Daughter of Jairus

Mark 5:22-23; 35-43

Jairus was a ruler of the synagogue, a teacher in Israel, whose duty was to lead the people in
their worship and religious life, teach the children, and admonish the adults. He was the local
pastor. His name means "enlightened." He took his duty seriously, for when he came to know
about Jesus there in Capernaum, he did not dismiss Him or oppose Him the way many Jewish
leaders did, but he listened and learned. He became convinced that Jesus is the promised
Messiah, and he believed in Him.

One day his daughter, his only child, took sick and lay dying. It breaks a parent's heart to see
such a thing. A parent cannot rest, but is anxious and troubled until that child is better. How
much we would like to help such a child, to kiss it and make it better, to do something,
anything, to relieve its pain and suffering, to make him whole and healthy again! It makes you
feel utterly helpless. Wouldn't you suppose there is a reason for that? Wouldn't you suppose
God thereby wants to teach us that we are indeed helpless and that He is our only Helper?
that He wants us to call upon Him in faith and in prayer? Most certainly.

He also wants us to realize why it is that we get sick to begin with. It is because we are sinners.
If we were without sin, we would never get sick, never have accidents, never hurt, never have
any reason for anxiety. It is often said that it is the will of God when something bad happens to
us, and it is indeed. We should accept God's will and not question it nor resent God for (excuse
the expression) treating us so badly God is not whimsical or nasty. When He allows bad things
to befall us, it is not because He decided, "I think I'll give this one cancer today, and tear that
one up in an accident, and blind this one and cripple that one, and make that one writhe in
pain now." God is nothing like that. When He sends suffering He does it to draw us to Himself.
He would teach us that our life and welfare depend on His grace and mercy, and that
everything good comes to us through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. He wants us to enjoy
health and good days, but He wants us to receive them with thanks and above all with
gratitude to Jesus Christ for our redemption from sin. We are sick, in one sense, because we
deserve to be; we hurt because we deserve to hurt, for we are sinners. But He wants us to
realize that we are sinners and need the grace He so abundantly supplies. Some might object
here: but what about a helpless little baby, who hasn't done any harm and doesn't understand
such profound thoughts? Why does God make them suffer? There are two answers to that
question: 1. It is not always for the child's sake. but for the parents sake that the child suffers,
so the parents might remember their sin, repent, and pray, and 2. the child is a sinner, too. The
Bible says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." So
parents should commit their child to God with faith in Christ, see that the child receives the
washing of regeneration, love God more than their child, and pray fervently for God's mercy
and grace, not only that the child might be healed in body, but be whole and healthy in his soul
and live and die in God's good time as a true Christian and have eternal life in heaven. It is not
enough that the child have a good and healthy life if he then lose his soul through unbelief and
ungodliness. It is enough if the child have eternal life, even if he must die young or live in
poverty or pain. Life is short, but eternity is a long time. So Jesus says, "If thy right hand offend
thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members
should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."

Our text is about a little girl who died and about Jesus. From this story we can learn that

1. Death is but a sleep. Jairus came straight to Jesus when his little, twelve-year-old daughter
lay dying. He asked Jesus to come lay His hands on her so she might live. Jesus immediately
went with him. On the way. though, a woman with a hemorrhage of long standing. which no
physicians had been able to cure, pushed through the crowd and touched Jesus' garment with
great faith in Him. When she did, she was cured suddenly and completely. He encouraged her
faith, and assured her that she was healed for good. Before He could finish His sentence,
someone came from the ruler's house and said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the
Master any further? It's too late. No one can heal her any more. She is gone. Just come home
and let Jesus go about. His business. Jairus might have done just that, but Jesus went on to his
house and telling thethe crowd not to follow.

Jesus came to the house where the little girl lay. He saw the tumult and them that wept and
wailed greatly. If you watch the news you sometimes see reports of tragic deaths in Israel,
Jews and Arabs alike, as well as in other countries, and you see women sobbing, shrieking,
beating their breasts, and wailing Jews in ancient times often hired professional mourners to
swell their lament, and musicians to play dirges, they wanted everyone to know how much
they hurt

When Jesus saw this He said. Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but
sleepeth. Why did He say such a thing? It was obvious to everyone that she was dead, she was
not just asleep. She was not breathing or moving. Her color was gone. Her body began to turn
cold. Even though death is still death, Jesus spoke truly. Death is but a sleep. It is a temporary
condition. When a person sleeps, he rests. He rests from his work and from all the miseries of
life. The dead also rest in their graves. Isa says, "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it
to heart; and merciful men are taken away, nоле considering that the righteous is taken away
from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one walking
in his uprightness.

When you sleep, you not only rest but also refresh your body and renew your powers. On the
last day our body will rise from death no longer weary or in pain, but refreshed and whole.
When you sleep it is your body that sleeps, but not your soul or your mind. You still dream, for
instance. So in death, while your body rests in the grave, your spirit returns to God who gave it,
where you rest in His hand and with Christ in Paradise, not asleep, but quite wide awake. The
Bible says in Ps 17, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when
I awake, with thy righteousness." Death is the same as sleep also in this respect, that when you
sleep you do not care what goes on around you, whether people are laughing or crying, eating,
dancing, fighting, whether it is day or night, good weather or bad, or even whether war is
raging about you or not. So also when you die, you are not concerned with anything in the
world. Solomon says, "The dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward.
Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a
portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun. Also, when you go to sleep you do not
notice when it comes, and when you die you do not notice when you will draw your last
breath. Very often the people around you cannot even tell whether you are dead or alive. Both
sleep and death come upon you unannounced. Solomon writes that "man also knoweth not his
time as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so
are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them." Finally, sleep
and death are alike in that a sleeping person can be awakened by calling his name or shaking
him. On the Last Day we will wake up when the Son of man, accompanied by angels and the
blast of a trumpet, calls us by name and takes us by the hand. That is what He did with this
young girl. He took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha, cumi; which is being
interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee arise.

II. Christ is the cure for death. When Jesus said, The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth, it says
they laughed him to scorn. They laughed at Him the way the Philistines laughed at Samson in
the house of Dagon, as the Babylonians laughed at the kings who resisted them, as the young
good-for-nothings laughed at Job, and as the people of Ephraim and Manasseh made fun of
King Hezekiah's messengers who invited them to keep Passover in Jerusalem.

People are still laughing. They laugh at the idea of the Resurrection, at the idea of heaven and
especially of hell, at the idea of repentance, at churches and pastors who preach the Law and
the Gospel, at Christians, at the lowliness and helplessness of Christians; and they laugh at God
and Christ and the Holy Ghost. Many of those who laugh are not outside, but inside the
churches. Just mention that abortion is killing, that Christians should be fruitful and multiply,
that engagement is tantamount to marriage, that fornication and homosexuality are sin, and
they laugh you to scorn. Just say that faith in Christ is necessary for salvation for both Jews and
Gentiles, that Christ made atonement for all sins, that babies must be baptized, that the
congregation is a divine institution, that the Bible is without error, that God created the world
in six days, and they laugh you to scorn.

But God will have the last laugh. Psa 52 says, "for the righteous shall see, and fear, and shall
laugh at" the mighty wicked. Ps 2, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall
have them in derision." Psa 59, "But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them, thou shalt have all the
heathen in derision." And in Prov 1 God says: "I will also laugh at your calamity, I will mock
when your fear cometh." God and all who trust in Him will have the last laugh on Judgment
Day, when all men will rise from their graves, some to the resurrection of life and some to the
resurrection of damnation. Jesus said, "Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled.
Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall lough." Then we will say with Ps 126, When the
LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth
filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD
hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are
glad." Like the young girl who rose up and ate when Jesus spoke to her, we shall rise up and
join in the feast of salvation when He calls us. Meanwhile

III. We should believe in Him. When the messenger. came and told the ruler of the synagogue
that his daughter was dead, Jesus turned to him and said, Be not afraid; only believe. He did
not say what He would do, only that the man should trust in Him and put all things into His
hands. So we also should put ourselves, our loved ones, our possessions, and our eternal
destiny into His hands. No matter what is wrong or how bad things are, we are safe in His
hands. It is hard to believe that when your senses and your experience tell you otherwise, and
when you realize that you are a sinner and you have offended God. Many people are quite
willing to trust God to be good. but they have no reason why He should be good to them. It is
not enough to say it is God's business to forgive, or God's nature to be good. For then you
overlook God's righteousness and justice. It is not just or right for God to be good to sinners; it
is contrary to His just nature. If God is to be good to you, you must deserve His goodness; you
must be without sin. Jesus Christ made us to be without sin before Him. God "hath made him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
What a blessed exchange that is! We give Him our sin. and He gives us His righteousness. The
prophet calls Him "the Lord, our righteousness. "That is why we can count on God to forgive
our sins and be good to us. It is not because of works of righteousness we have done. not
because we are inherently worthy of it, but because our Lord Jesus Christ has done all our
works for us. "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. "Be not afraid; only
believe, and you will see that God has good things for you that you cannot even imagine.
Amen