New York UBF – NY University Bible Fellowship (NYUBF)

Luke Lesson 27 (2009)

DAUGHTER, YOUR FAITH HAS HEALED YOU
(Caring for the whole person)

Luke 8:40-56
Key Verse: 8:48

“Then he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.’”

Jesus’ Galilean ministry is composed mainly of preaching, teaching and healing. The words and deeds of Jesus demonstrated the immeasurable mercy of our God toward fallen men and women. For example, when the man with leprosy came begging to him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean”, Jesus touched the man and said, “I am willing. Be clean.” (4:13) Then immediately the leprosy left the man. He also healed a paralyzed man and proclaimed the grace of forgiveness of sins. (4:20) Jesus welcomed everyone who came to him, including those who were rejected by the religious community because of their morally loose lifestyles, like tax collectors and prostitutes. When he was criticized for being friendly to them, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Jesus was a sinner-friendly Savior even though he was not sin-friendly. Luke 4:18-19 sums up Jesus’ Galilean ministry. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

In the previous passage, 8:22-39, Jesus revealed that he is the Son of the Most High God who has the ultimate power and authority over all Creation, visible and invisible, natural and supernatural. He calmed the storm and drove out nearly 6,000 demons with the power of his words. Luke’ account of Jesus’ Galilean ministry ends in the middle of chapter 9. The two miracles in today’s passage, the healing of a woman with a chronic bleeding problem and the raising of Jairus’ daughter, are intertwined. Both of them demonstrate the authority of Jesus as the Holy Son of God. They also demonstrate the importance of our faith in him. Jesus said to the woman with a bleeding problem, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (48) He said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she (your daughter) will be healed.” (50) The healing that Jesus brings us is not just a biological healing but a social, psychological, emotional and spiritual healing as well, the healing of the whole person. The raising of Jairus’ daughter gives us the hope of eternal life. Let us think what kind of Messiah Jesus is and what blessings we are to expect in our lives, our community and the whole world through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 40. After saving a demon-possessed man, Jesus had to leave the region of the Gerasenes because the townspeople didn’t want Jesus to be there. They rejected him because of the fear of losing too much. However, when Jesus returned home, his hometown people’s response toward him was different. They welcomed him with great fervor. In fact, at his arrival, he found himself in the midst of a large crowd which welcomed him.

Why did they welcome him so eagerly? It’s not because of their true knowledge and faith in him, but because of who they expected him to be. At that time, people were waiting for the Messiah who could save Israel from the Roman Empire and all their political enemies. When they heard Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom of God and saw his miraculous power, they thought that Jesus was the one who would restore the kingdom of Israel to them. Even though they were God’s chosen people, they were wounded and broken. Yet, they could find hope in Jesus. Jesus’ popularity was at its peak. They must have shouted, “Yes, we can! Yes, we can!”

In the following verses, verses 41-56, Dr. Luke turns his attention from the crowd to the two people who came to Jesus for healing. They had completely different backgrounds. Jairus was rich, powerful and well established in society and the woman was poor, powerless and completely broke. Yet both of them came to Jesus by faith and Jesus blessed their faith.

Look at verse 41-42a. Among the people in the crowd was a man named Jairus who was a synagogue ruler, one of the top leaders in the community. Everyone in the town knew him. He was the object of many people’s envy. But he had a serious problem. His only daughter, who was twelve years old, was dying. Even though we are not told what kind of disease his daughter had, we can imagine that her disease was fatal. Even with his love for her and his success, prestige and even religious devotion, Jairus was helpless to save his dying daughter. But he came to Jesus because he believed that Jesus could heal her.

Was it easy for Jairus to come to Jesus? Although he had no choice, it might have been difficult for him because his association with Jesus would be seen as politically incorrect, and he was risking his prestige as a community leader, because at that time the orthodox Jews were against Jesus and his teachings. Jairus could have sent one of his servants for Jesus. But he decided to come. When he came to Jesus, he humbly knelt, fell at his feet and begged him to come to his house. Jairus came to Jesus because he trusted him.

Look at verses 42b-44. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. It shows the density of the crowd around Jesus. And among the crowd was a woman who had been suffering from constant bleeding for the last twelve years. She also wanted healing through Jesus. She believed that her chronic bleeding would stop if she just touched the edge of his cloak. But she was not like Jairus, the synagogue ruler who could directly come to Jesus and ask him to heal his daughter. The woman took a back-alley strategy. She came up behind Jesus and secretly touched the edge of his cloak and tried to slip away. We might say that her faith was superstitious. But it really worked. Her bleeding stopped immediately.

My mother used to suffer from leg pain. One day during some kind of spiritual revival meeting through healing ministry she was healed. She was very excited about it. However, after a few weeks, her leg pain came back. And the healing didn’t happen again. I told her that it’s because her faith was superstitious. We must admit that God honors even some people’s superstitious faith and heals them. In fact, a lot of people experienced miraculous healing by this kind of faith in the Bible. For example, in Acts 5:15-16, we see that the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people in Solomon’s Colonnade. As a result, more and more men and women believed in the Lord. People brought the sick and even those tormented by evil spirits into the streets and laid on them on beds and mats, so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by, and all of them were healed. And similar things happened through Apostle Paul. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. Even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” (Acts 19:10-11)

Many people are interested in miracles themselves or people who do miracles, not Jesus, who is the ultimate source of healing. Even though her knowledge of faith might not be perfect, the woman in the passage believed that Jesus could heal her, and Jesus honored her faith, and after experiencing such miraculous healing, she wanted to disappear from the site without anyone knowing it, even Jesus. But Jesus didn’t allow her to go away.

Look at verses 45-46. Realizing the power has gone out from him, Jesus suddenly stopped in the middle of the street and asked, “Who touched me?” “Who touched me?” Looking around he said, “Who touched me?” Everyone stopped and remained silent. When they all denied it, Simon Peter answered, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” (45) He was saying “Everyone is touching you. I touched you too. And yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Of course, Jesus who is all knowing cannot be wondering who touched him because he was not sure. He knew exactly who touched him. He knew that it had been a different touch, the touch made by the faith of someone whose suffering was deep and very painful.

Why would this woman come to Jesus and touch only the edge of his cloak and slip away? One of the main reasons is that she was not supposed to touch anybody. She was considered ceremonially unclean by the Law of Moses. Nobody was supposed to touch her, and she was not supposed to touch anybody, not even to mingle in a crowd. But she not only mingled in the crowd but also touched Jesus’ cloak. Thus, she violated Moses’ law and defiled the entire community. Even though she acted by faith, she also violated Moses’ law. Apparently, she wanted to slip away because she didn’t want anyone to know what she did was against the law of God. Therefore, her heart must have sunk when she heard Jesus saying “Who touched me?” She also realized that she could not go unnoticed when she heard Jesus saying, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” She came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. It was a challenging and embarrassing moment when she was forced to confess.

Why would Jesus do such a thing to this poor lady? Why didn’t he let her go unnoticed as she wished? Was it because Jesus was insensitive? Of course not. It’s because Jesus wanted her to experience more than physical healing. I now many of us suffer because of allergy. It’s very irritating experience. So we can imagine how much she suffered because of her chronic bleeding problem. I am not sure of all the symptoms of her bleeding, but she must have felt that she was always unclean. It was not something that she could control or be careful about. She had to feel uncomfortable, inconvenient and very embarrassing. Her health was at great risk due to excessive loss of blood. According to Mark’s account, she had spent all her money on doctors who could not cure her, and her condition had only gotten worse. She had suffered a lot emotionally, physically, mentally, socially, spiritually and financially. She had to bear enormous pain, suffering and public embarrassment. Her life was completely ruined. She had no hope. But now she was healed. She could say, “What more could I ask?” What a great relief!

Yet, this was not enough for Jesus. Unlike Jairus, a powerful man in society, she was nobody. She was poor, lonely, powerless, sick and oppressed. Even if she was healed biologically, she needed a lot more than biological healing for her happiness. Jesus wanted to restore the wholeness of her life by healing her emotionally, psychologically, socially, spiritually and even financially. Jesus wanted to see the glory of God fully restored in her life so that she could smile, relate to others, and be restored to her family and the community, to do something meaningful for others, and be fully alive. She needed to stand up boldly in order to experience further and complete healing in her life. I am sure that Jesus knew that she had enough faith to receive this new kind of challenge. It was never intended to embarrass or discourage her. It was to restore the dignity and sanctity of her life in God. When she confessed why she touched him and what had happened, Jesus blessed her by saying, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

When Jesus said to her “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace!”, he wasn’t just saying “good bye.” He was blessing her with his wholesome and peaceful presence all the days of her life through her faith. Colossians 2:6-10 reads, “So then, just as you received Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness… For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness of Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.”

Here we learn that the restoration of the wholeness in us is not just a one-time event, but a lifelong process of God’s salvation, which we call “sanctification.” The wholeness of God is God’s gift and the work of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in us through our faith. That’s what God’s grace is all about. Jesus the Son of God is our beautiful Savior and the Healer of our soul. In order to heal us completely, Jesus was wounded in our place. He is the wounded healer. 1 Peter 2:24 reads, “Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

Look at verse 49. While Jesus was still speaking with the woman, Jairus must have been challenged and encouraged by Jesus’ healing of this chronically ill person. But someone came from his house with a devastating message. “Your daughter is dead. Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” The message indicated that Jesus who might have been able to heal a sick child was not able to do anything when she was dead. At this point, Jairus could have lost his faith in Jesus and burst into tears and said, “Oh, my poor child. If Jesus were a little more mindful of my daughter, he could have hurried so that my daughter wouldn’t have to die.” We understand Jairus’ situation. Sometimes, we are challenged by God’s delayed answer to our prayers. Instead of waiting on God’s timing, we fall into doubt and become bitter, anxious and fearful. But we need to keep trusting in the Lord. That’s why Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and your daughter will be healed.” (50) I remember one old gospel song I used to enjoy many years ago, composed by John W. Peterson. “I just keep trusting my Lord as I walk along. I just keep trusting my Lord and he gives a song. Through the storm clouds darken the sky o’er the heavenly trail. I just keep trusting my Lord, He will never fail. He’s a faithful friend, such a faithful friend. I can count on Him to the very end. Though the storms clouds darken the sky o’er the heavenly trail. I just keep trusting my Lord, He will never fail.”

Look at verses 51-53. When Jesus arrived at Jairus’ house, already a lot of people, probably Jairus’ neighbors, friends and relatives wailing and mourning for her. Jesus did not let anyone go with him into the room where the girl was laid, except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. He told those who were wailing and mourning to stop wailing because she was not dead but asleep. The people laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

Look at verses 54-55. Inside the room were only Jesus, his three top disciples and the girl’s parents. Jesus took her by the hand and said, perhaps in a very soft voice, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. She probably didn’t even realize that she had died. She just thought that she was sick, had fallen into a deep sleep for a while and woken up. Then Jesus told the parents to give her something to eat, knowing that she was very hungry. The fact that she felt hungry and could eat food reveals that she was fully alive. In both cases, Jairus’ daughter and the woman who had been bleeding, Jesus showed how he cares for the whole person. We are body, mind and soul. We are also physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual beings. When we care for someone, we need to take care of the whole person. Not one person might be able to provide for all the needs of others. But we can work together in Jesus Christ. Look at verse 56. Her parents were astonished because they knew that she was dead and now her spirit returned. “Who is this man” they thought, “that he can raise the dead?” But Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. It was an odd command, but Jesus’ point was that he did not want unnecessary attention to his miracles.

People would have to decide whether they would accept Jesus as their Messiah or not, when he suffered and died on the cross. Would they still welcome him as they did when they see him rejected and crucified on the cross? Would they still shout “Yes, we can!” when he shed his blood and died? This is the mystery of the gospel and the power of God in Jesus. Jesus came to save us from our sins through his death on the cross. Through his death on the cross, he made the immeasurable grace of God available for us so that we can be healed from all our wounds, pains and brokenness. His healing continues in us through the Holy Spirit, and it does not end with us. His healing extends to the community of people and all the nations of the world. (Rev 22:2)

People are broken, relationships are broken, and communities and nations are broken. A lot healing needs to be done. Most of all, each of us needs constant healing through Jesus emotionally, psychologically, socially and spiritually. We also need to provide whole person healing for others. How is it possible? Healing comes from God in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The healing started when Jesus cried out on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” We need faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit who are working together for the healing of each person, community and the world. Jesus is our Savior, Lord and the wounded healer. Let us remember Jesus’ words to the woman and Jairus, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (48) and “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” (50)