#66 Lu. 8:40-50  COMING TO JESUS FOR HELP

Introduction:

    Over on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee Jesus had cast a legion
of demons out of a man.  The demons entered into a herd of swine and the
swine drowned themselves.  The people of that area asked Jesus to leave.
    When He got back to Capernaum He found a much better reaction by the
people.  V. 40, "And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the
people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him."  In our text
we see two particular people come to Jesus for help.

I.  Jairus coming to the Lord for help

    Jairus was one of those who came to Jesus for help.  V. 41, "And,
behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the
synagogue..."
    Jairus was the last person in the world we would expect to come to Jesus
for help.  He was a ruler in the synagogue at Capernaum.  This is a
synagogue where Jesus was once most welcome.  He had attended this synagogue
regularly when He was in Capernaum for nearly three years.  He had been a
regular speaker in this synagogue during all this time.
    But the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem had visited there and stirred up
opposition to Jesus. They were present there when Jesus had healed a man
with a withered hand on the sabbath day.  They had accused Him of breaking
the sabbath, which if he had been found guilty would have required the death
penalty.  They must have also left orders that Jesus was not to be the
speaker there any more.
    Regardless of how Jairus might personally feel about Jesus, it would be
dangerous for him to favor Jesus any more.  It would put him in danger of
reprisal by his superiors at Jerusalem.  He could lose his job and he just
might even lose his life.
    So Jesus was no longer welcome in this synagogue.  He would not be
called on to speak and He was not even welcome to attend services there.
    It therefore comes as a surprise to see the ruler or president of that
synagogue come to Jesus.  It is a special surprise to see him show any
degree of respect and honor toward Jesus.  But show respect he did.  V. 41,
"...and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come
into his house."  Jairus fell at the feet of Jesus and asked Him to come to
his house.  No, he begged Jesus to come to his house.
    Why?  Why would Jairus come to Jesus and why would he beg Jesus to come
to his house?  The answer is that he needed Jesus.  He needed the help of
Jesus.  The problem was that he had a little girl who was sick.  She was
very sick.  His little girl was at the very point of death.  V. 42, "For he
had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying..."
    It was obvious to Jairus that the doctors were not going to help his
daughter.  Unless something else was done and done right soon his daughter
would die.
    Jairus knew Jesus well and was convinced that Jesus could heal his
daughter.  Jesus had spoken many times in the synagogue where he officiated.
He had seen Jesus heal the man with the withered hand right there in the
synagogue.  He knew for certain that Jesus had healed many others in the
city of Capernaum and in the surrounding areas.
    Jairus was now forced to make a choice.  He could please the Jewish
leadership by not calling on Jesus.  If he should choose this route, he was
certain that his daughter would die.    On the other hand, he could choose
to seek help from Jesus and his daughter would live.  That is, if he could
persuade Jesus to come to his house, she would live.  This was the choice
that he faced.
    Jairus chose to come to Jesus for help.  It did not matter to him what
the Jewish leaders thought about him or did to him, his daughter's life was
at stake.  All that mattered to him at this point was that he somehow
persuade Jesus to come to his home to heal his daughter so that she would
live.  So Jairus came to Jesus and unashamedly fell at His feet and begged
Jesus to come to his house and heal his little girl before she should die.

II.  The woman with an issue of blood coming to Jesus for help

    (V. 42), "...But as he went the people thronged him."  Jesus immediately
started to leave and to go with Jairus, but He could not make very rapid
progress.  The great crowd of people thronged in around Him making progress
very slow.  I am sure that this was much to the distress of Jairus who knew
that time was important in getting Jesus to his daughter.
    There was a new problem as far as Jairus was concerned.  There was a
woman in the crowd who also needed the help of Jesus and she had come
seeking the help of Jesus.  This would slow them down even more in their
effort to get to his daughter quickly.
    V. 43-44, "And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had
spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, Came
behind him, and touched the border of his garment..."  This woman was also
in desperate circumstances.  She had had an issue of blood for the past
twelve years.  She had spent all she had on doctor bills.  I think some of
you might can identify with that.  But the doctors had been unable to help
her.  Gradually she had grown weaker and weaker.  She surely must have been
in a very weakened condition at this time.  Death was approaching this woman
just as surely as it was the daughter of Jairus.  Perhaps it would not come
as quickly, but it was just as certain if she did not soon find someone who
could help.
    This woman had come to Jesus for help.  I think that she must have had
to muster all the strength that she had in order to come.  She came to Jesus
to seek His help, but she did not ask Jesus for help.  Rather she came up
behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. She believed that if she
could but touch the hem of His garment that she would be healed.  That is
how much faith she had in Jesus.  (V. 44), "...and immediately her issue of
blood stanched."  The moment she touched the garment of Jesus the issue of
blood stopped.  She could tell that it stopped.  She instantly felt well and
strong.  She was cured and she knew that she was cured.  She intended to
touch the hem of garment and then slip quietly away in the crowd.
    It didn't work out that way.  When the issue of blood stopped Jesus also
stopped.  His forward progress stopped and suddenly He spoke to the crowd.
V. 45, "And Jesus said, Who touched me?..."  I think they must have all been
astounded.  Immediately they began to say, "It wasn't me.  It wasn't me."
Everybody who spoke up denied that it was them and the others were silent.
    The disciples also must have been astounded by this question from Jesus.
(V. 45), "...When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said,
Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who
touched me?"  They just could not believe that with that many people pressed
so close in around Him that Jesus would make an issue out of who touched
Him.  It could have been any number of them.  And indeed, it may have been a
number of them as far as physical touching was concerned.  But there was
somebody who touched Him in a different way.  There was somebody who touched
Him with the touch of faith.
    V. 46, "And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that
virtue is gone out of me."  I can envision the scene.  When Jesus stopped
the woman was at His back.  But as he inquired about who touched Him He
turned slowly around letting His eyes look into the faces of those nearest
to Him.  Finally He turned enough that He was face to face with her and His
eyes had stopped and were gazing directly into her's.  His gaze did not
continue to move on, it just stopped right on her.
    She could tell that she was discovered.  She could tell that Jesus knew
that it was her.  V. 47, "And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she
came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before
all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed
immediately."  There was no point in denying it further by her silence.
Like Jairus, she fell at the feet of Jesus.  She acknowledged before all
that she had touched Him and why.  She told them about the issue of blood.
She told them how long she had been afflicted and that she had spent all her
money on doctors.  She told them that immediately when she had touched the
garment of Jesus that she had been healed.
    She was very joyful that she was healed, but she was also afraid.
According to the law of Moses she was ceremonially unclean.  Furthermore it
was against the law of Moses for her to be in a crowd of people where she
might accidentally touch someone.  Anyone she might touch would also be
ceremonially unclean.  This was the reason she had not spoken to Jesus about
her ailment and asked Him to heal her.  This was why she had secretly
touched Him with the intention of saying nothing about it to anyone.  She
had broken the law of Moses and she was afraid of the consequences.
    Jesus did not rebuke the woman as she, no doubt, expected that He would.
Rather He comforted her.  V. 48, "And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good
comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace."
    There is one thing that you might wonder about right here.  What about
Jesus?  Did He not become ceremonially unclean by the touch of this woman?
The answered to that question is, "No."  She was unclean the moment before
she touched Him.  But the instant that she touched Him she was clean.

III.  Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus

    I am quite sure that all of this while when Jesus was talking to the
crowd and while He was talking to the woman that Jairus was on pins and
needles.  All that he wanted the woman to do was to get out of the way and
stop hindering them.  Oh, I feel sure that he was happy for the woman, but
that was not his greatest concern at the moment.  He wanted to get Jesus to
his house before his daughter should die.
    V. 49, While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the
synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the
Master."  While Jesus was still talking to the woman, there came a messenger
from the house of Jairus.  I think the wife of Jairus must have sent this
messenger.  The message was that he need not trouble Jesus by asking that He
come on to their house.  The daughter was already dead.
    Jairus must have been heart sick.  He must have been filled with
despair.  He had believed that if Jesus could heal his daughter, but now
that she was dead he saw no hope.  He had no idea that Jesus could raise her
from the dead.
    It was at this point that Jesus held out to him a message of hope.  Even
yet, even though the daughter was dead, there was still hope.  V. 50, "But
when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and
she shall be made whole."  Jesus made a promise to Jairus.  He promised
Jairus that his daughter would be made whole if he would only believe.
    Jairus was faced with another choice.  He could walk away and go home to
his bereaved family or he could believe the promise that Jesus had made to
him.  If he walked away, he would have to go home and bury his daughter.  If
he chose to believe the promise that Jesus had made then he would take Jesus
on with him to his home.  What would he do?  He took one giant step foreword
in his faith.  He chose to take Jesus with him.
    Jesus then went with Jairus to his home and he raise his daughter back
to life again.  V. 51-56, "And when he came into the house, he suffered no
man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother
of the maiden.  And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she
is not dead, but sleepeth.  And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she
was dead.  And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called,
saying, Maid, arise.  And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway:
and he commanded to give her meat.  And her parents were astonished: but he
charged them that they should tell no man what was done."

IV. People today who need the help of Jesus

    There are a lot of people today who need the help of Jesus.  There are
parents who need the help of Jesus with their children.  The threat of
illness seems to always be present.  There are also other grave dangers.
There are alcohol, drugs, teen pregnancies, prostitution, aids, Satanism,
guns in public schools, drive by shootings and many other such dangers.
    There is the greatest danger of all.  There is the danger of hell fire.
There is the danger of hell for one's self and there is the danger of hell
for the children and grand-children.
    Even after one's children are saved the parents still need the help of
Jesus.  They need the help of the Lord to train up the child in the way he
should go.
    There are young and old alike who are unsaved and who need to come to
the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.  That woman did not wait for someone to
bring her to Jesus.  She saw her need and she came to Jesus all on her own.


Conclusion:
    I am convinced that there is someone here today who needs to come to
Jesus this morning for help.  Maybe it is for salvation.  Maybe it is for a
church home.  Maybe it is for special strength or special guidance in some
matter.