T. The daughter of Jairus (8:40–56)
T. The daughter of Jairus (8:40–56)
All three Synoptists have the healing of the woman with the haemorrhage in the middle of the Jairus story. The two form a powerful illustration of the way Jesus healed and even exercised authority over death.
1. The request for healing (8:40–42a)
When Jesus returned he found a welcome from a waiting crowd (a marked contrast from the attitude of the Gerasenes, V. 37). Among them was a man named Jairus (the Old Testament Jair, Num. 32:41). He was a ruler of the synagogue, i.e. the official who was responsible for the arrangements at the synagogue services. He would select, for example, those who would lead in prayer, read the Scripture and preach. He was thus a man of eminence in the community. Jairus prostrated himself before Jesus and besought him to come to his house. He had an only daughter (we owe to Luke the information that she was an only child), about twelve years of age, who was dying. Luke does not mention any specific request, but a plea for healing is clearly implicit in Jairus’s words. Mark says that he asked Jesus to lay hands on her for healing. But the real problem lies with Matthew, who gives Jairus’s words as ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live’. This is probably to be explained, not as contradicting Mark and Luke, but as arising from the very abbreviated character of Matthew’s account. The other two speak first of Jairus as coming to Jesus and telling him that his daughter was at the point of death. Later there came a messenger with word that the girl had died. Matthew shortens the story by running both into one.
2. The woman with the haemorrhage (8:42b–48)
Now comes an interruption which must have been very frustrating to Jairus, though none of the accounts records one word of complaint.
42b–44. In the narrow streets of an ancient city it was inevitable that a crowd meant a crush. Luke says that the people pressed round Jesus, where his verb is that used of the thorns crushing out the wheat in the parable (8:14). It must have been quite a press. Included among the people was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years. The malady itself must have been distressing and it had social consequences as well as physical. Because this complaint made her ceremonially unclean (Lev. 15:25ff.), the sufferer was not permitted to take any part in temple worship or the like. Her uncleanness was readily communicable to other people (a touch was all that was needed, Lev. 15:27). She would accordingly have been avoided lest others contract from her an uncleanness which, though temporary, was troublesome. Life must have been very difficult. It was probably the nature of her malady that caused her to make the furtive approach she did. Had she come openly, in the first instance people might not have allowed her to get close to Jesus (in the crowd it was easier), and in the second, she would have had to tell in front of all the people something of the illness for which she wanted a cure. In her embarrassment she preferred the secret touch. Luke does not tell us, as Mark does, that she had suffered many things at the hands of many physicians, nor that, though she had spent all her money, she was no better but rather worse. This is perhaps natural if he was a medical man. He omits also the information that the reason she came behind Jesus in the crowd was that she thought that if she could only touch him she would be cured. Luke concentrates on the healing. The woman touched the fringe of his garment, i.e. the tassel on the end of the square garment that was thrown over the left shoulder and hung down the back (Num. 15:38ff.). We should not think of the lower hem, as this could not be reached in the circumstances. Immediately she touched this tassel her flow of blood ceased.
45. Jesus asked, Who was it that touched me? This must have seemed a curious question to anyone in the jostling throng and everyone denied responsibility. Some must have pushed against Jesus, but they had not tried to touch him and each would thus feel that he was not the one Jesus meant. Typically it was Peter who took it upon himself to point out that crowds of people were all round Jesus and pressing on him. The implication is clear: so many had touched Jesus that the question became meaningless.
46. But Jesus persisted. He explained, I perceive that power has gone forth from me (cf. 6:19). There is mystery here. Could power go out of Jesus at any touch? Could power go forth in such a way that he was quite unaware of who received it and what the power was for? This seems unlikely. It is easier to hold that Jesus knew quite well what had happened and this seems to be the meaning of the later words ‘the woman saw that she was not hidden’ (47). He wanted to bring the woman out into the open. More than one reason is apparent. It was good for her, indeed it was necessary for her that her cure be widely known. All her acquaintances must have been aware of her permanent state of ceremonial uncleanness. If she was to be received back into normal religious and social intercourse, it was necessary that her cure become a matter of public knowledge. So Jesus took steps to see that people knew what had happened. It is probable also that he wanted to do something else for the woman. It is difficult to deny that there was an element of superstition in her idea that a touch of Jesus’ tassel would bring healing. A conversation with her enabled Jesus both to show her that it was her faith that counted and to establish a personal relationship. The words also seem to indicate that he did not heal without some cost to himself. Power went out from him.
47. The woman perceived that she was not hidden. She had thought that she could touch Jesus, be cured, and slip away unnoticed. Indeed she may already have started, for she came. She saw that Jesus knew and there was nothing for it but to come forward. But she did so trembling in her nervousness. Had she done wrong in touching Jesus? Would her cure be taken away? What would all the people think? It must have been a bad moment for her. But Jesus waited, so she came forward and prostrated herself. She told in the presence of all the people what she had done, why she had done it, and how she had been healed. This was a complete disclosure. Everyone now knew of her cure.
48. Jesus addressed her tenderly as Daughter, the only woman he is recorded as having addressed in this way. He went on to point out that it had been her faith that had saved her and he told her to go in peace. With the exception of the prefixed address, Daughter, the words are identical with those addressed to the sinner in 7:50 (where see note; RSV has a slight difference in wording, but the Greek is the same).
3. Jairus’s daughter raised from the dead (8:49–56)
The interruption halted Jesus’ progress to the house of Jairus but it did not stop it. Luke proceeds to show how the little girl was raised.
49. Mark as well as Luke says that while Jesus was still speaking to the woman there came news from Jairus’s house that his daughter had died. The messenger went on, do not trouble the Teacher any more. He apparently had no idea that Jesus’ power could extend beyond death. There is consideration for the busy Teacher implied in the suggestion that he should not come to the house, but there is also a limitation of faith and understanding.
50. Jairus said nothing, but Jesus overheard the words and immediately told him to stop worrying. Only believe, he said, and she shall be well. If we can press Luke’s use of the aorist tense, believe means something like ‘make an act of faith’, ‘put your trust in me’ (though we should not overlook Mark’s present, ‘keep believing’; both stress the importance of faith at this moment). Jesus certainly made it clear to the ruler of the synagogue that in the face of the disaster that had hit him he must have faith. Nothing else mattered.
51. The previous miracle had taken place unobserved, but Jesus had insisted that it be given full publicity. As we saw, this marked his consideration for the woman. It is equally a mark of his consideration for the little girl that he allowed nobody to enter the house with him except her parents and the inner circle of his disciples. When she was raised from death she would not find herself the centre of a gaping crowd. This is the first time he has singled out Peter, John and James in this way, but the same three figure on other occasions. For this order cf. 9:28; Acts 1:13; James precedes John in Luke 5:10; 6:14; 9:54.
52–53. It is not quite clear who is meant by the all who were weeping and bewailing her. They will certainly include the family (apart from the parents who were with Jesus), and the neighbours. As we saw on 7:12, professional mourners were obligatory and, as Matthew speaks of flute players, it seems that they had lost no time in beginning to ply their trade. To those engaged in noisy grief Jesus said, ‘Stop wailing’ (the construction in Do not weep means to cease to continue an action already in progress, while the verb denotes noisy grief, not quiet tears). He explained, she is not dead but sleeping. Some feel that this is to be taken literally and think that Jesus’ diagnosis led him to the conclusion that the girl was still in fact alive. This, however, is hard to reconcile with Luke’s express statement, knowing (not ‘thinking’) that she was dead, and with his later words, ‘her spirit returned’ (55). It is better to see the word as meaning that what is death to people is no more than sleep to Jesus (cf. John 11:11–14); in the New Testament believers are never said to die, but to sleep (cf. Acts 7:60). Jesus’ words brought forth scornful laughter (curiously these mourners are the only people in the New Testament expressly said to have laughed ). The mourners knew that the girl was dead and Jesus was not yet in the house.
54–55. Presumably at this point Jesus entered the death chamber. He took the dead girl by the hand and said, Child, arise. Mark retains the Aramaic words the girl’s mother would have used in calling her in the morning, but Luke translates the Aramaic terms (as he normally does). He describes the miracle very simply: her spirit returned, and she got up at once. Jesus went on to tell them to give her something to eat. Even at the climax of a stupendous miracle he does not overlook the importance of practical details. And, of course, the words show once again the consideration Jesus had for the ordinary needs of those with whom he came in contact.
56. As often, Luke rounds off the narrative with the effect of the miracle: the girl’s parents were amazed. Jesus went on to charge them to tell no-one what had happened. This can scarcely be in order that no-one should know about it. After all a mourning group had already assembled, expecting a funeral, and they would have to be told that there would not be one. But the child’s parents would naturally have tended to give themselves over to talking about the wonderful thing that had happened. It was better for them to concentrate on the girl’s welfare. Publicity was not needed.