Lastly, I want to end with a daughter and bleeding woman in v18-26. Jairus is a ruler. He’s powerful, he has influence, but there is nothing he can do to save his daughter. This is the most impossible situation in this chapter because by the time Jairus reaches Jesus, his daughter is dead. Not sick, not on the verge of dying, but dead.
But he has faith. v18–
18 While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”
She’s dead, but one touch from you and she WILL live. That’s faith. Faith that believes in an impossible situation. Faith is believing that Jesus can bring dead things to life. Jesus touches the daughter and she comes back to life.
Similar account in the following verses. A woman had been bleeding for many years. She’s an outcast. She’s a nobody. Not like Jairus and his important daughter. There’s bigger show in town. Who is this bleeding woman? Her name is not even listed. There is a crowd of people bumping up against Jesus, touching him, if you will. But out of that crowd, this bleeding woman fought her way through the crowd to touch the edge of his cloak. And that touch had meaning. It was a meaningful touch that led to her healing.
21 She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
That’s faith. Jesus looks at this nobody and gives her dignity again. v22–
22 Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.
Jesus calls this bleeding woman, “daughter.” Jairus is not the only important daughter in this chapter. This nameless nobody in the eyes of the world has equal value in the eyes of Jesus.
Jesus encountered many different people and situations in this chapter. The paralytic and his friends. The demon-possessed man who couldn’t talk. Matthew, who was minding his own business at his tax collector’s booth. You have the innocent question from John’s disciples about fasting. You have two blind men who cry out for mercy. You have the harvest fields that are plentiful and the shortage of workers. You have Jairus’ daughter who just died. And a bleeding woman who reached out her hand from the crowd.
What’s the common denominator in all of these accounts? Jesus. Faith IN Jesus. He’s the common denominator. Faith is looking to Jesus as the answer for everything. He’s the solution to every problem. I don’t have the answers. But I know a person who does. Isn’t that what church is? A group of sinners with our hands outstretched, straining to touch Jesus. He is our hope. He is the answer.