DELIVERANCE FROM DISEASE AND DEATH

We live in a world that has been cursed by sickness and sorrow and death. Since the fall in the Garden of Eden, man’s history has been the story of a dying race. The one inescapable fact that every man must face is the reality of death.

The Old Testament promised that in the day of the kingdom, the effects of this curse would be overthrown.

The truth of these promises was seen in Jesus Christ. He fulfilled the promises of the kingdom by healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and even raising the dead. He banished disease from first century Palestine to demonstrate that He was the King who had brought His kingdom.

Notice the "divine coincidence" that the disease of the woman had begun to afflict her on the same year that this girl had been born. Each situation had been carefully prepared by God to be a special vessel of honor which would demonstrate the power and the compassion of Jesus.

Several things had taken place since Jesus had last been on the western shore of the Lake. A storm had been stilled. A herd of pigs had been agitated. Jesus had been asked to leave and now He is being welcomed back.

Throughout this section, we have been witnessing the power of Jesus. In this section, the power becomes much more personal as it touches the lives of people.

You might think at this point that Jesus would have said to the people, "I’m sorry, I’ve had a rough night and a long day yesterday and now I’m going to go and play golf." He doesn’t do that. He has time for people. He has time both for the crowds and for individuals.

There is an interesting contrast between the reception of Jesus at Gerasa and the request that is made of Him here. They had asked Him to LEAVE. A man now approaches Jesus and asks Him to COME.

This tells me something about God. God is always available. I never have to worry about getting a busy signal when I pray. I will never get a voice-mail.

Jesus is going to meet two different people in this passage. They are given by way of contrast.

Jesus was available to each of these people. And He was available not only so that you could go to Him, but also so that He could come to you. He made house calls!

The name of this man was Jairus. He was an official within the synagogue. This would have made him a respected member of the community - a man of prestige. But power and wealth and prestige are irrelevant when a little girl dies.

One of the deceptions of our culture is that bad things do not happen to respectable people. But position and influence are not immunizers against tragedy.

There is a lesson here. It is that respectable people and religious people suffer tragedy just like anyone else. And tragedy often makes one turn to the Lord.

This man was a part of the religious establishment. From where had most of the opposition the Jesus come up to this time? From the religious establishment! But this man did not care about social pressures. His little girl was dying. He had a need and he didn’t care about anything else.

This is why people always come to Christ. If you don’t have a pressing need to come to Him, then you probably won’t.

This man came in desperation. His motives may not have been the best. He did not come simply because he loved Jesus and wanted to get to know Him. He came because he was hurting. His heart was crushed. But even though his faith is inadequate and his motives are selfish, Jesus is going to meet his need.

We are like that man. We did not come to Jesus until we realized our need. We are still like that. It often takes a "divine two-by-four" over the head to get our attention.

A farmer went to town to buy a mule. The salesman said, "I have a great mule. All you have to do is to sit on him and say, ‘Go mule,’ and you will find that he is very obedient." The farmer bought the mule and got up on him and said, "Go mule!" The mule didn’t move. The farmer kicked his heels into the mule’s side and said, "Go mule!" The mule didn’t move.

The farmer got down off the mule and led it back to the salesman, complaining, "I spoke to the mule just like you told me and the mule wouldn’t budge." The salesman instructed the farmer to get back up on the mule. Then he picked up a two-by-four and hit the mule over the head and the mule began to go. "I thought you only had to say, ‘Go mule!’" protested the farmer. "That’s right," replied the salesman, "But first you have to get his attention." We are often like that mule. God often has to do something drastic to us just to get us to pay attention.

Notice the contrasting needs. The daughter of Jairus was 12 years old. She had enjoyed 12 years of life. This woman had endured 12 years of suffering.

She had a hemorrhage. Under the ceremonial laws, she was considered to be perpetually unclean. Mark’s account adds that she had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse (Mark 5:26). I find it interesting that Luke the physician does not mention this fact. Was it a case of professional courtesy?

She had spent all of her money on doctors and was worse than ever. She was unclean. Her clothes were considered to be unclean. Any furniture which she touched would become unclean. And any person with whom she came into contact would become unclean. Her husband was entitled to divorce her. She was shunned by the community. She was excluded from the temple and the synagogue.

She comes up behind Jesus and she reaches out to Jesus as He passes and touches His cloak. Why? Luke does not tell us, but he does not have to. Her action was very deliberate. She had a reason for doing so (8:47).

Do you see it? She had FAITH. It may not have been a mature faith. It seems to have been more on the order of superstition. But God honors it. God takes an inadequate faith and causes it to grow. If the Lord were to wait until we presented Him with a mature faith in order to save us, then no one would ever be saved.

Jesus was on His way to heal the daughter of Jairus. Suddenly there is an interruption. Jesus knew how to handle interruptions. Sometimes important things happen when you are going somewhere else.

How do you handle interruptions? You need to learn something. Your spouse is not an interruption. Your children are not interruptions.

From the time my daughter was a little girl, she used to come into my study and I always made it a point of trying to stop what I was doing and give her my attention. Sometimes her interruption was not very important. Sometimes it was rather trivial. But it was not trivial to her.

John Lennon once said that life is what happens to you while you are planning something else. As you make up your agenda, be aware that God has His agenda and that at first it seems to be only an interruption.

This interruption took place when Jesus perceived that something special had happened. "Who is the one who touched me?" This says something about the perception of Jesus. He was aware of people. And He was aware that something special had just taken place. He was aware that He had been a source of healing power.

His question does not seem to be rhetorical. It seems as though He actually did not know who had touched Him. And so, He asks,"Who is the one who touched me?"

The woman comes forth and confesses what she has done. In doing so, she bears witness of the power of God.

There is another lesson I want you to see here. It is that Jesus did not play favorites. He did not turn around and say, "Look lady, if you’ll stop touching Me, then I can get to this VIP’s house and, if we can win him over to our side, then we will really have a celebrity who can push our cause." Jesus did not play favorites on the basis of social position. He did not cater to those who were the most popular or the most respected or the most handsome or the most wealthy.

To be sure, it does not say that there are not ANY wise, or that there are not any mighty, or that there are not any noble. But the majority of the members of the church do not fit into those categories.

Jesus said to the woman, "Daughter, your faith has made you well." This is striking. There were many people who were healed who had no faith at all. Healing is always a sovereign act of God. How then can it be said that this woman’s faith has healed her?

On the one hand, it is God who saves people. On the other hand, they are saved through faith. Such faith is given by God. This woman was saved as a result of her faith. But what she does not realize is that her faith has been given to her by God.

She has not realized that. She has though that there might be something magical about the clothing of Jesus.

Jesus does not say, "First you need to get your theology straightened out, and then I can heal you." He isn’t nearly so interested in her theology as He is with her heart. And when the heart is right, the theology will take care of itself.

There is a point when circumstances seem to pass beyond the realm of hope. This is where real faith begins. This happened to Jairus as he and Jesus approached his home. He had believed that Jesus could heal his daughter, even though she was at the point of death. But what about someone who has already died?

This was the line beyond which some were unwilling to venture. They came to Jairus with advice which seemed sound from a strictly humanistic point of view.

"Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore." After all, you don’t ask the doctor to make a house call when the patient is already dead. However, if the physician is One who has power over death, then it is another case entirely.

Jesus speaks words of hope. "Do not be afraid any longer, only believe." Just as Jesus had told the woman that her faith had saved her, so now He tells this man that he must have faith.

He had just seen a living object lesson on the result of faith. Now he has a decision to make. He can listen to the advice of his friends. Or he can trust in Jesus.

You have the same choice. Friends from the world will tell you not to bother God right now because He has plenty to do and your situation is irrelevant to Him. They will advise you that faith is a nice thing to have, but there comes a time when you must put your faith aside to face "reality."

God says that HE is reality. His is there and He has not been silent. And He calls you to believe in Him.

• You had to do it while you were standing.

• You had to do it over your heart and then leave it ripped for several days.
• There were special rules on how women were to do this so that they did not expose themselves.

Can you imagine what a mess this must have been? A great crowd has gathered and they are making a racket. It is into this scene that Jesus comes. The Prince of Peace raises His voice and calls for an end to the racket. In the previous chapter He had ordered the storm to be silent. Now he calls for the mourners to be silent.

"Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep." What does Jesus mean by this? Were the people mistaken? Had the girl really died? I believe that she had. Luke’s account makes it very clear that she was really dead (Luke 8:53). But God has a different perspective on death than we do. We tend to view death as permanent. He views death as temporary. To Him, it is like falling asleep.

Have you ever noticed the reaction that children have when you tell them to go to sleep? They usually do not want to . When we fear death, we are acting as children.

There is a lesson to learn here. It is that we have no reason to fear death. We have been joined to the One who has conquered death.

Did you ever stop to think that Jesus never preached a funeral sermon? Every time He attended a funeral, He broke it up by raising the dead.

Perhaps were we to understand the true nature of death, we would be able to rejoice. A Christian funeral has been described as a procession of solemn caterpillars dressed in black, carrying the corpse of a cocoon to its final resting place. The poor, distressed caterpillars continue on their way, never noticing the fluttering butterfly above them.

Now I want to ask you a question. Why did Jesus keep the crowd out? I think that it was because there are some things which the crowd is not meant to see.

The people on the outside were those who had been so arrogant that they had laughed at Jesus. They will not be permitted to witness this miracle. It will be kept from them. This is not a new principle. Jesus taught it in His Sermon on the Mount.

You don’t give pearls to pigs. And there as some things that you don’t share with pagans because they just won’t understand. You can share the gospel with pagans. But when they laugh and mock and reject the gospel, then you can stop.

Thus, as Jesus enters the room in which the child lies, He takes with Him the parents and several of His own companions. Verse 51 says that these were Peter, James and John.

Why did Jesus take these three disciples? Under the Mosaic Law, the testimony of two or three witnesses was required to confirm an event (Deuteronomy 19:15).

This is the first time that Jesus has selected these three specific disciples to be singled out. It will not be the last time. In the next chapter they shall accompany Jesus up the mountain to witness the transfiguration (Luke 9:28). Though Luke does not mention it, these same three shall accompany Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33). Each time, they shall serve as witnesses. They shall witness His power, His majesty and His agony.

Why did Jesus order this? Why did He tell them to keep quiet about the miracle? It was obvious that the news would get out about the raising of this girl. The family could not keep the news silent. So why did Jesus give this command? I think that there are several reasons.

First, Jesus knew that people would take the words that He had spoken to be some kind of magical formula. He didn’t want people running into funeral homes yelling the words, "Arise!" Indeed, this later took place in the days of the book of Acts as people tried to use the words of Paul as a magical formula to cast out demons (Acts 19:13).

A second reason may have been concern over the child’s continued welfare. Jesus did not want the girl to be the object of people’s undue attention. You will remember that after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the Jewish Sanhedrin went so far as to plot the murder of Lazarus in order to cover up the miracle of his resurrection (John 12:10).

However, I think that the primary reason Jesus commanded silence is because of the unbelief of the multitude. Until they believed, no more signs would be given to them.

Here is the point. You have been given truth from God. You now have a decision to make. What are you going to do with that truth? If you merely take it and place it on the shelf to be dusted off each Sunday, then there will come a time when that truth will be taken from you.