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, 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 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.
Luke 8:40-56

Introduction

Luke 8:40-56 tells the story of two very different desperate people. First, there’s the story of Jairus, the respected ‘ruler of the synagogue.’ And then there’s the story of the woman who has been bleeding for 12 years. Now, you might be thinking, “Well, good thing I am not as desperate as these people.” But I wonder, is this a good thing? Last week, I talked about the Gerasene man who was demon-possessed. He was so out of it that there was no way he would be able to call out to God. He was utterly helpless, so helpless that he wasn’t even desperate, you might say.

Well, this week, we have two people who at least retain their wits enough to call out to Jesus for help. Yes, they are helpless, perhaps not as helpless as the Gerasene man, but helpless enough to express their desperation. And we learn a few things by examining these characters, the Gerasene man, Jairus, and the bleeding woman. We learn that their helplessness is relative to others. We also learn that even though their sense of helplessness is different dependent on their circumstances, they each express their helplessness before Jesus. And finally, we see that at in our story today, both Jairus and the bleeding woman, ask for Jesus’ help.

If we can see this relative helplessness and understanding then, we can understand how this relates to us today. For example, Bill and Mandy are the typical married couple, awaiting the birth of their first child. They are excited, a bit nervous of what life as new parents will bring. As the due date approaches, suddenly, Mandy begins to bleed. She’s rushed to the hospital and the doctors perform an emergency C-section. All Bill can do is wait and pray, utterly helpless and desperate.

Sally is a mom of three young children. Her husband Bob works long hours and travels frequently, leaving the care of their kids solely to her. Even while he’s home, Bob is distant, uninvolved in the kids’ lives. Their marriage is at a standstill. Bob figures he works hard to provide for his family and that should be good enough for Sally. At church, Sally puts on a brave face with a nice smile. She’s involved in ministry. But deep down, Sally is terribly alone, tired, and depressed. She feels as though her marriage and family is on the rocks. She is utterly helpless and desperate and no one knows it.

Jim is a healthy 30 year old man. He’s exercises regularly, eats healthy, and has no real vices. Yet, in his regular physical, his doctor tells him that they found a left under his armpit and will need to do a biopsy of the lump. Suddenly, Jim’s world comes crashing down. The life he had lived no longer seems so relevant to him. He feels utterly helpless and desperate.

There are so many stories like these, from financial problems, day to day worries, difficult relationships, etc. that can leave us desperate. And the common denominator amongst all of us is that whether we face these now or some day, no one will escape helplessness and desperation because of the reality of death. So what is the answer? Let’s look at Jairus and this woman’s story of desperation to find out.

Jairus’ Desperation (vv. 40-42, 49)

In verses 40-42, we find a few things about Jairus. First, Jairus was ‘a ruler of the synagogue.’ He was the lead elder you might say, responsible for the order of the services held in the synagogue. So what we do know about Jairus was that he was a leader amongst the people with some reputation and standing. In other words, here was a man who people could have thought, deserve Jesus’ healing. In some way, it could have been similar to the story of Luke 7, where Jesus is requested to heal a centurion’s servant by the Jewish leaders, as they plead with Him, “He is worthy to have you do this for him for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” (Luke 7:5) That is, because so-and-so does something for God, they are entitled to God’s blessing. I am sure there were some who viewed Jairus the same way thinking, “Surely, if anyone deserves Jesus’ undivided attention and healing, it would be Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue.” And sadly, far too many people have this view of Jesus. We will be tempted to think, “Because I serve the church, because I have gone on mission trips, because I tithe my income, because I lead homegroup, because I set up equipment each Sunday for worship, surely I deserve God’s blessing.” How tempting it is for us to fall into this evil trap where we assess who deserves God’s blessing and who doesn’t based on who they are, what they do, and how they look?

But even though others might have viewed Jairus this way, he doesn’t see himself with this type of arrogance. We learn second, that Jairus was humble. Like his colleagues who continually hounded Jesus, he could have taken that, “Who is He to…” approach. But He doesn’t do that at all. Instead, he falls at Jesus’ feet which is a symbol of abject humility. I remember hearing a of a local pastor tell the story about Billy Graham before one of his crusades. He was skeptical of Billy Graham, believing that Billy was probably arrogant behind the scenes. Well, this was to be a small group prayer meeting of pastors and Billy right before he went on stage. The pastor thought quite cynically, “I bet Billy won’t get on his knees to pray because he wouldn’t want to wrinkle his suit.” When Billy entered the room and the prayer began, the pastor took a peak at Billy only to find him completely prostrate on the floor in prayer! Needless to say, the pastor repented for his critical heart. There is something to falling at one’s feet that, if done from the heart, is a sign of one’s utter helplessness before God. And nothing in this text makes me believe that Jairus was merely acting.

And the third aspect of Jairus’ life helps us to learn why he acted in this way, he had a 12-year old only daughter who was dying. This was Jairus’ only child and to lose her would have made Jairus terribly desperate. After all, there is probably nothing worse that can happen to you than the death of your child. Dare I say, imagine you have just completed your child’s swimming lessons clutching a beach ball he used in the pool. As you are crossing the street to go to your car, he drops the ball accidentally and it begins to roll across the street. He ungrasps your hand and runs out and the car that was passing by cannot stop and hits your son. There he lies on the hot pavement, lifeless. Suddenly, your world slows down to crawl speed. Sounds become muffled and you are in the middle of your worst nightmare. You scream for help because there is no more helpless feeling than to see your child die before your eyes and there is literally nothing you can do about it. But if you could save your child’s life, would you be willing to do anything? Of course you would. Well, though Jairus was not facing a sudden accident, he was completely desperate. It was his only child and there was nothing he could do to save her.

The Woman’s Desperation (vv. 43-47)

And so, as Jesus began his journey to Jairus’ house, verses 43-47 bring another helpless person onto the scene, the bleeding woman. Most scholars believe that her problem was probably caused by a hemorrhage in her uterus. (Darrell Bock, Luke Volume 1, 793)  Can you imagine what she must have lived with? There is the pain caused by this bleeding which went on for over 12 years! Ladies, can you imagine 12 years of continuous bleeding? Some of the other symptoms of this condition include hot flashes, tenderness, mood swings, and infertility. You also have to consider that the clothing in those days probably did not do a good job in covering up the blood and so there must have been times where this blood was visible. This is probably how Luke seems to assume that people know she had been bleeding. So not only is there is physical pain, but there was also the embarrassment of people knowing about her condition. And in a society where women all ready held second-class status, such a condition would have made her even more of an outcast, and given the fact there is no mention of a husband, her condition probably kept her from finding a husband who would care for her. Of course, this also would mean that she would have the difficulty of even physically surviving since it was very difficult for women to earn a living apart from a husband. In fact, Mark 5:26 tells us that she had suffered under the care of ‘physicians’ (you can imagine the quackery that was practiced then) and had “spent all that she had” on false cures. Hers was a life of agony. And then, alongside these miseries was her spiritual isolation. During a woman’s natural menstruation, Mosaic Law considered her unclean according to Leviticus 15:25-31. In other words, she couldn’t take part in spiritual fellowship during this time. For a healthy woman, this would have been only a few days each month, but for this woman, it was every day for 12 years!

So talk about helpless and desperate, here was a woman who was most likely in constant physical pain, possibly without a husband meaning she could have been impoverished, socially embarrassed since everyone knew about her sufferings in a very sensitive area, and then completely removed from the corporate worship of God. It’s no wonder that when Jesus realized that someone had touched him, she was terrified (v. 47). She had been emotionally and spiritually shipwrecked for so long and was probably afraid of her own shadow.

Somehow she has heard about this Jesus who could do miracles. And so as the crowd presses in on Jesus, in verse 44 “she comes up behind him” so that she won’t be noticed, and touches Jesus believing that Jesus held the key to her healing. We don’t know what her faith looked like, but we do know that she had faith according to Jesus’ words in verse 48. Of course, her faith was not complex. But the Lord had given her even the smallest of faith to believe in Jesus and His power. She was definitely not on the same plane of influence as Jairus, but in terms of helplessness and desperation, you could make a case that she was just as helpless.

Jesus’ Compassion for the Woman and Jairus (vv. 48, 50-55)

Therefore, as you can see in both Jairus and the woman, regardless of their position in life, they were helpless before Jesus. They both needed Him and came to him as they were. For Jairus, he was a synagogue elder but that did not stop him from humbling himself before Jesus. He was not concerned about what his peers would think of him, bowing before the peasant Jesus. He came as he was, regardless of his station in life. And the bleeding woman, though she came meekly and in fear, did not let her fear keep her from coming before Jesus. In fact, Jesus reminds us that it was her faith led her to do so, though she does so imperfectly and with timidity.

Both teach us that the best time to turn to Christ and come before Him is not when things are all together, when we’re spiritually fit enough, but just as we are, imperfect in faith and in practice. We simply need to come helpless, wanting His presence in our lives. We come with all of our sins and insecurities and frailties, but we still humbly and helplessly come. We come with our broken marriages in the middle of conflict. We come when we feel lonely, anxious, disappointed, frustrated. We come having sinned terribly. We come helpless, but we still come.

And notice in verses 44-48, this is exactly how the woman comes. She comes timidly, weakly, though desperately. She comes having spent all of her money. She comes sick and embarrassed because people know her darkest secrets. She comes lonely and discouraged. She comes in the middle of a crowd, a crowd so great where many are trying to touch Jesus. But despite her feelings and all of the other obstacles, she still comes. And when she is found out by Jesus, she hears the most incredible words in verse 48, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” This is the only time in the Bible where Jesus calls anyone, ‘daughter.’

My dear friends, notice that Jesus does not expect her to come to Him when she is well. He’s not looking at her good works and on the basis of those works, healing her. Instead, He just wants her coming and her worship. He wants her trust, her faith. And let me tell you that that is exactly what He wants from you. Some of you are still believing that you contribute something to God’s acceptance of you. Some of you still think that you must be clean first before you come to Christ. That only after you read the Bible, only after coming to church, only after you witness to your neighbor, only after you become a better mom or dad will Jesus bless you and accept you, only when you know enough theology, then you should come. You might be wondering, “How can God love me when I… [fill in the blank]?” And that blank is so evil to you, that you think Jesus would never accept someone like you. But there is only one answer to that question, Jesus’ blood that covers you and makes you pleasing to the Father, that’s how you can be loved.

Paul Tripp makes this important observation:

I come to the Lord with only one appeal; his mercy. I’ve no other defense. I’ve no other standing. I’ve no other hope. I can’t escape the reality of my biggest problem; me! So I appeal to the one thing in my life that’s sure and will never fail. I appeal to the one thing that guaranteed not only my acceptance with God, but the hope of new beginnings and fresh starts. I appeal on the basis of the greatest gift I ever have or ever will be given.

And so when the woman came with no money, no social standing, no sense of dignity, she only had one appeal, hi9s mercy alone. It was all about Jesus and not about her. Psalm 115:1 exemplifies this heart, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” And Jesus’ response to the bleeding woman is the same for us. Come as you are. You are accepted because of His blood so don’t ever stop coming.

We also see that Jesus’ compassion is also for Jairus and his daughter in verses 49-56. While He is remarking on the woman’s faith, Jesus is told He no longer needs to come because the daughter has just died. I think it’s safe to assume that Jesus’ delay with the woman probably did not help Jairus’ daughter. But in light of what Jesus tells the woman, He now exhorts Jairus and his household to exhibit some faith regarding his daughter in verse 50. And when Jesus finally arrives in the midst of what must have been loud wails and much grieving, he tells everyone, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” Sadly, their response in verse 53 is quite telling, “And they laughed at him, knowing she was dead.”

What a contrast! The bleeding woman only knew one life for 12 years and yet believed that Jesus could completely heal her. We cannot take that lightly. When you have experienced something for so long, it is far too easy to be resigned to your ‘fate.’ For those of you with unbelieving family members, how many of you have stopped praying for them because in your heart you think, “He’ll never change.” If you had a chronic problem for 12 years, you would probably think there is no way life could be different. But for this woman, she knew after encountering Jesus, life would be different. Contrast her response to the people’s response. Theirs was a mindset of laughing cynicism. They knew she was dead. Death is final. Nothing can overcome death and so when Jesus says she was only sleeping, in their minds, He was speaking the absurd. But in verse 54, there is that wondrous word ‘but.’ The absurd would be overturned because death would be vanquished.

All it took was Jesus’ words, much like Jesus’ rebuke of the storm. Jesus’ word overcomes the powers of nature and Jesus’ words overcome the power of death itself. Her spirit returns and she begins to live life again. This girl, helpless, desperate, can you get any more helpless than a dead girl, is raised from the dead. Surely her rising is a foreshadowing of another resurrection. And there will be those, like the mourners in our story who will laugh at stories of resurrection because they KNOW death is final. But Paul comments in 1 Corinthians 15:53-55, that death is truly not the end, and that Jesus’ resurrection is critical to our faith in Christ: “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” The resurrection of Christ, just like the resurrection of this little girl, will cause a reaction. It is not neutral. You will either scoff and laugh and know that there is only death and the Gospel of Christ, the good news that Jesus died in our place and rose from the dead to overcome death eternally for us, is only a mere pipe dream, or you will respond with faith, and with amazement.

From Desperation to Amazement (v. 56)

And so the parents go from desperation to amazement in verse 56. After all, it’s not too often that children are raised from the dead and so they are naturally amazed. But Jesus’ response to their amazement might seem odd. Why would Jesus tell them to tell no one, especially when the evidence of the miracle is unavoidable? It is probably because the miracle itself was not to be the emphasis of Jesus’ teachings and ministry. Jesus is not a magician. He is not a wonder-worker. If the focus remains on the miracles and not on the person of Jesus, then people will either come to Him merely expecting something from Him, like a divine Santa Claus, or they will see Him as nothing more than a possible earthly king who would overthrow their Roman oppressors. The amazement is essentially worthless if we are simply amazed by what Jesus can do for us. If your faith is only about Jesus’ blessing you with prosperity, comfort, a good life without suffering or challenge, or trails, then perhaps you are more amazed in Jesus’ power than Jesus as Savior and Lord. Perhaps you’re then coming before Him not as one who is utterly helpless, but instead as someone who has something to offer Him.

No, the amazement that Jesus is looking for stands apart from what you can give to Him and it even stands apart from what He can give to you. You simply come, both in times of plenty and in times of want, you still come amazed because of who He is. Why should you worship Him and stand amazed before Him regardless of the circumstances of your life? Because the Bible reminds us that He is your Advocate (1 John 2:1), the Atoner of your sins (1 John 2:2), the Author of your salvation (Heb 2:10), the Author and Perfector of your faith (Heb 12:2), the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14), the Firstborn over all creation (Col 1:15), God With Us (Immanuel) (Mat 1:23), the Lamb of God (John 1:29), the King of Kings (1 Tim 6:15), the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Lord of Glory (1 Cor 2:8), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), etc. And this great King Jesus, has borne our sins on a tree so that He might be a curse for us so that we wouldn’t bear the wrath of God and the weight of sin (Gal 3:13). And His death and resurrection allows us to be with the Father eternally (John 3:16).

These past three healing miracles, the Gerasene demoniac, the bleeding woman, and Jairus’ daughter, all remind us of the broken world we live in. This is a world of suffering, of death, of pain, of sorrow. We might not be facing that now, but one day we will. And we will either respond to such times trying to find our own solutions to life problems through our own plans and strategies, (if only I had more money, when I finally get a job, if I only get married, if only kids were better behaved, if only I had married a man who cared for me, if only he was a spiritual leader, if only she wasn’t so naggy, etc.), or we will recognize that our skills, talents, intellect, money, time, energy, relationships will never be enough and will always leave us short. In other, for the first time perhaps, we will recognize our helplessness, no different than even if something seems utterly out of our hands (a child desperately ill, a broken marriage, waiting for the right someone for marriage), and we will realize we NEED a Savior. And the promise of trusting in such a Savior is better than anything we could ever do for ourselves.

We live for a world where “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev 21:4). This is not some pipe dream. For Christians, this is the reality of our future. Tim Keller reminds us that when we get to this place, we will say:

I’ve come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I’ve been looking for all my life, though I never knew it! And it will by no means be the end of our story. In fact, as C. S. Lewis put it, all the adventures we have ever had will end up being only “the cover and the title page.” Finally, we will begin “Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read; which goes on forever; in which every chapter is better than the one before.” (Tim Keller, Prodigal God, 225-226)

Desperation is only for a season and helplessness eventually becomes joyful dependence eternally.