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| Jesus arrives with Jairus to minister to his daughter |
The baby, born about three months prematurely, was whisked off to the morgue before her parents even saw her, said the baby’s mother, Analia Bouter. “I don’t remember much because I was put to sleep,” Bouter said through a translator. “They never showed me the baby.”
Twelve hours after the baby was declared dead at the Argentine hospital, Bouter and her husband insisted hospital employees bring them to the morgue and allow them to say goodbye. But when morgue employees opened the drawer where the baby lay, the parents heard her crying.
“That’s when we heard the baby cry,” said Favian Veron, the baby’s father. Bouter fell to her knees in disbelief, fearing she was hallucinating. The baby is now in critical care and improving, according to the hospital.
Tiny Luz Milagros, or "Miracle Light," is suffering from sepsis and convulsions along with signs of neurological damage, said Dr. Diana Vesco, neonatology chief at the Perrando hospital in Resistencia in northern Chaco province. She said the baby is on a ventilator and being treated with antibiotics.
Her mother, Analia Bouter, received a supportive call from Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Wednesday asking to see the baby once she's out of intensive care.[1]
Our
passage today has the story of another child, this one twelve years old, who
actually died, and Jesus raised her from the dead after healing an older lady
on the way to the child. In fact similar to that astonishing Argentine baby girl,
Key Truth: Luke
wrote Luke 8:40-56 to teach believers to trust Jesus in life’s crises,
interruptions, and surprises.
Key Application: Today I
want to show you what God’s Word says about trusting Jesus.
Pray and Read:
Luke 8:40-56
Sermon Points:
1. Trust
Jesus in life’s crises (Luke 8:40-42)
2. Trust
Jesus in life’s interruptions (Luke 8:43-48)
3. Trust
Jesus in life’s surprises (Luke 8:49-56)
Contextual Notes:
In
his Sermon on the Plain, Jesus explains the blessings of faith and the woes of
unbelief (Luke 6:17-26), urging us to put our faith into practice by developing
Christ-like love (Luke 6:27-36), Christ-like integrity (Luke 6:37-42),
Christ-like character (Luke 6:43-45), and Christ-like stability (Luke 6:46-49).
Then
Luke demonstrates the astonishing faith of a Gentile centurion (Luke 7:1-10)
and the astonishing resurrection of a widow’s son (Luke 7:11-17). Despite John
the Baptizer’s doubt borne in faith (Luke 7:18-35), Luke demonstrates believing
faith through a sinful woman in the home of a faithless Pharisee, whose doubts are
a blunt denial of the clear evidence of Jesus Messiahship. (Luke 7:36-50).
Then
Jesus begins another preaching tour of Galilee (Luke 8:1-3) with the Parable of
the Sower, teaching that listening faith (Luke 8:8) bears fruit (Luke 8:4-15),
brings light (Luke 8:16-18), practices God’s Word (Luke 8:19-21), has authority
over fear (Luke 8:22-25) and the Adversary (Luke 8:26-39). The double miracle
in the passage today is the third in a series of Jesus’ extraordinary acts
preparing us for one of the key verses in Luke’s Gospel – Peter’s confession of
Jesus as the Messiah at Luke 9:20 (power over natural world: Luke 8:22-25;
power over spirit world: Luke 8:26-37; power over disease and death: Luke
8:40-56). Here we see Jesus’ tenderness and compassion toward the marginalized
and his preservation of their dignity.
Exposition: Note
well,
1.
TRUST JESUS IN LIFE’S CRISES (Luke
8:40-42)
a.
The
ungracious way the people of the Gerasenes told Jesus to leave their area
contrasts so strongly with the welcome He receives when He returns to Capernaum.
Here the synagogue ruler, Jairus, meets Him to ask Him to come to his home and
pray for his dying twelve year old daughter. Luke highlights Jesus’ authority
and compassion and calls us to respond in faith to Jesus.
b.
Luke
8:40-42 – The synagogue rulers served local synagogues in the role of elders
(Acts 13:15), as chief administrators who maintained the synagogue, organized
the worship services, and prominent members of their communities. Jairus (“he
will give light”) is the name Jair (Num 32:41; Judges 10:3). He comes to Jesus
after having invited him to teach in the Capernaum synagogue, had seen him cast
a demon out of one of his congregation (Luke 4: ), and he was undoubtedly one
of the synagogue leaders who came to Jesus on behalf of the centurion (Luke 7:
). His daughter is at the important age of twelve. Like the Widow of Nain (Luke
7:11-17) who had lost her only son, Luke is the only evangelist who notes that
she is his only daughter, also considered a great tragedy (Judges 11:30-40).
c.
APPLICATION: The nature of a crisis is that we
don’t know when it is coming. When a crisis hits, we often focus on survival
and a lot about life comes into blaring perspective. The best and the worst in
people come out in a crisis. Character is most visible under stress and crisis.
When crisis hits, watch for where God is at work. Do you run looking for the
Savior like these people did? Cling to the Savior in times of crisis. There’s also
an important lesson here about God’s sovereignty. All of life is directed by
the Lord, not just the part we have planned (actually, not even the part we
have planned!) Even the things we are sure about are not set in stone.
 |
| A woman reaches for Jesus in the crowd |
a.
On
the way, Jesus is interrupted by a woman plagued with some type of female hemorrhaging
for twelve years (note the similarity) who has struggled to touch the end of
Jesus’ prayer shawl, his tallit. She caught hold of the edge or hem of his
clothes (kraspedon, the word used in
the LXX for the tassels on the four corners of their robes, Deut 22:12; Num
15:38-41).
b.
Luke 8:43-45 – The woman was bleeding all month,
making her unclean under the law (Lev 15:19-33), a social problem on top of a
physical problem on top of a religious problem. Her uncleanness made her unable
to participate in worship at the Temple. She could not be touched and was
probably divorced or never married, marginal to Jewish society. By touching
anyone or their clothes, she also made them ceremonially unclean for the rest
of the day (Lev 15:26-27). She therefore should not have been in this heavy
crowd, and many teachers would have totally avoided her. Mark 5:28 tells us
that she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. It is worth
noting that Luke the physician does not mention, as Mark does, that the woman
had spent all her money on doctors
and only got worse (Mark 5:26; The
NIV even omits “and she had spent all she had on doctors”). Luke did not
criticize his colleagues!
c. Luke
8:46-48 – Jesus
identifies the woman who had touched him because power went out from him, even
though by identifying her he is, in the public eye, acknowledging ritual
uncleanness. Jesus calls her Daughter, the only time in the Gospels that Jesus
addresses someone with this affectionate term, indicating the tenderness with
which Jesus speaks to her. To keep anyone from thinking her healing took place
by pagan magic, Jesus declares it happened in response to her faith. But it is
the same thing Jesus said to the woman who anointed his feet (Luke 7:50). The
peace Jesus sends with her is the state of spiritual wholeness in the Hebrew
word shalom.
d.
ILLUSTRATION: One day this week on the way to a
prayer meeting, I was so stressed because we were running late, and I’m the pastor. Then when we finally got
everyone in the car and headed down the driveway, what passes in front of us
going our direction? A big green tractor taking up the entire bridge, and
taking its time all the way up Halifax Road. I was getting hot under the
collar, and when a growl of exasperation finally came out, Amanda quietly said,
“Gene, don’t worry about it. You can’t do anything about it, and who knows, the
Lord may be saving us from something ahead like a wreck at the West Mount
intersection.”
e.
APPLICATION: Don’t discount the unexpected
interruptions. God’s timing is not linked to our clock in any way. He is beyond
the strictures of time. What we view as an interruption may be exactly what the
Lord is doing for us and in us. The Gospel writers not only tell us what Jesus
did, but how he felt in those situations. Our sorrow breaks the great heart of
our Lord, too. Jesus shed tears, too. Whenever he encountered sorrow, Jesus
responded with compassion (Matt 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; Mark 1:40-42; 10:17-23;
Luke 7:12-13; John 11:30-38), and people’s lives immediately changed.
f.
Are
you wounded? Are you grieving? Are you struggling in your faith? Even though he
may not bring our loved ones back from behind death’s curtain or instantly heal
us, he has a special touch for us, to assure us of his presence and love and
power. He goes beyond physical healing and heals our minds and spirits. He has
our best interest at heart because we the Word of God shows his character. The
writer of Hebrews says, “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the
throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time
of need (Heb 4:16).” When will you let him touch you and heal your spirit?
3.
TRUST JESUS IN LIFE’S SURPRISES (Luke
8:1-15)
a.
The
result of the delay is that new messengers from Jairus meet the Lord saying the
child has died. Nevertheless, Jesus continues to Jairus’ house with the
professional mourners. To preserve the family’s dignity and not make them local
theatre, Jesus sends out all but the girl’s parents and three of his own
disciples. Then he performs his second resurrection from the dead, restoring
the girl to her astonished parents.
b.
Luke 8:49 – For Jairus, the message hits with
a crushing blow. They were so close! How could this happen? The woman’s faith
had healed her, but what about his faith? His daughter? If Jesus hadn’t
stopped, maybe she would have had a chance at life. It was his only daughter.
Now she is gone. It was too late. His daughter was dead. The need was over.
c.
Luke 8:50-51 – Jesus spoke a word of
encouragement immediately to Jairus: “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she
will be healed” (Luke 8:50). Not only was it important in Jewish culture to
have a large group of mourners to demonstrate great sadness at their loss
including family and friends, but professional mourners were actually required
at funerals, even for the poor. The funeral of the daughter of such a prominent
family would likely have many mourners. Because of the quick decomposition of
the body in the Middle East, burial must take place within a day, and
apparently anticipating her death, mourners had gathered before Jairus knew she
had died.
d.
Luke 8:52 - Jesus said she was not dead but
asleep. Because of his statement, some liberal commentators have said she was
only comatose, not dead. But the reaction of the mourners in laughter “knowing
that she was dead” tells the truth. Jesus used the euphemism of sleep to
comfort her parents, indicating that her death is temporary. He is going to do
something about this death situation.
e.
Luke 8:54 – Jesus enters the room with only
her parents and Peter, James, and John. Touching a corpse was defiling for a
Jew, but this Jew took her hand and instead of being defiled brought life to
her body. Mark records the Aramaic phrase Jesus used, “Talitha koum!” My child,
arise (Heb. qum)! Then he told them
to give her something to eat, proving she was alive and foreshadowing Jesus’
post-Resurrection act of eating (Luke 24: ). Many years later the power and
impact of those words impact resonated still in Peter, whose testimony Mark
composed. Writing to Greek readers, Luke provided only the Greek translation.
f.
Luke 8:55-56 - Of course technically this is a
resuscitation, since like the son of the widow, she would have died later on.
The actual resurrection will occur at the End. The girl’s spirit returns to her
mortal body, and she regained life to the astonishment of her parents,
literally, they stood beside themselves.
Invitation:
Jesus has come to bring a full
resurrection for our lives, to bring us from death to life. Would you receive
that free gift right now?
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