“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares 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

“God works in mysterious ways” is a very old saying that is very true.  Any believer with any age knows this experientially.  What we also (should) know, however, is that while His ways are mysterious and oftentimes maddening, they are always loving and for our ultimate good.  Ultimately, what God wants to give us is Himself.  In the midst of trials and suffering God is aware of our needs, but His goals are oftentimes beyond ours and motivated by what He knows is for our best – knowing Him and becoming like Him. That overriding aim can sometimes make His actions (or inaction) toward our immediate needs confounding.  In this text Luke gives us two clear pictures of the mysterious ways of God and how those ways ultimately benefit the people in the story even though in both cases they seem inexplicable and even thoughtless.  The lesson of the story is that God is always working and always loving and has plans for us that are oftentimes beyond our comprehension.  And that’s true even when everything in life seems to show it isn’t.

40-42
Jesus returns to Galilee where the multitudes wait for Him.  His fame is such that He doesn’t travel anywhere without people gathering.  As soon as He approaches the crowd, a synagogue official named Jairus comes to Him in a panic.  He’s apparently come from his home as quickly as he possibly could once he heard Jesus was back.  His only daughter – 12 years old – is dying at home, and he urgently asks Jesus to come.  For Jairus, the timing of Jesus’ return couldn’t be better.  He and his wife now have hope for their little girl. 

It’s interesting to consider who this man is and what his position is.  As a synagogue official he presumably represents the religious establishment that has fought Jesus’ ministry tooth and nail, yet he comes to Jesus in humility and asks for help.  At this point he doesn’t care where Jesus stands in regard to the law or to the religious order.  He just has a sick daughter and has faith that Jesus can heal her.

[Aside: Jairus has faith but it isn’t as complete as the faith of the centurion who knew Jesus didn’t even need to come to his house in order to heal his servant (7:2-10 – and remember that Jesus’ said at the time that He hadn’t seen that kind of faith anywhere in Israel).  If Jairus had that level of faith, his daughter could be healed now.  If that happened, however, Jesus wouldn’t have the opportunity to show His sovereignty over death.  This shows that God works ALL things – even the level of a man’s belief – to His own ends and glory.]

Jesus agrees to go with the man immediately, and they start to make their way through the large crowd that presses on them from every side.

43-48
As they walk, a woman approaches Jesus and touches his cloak (outer garment).  The reason she does this is because she has suffered from a bleeding problem for 12 years (which is the entire lifetime of the daughter of Jairus – Luke likely wants us to notice this).  Luke tells us that no one has been able to heal her, and per Mark’s account she’s endured much at the hands of many physicians and has spent all her money trying to find a cure (Mk 5:26).  Beyond this, her condition means she’s perpetually unclean and thus can’t worship in the synagogue or temple.  Even more, anyone who touches her is also unclean so she’s effectively a social outcast (and likely has never or is no longer married).  So she doesn’t just suffer physically, she’s likely desperately lonely and has been for twelve years.  And her ongoing pursuit of healing means she’s had her hopes dashed again and again.

The woman and Jairus make an interesting pair.  He’s near the top of the social hierarchy as a religious leader.  She’s at the bottom.  He runs the very establishment that bars her from entry and participation.  He approaches Jesus directly and speaks to Him.  She comes surreptitiously from behind Jesus and hopes not to be noticed.

Her approach shows her place in society, but it also shows her faith.  Similar to Jairus, she has complete faith that Jesus can heal her.  Even more than Jairus, however, she believes that she only need touch Jesus without Him noticing and she’ll be healed.

As soon as she touches Jesus, He stops and asks out loud who touched Him.  Everyone around Him says it wasn’t them and Peter – somewhat incredulously – points out that they’re in the midst of a crowd and so all kinds of people have touched Him.  Incidental touching isn’t what He means, however, and He explains that power just went out of Him and so He knows someone touched Him purposely.

The woman – who has to be horrified at being found out and who is very used to being on the fringes of society and so doesn’t at all want anyone’s attention, and who knows that by touching Jesus she’s potentially made Him unclean – comes forward trembling and falls down before Him.  While she’s horribly frightened, she also knows she’s healed; the bleeding has stopped.  Thus her emotions have to be incredibly conflicted: overwhelming fright (she doesn’t know if what she did was appropriate or not) coupled with overwhelming joy and thankfulness.  TWELVE YEARS of suffering are over.  What she did might have been wrong, but she’s HEALED.   

The woman speaks as she bows before Jesus and publicly states what she did.  She gives a full public confession including what made her do it (meaning she presumably announces what her condition was) but also that it was successful, and she’s now healed.  Her confession shows her humility but also announces to everyone that she’s no longer unclean.  It may also show that she’s past caring what anyone thinks.  She ultimately addresses only Jesus and He just healed her.

Jesus responds to the woman gently.  He commends her faith and tells her it’s what made her well (meaning that her faith is what caused her to seek out Jesus and touch Him – it was Jesus who literally healed her, but without faith she wouldn’t have given Him the opportunity).  He also tells her to go in peace (meaning she’s done nothing wrong).  Note that He addresses her in front of the same crowd she addressed.  In so doing, He reinforces publicly that she’s healed.  His response is merciful and compassionate.

49-56
As Jesus interacts with the woman, Jairus waits.  We can imagine that he’s almost dying himself knowing that his daughter is at death’s door and every minute counts.  Jesus, however, seems to be in no hurry.  He patiently waits for the woman to identify herself and explain herself.  Then He addresses her and sends her on her way.  He seems to have no idea or concern about the urgency of Jairus’ situation.

This scene is similar to what will play out when Jesus hears that His friend Lazarus is seriously ill (Jn 11:6).  In that case, He’ll delay two days before going to Lazarus’ home to check on him.  In both instances, the delay is for His glory.  If He rushes, His glory will be less.  If He delays – delays that are maddening and tragic to the affected families – He glorifies Himself to the fullest.  

As Jesus finishes with the woman, someone comes from Jairus’ house and tells him his daughter has died, so he doesn’t need to take anymore of Jesus’ time.  There’s no need of the healer because there’s no one who needs healed.

We can imagine how Jairus feels when he gets this news.  If Jesus had hurried, maybe his daughter would be alive.  Wasn’t it clear that the situation was desperate?  Didn’t he say his daughter was about to die and that he needed Jesus to come immediately to heal her?  The woman Jesus just took time with had been sick for twelve years!  Would it have been a big deal if she waited another hour or so to be healed just so Jesus could save a little girl who was dying?  Isn’t death more serious than chronic disease?  Yes, the woman’s situation was tragic and hopeless, but she wasn’t DYING.  What Jesus did seems to show that He either didn’t understand the urgency of the situation or He has a very callous perspective toward life and death situations that aren’t right in front of Him.

As Jairus absorbs the news of his daughter’s death, Jesus tells him not to lose hope.  He’s not giving up the mission and will continue to Jairus’ house.  He tells Jairus not to be afraid and that his daughter will be saved.  These words must make Jairus’ head swim.  He shouldn’t lose hope or be afraid??  The emotional roller coaster he’s on is hard to imagine.  He’s devastated by the news of his daughter’s death but here’s the miracle-working teacher telling him she’ll be saved.  What does Jesus mean?  How can his dead daughter be saved?  Why should he hope?

The group makes its way to the house of Jairus.  Once there, Jesus takes the parents of the girl along with Peter, John, and James inside (ever wonder if the other disciples get jealous of these three always being included in all the cool stuff? – and what does Andrew think about never being included even though he’s Peter’s brother while both sons of Zebedee get to go?).  Mourners are already at the house (they come quickly because decay starts quickly in the temperate climate), and because of Jairus’ position it’s likely that the crowd is large (even the poorest families are to hire two flute players and one wailing woman per the Mishnah).  Thus, the house is filled with weeping and lamenting (in a demonstrative middle eastern culture the mourning is loud and likely includes wailing and breast-beating).

Jesus tells the mourners they should stop mourning because the girl isn’t dead, she’s only asleep.  At this the mourners stop mourning and begin to laugh.  The quick change in emotions likely means it’s a bitter laugh of scorn for the foolishness of Jesus’ words.  As the text says, they know she’s dead.  He ignores their reaction and tells everyone to leave – per Matt 9:25 – and allows only the three disciples and the girl’s parents to stay.

Jesus’ description of the girl’s condition is the same one He’ll use in the future when He describes Lazarus’ death (although in that story He’ll have to clarify for the disciples that Lazarus is in fact dead since they take Him literally when He says he’s asleep – Jn 11:11-15 – note that the people in this story also take Jesus literally, which seems to show a tendency in Jesus’ time to miss nuance).  In both cases, asleep shows Jesus’ perspective on death.  Death isn’t permanent when God decides it isn’t.  It’s subject to His authority just like all of life and creation.

It IS interesting to consider what Jesus means by, “…she has not died.”  He likely just wants the crowd to understand that her condition is reversable, unlike death as humans know it.  Since Jesus is about to raise her, she isn’t dead in His eyes.  This distinguishes the girl from everyone else who dies and isn’t raised.

Jesus takes the girl by the hand and commands her to rise.  At His command, life returns to her.  It’s similar to what happened with the storm – He commands, and all creation obeys.  After her spirit returns to her and she gets up, He tells her parents to give her something to eat because apparently resurrection works up an appetite (and can you imagine how joyously they get food for her?).  It also shows that she’s truly alive.

In a way only the Bible can, the text simply says her parents are amazed.  That’s obviously putting it mildly.  Her father – Jairus – must wonder how his heart has survived the last hour or so.  The parents just went from desperately worrying about their only child, to having some hope when they heard the miracle-working teacher was back in town, to losing their only child when He didn’t show up in time, to now having their child back and fully healed.  They’re not just amazed; they must be out of their minds with joy while also feeling like they’re about ready to collapse.  It’s a day they’ll never forget but also one they likely never want to relive.

Unlike what He instructed the demoniac in Gerasene to do (which was to spread the word), Jesus tells Jairus and his wife not to tell anyone about their daughter (although presumably their friends and family and all the mourners already know).  The difference likely is that Jairus and his wife are Jews living in a Jewish area, and Jesus doesn’t need more fame or need anyone trying to make him into a political leader.

Thoughts to Consider
The picture of Jairus while he waited for Jesus to interact with the woman helps us to know how to approach times of trial and uncertainty when God doesn’t respond how we’d like Him to.  In that scene Jesus’ delay made no sense; His actions seemed careless or uninformed; and His ultimate plans were a complete mystery.  Sound familiar?  Don’t we all go through times like this in life?  What in the world is God doing?  Why doesn’t He act?  How can it be good to do seemingly nothing at all for such long periods of time?  It sure seems like if God would just do this it would make everything better, yet He inexplicably won’t!  Why can’t He just answer my prayers??

What Jairus didn’t know was that Jesus had plans beyond his comprehension.  [It’s worth noting that in Matthew’s version, Jairus comes to Jesus and asks him to raise his dead daughter.  It appears, however, that Matthew simply condenses the story and the full accounts are in Mark and Luke.  In those accounts it makes more sense that he doesn’t plan on his daughter dying before Jesus sees her.  That someone comes from his house and tells him to no longer bother the teacher because the girl is dead lends credence to this assumption.]  Jesus was acutely aware of the situation, but He made sure to act in a way that brought Him the most glory.  His actions weren’t callous or uninformed; they were driven by His glory and – presumably – a desire to increase the belief of Jairus and his family.  The experience the family had with Jesus could not have occurred any other way.  They not only received their little girl back; they also (almost certainly) received faith and belief in Jesus to a much greater degree than they otherwise would have.

We can say similar things about the woman with the hemorrhage.  She waited TWELVE YEARS and endured disappointment after disappointment and lost all her money in a fruitless quest to be healed.  During those long years it’s not hard to imagine that she wondered where God was and why He sentenced her to such suffering and loneliness.  What she didn’t know, however, was what He had planned for her.  If she would’ve been healed by a human physician, she wouldn’t have experienced healing by the Great Physician.  And as a result of that healing, she experienced Jesus and likely believed in a way that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.  God had bigger plans for her than simply curing her sickness.  He wanted to bring her face to face with her Savior.

When trials seem never-ending and pointless, when God’s nowhere to be found, when His actions seem inexplicable, it pays to remember Jairus and the bleeding woman from this text.  God is never out of touch, He’s never absent, and He never stops working.  His ways, however, aren’t our ways and His thoughts aren’t our thoughts.  His goals are eternal rather than immediate or temporal, and He doesn’t wear our watch.  It’s not that He doesn’t care about us now or about what makes us anxious or about earthly concerns; it’s that He sees those PLUS what is ultimately for our good and His glory.  He loves us and His plans for us are beyond anything we can comprehend. He ultimately wants to give us HIMSELF, and the way to do that is often to have us go through times of stretching and suffering and desperate dependence on Him.  We experience God best when we need Him the most.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. ~ Ephesians 3:20-21