Mark 5:21  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.
22  And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
23  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.
24  And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.

35  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?
36  As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.
37  And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.
38  And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
39  And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
40  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.
41  And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
42  And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
43  And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.

Life is full of challenges. We find there was no shortage of needs while Jesus was on this earth. The people were hungry for help. We hear often that our country has a shortage of doctors and nurses. There are many people who have physical needs. The sad reality during Jesus time as well as our time, is that most people do not recognize the greater spiritual need they have.
In our time we have so-called faith healers who claim they have the power to heal people. If that were true, they should go to the hospitals and empty them out. Jesus did not wait for people to meet some certain condition to heal them. He healed them to demonstrate that He was and is the eternal Son of God. He has power over the physical life as well as the spiritual life. The so-called faith healers cannot fix the physical needs of man, and they certainly cannot fix the spiritual needs of man.
It is high time for those who are saved to be faithful students of God’s Word and help the deceived to see what a true blessing looks like.
We read in our text that Jesus passed over the sea again and on the other side much people were gathered unto Him. People did not wait for Him to get far from the ship before they were coming around Him. In this account there was a ruler of the synagogue who had a daughter that was near death.
In this text, we are given the name of the ruler — Jairus. His name means “whom God enlightens”. This man had come to the right place for help. He needed help for his daughter. We are not told what her sickness was, but she was near death. This was a desperate situation for this family. This man understood the importance of bowing in worship before the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not demand anything from Jesus. He pleaded with Jesus to come to his house.
We do not know how much he knew about Jesus, but in his desperation, he was going to show respect for the Lord. This man trusted that if Jesus would lay His hands on his daughter, she would be healed. Again, we must understand that Jesus did much healing to prove that He was the Messiah and Saviour.
In spite of what the charismatics want to believe, they are not called of God to hold their fraudulent services. New Testament Christians are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the true local church, to preach the Gospel to every creature. Physical healing is not a guaranteed part of the New Testament churches. God can still heal the body and He does that many times. His priority is for people to be saved and know His peace in their hearts. With that in place, the person is prepared to leave this earth and go to heaven one day.
Jesus did not hesitate to follow this man to his house. We read that as He was going, many others thronged Him. The people could not get enough of Him. We know their main attraction was His miracles. Jesus warned about that. They were not very interested in the health of their souls.
We read that as they were travelling to this ruler’s house, another event which we will cover another day, took place.
For today we will skip down to verse 35 and continue with this ruler’s need. In that verse we read that some from the ruler’s house came and told him that his daughter was dead. Jesus had been delayed, and this girl had died. This man told the ruler not to trouble the Master any further. The Greek word translated as “trouble” has the sense of “harassing”. It speaks of being a bother.
This man needed to understand that we can never trouble the Lord Jesus Christ in these things. The Lord Jesus Christ is never too busy to hear the cry of mankind. His priority is to see people saved. That is why He came. Jesus assured this ruler that everything would be fine. Jesus told the man not to be afraid, but rather to believe.
When they arrived at the man’s house, Jesus only allowed Peter, James and John to follow Him into the house. The house was full of people who were there, mourning the loss of this girl. It is quite normal to grieve the death of a loved one. The custom of that time was for people to come to the house and some of them were quite loud in their wailing. In the midst of the grieving there can also be hope if the person who has died was saved. It is also important for the family to be saved so they can look beyond the death.
Today we have many false teachers who will usher just about anyone into heaven with their words. What people need to understand is that man’s words have little power on this earth and they have no power with God. God has declared what is required for salvation. He has also declared what true Biblical salvation looks like. If you want assurance of heaven when you die, you need to pay attention to what God says about getting to heaven.
In verse 39 Jesus spoke to these people about what they were doing. He told them the girl was not dead, but just sleeping. The people had little respect for Jesus. They believed the girl was dead and when Jesus told them otherwise, they broke out into a mocking laughter. They certainly did not know Who Jesus was. Due to their unbelief, Jesus sent them all out of the house. Only the father and mother of the girl were allowed to stay in the house with Jesus and the three disciples.
Jesus took the girl by the hand and commanded her to rise up. Jesus is the giver of physical life and He can take it away as well. He gave this family further opportunity to see their need to trust in Him for their spiritual needs. Those who had laughed Him to scorn, would hear of the healing, but they could not personally witness it because of their lack of faith.
In verse 42 we read that this girl heard the voice of Jesus and rose up immediately. We read that she was twelve years old. Those in the house were astonished at what they had just witnessed. The people were slow to catch on to the power of God.
Jesus commanded them to keep this great news to themselves. He also commanded them to give the girl something to eat. She may not have eaten for a few days prior to this due to her illness. Anyway, she needed something to eat now. This was another evidence that she was alive.
There have been reports of individuals who have claimed to be able to raise the dead. Every report I have read of this, has proven to be fraudulent. True Christians are not looking for the dead to be raised up in this manner today. We are looking for the return of the Lord in the clouds. We are looking for the day when all the New Testament saints will be raised up and taken to heaven. We are told to be busy preaching the Gospel of Christ which is able to save the soul. We can and should pray for the sick and we should also pray for their souls.
Personally, I want to live as long as the Lord has for me on this earth. I want to live as healthy a life as I can during that time. I also understand that this life is short and death is a reality. I want to be ready to meet the Lord. I am thankful for His gift of eternal life that He has given me. I trust that each person reading this also has received that gift of eternal life. We do not want to be careless with our health. We want to be able to serve the Lord while here and be ready to meet the Lord in the air one day soon. Be sure you know the true Jesus today.
Pastor Bartel