Luke 8:40 - 56
40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians,[f] she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter[g] said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” 50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” 51 And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. 52 And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. v40 - Why were the people waiting for Jesus?
2. v41 - Were the rulers of the synagogue normally friendly to Jesus?
3. v45 - Why did Jesus make a big deal about being touched?
4. v51 - Why didn't Jesus allow anyone (else) in?
5. v52 - Why did Jesus tell the people that the girl was sleeping?
6. v55 - Where did the girl's spirit return from? What is a spirit?
7. v56 - Why did Jesus charge them with keeping quiet about the incident?
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2018/05/mark-521-43-21-when-jesus-had-again.html says:
ReplyDeleteBecause this woman's condition was embarrassing, and because she was ceremonially unclean and would be condemned for touching Jesus or even being in a pressing crowd, she wanted to do this secretly.
Yet even though her faith had elements of error and superstition, she believed in the healing power of Jesus and His garment served as a point of contact for that faith. There are many things that we could find wrong with this woman's faith. Yet her faith was in Jesus; and the object of faith is much more important than the quality or even quantity of faith.
Jesus insisted on making public notice of her, and He did this for good reasons.
· He did it so she would know that she was healed, having heard an official declaration of it from Jesus.
· He did it so others would know she was healed, because her ailment was private in nature.
· He did it so she would know why she was healed, that it was by her faith and not because of a superstitious touch in and of itself.
· He did it so that she would not think she had stolen a blessing from Jesus, and so she would never feel that she needed to hide from Him.
· He did it so that the ruler of the synagogue would see the power of Jesus at work and therefore have more faith himself for his ill daughter.
· He did it so that He could bless her in a special way, giving her an honored title that we never see Jesus give to any other: daughter.
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My two cents on faith and healing:
There are certain topics that really brings the kooks out of the woodwork. Faith and healing is one of them.
In this story, Jesus was the source of healing. The woman had enough faith to push her way through a crowd in her unclean state to just touch the hem (tassel) of Jesus' robe. The Holy Spirit responded to her audaciousness to give her her desire.
We as parent sometimes react this way. When our kids do something so out of the ordinary and good, we take such delight in them. We shower them with praise and sometimes reward them. We may say something like, "You did so good, you have brought this (ice cream cone) on yourself!" And in fact, they did do something so good that we couldn't help but respond to them - because we love them.
God loves us, and loves seeing faith in us. Having faith in this world really delights God. But His response is His power at work in our lives. It's never automatic and always involved a conscience response from God.
But you might say, "But this healing wasn't a conscience response from Jesus." This gets into the question of the nature of Jesus while He was here on earth. There are some who believe that Jesus was omniscient, omnipotent, etc, while He was here on earth.
I believe that Jesus, on His own was a lot like us (except He was sinless, which does make a big difference). Jesus had access to God/the Holy Spirit who came upon Him at His baptism. The Holy Spirit acted through Jesus to heal people (and do other miracles) in much the same way the Holy Spirit acted through the apostles to do these things.
So, in my opinion, God / the Holy Spirit acted through Jesus to heal the woman, Jesus felt something happen and wondered what it was. That's why He was asking around.
The point of this is that miracles are is a response of God to seeing faith in us (among other things). We need to keep in mind that faith does not have any power within itself to do anything. Faith does not unlock hidden power within ourselves. And, I had to explain the Holy Spirit's role (since some may conclude that Jesus didn't have anything to do with it since He didn't even know about it) in the miracle or people would come to the wrong conclusion.
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2018/05/mark-521-43-21-when-jesus-had-again.html continued:
ReplyDeletePeople often treat faith and prayer like some Harry Potteresque charm to cause something to float in the air. No, faith and prayer are communications with God who is the actual causer of the events.
I understand that language can't always be taken quite so literally (even Jesus seems to use it as he says your faith has healed you) but misunderstanding this can push us to some very bad theology.
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I used to have almost the opposite view, in that faith accomplished nothing at all (except that it believed in what God wanted to do anyway).
A long time ago going through Matthew. When I got to the first examples of Jesus saying to someone something like, "Your faith has healed you," I remember thinking it was an anomaly. At the time, I thought that it was all God, and God decided when to heal someone or not (and that it was all for His glory). But when I kept reading example after example in Matthew of Jesus talking about what faith does, I had to back off my position.
I hope my current position on faith comes closer to reflecting reality. My position is that God takes such delight when we have faith in Him that He will move things as a result of it. I might go so far as to say that our faith is a driver of God's ultimate plan. While I used to view God's plan as something solid and immovable that He made before the beginning of time, I now have the view that our faith is something that is woven into God's plan. So am I saying that God's plan is fluid and depends on us? Yes and no. God's plan is solid and our faith-actions were predetermined, and went into His plan from the beginning.
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Why does Jesus say that she is "but sleeping"?
Christ says the same of His dead friend, Lazarus, in John 11:11. Death as sleep is a euphemism common to many nations. It intimates that, even more sure than morning comes to a sleeper in bed, an everlasting morning will be provided for the righteous dead waiting in the grave for the resurrection. Jesus views death as a temporary sleep because His Father has the power to resurrect anyone from death. God can resurrect whom He wants when He wants, but He has an organized plan, purpose, and schedule for resurrections (I Corinthians 15:20-24; Revelation 20:5-6).
3. Why does Christ exclude the mourners from observing Him heal the girl?
Comment: Not wanting to cast His pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6) or to make a spectacle in front of unbelievers (Matthew 13:58), Jesus expels all but the girl's parents. By clearing the room of an excessively noisy, grieving crowd, He brings privacy, peace, quiet, and stillness to the situation.
In addition, these neighbors and curiosity seekers had already seen His mighty works, and He does not want God's gift to be considered entertainment. He never meant His miracles to coerce belief or amaze humanity. Nevertheless, He is quick to intervene when misery and suffering need to be relieved and people need to be exposed to God's glory.
4. Why does Jesus command the girl's parents to feed her when she has just been healed?
Comment: His attention to such detail reveals His characteristic kindness and sympathy. That He orders nourishment suggests that her body was still weak and needed to be strengthened, showing that she was resurrected to physical existence.
Christ finishes by requesting that the parents "tell no one what had happened" (Mark 5:43; Luke 8:56), partly to save the little girl from rude gawkers, but most probably so that fame would not hinder her future spiritual life. The world scorns the reality of resurrection because sin separates them from God.
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2018/05/mark-521-43-21-when-jesus-had-again.html continued:
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents:
The first two questions were:
1. What does it mean that power had gone out of Jesus? Is that true also of us (if we do something miraculous)?
2. How did Jesus realize that power went out from Him?
The real question is, when Jesus was here on earth, what was the nature of His nature? The previous articles make an assumption that Jesus (on earth) had all the characteristic power of God. They assume that Jesus did His miracles entirely of His own choice and His own power.
I am not sure that is true. In a number of verses, Jesus seems to admit to lack of omniscience; and in other verses, says things like God is greater than Himself.
So, I see two possibilities here:
A. Jesus on earth was as some people claim. He had the full attributes that He has as ascended Jesus - omniscience, omnipresence.
B. Jesus was in identity and nature God. But, when He came to earth, He left some or all of His power behind, being an example to us on how to walk in the Holy Spirit and depend on God.
When I read the New Testament, I think that hypothesis B is much more likely. There's just too many verses claiming that Jesus (on earth) isn't all-knowing or all-powerful. Furthermore, it seems that Jesus would be ingenious when "pretending" to not know things.
So, if I am correct, and option B was the reality, Jesus didn't do any of these miracles in Himself, but did them in and through the power of the Holy Spirit - in exactly the same way the Apostles (and other Christ followers) did them.
This gives a little different spin on this passage and others like them. Jesus, being in tune with the Holy Spirit, realized that the Holy Spirit had just worked and really did want to find out what happened - because Jesus genuinely didn't know. The power at work in Jesus was the power of the Holy Spirit, who had partnered with Him.
You may ask the question, "But Jesus knew all kinds of things miraculously!" To that I would answer that it's because Jesus walked with the Holy Spirit that He got a lot of information from the Holy Spirit - as the Holy Spirit willed.
I also assume that Jesus, being perfect and Holy, also got whatever He asked for. You may argue that this makes Jesus effectively all-powerful. Yes and no. There is a distinction in being all-powerful in yourself alone and relying on someone else for your power.
This line of speculation might be disturbing to some. It may seem as if this reduces Jesus on earth as less than God. I don't think I agree with that. I think that Jesus on earth can be God in identity, and not have all the abilities of God.
Some others explain this by inserting a dualist nature theory. Jesus (and we) have two natures: A spiritual nature and physical nature. They would say that Jesus' spiritual nature had all the power of God (and was God), but His physical nature was more like ours.
Personally, I don't have a problem with Jesus on earth being fully God in identity, but lacking the power and knowledge of God. This would have been by His own choice - the price He paid to become man on earth.
I do want to mention that once Jesus rose from the dead, (if my theory is correct), He immediately regained all the power that He didn't have while He was on earth. He didn't change His identity when He rose, but just picked up His set-aside power.
The thing I like about hypothesis B is that it makes Jesus our example. We need to partner with the Holy Spirit like Jesus did. If the Holy Spirit wills, He can work through us in power just like He did with Jesus. Otherwise, with hypothesis A, we can't use Jesus as an example of how we should be living, because He was God with all His powers and we are not (so our thinking would tend to go).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-8-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteFor a local representative of the very leaders who hated Him to fall at Jesus’ feet, and… implore Him to come to his house was a stunning development.
Mark 5:22+ says Jairus was "One of the synagogue officials (archisunagogos)," implying there were others (there were often from 3-7). While we do not know for certain it is very possible that Jairus was at the synagogue when Jesus cast out a demon (Mk 1:21-28+) and thus would have had first hand knowledge of Jesus supernatural power! In any event, Jairus knew Jesus was the Man he needed to contact regarding his gravely ill daughter!
Hendriksen on the "interruption" by a woman - Again and again during his earthly ministry Jesus was interrupted. The fact that none of these intrusions floor him (not for a moment is he at a loss as to what to do or what to say), shows that we are dealing here with the Son of man who is also the Son of God! What we would call an "interruption" is for him a springboard or take-off point for the utterance of a great saying or, as here, for the performance of a marvelous deed, revealing his power, wisdom, and love. What for us would have been a painful exigency is to him a golden opportunity.
Steven Cole on the gravity of this woman's hemorrhage - According to the Law of Moses (Lev 15:19-31), she was perpetually ceremonially unclean. Whoever touched her was unclean, so that even her own family had to keep their distance unless they wanted to be defiled. Whatever she lied or sat on became unclean, so that whoever touched those objects also became unclean. If her husband had relations with her, he became unclean for a week. For a woman especially, relationships with her family and friends are the very stuff of life. In that culture, all of life revolved around the various religious feasts and celebrations at the temple, not to mention the weekly synagogue meetings. This poor woman was an outcast, cut off from her family, friends, and culture....When Mark 5:26 reports that she had endured much at the hands of many physicians, he wasn’t kidding. This woman’s ceremonial defilement is a graphic picture of how sin defiles us all. It creates distance between us and God, as well as distance from our family and friends. Often, like her problem, our sin is an embarrassing sort of thing. We’d rather not discuss it or have anyone know about it.
For twelve years - And Jairus' daughter was 12. Jairus enjoyed 12 years of delight, while this nameless woman suffered 12 years of despair.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-8-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteDavid Guzik - This woman hoped to receive something from Jesus without drawing any attention to herself or her embarrassing problem. Jesus insisted on making public notice of her, and He did this for good reasons.
• He did it so she would know that she was healed, having heard an official declaration of it from Jesus.
• He did it so others would know she was healed, because her ailment was private in nature.
• He did it so she would know why she was healed, that it was by her faith and not because of a superstitious touch in and of itself.
• He did it so that she would not think she had stolen a blessing from Jesus, and so she would never feel that she needed to hide from Him.
• He did it so that the ruler of the synagogue would see the power of Jesus at work and therefore have more faith himself for his ill daughter.
• He did it so that He could bless her in a special way, giving her an honored title that we never see Jesus give to any other: daughter.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-8-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteSteven Cole has an excursus on faith based on the faith of this woman - We must lay hold of Jesus by faith.
By looking at this woman’s experience we learn five things about what it means to lay hold of Jesus by faith:
A. Faith is active, not passive. - For 12 years, this woman had aggressively sought a cure for her illness. She was actively doing all she could to find a remedy and she would not quit until she obtained the cure she was after. She was not put off by the large crowd that kept her from getting near to Jesus. She was not bothered by the fact that she would make everyone she touched unclean. She elbowed her way through. She didn’t worry about the fact that Jairus’ daughter was dying and that Jesus was hurrying to a life or death mission. She persisted with her goal.
B. Faith works best when human solutions fail. - The best thing that happened to this woman was when she ran out of money without being cured. Then her only hope was to come to the One who heals without money or cost. As long as there are human remedies, we will try them. If we think that our good works can cleanse us, we’ll keep on working. But when we realize that Jesus is the only way we can be cleansed, we will be driven to rely on Him alone. Like Peter when he began to sink beneath the waves, we will cry, “Save me, Lord, or I perish!” The Lord delights to respond to such a cry of faith.
C. Faith accepts the simplicity of the gospel. - This woman had tried some difficult, bitter and expensive remedies. But this was easy and free! Many think that the more bitter the pill, the better the remedy. They stumble over the gospel because it is too simple, too free. Tell people that to be right with God they must crawl on their knees over broken glass, or repeat prayers every day until they die, or add their merits and good deeds to what Christ has done, and they will do it. But tell them, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved,” and they say, “No, that’s too simple.” The problem is, faith in Jesus Christ is an affront to their pride. There’s no human glory in such a simple remedy. We want to do something difficult to earn salvation.
D. Faith need not be perfect to be effective. - This woman’s faith was probably tinged with a bit of superstition. She thought that there was some magic power conveyed by touching Jesus’ garments. Her faith was self-centered. She came to Him only for the cure she wanted, and she would have been content to go away with nothing more. Her faith was quite ignorant. How much faith does it take to be cleansed from your sins? Thankfully, not much! Salvation depends on the strength of the Savior more than on the strength of our faith. When Jesus told her that her faith had saved her, He meant to clarify that it was not magic or superstition, but rather faith that was the means of God’s blessings coming to her through Christ. Faith is merely the channel, weak though it is, through which God works. But it is Christ, the object of our faith, not our faith itself, which cleanses us.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-8-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteE. Faith must be confessed. - It’s interesting that with Jairus and his wife, Jesus told them not to tell anyone about His raising their daughter from the dead, although it could scarcely be concealed. But with this woman who would rather hide her embarrassing condition, Jesus singles her out in front of the crowd and makes her confess what had happened. I believe Jesus asked Jairus and his wife to conceal what had happened because He didn’t want to pander to the shallow miracle-seekers. But He made this woman confess her faith and healing for several reasons. As I mentioned, He did it for her sake. He wanted her to realize that it was faith in Him, not magic, that had cured her. He wanted her to be brought into personal communion with Him. He wanted her friends to know that she had been healed, so that she would be accepted back into the social and religious circles. And, He wanted her confession to bolster the sagging faith of Jairus, whose 12-year-old daughter was near death.
Conclusion - Like this woman with the hemorrhage, we all have been defiled by sin. We must be cleansed or we can never spend eternity in the presence of a holy God. Only Jesus can cleanse us through His death on the cross. We must lay hold of Him by faith as she did that day. Don’t be put off by those around you. Many in the crowd touched Jesus that day and weren’t healed, but this woman didn’t let that stop her. Don’t fear that your weak faith is not enough. Jesus will accept it and work to strengthen it. Don’t think about anything except that your sin has defiled you and that you desperately need what only Jesus offers, complete cleansing from your sin. Fear only that He will pass by this morning on His way to healing others and you will not touch Him and be saved. Weak faith is enough to lay hold of His mercy, but indifference or hesitation can result in the ruin of your soul. If you lay hold of Jesus by faith, you will hear His assuring words, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-8-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteBrian Bell HER DELIVERANCE
WHEN JESUS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE? (45)
All this time Jairus was waiting! He had to be experiencing impatience!
But Jesus was delaying, while the child was dying.
Who touched me? – “who cares”, “my daughter is dying, remember?”
Is this a multi-tasking issue? – A priority issue? – I was here 1st!
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HOPE TURNS TO HOPELESSNESS
"YOUR DAUGHTER HAS DIED!"
Your daughter has died do not trouble the Teacher anymore - This is tantamount to saying Jesus cannot do anything with a person who has died. Jairus' hope was demolished.
Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Mark 5:36
On the way to heal Jairus’s desperately ill daughter (someone definitely needing immediate medical care), Jesus did the unthinkable: He paused (Mark 5:30). He stopped to identify who touched Him, and then spoke gently with the woman. You can imagine what Jairus was thinking: There’s no time for this, my daughter is dying! And then, his worst fears came true—Jesus appeared to have delayed too long and his daughter passed away (v. 35).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-8-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteWhen He came to the house - Matthew adds a detail regarding the noisy state of affairs at the house - "When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder.
France writes “Professional mourners were hired even by the poorest families (Mishnah Ketuboth 4:4 specifies ‘not less than two flutes and one wailing woman’).”
Why tell no one about this miracle of resurrection from the dead? There are 3 possible reasons: (1) The resulting crowds of curiosity seekers might hinder His ministry (cf. Mark 1:40-45+) (2) The Jewish crowds might seek to try to make Him king by force (John 6:14-15+), or (3) Sometimes it was an act of judgment to hide the truth from those who continued to reject Him (Luke 9:21+).
The real reason is given in Mark 8:30-31: “And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” He did not want to be known as a healer or miracle worker—or even only as the Christ—those were true but incomplete. When He is proclaimed, it must be as the crucified and risen Savior. There is no gospel of Jesus Christ without the cross in all its meaning and the resurrection with all that it accomplished. Paul summed it up when he said he would only preach “Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2) and proclaimed that salvation is for those who believe that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9-10).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-8-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteSteven Cole on Luke 8:49-56 -
There were at least three benefits to Jairus that apply to us:
A. Fearful situations help us clarify our priorities.
B. Fearful situations strip away our pride and let the Lord prove Himself mighty on our behalf.
C. Fearful situations remind us of our mortality and drive us to trust in Christ.
2. In fearful situations we must overcome hindrances to faith.
When Jairus came to Jesus, he believed that Jesus could heal his daughter. But there were several hindrances or hurdles that Jairus had to overcome. I’ve already mentioned the hindrance of public opinion. What would the rabbis and others think of this synagogue ruler bowing before Jesus? There was also the hindrance of his own pride and reputation, which he would have felt the need to protect.
He also had to overcome the hindrance of interruptions, as this woman interrupted Jesus on His way to Jairus’ house.
That’s another hindrance to faith: Well-meaning, but misguided doomsayers who discourage us from clinging to the only source of hope. What they say may be true—Jairus’ daughter was dead. But they never add the mighty power of Jesus into their calculations. With Him there is hope even when human hope is lost!
Jairus was faced with another hindrance to his faith: Did he believe Jesus or these mockers who had the facts on their side?
Jesus’ words have led some to say that the girl wasn’t really dead, but just in a coma. But Luke makes it clear that the girl was dead (Lu 8:53, Lu 8:55, “her spirit returned”). Why, then, did Jesus say that she was asleep? His words were a parable with one meaning for those who believed in Him and another meaning for those who scoffed. For those who believed, there was the hope that she would be awakened. In Jesus’ presence, death was only temporary, like sleep. But for those who scoffed, Jesus was a simpleton who didn’t know what He was talking about. He didn’t know as much as they did. They were confirmed in their unbelief. Jesus put them out and later gave strict orders to Jairus and his wife not to make known how He had raised their daughter back to life. To those who had, more was given; to those who did not have, even what little they had was taken away.
3. In fearful situations we must put our trust in Jesus.
I love the way that Jesus encouraged and nurtured Jairus’ weak faith in this crisis. He does the same with us today. Note these four ways Jesus encourages us to trust Him in fearful times:
A. Jesus’ willingness to accept us where we’re at encourages us to trust Him.
B. Jesus’ power in working with others encourages us to trust Him.
Jesus started to go with Jairus, but then got interrupted by this woman with the hemorrhage. This was a hindrance to Jairus’ faith, in that while Jesus was dealing with her, word came that Jairus’ daughter had died. But it also served to strengthen his faith, as he saw Jesus’ power heal this needy woman. She had been 12 years in her affliction, the same number of years that Jairus’ daughter had lived. When Jesus called the woman “daughter,” He may have said it partially for Jairus’ benefit.
Jairus was put on hold while Jesus answered the call of this woman. Sometimes God puts us on hold. Our prayers don’t seem to be getting through. When that happens, it’s easy to think, “What’s going on? Why isn’t God answering my prayers?” But then we hear of how He has answered someone else’s prayers, and we’re encouraged. He can do for me what He did for that person!
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-8-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteC. Jesus’ tenderness encourages us to trust Him.
When word came that his daughter had died, Jairus’ face must have reflected fear and panic. But Jesus quickly and tenderly calmed him: “Don’t be afraid; just trust Me” (Lu 8:50, Living Bible).
Notice how tenderly Jesus dealt with the little girl. He took the dead girl’s hand, a defiling act for a Jew. But Jesus could not be defiled by death. His touch communicated that He cared for her. Then He spoke tenderly to her, “Child, arise.” Then Jesus told the exuberant parents to give her something to eat! In all of the excitement, that practical matter could easily be overlooked. Jesus tenderly cares for the whole person.
D. Jesus’ mighty power over death encourages us to trust Him.
He merely spoke the word and the dead girl came to life. Each time Jesus raised the dead, He did it by speaking: To the widow of Nain’s son, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” (Lu 7:14). To Lazarus, “Lazarus, come forth!” (Jn 11:43). Jesus said, “An hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear [My] voice and shall come forth,” some to eternal life, others to judgment (Jn 5:28). What a claim! On that coming day, His voice will cause bodies decomposed for centuries to be resurrected! Even now He speaks to those who are spiritually dead and imparts new life to them by His grace (Jn 5:25-26)!
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. v40 - Why were the people waiting for Jesus?
I don't know how the people knew that Jesus was going to be there. I can only speculate that He or one of the disciples told them when He would be back. As to why the people were waiting for Jesus - Jesus had become a huge celebrity by this point. He was doing amazing things, things that one just had to see.
2. v41 - Were the rulers of the synagogue normally friendly to Jesus?
They usually were not, but we don't know if this was the case with Jairus. It's kind of fun to think that Jairus wanted to kill Jesus one day and as soon as something goes terribly wrong, desperately sucks up to Jesus. That would certainly be consistent with human nature.
3. v45 - Why did Jesus make a big deal about being touched?
He was aware that someone was healed and wanted a few things to happen: a. Mostly He wanted God to receive glory. b. He wanted the woman to give glory to God. c. He wanted the woman to have correct theology about the healing. d. He wanted others to recognize that the woman was clean now (which was a huge thing in that society).
4. v51 - Why didn't Jesus allow anyone (else) in?
I think it was mostly in deference to the family (and the girl herself). He didn't want a bunch of nosy people gawking at the girl. In addition, the onlookers were scoffers. Scoffers never have a place in Jesus' business - a good warning to those of us who can tend to scoff.
5. v52 - Why did Jesus tell the people that the girl was sleeping?
I think He was trying to get through to the scoffers. For Jesus, death is only sleep. He has that much power over death.
6. v55 - Where did the girl's spirit return from? What is a spirit?
There is a lot of speculation about what happens to a person after they die (and there is not enough speculation because too many people think they know the answer). For a very long article exploring this, see http://soulguardian.info/bible/Bible%20Study/JesusDeathVerses.txt.
7. v56 - Why did Jesus charge them with keeping quiet about the incident?
To avoid the whole circus atmosphere. Jesus was not interested in turning scoffers into knee jerk reactionaries that want to make Him the new king. Jesus had a very specific message He wanted us to hear. All the miracles were to point the way to that message. If people didn't don't want to hear the message then the miracles aren't for them.