I have not doubt that the man Jairus must have wished that the Saviour had not stopped with the “woman, which had an issue of blood” and so delayed His coming to see his daughter.
That notion have intensified when the news came from his home, “Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? verse 35.” BUT please note HE NEVER COMPLAINED OR OBJECTED TO THE SAVIOUR STOPPING TO HELP THE WOMAN!
I. BOYS AND GIRLS, GOD’S WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS!
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts,” Isaiah 55:8-9.
1. We are reminded here that the Lord has a multitude of people to help and bless. We must ever remember that.
2. Sometime the Lord delays His response to our requests and needs. If the Jairus took note of what happened to the lady, it would have encouraged him to expect a wonderful healing for his daughter.
3. As it was, the apparently tragic death of the young girl, happening as it did while the Saviour was occupied with the woman, only prepared the way for an even greater miracle! The Lord Jesus told the man to anticipate a wonderful outcome to it all. “Be not afraid, only believe,” verse 36. The news would cause despair but the Saviour told him not “only believe” , that is, ‘continue in the faith you had when you first came to me.’ “My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live,” verse 23.
II. THE SAVIOUR DID NOT ALLOW EVERYONE TO SEE THE MIRACLE TAKE PLACE
1. Only three disciples were allowed to accompany Him. “And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James,” verse 37. Some Christians are permitted to see and know and experience more than others. He did the same on another occasion. “And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering,” Luke 9:28-29. But learn this: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour,” 2 Timothy 2:20. A scrubbing brush or a mob I not to be considered on the same level as Mum’s best china tea service! BUT, what would be a home where there was no mop or scrubbing brush?
2. The so-called mourners were also not allowed to see the miracle take place. “And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying,” Mark 5:39-40. They laughed and scorned because of unbelief.
Boys and girls, if you laugh at the Bible’s declarations of the might and power of God, you too will be put out and will not be allowed to see a display of the Saviour’s power. They that laugh at the Lord, He will one day laugh at them! “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision,” Psalm 2:4.
3. The mother and father of faith were allowed to witness the miracle. “He taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying,” verse 40. Believing parents ‘shall’ see their children raised up to ‘life in Christ’. What encouragement is here for parents praying for their children who are “dead in trespasses and sins,” Ephesians 2:1.
More next week.