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The Touch of Faith Brings Healing
This chapter is based on Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke
8:40-56.
Returning from Gergesa to the western shore of Lake Galilee,
Jesus found a crowd gathered to meet Him. He stayed by the seaside
for a while, teaching and healing, and then went to the house of
Levi-Matthew to meet the tax collectors at the feast. Jairus, the ruler
of the synagogue, found Him there. In great distress he exclaimed,
“My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your
hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.”
Jesus set out immediately with the ruler for his home. The
disciples were surprised that he agreed to the request of the proud
rabbi, yet they accompanied their Master, and the people followed.
Jesus and His companions advanced slowly, for the crowd pressed
around Him on every side. The anxious father was impatient, but
Jesus stopped now and then to relieve suffering or to comfort a
troubled heart.
While they were on the way, a messenger pushed through the
crowd, bearing the news that Jairus’s daughter was dead. The word
caught the ear of Jesus. “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will
be made well.”
Together they hurried to the ruler’s home. Already hired mourn-
ers and flute players were filling the air with their anguished noise.
Jesus tried to silence them: “Why make this commotion and weep?
The child is not dead, but sleeping.” They were offended at the
Stranger’s words. They had seen the child in the grip of death. Re-
quiring them all to leave, Jesus took the girl’s father and mother with
Peter, James, and John, and entered the chamber of death.
Jesus approached the bedside and, taking the child’s hand in His
own, said softly, in the familiar language of her home, “Little girl, I
say to you, arise.”
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