). This was a sign of his humility, evidence that he understood that nothing could make him inherently worthy of our Savior’s ministry. True faith does not lean on things such as one’s social standing but humbly asks for mercy.
While Jesus and Jairus journeyed to the house, some people came to inform them that the young girl was dead and that nothing more could be done (Luke 8:49). This introduced a test of faith for Jairus, who came to Jesus because he believed that the Lord could help his family. Would he continue to trust that Jesus could rescue his daughter despite a seemingly insurmountable hurdle, even death? The test of faith was made more intense when the crowd of mourners laughed at the prospect of Jesus’ being able to do anything for the dead girl (Luke 8:51–53). But Jesus raised the girl to life, indicating His power and the persevering faith of Jairus, since Jesus told him that his daughter would be well if he believed (Luke 8:50, 54–55). Faith perseveres through all obstacles and receives God’s promises (Heb. 11).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
True faith means holding fast to Jesus even when others mock us or when seemingly insurmountable obstacles stand in our way. Saving faith is persevering faith, faith that continues to trust in Christ through adversity. Let us pray for God to sustain such faith in us, and let us study God’s Word and remember His faithfulness in the past so that we will be encouraged to continue believing in Jesus.
for further study
- Job 13:15
- Hebrews 12:1–2
the bible in a year
- 2 Samuel 19–20
- Luke 21:20–38
- 2 Samuel 21–1 Kings 1
- Luke 22:1–38