Transcript

The Barcelona Olympics of 1992 provided one of track and field’s most incredible moments. Britain’s Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race, and his dream was in sight as the gun sounded in the semi-finals at Barcelona.

He was running the race of his life, but as he was running down the backstretch 250 meters into the race, suddenly he felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg. He dropped to his knee onto the track with a torn right hamstring.

As the medical attendants approached, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was instinct,” he would say later. He set out hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race.

When he reached the final turn, a large man in a T-shirt came out of the stands, hurled aside a security guard and ran to Redmond, embracing him.

It was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. “You don’t have to do this,” he told his weeping son. “Yes, I do,” said Derek. “Well, then,” said Jim, “we’re going to finish this together.”

And they did. Fighting off security men, the son’s head sometimes buried in his father’s shoulder, they walked down the stretch, all the way to the end, finishing in Derek’s lane, as the crowd gasped, then rose and cheered and wept.

Derek didn’t walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his child in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.

In life, when we are experiencing pain, and we’re struggling to finish the race, we know that we have a loving Father in heaven who won’t let us do it alone, and is there for us always.

The heart of love of a father for their child is also seen in the account of Jairus leaving home and pushing through the crowd to seek help from the Lord to save his daughter.

Mark 5:21-24 reads, “And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.

“And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.”

The Lord here had just delivered the man in Gadara from the legion of demons that possessed him and sent them into the swine. Following this miracle, the people in that area of Decapolis asked the Lord to leave, and the Lord obliged their request.

So from a cold shoulder in Decapolis, Christ returned to a warm welcome from a multitude on the other side of the Sea of Galilee in Capernaum.

Luke 8:40 says “when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received Him: for they were all waiting for Him.”

When they stepped off the boat, Mark tells us here that a large crowd gathered around Him “nigh unto the sea” or on the seashore.

Making his way through this crowd was a man who was especially anxious to see the Lord: Jairus. Jairus was an important synagogue officer,

Verse 22 tells us that Jairus was “one of the rulers of the synagogue.” This means he was a part of a group of men who were the caretakers, overseers, and administrators of synagogue life.

They cared for the synagogue facility and had oversight and supervision over the synagogue’s activities, and they were much like elders within the local church.

The man who received this honor and held this position would be a man who was well-respected, a spiritually-minded man, a man of devotion and mature leadership.

The synagogue was the center of Jewish culture and life at that time, and this man, Jairus, would have been well-known in the community.

Also well-known in that community was the fact that Christ had done many notable miracles in Capernaum. He had healed the paralytic that was lowered through the roof, and he healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Mark 1:34 further states that in Capernaum “He healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils.”

Also, Christ had taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and cast out a demon from a man who was present at that service. And it’s very possible that Jairus was present for this miracle and that this was the synagogue where he was one of the rulers.

In the hour of his extreme need, Jairus had been waiting and watching on the beaches of Capernaum for Christ to return to their city.

And as soon as the Lord stepped on to the shore, he boldly came forward to Christ. Seeing Him, Jairus then cast aside all pride and threw himself down, and “he fell at his feet.”

After he fell at his feet, Luke 8:41 states, “and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house.” This community leader pleaded at Christ’s feet, begging Him to make the short journey to his home.

The anxious father came to Christ with a problem no one could solve, and one that every parent fears, and doesn’t even like to let themselves think about.

Verse 23 says that Jairus “besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.”

Jairus was a desperate parent, a grieving father, begging for a gift at Christ’s feet.

In his pleading with the Lord, Jairus didn’t negotiate or barter with Him. There was no “You do this for me, and I’ll do this for you.” He just begs.

And there are times in life when anything and everything we could possibly offer to the Lord is nothing compared to what we are asking to receive. And Jairus is at this point when he begged the Lord for his daughter to live and not die.

Jairus’s posture and his words revealed his humility, his need, his desperation, as well as his faith. He fully believed that Christ could heal his dying daughter.

Luke 8:42 gives us the additional details that Jairus “had one only daughter, about twelve years of age.” Jairus’s daughter was his one and only child. And the young girl was only twelve years old. It was a time in a girl’s life that should have been filled with joy, hope, and anticipation, but she was very ill and at the point of death.

Without a word, the Lord immediately set out for Jairus’s house. As He followed Jairus, the large throng of people that met the Lord on the seashore also followed along.

Thus, the Lord followed Jairus against a crush of people surrounding Him, moving in the middle of a mass pressing in on Him as He went.

And we can imagine that Jairus’s heart must have been pounding out of his chest at his excitement and anticipation that his daughter would be well soon when they reached his house.

Mark 5:35-37: “While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.”

On the way to Jairus’s house, there was an interruption. A woman with an issue of blood, grabbed the Lord’s garment and was immediately made whole of a disease that she had been suffering with for 12 years.

The Lord had stopped, turned around, and asked “Who touched My clothes?” The woman came forward and the Lord commended the woman for her faith.

In verse 35, while Christ spoke to the woman concerning her healing, messengers come from Jairus’s house, giving him the sad news that his daughter had died.

And of course, Jairus’s heart sank when he heard this. The messengers express hopelessness at this point. They say, “Why trouble the Master anymore?”

Since the little girl had already died, the messengers saw no reason for the Lord to trouble Himself with continuing to Jairus’ house.

The messengers expressed what everybody thought that day, that it’s too late, that so long as she was “at the point of death” there was hope, but not now. Sickness was one thing, death was another.

The Lord heard what was said, and according to Luke 8:50, the Lord then immediately reassured Jairus, telling him, “Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.”

Mark records the Lord’s words as “Be not afraid, only believe.” Christ wanted Jairus to replace his fear with faith. He wanted Jairus to trust Him.

Jairus was called to believe the word of Christ. Everything else told him the situation was hopeless, but Christ and His word brought hope.

And that’s how it is with the Word of God, we are called to replace our fear with faith in Christ and His Word which brings hope, true hope.

Christ took control at this point. The first thing the Lord did was to permit no one to follow Him, except Peter, James, and John. Christ left the crowd behind, even leaving the majority of the disciples, taking only Peter, James, and John with Him.

This is the first time Christ gave them exclusive access to a special event in His ministry, and it would not be the last, such as at the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1).

Not allowing the crowd or all the disciples to accompany Him to the house was also most likely done by the Lord out of respect for the family, so as to not overwhelm the house and the grieving family with the people accompanying Him.

Mark 5:38-40: And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

“And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.”

When Christ, Jairus, Peter, James and John get to the house, the house was filled with people, and it was also filled with commotion and noise, with the anguished cries of people who were weeping, lamenting, wailing loudly.

Now this is a different kind of funeral than we’re used to. In our culture funerals are not noisy, chaotic, or loud.

Typically, when we go to a funeral, people talk quietly in whispers. The music is soft and mellow. We conduct funerals in a somber way in the western world.

But that was not how they did it in the eastern world back then or even now. In Christ’s time, they expressed their grief loudly, with wailing and moaning. It was common for people to tear their clothes out of their grief.

There was also musical accompaniment to this loud mourning. In Matthew’s account of this miracle, he wrote, “And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels [or flute players] and the people making a noise.”

Their agony and mourning were amplified, not shrouded in silence. Oftentimes professional mourners were even hired to add to the atmosphere of grief and pain.

When Christ came to this house, there was “a tumult” verse 38 says. It was tumultuous from the mixture of great wailing and loud crying along with musical instruments being played in the midst of it all. It was a chaotic and noisy scene.

But Christ was troubled by this uproar. When you put the three records together of what the Lord said in response to it, Mark says that the Lord asked them all: “Why make ye this ado, and weep?” or “Why are you making such a commotion and wailing loudly?”

Luke 8:52 records that the Lord said, “Weep not.” And Matthew 9:24 tells us that the Lord said, “Give place” or “Make room” or even “Go away.”

Putting this all together, the Lord said, “Why are you making such a commotion and crying so loud? Stop weeping and go away.”

And if that didn’t shock them, He then added the reason why, “the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” To Christ, this funeral was over, with His Life and power being in the presence of death, who has authority over it. This young girl was not going to stay dead in His presence. And so they needed to stop this uproar and loud crying, and return home.

Now the little girl was dead. Luke says that “her spirit came again” or returned to her body when the Lord raised her (Luke 8:55).

And James 2:26 defines death as: “the body without the spirit is dead.” So for her spirit to return, it had departed, and she had died.

But from Christ’s perspective and viewpoint, she was only sleep. When we see death, we see a permanent tragedy. When Christ, who is God, sees death, however, He sees sleep, something impermanent, just like sleep is.

And Christ said for this girl, her death is just sleep, it’s temporary. This is not a permanent state. And it was very temporary for her because He, the Resurrection and the Life, was in the presence of death, and He was going to raise her.

By saying she was sleeping, Christ defined the death of the body as only a temporary condition, that it is not a permanent thing, because He is the One who will raise all bodies from the dead one day.

Sleep is a temporary disconnect. And I think we all wish the “temporary” part of it would last a little longer some nights when we don’t get enough sleep. It’s like the guy who said, “Last night, I slept like a baby; I woke up every two hours crying.”

Death for a believer is the disconnect, the release of the soul and spirit into the presence of the Lord, but the body sleeps temporarily until the day of resurrection.

Death is described as sleep by Christ, and in other Scriptures, because the death of the body, like sleep, is a temporary state with the body waiting to be awoken and raised on resurrection day.

At the Lord’s statement of the young girl only sleeping, the mourners “laughed him to scorn,” laughing in a sarcastic mocking derision of Him and His words. The construction of the words in the original Greek means that they laughed Him to scorn and kept it up.

Their ongoing laughter was due to a remark they considered to be showing ignorance.

They knew a dead body when they saw one. They knew the girl had died, and like every other dead body, they fully believed she would stay dead.

Unbelief can cause one to laugh at God’s Word, but faith lays hold of it and its truths and promises and experiences God’s power, hope, and joy.

We also see here how quickly this crowd at the house went from weeping and wailing to laughing and ridicule. This shows the presence of the hired, professional mourners, who weren’t really grieving. And their fake act was now over.

Christ’s response to the laughing ridicule of His words was decisive and strong. He had already told them all to “Go away,” but they had not left, so then Christ “put them all out.”

These words mean that the Lord drove them out, cast them out, and expelled them from the house.

In the original Greek, the words used here for “put them all out” are the same words used to describe what the Lord did to the moneychangers in the temple, and also what the Lord did when casting out demons. It’s driving someone out with force.

Christ cleared them all out, and He emptied that house.

After running out the noisy group of people, in the silence following this, Christ in His tender love and mercy turned His attention to the bereaved, to the grieving parents.

And “he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.”

The Lord, Jairus and his wife, and Peter, James and John, all entered the room together where the young girl’s lifeless body was lying.

Mark 5:41-43: “And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

“And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.”

Now inside the room, the parents in pain and weeping at the sight, the Lord approached the girl. And with much care, He first took the child by the hand.

Jairus had begged the Lord to lay His hands on her to heal her, and out of Christ’s love and with much tenderness He did, as He held her small cold hand in His.

And then the Lord spoke gently and kindly to her, and said, “Talitha cumi [taleethah, koomee]; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.”

And in Luke’s record, it says, “And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway.” Mark says, “And straightway the damsel arose, and walked.”

Immediately her spirit returned, instantly she was alive; she took a deep breath, her life, soul, spirit came back, her eyes fluttered open, and without hesitation, she sat up, stood up, and then she walked around the room.

“Talitha cumi” (taleethah, koomee) was the same phrase a parent might’ve used in that day to wake and get their children up in the morning: Little girl, get up.

It’s what was heard on early mornings in homes all around Israel, with parents calling out to their sleeping daughters, “talitha cumi,” time to get up, time to arise out of bed.

And like the Lord said, the girl was sleeping, so He simply woke her body out of the sleep of death, and she got out of bed. By His infinite authority and power, her spirit returned to her body, and this young girl was raised from death.

I told this story to our children years ago when they were very young. Shortly after this, my daughter, Carissa, asked me: “Dad tell us the story again of when Jesus raised the little girl by saying, “Tabitha puma.” And now I can’t think of this story without thinking of “Tabitha puma.”

The Lord told the girl to arise, and she obeyed and got up. The girl not only came back to life but was also completely healed of the sickness that had caused her death.

And she felt so good, that like a typical 12-year-old, she couldn’t sit still, so she got out of bed and walked all around the room. The Greek word for “walked” is what we get our English word “peripatetic” from.

And that term speaks of someone that never sits down, they walk around all the time, they are in motion, moving and walking here and there, all over, from place to place.

And that’s what this little girl was doing: walking all around, here, there and everywhere in that house. She had all the normal strength and energy of a 12-year-old. She was alive, healthy, and at full strength.

And of course, everyone in that room, Jairus, Mrs. Jairus, Peter, James and John, were all “astonished with a great astonishment.” Astonished here speaks of “standing outside oneself,” or literally to be beside oneself.

They were blown away and speechless, overcome with amazement. They were in shock, trying to process exactly what had happened.

This was inexplicable. This just doesn’t happen. This just doesn’t happen unless they were in the presence of God Almighty, Who alone has the power to give life to the dead.

The parents’ mourning suddenly turned into a great celebration. And there was an exhilarating joy and love flowing between all of them in this family, and we can be sure they were shouting and hugging one another through tears of joy.

And one day, because of Christ, there will be no more death, no more separation from our believing loved ones, and there will be only joy, forever together in Christ’s presence.

In verse 43, we see Christ lovingly instructing the astounded parents to give her some food. Twelve-year-olds are usually hungry. The parents were still stunned and in shock.

No one even thought of giving her something to eat. And we see Christ even attending to this girl’s simplest need for food and nourishment. You could say that Christ ordered her a “happy meal.” And her restored appetite showed her complete return to health.

Then lastly, Christ gave the parents strict orders in verse 43, to not tell anybody about this. Christ had done this with previous miracles also (1:44; 3:12).

The command to keep the miracle a secret was a temporary measure, because the girl’s reappearance could not be hidden for very long. Such an order, however, would allow the Lord to exit the area quietly.

Our Lord also did not want to be known primarily as a miracle worker lest people seek Him for the wrong reasons and not listen to His teachings concerning the kingdom.

And as word got out from a miracle like this, the resulting crowds of curiosity seekers would hinder His ministry and make it more difficult for the Lord to move freely about.

And finally, an outstanding miracle like this could have escalated more quickly the fear and hatred of His enemies, the scribes and Pharisees.

This could have resulted in them having to do something to stop this threat, and in premature action against Him, they might come after Him to try to kill Him.

But He wasn’t going to be delivered to death on their timetable but on the Father’s timetable at God’s time in God’s place and in God’s manner, which was the Cross.

Think about this young girl, all the rest of her life, Jairus’s daughter was a witness to the power, grace, and glory of Jesus Christ.

And the same is true of us, through our salvation, that we too are a witness to Christ’s power, grace, and glory in saving us and giving us life.

The raising of a dead body also demonstrates Christ’s power to raise a soul that is dead in sin into new life. And that’s what Christ has done for us.

Outside of Christ we were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). But when we believe the simple gospel message that Christ died for our sins and rose again, Ephesians 2:5 says, “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened [or made us alive] together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).”

And like this young girl was raised and immediately began to walk all around, we have been “raised to walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).