The Bible

 

Matthew 9:18-26 : Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman

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18 ταυτα αυτου λαλουντος αυτοις ιδου αρχων εισελθων προσεκυνει αυτω λεγων η θυγατηρ μου αρτι ετελευτησεν αλλα ελθων επιθες την χειρα σου επ αυτην και ζησεται

19 και εγερθεις ο ιησους ηκολουθει αυτω και οι μαθηται αυτου

20 και ιδου γυνη αιμορροουσα δωδεκα ετη προσελθουσα οπισθεν ηψατο του κρασπεδου του ιματιου αυτου

21 ελεγεν γαρ εν εαυτη εαν μονον αψωμαι του ιματιου αυτου σωθησομαι

22 ο δε στραφεις και ιδων αυτην ειπεν θαρσει θυγατερ η πιστις σου σεσωκεν σε και εσωθη η γυνη απο της ωρας εκεινης

23 και ελθων ο ιησους εις την οικιαν του αρχοντος και ιδων τους αυλητας και τον οχλον θορυβουμενον ελεγεν

24 αναχωρειτε ου γαρ απεθανεν το κορασιον αλλα καθευδει και κατεγελων αυτου

25 οτε δε εξεβληθη ο οχλος εισελθων εκρατησεν της χειρος αυτης και ηγερθη το κορασιον

26 και εξηλθεν η φημη αυτη εις ολην την γην εκεινην

Commentary

 

Raising Jairus's Daughter

By New Christian Bible Study Staff

Jesus raises Jairus's daughter.

The story of Jesus raising Jairus's daughter appears in three Gospels, Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:21-42, and in Luke 8:40-56.

The story opens, in each case, with people gathered to listen to Jesus. He's summoned to the bedside of a gravely ill girl, and on the way there, he heals a woman who had suffered a flow of blood for 12 years.

When the people are waiting for Jesus, it signifies a wish, a supplication, that the Church will gain an affection for truth that can lift it out of impure loves.

The Lord being amidst the crowd signifies that He receives this supplication, and flows in with spiritual love. This applies at a personal level, and at a church level.

In the story, the healing power comes when the struggling woman touches the hem of Jesus’s garment”. When we are struggling with our natural loves - some of which are evil - if we can reach out and touch the most exterior part of the Divine essence, we can receive spiritual influx, a love that can heal us.

The Lord senses when we make this connection; the Divine is omnipotent and omnipresent, but it’s not impersonal; on the contrary, the Lord knows us very well. When we admit our need, and confess it to the Lord, we can receive his love, and healing, and salvation, and peace.

The second vignette – the raising of Jairus’s daughter – is similar, and that's not a coincidence. This time, it’s not just a woman bleeding, but a girl who has already died. Sometimes, the church can seem to be so impure that it is spiritually dead. Or, at a personal level, we feel spiritually dead.

However, if there is belief in the Lord, then the Divine influence can work even when spiritual life appears to be dead.

Jesus puts everyone out of the house. This is an important step; it represents the removal of the spirit of unbelief – which blocks us from the Lord. Once unbelief has been gotten out of the house, then the Lord takes the girl's hand, speaks to her, and she arises. He directs that she be given food.

There’s power in the Lord’s hand, and truth in his voice. The girl’s spirit returns, and she arises, and then Jesus sees to it that she gets food – which corresponds to spiritual food, i.e. what feeds our state of love. It is the desire for good, the delight of being good, the understanding of what it is to be good and the knowledge of all that's true and leads to what is good.

The Bible

 

Luke 8:40-56

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40 It happened, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.

41 Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus' feet, and begged him to come into his house,

42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes pressed against him.

43 A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any,

44 came behind him, and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately the flow of her blood stopped.

45 Jesus said, "Who touched me?" When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes press and jostle you, and you say, 'Who touched me?'"

46 But Jesus said, "Someone did touch me, for I perceived that power has gone out of me."

47 When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.

48 He said to her, "Daughter, cheer up. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace."

49 While he still spoke, one from the ruler of the synagogue's house came, saying to him, "Your daughter is dead. Don't trouble the Teacher."

50 But Jesus hearing it, answered him, "Don't be afraid. Only believe, and she will be healed."

51 When he came to the house, he didn't allow anyone to enter in, except Peter, John, James, the father of the child, and her mother.

52 All were weeping and mourning her, but he said, "Don't weep. She isn't dead, but sleeping."

53 They were ridiculing him, knowing that she was dead.

54 But he put them all outside, and taking her by the hand, he called, saying, "Child, arise!"

55 Her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately. He commanded that something be given to her to eat.

56 Her parents were amazed, but he commanded them to tell no one what had been done.