|
|
|
|
The Book of Luke, Miracles of Christ – Lesson 110
We are in Luke chapter 8.
Last week we discussed the passage from verses 40 to 56 which concern the events that took place upon the return of our Lord to Capernaum from the opposite shore of the Sea of Galilee.
We began a journey with Jesus Christ and his disciples to the house of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum.
Remember Jairus, the distraught father whose 12 year old daughter lay dying, and in fact died while this entourage was on its way to Jairus’ house.
While on the way an interruption to this journey occurred when a desperate women who had been suffering with a flow of blood for 12 years tried to get a healing from Jesus without being found out.
She, in her weakened condition, had with great effort, gotten though the packed crowd and touched the garment of Christ and was immediately healed.
But her hope for concealment was not to be realized for the Lord Jesus Christ did not wish for her faith to go unnoticed.
Her condition of uncleanness caused her to wish to be anonymous but the Lord would not permit this even if the revealing of her condition caused her embarrassment. There are more important things than not being embarrassed.
A more important thing is a declaration of faith and a public confession of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ made this plain in:
Matthew 10:32, where he said: Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
That word confess means to acknowledge, to give thanks to Jesus Christ before men.
It means to point to Christ as the one who has given you life.
Confessing Jesus Christ before men is the public giving of credit to Jesus Christ.
So he made this healing known, he made the faith of the woman known and gave her opportunity to confess him before men so he could confess her before his Father in heaven.
By this account Jesus Christ is pleased to confess before his Father those who confess him.
That certainly is a much better result than is the fear of embarrassment, is it not.
So Jesus said in Luke 8:45-46, …………Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 46And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
This seems to be a “roll your eyes, glance at each other” in distain moment on the part of Peter and perhaps other disciples as well.
Note that Peter called Jesus “Master” but his questioning of the Master’s question indicated that he was not fully his Master.
It is so easy to call Jesus Christ “Master”, but it is not so easy to live out such a declaration.
This response of Peter in questioning Jesus’ reason indicates a participation of the other disciples in this ridicule and most likely he glanced at the other disciples as he voiced his disbelief.
Isn’t that what we do when we are faithless, we look for others of like unprecious unbelief.
The disciples had just come though two miracles performed by Jesus Christ, the stilling of the storm, the expelling of the demons and yet there is here expressed a kind of condescension on the part of the disciples.
This certainly was not a response based upon faith for the questions of Jesus are not to be questioned as unreasonable but they are to be answered.
Faith says that Jesus Christ asks questions for good reasons and those questions are not to be ridiculed.
But to the disciples this was an incredible question.
It was like asking for the identity of a single drop of water that came with a torrential rain.
In Peter’s mind what difference did it make anyway?
In Peter’s mind there was the daughter of Jairus that needed urgent attention and here was his Master asking such a ridiculous question.
This went back to the idea that Jesus did not care.
The disciples had expressed this on board the boat when Jesus was sleeping and the storm was fierce.
Peter cared but Jesus did not, it seemed.
How often this is expressed about God when in fact it is expressed without faith in God’s provision and care and in God’s good timing.
Yes, Peter, Jesus does indeed care, and he cares more than you care.
Jesus always cares more that I care, more than you care for he cares in the right way.
As the song says:
Oh yes, He cares, I know He
cares,
And so it was here, for Jesus not only cared about Jairus’ daughter but he cared for this poor woman who had suffered so long but God had not chosen to heal her until this time, in order for his son to receive glory.
Jesus had a good reason for any seeming delay and the disciples should have accepted this.
His delay was for the good of the woman who had been healed.
And His delay was also for the good of Jairus and his daughter.
The delay which we find in our text is a divine delay, it is one which resulted from our Lord’s decision and actions.
Apart from our Lord’s stopping and insisting to know who touched Him, the Lord’s arrival to the home of Jairus would not have been delayed at all.
It was not the woman’s actions which slowed Jesus down, but our Lord’s actions.
Thus, she did not create the delay, Jesus did. It was a divine delay.
Divine delays are a blessing because God wishes to bless us in a greater way than that for which we have asked.
Be careful in getting angry at God because He does not do things your way.
Lean His way, for his way will bring greater blessings than leaning your way.
Jesus pressed until the woman confessed that it was she who had touched his garment.
Jesus desired this confession and he brought her to confess Him before men.
He had no intention of letting this healing be a wonder or a misunderstanding as to where it came from. He clearly showed that she was healed because of faith and not of other causes.
Luke 8:48, And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
The doctors had failed this poor woman, for she had spent all upon doctors, but the Lord Jesus Christ never fails.
Jesus identified faith as that which brought the healing.
She believed, as the other gospels record, that if she were to touch Jesus she would be healed and therefore she acted on it.
We know that it was Jesus’ power that healed her for we are clearly told that virtue or healing power had gone out from him.
But the point of view that the Lord Jesus Christ does not wish to be overlooked is the woman’s faith which brought her healing, while the rest of the crowd was not blessed as she was.
No doubt there were other folks in that crowd who needed healing but they were without faith and no healing was given.
So Jesus pressed for her identification because he would not allow the woman’s faith to be anonymous.
Faith in Christ must be publicly professed.
Romans 10:9-11, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Faith is not intended to be a “private” matter, as some seem to think.
I have heard criticism of our President for wearing his faith on his sleeve, whatever that means, but a person who is growing in Christ cannot hide that, for fruit cannot be hidden.
Some people think it is a virtue to not discuss their own spiritual condition, saying that their faith is a very personal thing.
But Faith in Christ is not personal, it is not an island.
Jesus acknowledged that it was the woman’s faith which healed her, but she must also confess her faith before men.
This was so important that our Lord refused to go on without her confession of faith even if this brought her embarrassment. As the woman went her way, a messenger came from the house of Jairus.
The girl had died. All hope, he suggested, was lost.
There was no longer any need to trouble “the Master” further we read in verse 49.
Verse 49, While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.
From these words we can see that the prevailing opinion among this delegation was, WHERE THERE’S LIFE, THERE’S HOPE.
Jesus might have been able to heal a sick child, but they did not view Him as having power over death.
Thus, the death of the child was the death of hope for her healing.
The advice of the messenger was wrong, and Jesus quickly countered it with these words to Jairus: , Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. (Luke 8:50). From Matthew’s account of this event, we learn that even before these words from our Lord, Jairus did not view the death of his daughter as the end of hope for her healing, for Jairus believed that even if she had died Jesus could raise her with His touch: Matthew 9:18, While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. Jesus’ words thus serve to confirm and encourage the faith which Jairus already had shown. As Jesus drew near to the house of Jairus, He left all but three of His closest disciples and all of that large crowd behind.
Among other reasons, only a limited number would have been able to enter the house, not to mention the fact that a crowd had already gathered there who had begun mourning for the child.
Inside the house, the commotion had already commenced.
There was a group of people gathered, all of whom were mourning the death of the daughter of Jairus.
In Mark 5:39, Jesus insisted that the commotion cease.
He further told them that the girl was not dead, but asleep.
Mourning turned to scornful laugher.
They knew that she was dead!
Both Matthew and Mark tell us that these scorners and mourners were put outside before Jesus dealt with the death of the daughter (Matthew 9:23-25; Mark 5:40).
Luke tells us that Jesus took the child by the hand and commanded her to arise (8:54).
Immediately her spirit returned and she arose.
She stood up and walked around. Her parents were both surprised and elated.
Jesus then gave two commands.
The first was that they give the girl something to eat.
One would think that if Jesus could raise this girl from the dead He could also have done so with a full stomach.
And so He could have. I believe that there is a very important principle suggested here:
GOD DOES NOT DO FOR PEOPLE WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR THEMSELVES
I am aware of the expression, often attributed to the Bible, that “God helps those who help themselves.”
In truth, though, God has come in the person of Christ to help those who cannot help themselves.
Jairus could not heal his sick daughter, nor raise her when she died.
Jesus could, and did.
But Jairus and his wife could feed the child, and so Jesus did not do so, miraculously.
Miracles are not performed where normal human effort is sufficient.
Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.
How do you get to have God work in your life.
Get to your limit. Exercise your faith as far as it goes and God is on the end of it.
Jesus Christ preached this principle when he told a certain ruler to: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Get to your extreme, rich young ruler and I’ll be at the end of it.
I came across a word that is not in the dictionary called extremiated. It is a verb that means you are going to your extremity. Well that is where God is. It is a good thing.
This principle should be exercised in your home for it is God’s way of working with his children.
As they get bigger their responsibilities must get bigger.
As they can reach farther you reach less for them, but only reach beyond their grasp.
You’ll be there for them when they do their part, but you do not do their part.
Our Lord’s second command is also of interest, but for a different reason.
He commanded the parents not to tell anyone what had happened (Luke 8:56).
Was Jesus trying to keep this miracle a secret?
How could this possibly be? There were many waiting outside, to see what would happen.
The girl would sooner or later appear alive.
In fact, everyone did learn that she had been raised.
Matthew reports, Matthew 9:26, And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.
Jesus was not trying to prevent the impossible here.
Instead, He was sternly insisting that those who had scoffed would be deprived not only of witnessing this miracle, but also of hearing a first-hand testimony of what had happened.
Think of the frustration and irritation of those who had laughed at Jesus, who upon seeing the girl alive, could not hear from the parents what had happened inside.
“Tell us what happened,” they must have inquired.
Only to be told, “I’m sorry, Jesus told us very emphatically not to tell you.”
Those who disbelieve not only fail to receive God’s blessings, they are not even able to witness them. |