Don't be afraid, juts believe (Luke 8d)

Don't be afraid; Just believe

Luke 8:40-56*

Key Verse 50

Introduction: Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus to you personally? Jesus provided answers on this question through four miraculous works in Ch. 8. The last of these is the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead. It is difficult for any man to believe in resurrection of a man. But through faith in Jesus’ words, Jairus came to see the resurrection of his daughter. By faith, Jairus became the first person to see Jesus’ power to resurrect the dead to life. Through today’s passage, I pray that we may also believe Jesus is the one who is able to give life to the dead.

V 40. As soon as Jesus and His disciples came back to Galilee, so many people came to see Jesus and followed Him. Among them, two people sought Jesus’ help in faith. Jesus counted their faith and led them to see something they did not expect, which led them to receive the faith Jesus wanted them to have. As we go through this passage, I pray that you may find the faith that overcomes the power of death and taste the victory in life.

A.   Your faith healed you

V41, 42 Jairus was a synagogue ruler. He was well–known, well-respected, and honored among the towns’ people. His daughter was sick and dying. Also, she was the only daughter that he had. In all aspects, his love for his daughter was great and any loving father would do what he did, without hesitation. In his desperate need, Jairus sought help from Jesus. He came down and fell at Jesus’ feet, asking for help. He was very humble and his belief in Jesus was strong. He showed his faith by his total dependence on Jesus’ power and authority as the Messiah. So he made a specific request. Jairus wanted Jesus to come to his house and heal his daughter. So the main focus of his plea was for Jesus to come to his house.

Without a word, recognizing the urgency of the situation, Jesus accepted his plea and set out immediately for this man’s house. But suddenly, Jesus stopped in the middle of the road and asked an unusual question: “Who touched me?” Peter explained the situation well: "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you."

But Jesus had a specific reason to look for the one who touched Him: He knew that His power had gone out from Him. It is very interesting that the power of Jesus had gone out from Him, yet He did not know to whom the power had gone. Also, many people were crowding against Jesus and many had touched Him. But Jesus’ power didn’t go out to any of them, except to one particular person.  

V43-44. Here is a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. She went to many doctors and tried many remedies, but nothing worked. When a woman has a bloody discharge, she is considered unclean and she should not have any contact with others. According to the Law, if she touches anyone, then that person will be considered unclean as well. So she could not enter the temple, or meet anyone. She had to carry the feeling of uncleanness and shame. So she had very few personal relationships with others. It was an  involuntary quarantine, recognizing her unclean condition. Most likely she never married or, if she married, she never had a normal married life with her husband. Her disease was the source of all her trouble and agony. Whenever the bloody discharge came, she was reminded of her uncleanness. Total womanhood was robbed from her. Outwardly, she looked well and beautiful; nobody would see or know her problems by looking at her outward beauty. The most troublesome thing was that she was constantly reminded  that she was unclean before God.

But when she heard of Jesus, she believed that he was the man of God and he could heal her. But how could she ask for the healing of such a shameful disease? But how could she get to Jesus? Should she shout, “Unclean, unclean!”, so that people might move out of her way? Or should she shout like the lepers, "Son of David, have mercy on me?" The problem was that nobody knew she was unclean. Outwardly, she was as clean as anyone; whenever she went out she was looked upon as any other women of the town. She did not want to erase that image and risk exposing  her shameful secret by going out in public.

So she decided to do a secret mission: she made the decision to touch Jesus at the hem of His cloak, so that no one would notice her. So, weaving through the large crowd, she got close to Jesus and touched the edge of His clothes. Just at that moment, her bleeding stopped and she felt healed. So, it was a great success and she was about to sneak out of the crowd, but Jesus suddenly asked the question to the crowd, “Who touched me?” She knew whom Jesus was talking about, but she could not come forward. How could she reveal all her shameful past and her deceptive way of stealing Jesus’ power for her healing? She was gripped with fear and did not what to do. In the meantime, Jesus stopped in the middle of the road and the crowd also stood still. Nobody moved and Jesus kept on looking,  further revealing that power had gone out of him. At this time, the woman came to realize that she could not get away from Jesus’ attention. Suddenly she felt something more serious than her shame; she had to confront Jesus whose power she had experienced minutes before. A dreadful fear froze her. She came forward, trembling; she felt that she was as good as dead for daring to steal Jesus’ power secretly. In great fear, she revealed all her secrets—how much she had suffered, why she did it before such a large crowd and before the Messiah Jesus. It was a great moment of fear, embarrassment, and shame. She was shaky and her face became pale. Jesus’ punishment might be even worse that her bleeding disease. As she was finishing, Jesus said this:

v48 Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

While she was trembling in great fear, Jesus called her, with a gentle and kind voice, ‘daughter’. One word said it all about Jesus’ compassion and love. This call melted  all fears and anxieties. In addition to this statement, Jesus added; “your faith has healed you”. It is a very interesting phrase. The woman thought that she had taken away Jesus’ power by touching His cloak, coming from Jesus, through His cloak, to her hand, and then to her whole body. No matter what happened, it was Jesus’ power! Nothing else! How can it be that her faith that healed her?

What did Jesus mean when He said this?

·         The healing that the woman  had received was not stolen from Jesus. She was given or was found worthy of receiving such power from God. She was not only qualified by God, but also Jesus was more than willing to give healing to such a woman as she.

·         She was worthy of God’s power and Jesus was so willing to give her His blessing, because she had faith in Him. Her faith was the thing that Jesus counted for her credit.

·         Jesus denies that her healing came through her touching His clothes. What about her will and determination to touch Jesus’ clothes? They are important, but they are not the source of power that let her go through these obstacles. It was her faith. All else besides faith was not the cause of Jesus’ blessing her. It was her faith that was counted worthy of God’s blessing.

What was the faith in her that Jesus counted worthy? She believed in one thing: that Jesus had power and if she touched Him, she would be healed. Her faith was simple and focused.

The woman was truly freed, not only from her disease, but also from the burdens in her heart. Jesus, whom she believed to be the One to come, accepted her faith. “Go in peace”; she truly tasted peace in her life for the first time, freed from all of life’s burdens.

What would happen to her if Jesus had let her slip away after taking healing from Him?  What do you think? She would have lived in secret, hiding her  ugly past; furthermore, she would live in fear always, because, though she was healed physically, her mind and spirit would still suffer greatly from the guilt of deceiving and hiding from the Messiah. She could never have received such a word of comfort from Jesus, and she never would have known God's open blessing. Simply, the woman would still have been living in darkness. Jesus wants you to have this same joy.

Jesus wanted to impart great blessings to her, not just healing, but also God's approval of her faith as good and worthy in His eyes. What else matters if God had already approved her as good and worthy? Her shameful past mattered little! It would never be a sore memory in her life, rather it would be an enduring source of God's blessing and joy. Healing was the permanent reminder and proof of God's blessing in His mighty hand. Why should she live in secret, guilt, and fear?

What can we learn from this?

It may not just be the story of this lady; it can be the story of each of us. Do you have anything in your life that you feel is shameful? Is there a disease, a sin, or a bad habit that you would not expose to the public? Do you have anything that makes you unclean and dirty and yet no one knows, while you act and live as if you are  problem-free? Still such unclean things weigh you down and eat away your inner being. Are you afraid of your shameful sin and ungodliness being exposed to such a large crowd?

As we have learned, Jesus is the only one who can solve such a problem. So, the way to solve that problem is to come to Him in faith. As you ponder over coming to Jesus, you have to know a few more things about the healed woman.

We have to remember that her faith was not a perfect one. Think about how ridiculous her idea was. She thought that the power of Jesus was conducted through His cloak, then to her hand, and into her body. She thought that the power of Jesus travelled through this conducting medium. Ridiculous as her reasoning was, Jesus still accepted her faith.. Neither should we need perfect faith to come to Jesus!

Here, faith is the faith that acts. Her faith was the source of her strength to get to Jesus. Faith moved her through the crowds and made her dare to touch His cloak. Her faith made all these possible! Jesus counted and commended this faith.  

By faith, she put aside all else in order to achieve this one goal. The crowd poised a great obstacle. The Law forbids anyone unclean to touch others. So the Law made a wall against her wish. Her integrity as a conscientious person also might have spoken against her wish. But she put all these aside for one goal: that she could not live as she was, she must be healed, and Jesus was the only one who could heal her! This was only possible by faith.

Jesus wants to free you from all the burdens of your life, such as suffering either by sickness or by sins. He is looking for your faith. It may not be a perfect or complete one, but only one thing is needed: your faith, the faith that believes in Jesus’ power and love. Come and do whatever it takes, even if it may be only touching His clothes! You can come to Him in your secret place. It might be your closet, your secret room, even the bathroom or in the shower! Come to Him and ask for His grace and mercy! Jesus will surely come to your aid! Then, you will surely taste the great and powerful healing. It will fill you with peace and joy that you never had before. Think about this lady’s struggle to get to Jesus! It was lonesome  a battle within herself. but, once she got to Jesus, everything was taken care of.

The outcome is amazing; not only she was healed but also she was fully blessed by Jesus. She was literally freed from all the burdens of her life. She was saved and joy and peace replaced her fear and shame.

B.   Don’t be afraid, but just believe!

While this was going on, Jairus was waiting anxiously for this to be over with quickly. He was worried about his daughter, who was sick and  on the verge of death. Even minutes counted,  because Jesus had to arrive before she died. His daughter is fighting for life by seconds! An anxiety was building up in Jairus’ mind  as Jesus’ company stalled in the middle of the road.

At the same time, he saw a remarkable thing: this lady was healed by Jesus and Jesus had said to her that she was healed because of her faith, not because she touched his clothes. Faith alone was counted! This was a new discovery and opened him up to a new dimension in his understanding of Jesus’ healing power!  As this thought was going through his mind, news arrived:

49 “While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader.  "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't bother the teacher anymore."”

“Do not bother the teacher!” This was the idea of all the people. Our hope for a person ends when he/she dies. We have no expectation at all for those who died. They are gone from our world to the world that we do not know anything about. No one has ever come back to life. Likewise,  we all are under the power of death.  The people’s word to Jairus was also the exact reflection of his own understanding of his daughter’s life. No one had any different idea;  all his family, his relatives, and guests shared the same understanding. What about those who were accompanying Jesus? The Bible does not say anything about them. But I am pretty sure that the disciples and all those who followed Jesus shared the same feeling as Jairus, thinking this trip might be useless or futile. But Jesus said this:

50 “Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed."”

Jesus knew exactly what went on Jairus’ mind; He knew his anxiety and fear. So he talked to him personally looking at his face: “Do not be afraid; just believe and then she will be healed!”

Death is the source of our worst fear. This is the case because no one has come back to life after dying, and, once all men die, they are gone for good. But against this well-proven  fact, Jesus told him ‘Don’t be afraid!’ We fear because life is lost for good! When we are not sure if we will wake up in the morning, then we are gripped with fear as we go to bed each night! But we often go to bed every night with peace and comfort; we love to sleep, because, in our minds, we never doubt that we will wake up in the morning, refreshed and rejuvenated in spirit and physical strength. Sleeping is a good thing! I have no fear to go to sleep, because I am sure that I will wake up in the morning with a big smile!

Don’t be afraid! Fear that she had died for good must be thrown away. Jairus had to do one thing: believe that she would wake up, like from a deep night’s sleep! How could Jesus say such thing to him? How could Jairus take this word? He never heard of or seen such thing.  He saw many die and never come back, but now one thing he must count on: the healing of the woman by faith that he had just witnessed.  What Jesus said might be true! Jairus had to trust Jesus’ word , because he had seen the power that worked in the life of that woman.

Jesus was demanding faith from Jairus, not just because he was the Son of God or the Messiah, but because Jairus saw the power of God displayed in the lady’s life. Who could or would do such a thing other than God Himself? Jairus must give this credit to Jesus; s when Jesus said to him, “just believe”, he was also saying that he must discard all fear and unbelief”, and  put meditate on what Jesus had done for the woman just before this and to believe in the work of God through Christ.

We do not know with certainty if Jairus believed or not, but one thing that we know is that  none of Jairus’ words  and none of his fear,  unbelief, or commotion are recorded. We can assume without much mistake that Jairus kept Jesus’ word in his heart and did not yield himself up to  fear and hopelessness from the death of his daughter. It was quite possible that he was walking along with Jesus to his house in silence while  reciting Jesus’ words in his thoughts.  Finally, after many long hours, at least in Jairus’ mind, Jesus and Jairus, with all accompanying crowds arrived at Jairus' house.

v52

“There they found people wailing and mourning. It was all too clear that his daughter was really dead as he was told. But Jesus told them this; "Stop wailing," "She is not dead but asleep."”

This was the second time Jesus had said something about Jairus’ daughter. This word was not only for the crowds, but also for Jairus. This overwhelming power of death bearing down on this large crowd might have destroyed the belief and hope of Jairus, so he needed to be reassured in his faith.  Jesus commanded the crowd:  “Stop wailing! She is not dead! She is asleep!”

How did the crowd take Jesus’ word?

V 53 “They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead”.

To them, this was too strange for the crowd, because she was dead without any doubt. Did they believe what Jesus said? No! They did not and could not believe  what Jesus said. They laughed; it was all too funny for them. A few moments before, they were wailing and weeping; suddenly they laughed. To them, what Jesus said was  like a joke. Didn’t he know the difference between sleeping  and dead? But there were some who did not laugh. Who were they? Who took this word seriously?

V 51 “When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother”.

Do you think that John or Peter laughed at what Jesus said? Not at all! What about Jairus or his wife? Highly unlikely! They were silent and  trusting, expecting and hoping, while holding on to what Jesus said: “don’t be afraid, just believe, and your daughter will be healed!”

These are the important people, the people who  believed! Jesus removed all the others and took only these people with him!

So, in the room, were Peter, John, James, the girl’s father Jairus and her mother. Also, Jairus’ daughter, twelve years old, was lying flat, breathless and motionless. Her body was already getting cold,  clammy, and rigid. All these signs spoke to one thing: her death. Life had left and death had set in, but there was no wailing or sobbing; only the silence of hope and expectation, as they fixed their eyes on Jesus.

At this moment what did Jesus do?

54 “But he took her by the hand and said, "My child, get up!"”

Here before them was a girl, lying flat and motionless, but Jesus took her by the hand and said to her "My child, get up".

The direct interpretation might be something like this: “I am saying/commanding you, get up right now”. It was not just uttering words to someone; it was the force of Jesus’ authority and power was loaded into this word.

55 “Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat”.

The Bible says that her spirit returned and, at once, she stood up. Here the word 'spirit' is the same word used elsewhere in the Gospel of Luke to denote the Holy Spirit. It was similar to when God created man out of clay and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, making him a living being. Jesus spoke the word of God in power and the spirit that left her life came back by his command. In this way, the girl’s life came back immediately. The flaccid, motionless, breathless,  cold body regained all the signs of life. In this way, Jesus demonstrated his power to give life even after death.

When Jairus and his wife saw this, they were astonished. Why? They were believing, hoping, and expecting; However, Jesus’ power was  so great, using only a single command that Jairus’ daughter came back  to life. It was so quick and so swift; there was no tinge of hesitation or lingering struggle! It blew Jairus’ mind and he never expected such a decisive and commanding power! It was none other than the power of God Himself!

Death has been the impossible barrier  to overcome by anyone. How can such a powerful force be swallowed up  like this, in a word and in a second? Death disappeared and life came back!

Death can be overcome by the word of Jesus. It happened, because Jesus has life and  is life. Life is in his hands, and he can give it, just like this.  

Think about the fears that have overwhelmed the minds of millions in Africa because of Ebola virus. What about Washingtonians who were  sacred of two unknown gunmen? What about the storm that the disciples confronted on the Sea of Galilee?

If life can be restored like this, why should we fear death? If this Jesus is with us, then death has no power over us! It will be nothing more than  a good night’s sleep.

Jairus saw this. His wife and the three disciples saw this too. What might have gone through their minds? Who was Jesus to them? Jesus is none other than the living Son of God. In this way, he showed them he is the Son of God, the true Savior, the one who holds life.

How was this  possible for Jairus to see? As we know, the large crowds who were wailing and then laughed at Jesus’ words were not able to see this amazing scene. Was Jairus worthy of this blessing? Why?

In looking back on Jairus' faith, it started with his belief that Jesus had to come to his house to heal his daughter who was facing imminent death. To him, Jesus had to come and had to touch her or say or do something physically, so that she might be healed. Jesus had to do it before she died.

But he saw the healing of a  woman, and he learned that she was healed, not because she touched Jesus, but because she believed that Jesus could. On the way, Jesus told Jairus  his word of life twice: first, “Do not be afraid, just believe and your daughter will be healed”; then, Jesus asserted  the power of his word by rebuking those who were wailing for the dead: “Stop wailing, she is not dead but asleep.”

Faith is important, and means  to put one’s trust in Jesus, according to what he has done and  said. Jairus saw Jesus’ healing of the woman, and  heard what he said to  the crowd and to Jairus himself. He held onto these and, finally, Jesus took him to the place where the miracle happened. In this way, he saw the resurrection of his daughter. Think about what this memory would do in his life. To him, Jesus would be never be the same as he knew before. Jesus is truly the living Son of God.

If we know that death is  nothing more than a sleep at night, then why should we fear, and why should we worry so much?

No matter what comes and threatens our lives, only one thing matters: death. Only by faith in Jesus can we  handle such fear or any crisis in life. If not, we remain under the power of death and  will live by fear. But when we know Jesus as the source of life, and when we believe that Jesus will wake us up from the dead, we have no fears and no worries. We can dare to trust all things in Jesus.
So in all the crises of life, instead of looking at the wailing crowd, we can set our mind on what Jesus has done and listen to what Jesus has said, “Don’t be afraid, just believe!”

May God bless you richly in His power!