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DON’T BE AFRAID; JUST BELIEVE

Luke 8:40-56, Key Verse: 8:50

 “Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.’”

Last week, we learned that Jesus values one person’s soul more than millions of dollars by driving out numerous demons out of a possessed man. I believe Jesus also drove all the demons out of our heart and soul. In Jesus we are not demon-possessed or sin-possessed anymore, but we are possessed by Jesus’ unending love and grace, which gives us the true joy and peace forever. In today’s passage, Jesus helps two very different people: Jairus, a man of standing in the community, and a nameless woman. Though they make a great contrast in their social position, they are both helpless before the storms of life but, they came to Jesus by faith. Then Jesus builds a personal relationship with each of them, and helps them to experience and improve the quality of their faith. Ultimately Jesus blesses each of them, revealing his power to heal diseases and even raise the dead. Let us pray that that we can also learn to come to Jesus by faith with our personal struggles, and listen to Jesus saying, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

First, Jairus came and fell at Jesus’ feet (40-42a).

Look at verse 40. “Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.” As we learned from last week, Jesus and his disciples were on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. The initial plan was to rest and enjoy the free time. However, it turned into a time of spiritual training through the storm at the sea. And what happened after? When they finally crossed the sea, who was waiting for them? The demon-possessed man. Yes, and this meant no rest but hard work. With his almighty power and authority Jesus drove out all the demons and gave the man a new life and its purpose. As you can see from verse 40, people honored and followed Jesus with their heart and strength. Why? Of course, Jesus fed them with bread, and healed their sicknesses. But that wasn’t all. It was because Jesus truly loved them as sheep without a shepherd. He had taught them the word of God and healed their sicknesses. He called them by their names and embraced them as they were. Because Jesus first loved them, they now began to love Jesus. They had been longing for Jesus’ return. They couldn’t live a day without Jesus because Jesus was the biggest part of their lives. Here we need to check up our hearts towards Jesus. Are we longing for Jesus? When Jesus goes to another town, are we eagerly waiting or are we just happy? The fact is that Jesus is always with us. But the problem is that we have the attitude that does not appreciate Jesus’ love for us. So we shout out to Jesus, “What do want with me, Jesus? I beg you, don’t bother me! Don’t torture me!” like a demon possessed man. Let us repent and start loving him because he first loved us with everything. I pray that we may long and yearn for Jesus to know him better in our lives.

Look at verses 41-42a. “Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.” Among so many who gathered around Jesus, there was a man who was rushing to come out to Jesus, and falling at his feet. His names was Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue. He must’ve been an exemplary figure in the society as a faithful leader. In his life, many people might have come to him to be advised or counseled. But this time, he had a serious and urgent problem that made him feel helpless. His only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As an only daughter, she probably received so much love from her parents and so many people. She was provided with everything she’d ever wanted because she was the joy of Jairus’ life. My mother also is an only daughter with 2 older and 2 younger brothers. And she was treated like a princess especially by my grandfather. Though Jairus struggled hard in the world, and faced many troubles, when he saw his daughter smiling, all his agonies of life was gone and wide smiles entered him. But now she was dying.

When his precious daughter became sick, Jairus was really troubled. He went to many doctors and tried his best to find a cure for her. But she wasn’t getting better. Rather, she was slowly dying. Jairus began to tremble with fear. He felt that he was losing everything. Then he remembered Jesus that he had healed many kinds of sicknesses. When he remembered, he found hope again in Jesus. So he decided to and did come to Jesus.

Jairus did not come to Jesus as a synagogue ruler with high social position and stiffed neck. He came to Jesus as the father of a dying daughter. He fell at Jesus’ feet and pleaded with Jesus to come to his house. Jairus was a humble man. He knelt down before Jesus. This is very unusual for a synagogue ruler to approach Jesus in this kind of manner. The Pharisees were always against Jesus because their hearts were hardened. They despised Jesus, and never stopped plotting to get rid of Him in those times. However to Jairus, it did not matter to him. When Jairus came to Jesus for help, he was willing to sacrifice anything to gain Jesus’ favor. He had a true shepherd’s heart for his daughter. He was willing to lay down his own life to save his daughter. Jesus was moved by his heart and went with him.

Here we must know that Jairus was a good father before becoming a man of faith. He loved his daughter more than his own life. This father’s heart motivated him to come to Jesus, and humbly ask Jesus at the cost of his future career. And Jesus was pleased with a heart of a good father. How can we be good fathers? People say that you can never understand the heart of the father until you physically become one. I don’t think that’s true. We can also become good fathers and mothers when we love our friends, brothers, and sisters selflessly. By loving them genuinely with our sincere heart and life, we can become good fathers and mothers.

Our Father God is a good Father. When we were dying in our sins, he did not ignore us. He looked on us with great compassion. He sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. Our Father God loved us more than himself, even more than his one and only Son. This is a Father’s heart. JBF is praying for the feast of invitation night on next Saturday. I know we are trying our best to invite your friends. But let us pray that we can have a true shepherd heart for them, and be willing to share the good news of Jesus with them rather than sharing worldly friendship and social gathering. May God help us to be good fathers and mothers for our sheep and many people who do not know about their heavenly Father.

Second, Jesus heals a woman completely (42b-48).

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. Have you been to any places like this? To a concert or sports game? When I went to Rutgers Football game, and when I went to Boston Red shocks game, it took me hours to get out from the stadium, and come back home. When people were surrounding Jesus, He couldn’t move forward. And it was hard for Jairus to watch Jesus’ slow progress. Jairus wanted to shout, “Do you know who I am? Get out of the way, and make a way for Jesus. My daughter is dying, you people!” But everyone in the crowded wanted to see Jesus, and receive his healing touch. And here appears a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years (43). To this nameless woman, her bleeding problem was critical. It made her smelly and weak all the time for twelve years. It robbed her beauty. Moreover, it made her socially “unclean” according to the law of Moses (Lev 15:25-31). For twelve long years, this woman had suffered from a bleeding problem. She must have tried everything for a cure. But no one could heal her. Now she stayed in her room, in the darkness with no hope, no life.

I also have had an experience of fatal skin disease that made my life so miserable. More than half of my body was covered with bloody rash, and the pain and itchiness was simply torturing and unbearable. In order to sleep, I had to take peels, and also suffered from the side effect of medicines. I visited many doctors: Korean, Chinese, and American. And they had no solution for me. And I realized that I was in trouble. If doctors, who were supposed to perform a magic on me have no clue for a cure, then what in the world am I going to do? Then I realized that I had been forgetting about my God. With no other way to turn around, my knees hit floor and I began to pray. I went to God not because I loved him so much but because I had nowhere else to go. Although I was so stubborn and rebellious, God blessed my heart, and healed me. And more importantly, He taught me a life lesson.

When the woman with bleeding problem hit the rock bottom of her life, she heard about Jesus, and decided to come to Him. This woman came up behind Jesus in a very sneaky and somewhat disrespectful way. But she had to make a life-giving effort to get near Jesus. Even coming out to Jesus itself required of her great faith. She came to Jesus overcoming her weak body, social restrictions and fatalism. When she reached him, she touched the edge of his cloak. And what happened? Immediately her bleeding stopped. By one touch of Jesus’ cloak, she was healed. By one touch of Jesus, her twelve years of suffering was ended.

Now she was healed physically, but she was still sick spiritually. Although she believed Jesus could heal her, she had neither glorified Jesus nor given thanks to him. She wanted to use Jesus for her own benefit and almost ran away. She was selfish. How then, did Jesus help her to receive spiritual healing?

The woman’s idea was to touch Jesus, receive healing, and go away quietly without being noticed. She turned away, starting to depart. Suddenly, Jesus’ voice rang out, “Who touched me?” To others it seemed a ridiculous question. People denied, “No, it wasn’t me!” Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” “Come on Jesus, let’s get going.” But they did not understand Jesus. Jesus was not referring to a mere physical touch. Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Jesus was very sensitive to the touch of faith. Jesus wanted the woman who had been healed to come forward. Why? It was to make a personal relationship with her. Only a personal relationship with Jesus could heal her spiritually and completely.

So, what happened between this woman and Jesus? Look at verse 47. “Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, 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.” Jesus insisted that she come forward and make a confession. She may have confessed: “I suffered from bleeding for twelve years. No one could heal me. But when I touched your garment I was healed. Thank you, Jesus! Thank you!”

Then Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Jesus called her “Daughter.” She was no longer a nameless woman. She became a daughter of Jesus Christ. She was not only healed from her physical infirmity, she was healed spiritually as well. So many people were crowding over Jesus, and probably touched Jesus’ clothes and even his face. But this woman’s touch was different because it was a touch of faith. Indeed, her testimony glorified Jesus as the one who heals all kinds of diseases. Through sharing her testimony of life changing experience, she now set free, and could start living a new life. Now Jesus was happy with her. So he said, “Your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

Here we learn that Jesus is willing to make stops to heal us and help us build personal relationship with us. Among us are those who have received Jesus’ grace, but have never glorified Jesus nor given thanks to him. So we do not have personal relationship with him, but a superficial and habitual one. May God help us to open our hearts before him, and confess with our testimonies so that we can glorify Jesus’ name, and build personal and intimate relationship with Him.

Third, “Don’t be afraid; just believe” (49-56)

Look at verse 49. “While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. ‘Your daughter is dead,’ he said. ‘Don’t bother the teacher any more.’” When Jairus was concerned for his daughter, a messenger from his house came to him with a tragic news; “your daughter is dead.” And to Jairus, death was the end of everything. In this crisis, only words of faith could be a help to Jairus.

Look at verse 50. “Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.’” While healing the woman with the bleeding problem, Jesus seemed to pay all his attention to her as if she were the only person in the world. But Jesus was fully aware of Jairus’ situation and his inner struggle. Jesus knew that Satan was attacking Jairus, trying to occupy his heart through fear. He said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” Jesus taught Jairus what to do: “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” And Jesus promised him that his daughter will be healed. And we must remember that Jesus’ promise never fails to be true.

We also face many of these troubles in our daily life. It might not be involving someone’s death or sicknesses. But we come to face the storms our lives that requires us the personal faith in Jesus. In the storms, the Satan takes his chance, and tries his best to destroy us completely with a message, “your daughter is dead. Don’t bother Jesus anymore.” What will you do? We must listen to what Jesus says to us. He tells us, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, I promise you a victory.” Don’t listen to the Satan saying, “You have no hope. Look at you. You have no chance. Forget it. Look at the reality.” Do not listen to that! Do not look at the reality but look at Jesus, who changes reality with his power and love. When we do so, by faith you will experience something you never have experienced before, and your faith will increase in Jesus.

Jesus finally arrived at the house of Jairus. He went into the house with Peter, John and James and the child’s father and mother. All the people were wailing and mourning outside. The spirit of death was hovering over the house. Jesus said, “Stop wailing. She is not dead but asleep.” It was time for all of them to learn faith in Jesus. But they laughed at Jesus. They knew the reality: she was dead. But Jesus took the girl by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Then her spirit returned and at once she stood up. Jesus has power to raise the dead! Jesus has power to raise our dead spirit and heart, too! To Jesus, death is like a sweet nap in the afternoon. To Jesus there is no reason to be afraid of death. Faith in Jesus gives us victory over the power of death. There is nothing like the power of Jesus in the world. But we only hold on to the power of the world, which gives us no victory, no life whatsoever. I pray that we may listen and obey Jesus’ word, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” When we do so, we will be able experience the rise of death in our spiritual life.

In this passage we learn that Jesus has power to heal any disease and even power to raise the dead. We must come to Jesus by faith with our personal problems. Then Jesus helps us experience and grow in faith. We should not avoid faith training thinking that it involves our whole heart and mind. But ask yourselves. Do you want to live in the power of death? As a slave of sin? With no light, no life? Or do you want to live like you are really living? I pray that we can live like we are living! Let’s remember Jesus’ words in all circumstances, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”