 In chapter 8, we're going to be looking at verses 41 through 46, but I'll begin reading here in chapter 8 at verse 41, and we'll read to verse 48, and we'll get into our study. Luke chapter 8, beginning at verse 41, reading to verse 48, Luke writes, Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue, and he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes thronged him. Now, a woman having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of his garment, and immediately her flow of blood stopped. Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, Master, the multitudes throng you and press you, and you say, Who touched me? But Jesus said, Shut up, Peter! No, Jesus said, sometimes you want to. Jesus said, Somebody touched me, for I perceived power going out from me. Now, when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him, she declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately, and he said to her, Daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Jesus is returned to the city of Capernaum. He had just been on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee in a region called the Gadarenes, and while he was there, he had delivered a man, actually two men, who were severely demon-possessed. And as he had done that, the people there on that side of the lake had actually asked him to depart from their shores. Remember what it says in verse 37? It says the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear, and he got into the boat and returned. And so he had been asked to depart from one place, but according to verse 40, when he returned, the multitude welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. So on the one hand, he is asked to leave, on the other hand, he is welcomed back, and now we're going to see from this sentiment, Please go away, we're going to see someone now saying, Please come. And that's what's taken place here through a man by the name of Jairus. Now Jairus is called a synagogue official, a ruler. As a ruler, he was really what we would today call an administrator. He was one who oversaw the order of service, and he invited people to come up, and they would read the scriptures or speak in the assembly. And as a ruler, he was more than likely aware of the growing opposition against Jesus Christ. There's no doubt about it. But also, he was more than likely a Pharisee. And so as a Pharisee, and also one who's aware of the mounting opposition, he still comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he still asks him, because he's in desperate need, he's at the end of his rope, and he needs help. And so what happens here, it says in verse 41, there came a man named Jairus. He was a ruler of the synagogue, and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and he begged him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about 12 years of age. She was dying, but as he went, the multitudes thronged him. And so there he is, falling down in front of Jesus. Now when it speaks about him falling down, that is in the gospel of Matthew. Matthew chooses to use the word worship him. He fell down and worshiped him. The word worshiped in the original language in the Cornei Greek is proskoneo. Proskoneo speaks of somebody not only just falling down, but it speaks as an act of worship, of basins, and it could carry with it a humility. It involved kissing his feet. It would speak of him touching the hem of his garment. It would speak of him just laying on his face before the Lord Jesus Christ with humility. And what he's doing is he's throwing himself down on the mercy of God. He's asking God for help. And he's humbling himself to do so. The Bible in Proverbs 3.34 says, he mocks proud bakers, but he gives grace to the humble. And this is what he's doing. He is humbling himself before God. He's humbling himself and saying to him, I need your help. You see, he has a little girl, and this little girl is his only little girl. It's the girl of his heart. It's his only baby. She's 12 years old, and she's now dying. And he loved this little girl. He loved her with such a great passion. He loved her with such intensity that he was beside himself with worry. I've shared this with you on a number of occasions, but it bears repetition as an illustration. Listen, when you're a father and you love your daughter, as God has been so gracious to give Marie and me two daughters, there's just something about little girls. There's just something about them that just capture your heart. That's just the truth. And when my little girl, Corinne, was very ill on one occasion and she had a very high temperature and the doctor said we needed to put her into a tub of ice water in order to bring her temperature down. And I still remember she was less than a year old. She was a few months old, and so it's very critical that we bring that temperature down as quickly as possible, save her from damage and all. And as I've shared with you before, we filled that tub with water. And I had her in my arms, and she was so hot she was making my skin warm as I was holding it, and she was crying and clinging to me, and I still remember having to peel her off of my body as she would just hold tight to me, and she didn't want to let go of me. And I had to peel her off of my body, and she's kicking her little feet, and she's screaming, and her face is red, and she's so feverish. And I put her in that tub, and as I did, I couldn't let her go. And I climbed in the tub with her, because that's what dads do. I thought, if someone's going to be cold, I'll be cold with you. That's just what dads do. You love them. You pray, and you say things like, God, if you could take that fever from her and put it on me, I can take it. Give me that pain. You know, my mom used to say that she'd get mad at the son when it was burning me. And I thought, well, that's a nice thought, mama. But you know what? I used to get mad at the son, too. If it was hitting my children, and they were in their car seats, and I'd hear them, you know, getting uncomfortable, and I'd turn around, and I'd see them sweating and hot. And I'd actually have this anger. How could you be hurting my, it's just a crazy thing, I know. But there's this intensity, there's this passion, there's this love that goes beyond anything that you could imagine. And that, I am sure, Jarvis had for his little girl. She's 12 years old. You see, in the Hebrew system, when a child reached the age of 12, she was moving from being a little girl into womanhood. And so she's embarking on a new stage in her life, and yet, she's dying. And this is something that he just wasn't ready to accept. This wasn't something he could deal with. And he comes and he asks Jesus for help. I'm sure that he is aware that Jesus Christ has been performing tremendous miracles throughout the north and into the south of Israel. According to Matthew chapter 4, verse 23, Jesus went about Galilee teaching in synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing all kinds of sickness, all kinds of disease among the people. And so he knows that the Lord Jesus Christ can heal, and also it's worth taking the risk. What more could he lose? And so he moves, he believes that Jesus will move on his behalf, and he comes and he humbly makes a request. And the request does have faith involved in it. Now, the Bible tells us without faith it's impossible to please him, and undoubtedly he does have faith as he approaches him. But as we look at this, I want to give you three thoughts about it, three things that you can see, three lessons you can learn from this. One, a first lesson that I'm going to glean from this, as I look at this man named Jairus, a man who is a religious individual who is well respected in his community and all, a man who undoubtedly has a love for God and all. Well, the first thing I want to point out is sorrow comes to all people on earth regardless of their station in life. Just because I'm a believer doesn't mean I'm going to be excluded from pain. Just because I'm a Christian doesn't mean that I'm somehow going to be taken away from the things that other people go through. We all go through pain and we all go through sorrow. So his advantages don't exempt him from pain because both the rich as well as the poor suffer loss. According to Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 2, all things come alike to all. One event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good, the clean, the unclean. To him who sacrifices, to him who does not sacrifice, as is the good, so is the sinner. He who takes an oath as he fears an oath. Whether you're good or bad, things occur to you and it happens to Jairus regardless of whether or not he's believer or not. You see, some people come to Christ because they think he's going to exempt them from the pain of life. That does not happen. He doesn't exempt you from the pain you go through. He just goes with you through that pain, but he doesn't remove you from it. That's part of life. Life is filled with pain. A second thing we note though is that he waits until the last minute to approach Jesus Christ. It's only when his daughter was at her worst that he approached him. You see, when you compare Luke's gospel with Mark, you get some insight in Mark chapter 5 verse 23 because in Mark 5, 23, speaking of the same incident, Mark says, he begged him earnestly saying, my little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her that she may be healed and she will live. So he waits till the last moment. This child didn't have an immediate illness. It's something that probably had been, she'd been dealing with for a little while at least, and he waits till the last minute. And then third, the third thing we can see is in our time of sorrow and pain, we can come to Lord Jesus Christ and we can ask him for help. The Bible tells us in Psalm 50 verse 15, call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you. You shall glorify me. Call on me. And so even though he's waiting till the last minute, even though she's now lying at the point of death, at least when he initially comes to see the master, well at least he came to him. He came to Jesus, he fell before him, he made his request of him, and he's gonna trust him. Jeremiah 32, 17 says, all Lord God, behold you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. There's nothing too hard for you. And so he comes to him, asking him for help. Now notice verse 42 it says, but as he went, the multitudes thronged him. As they're walking, people are beginning to crowd around him, they desire his attention, but Jesus has taken the time to walk with Jairus so that he might go and minister to his little girl. Now as this is taking place, verse 43, a woman having a flow of blood for 12 years who spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of his garment and immediately her flow of blood stopped. One, you see a little girl who's 12 years of age. Two, you see an older woman who's been suffering for 12 years. This woman had a blood flow for 12 years. You see, as Jesus is moving with Jairus towards Jairus's home, there's an interruption. Because within this multitude, within this large crowd of people, there's a very ill woman, a woman who has been hemorrhaging now for 12 consecutive years. She may have had a tumor, she may have had a diseased uterus, but what has happened in her life is she has been rendered ritually unclean for 12 years. You see, according to Jewish law, whenever a woman was in her menstrual cycle, she was exempted from any physical contact with other people. Leviticus 15 verses 25 through 27 says, when a woman has a discharge of blood from any days at a time other than her monthly period, or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean as is her bed during her monthly period and anything she sits on will be unclean as during her period. Whoever touches them will be unclean. He must wash his clothes, bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening. This woman has had no physical contact with other people because if she contacts him physically, they become ritually unclean and can't offer sacrifice and all, and so for 12 years she's been isolated. There she is in this throng, in this crowd. And here comes the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Bible tells us that she didn't go quietly. I mean she actually had been working on trying to get healed. Notice verse 43, it says she spent all her livelihood on physicians and couldn't be healed by anyone. She had spent every penny she had to try to become well but medicine had no known cure for her and she's declining in health. Not only has she lost her health but she has also lost her wealth as she's been seeking healing and so what does she do? Well verse 44 says she came behind and touched the border of his garment and immediately her flow of blood stopped. I wanna share with you something that I think you might find pretty interesting about this passage here. Touching the border of his garment. I'm gonna spend some time looking at this with you. I actually have something I wanna share with you in a few minutes that goes beyond this but this is kind of like an introduction to that thought. To him of the garment. Why is that significant? And what garment are you speaking about? And why would she come from behind and touch him in that particular way? Now Mark 528 says that she came behind him, touched his garment and she said this within herself, if only I may touch his clothes I can be made whole. If I touch him, if only I touch him, that's all I need to do. Why is that significant? Well every Jewish male wore a rectangular or square shaped outer garment that today we would refer to as a prayer shawl. And on this rectangular or square shaped shawl, on each corner were tassels. The tassels had a blue thread in them. This was according to Levitical law. This is according to the law rather of Moses. In Numbers chapter 15 verses 38 through 40, God had said, speak to the children of Israel, tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. You shall have the tassel that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them. And that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined. And that you may remember and do all my commandments and be holy for your God. Jesus was a Jew who observed the right understanding of the law. He would have worn that garment as it was appropriate for him, especially as a rabbi. So that's the garment that this woman is reaching up to touch. Now, when she comes up and touches the hem of his garment, that hem is in the Hebrew word, it's actually the word border or corner, and it's the Hebrew word kanah. And what she's doing is she's reaching to that particular region where the tassels are. Now, what makes this interesting is in the book of Malachi. In chapter four verse two, Malachi makes an interesting prediction about the coming Messiah. He says in Malachi chapter four verse two, to you who fear my name, the Son, S-U-N, the Son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. The word wings in Malachi chapter four verse two is the word kanah, which speaks of the corner or the border. And so, during the time of Christ, a legend had already grown and was accepted that when Messiah came, he would have special healing powers in the hem of his garment. That's the reason why this woman is seeing him as Messiah and is thinking of the Levitical Law and Malachi's prophecy, and she's thinking of the hem or the border of the garment, and that's the reason she goes to Jesus and she reaches up to that border area because she believes that that is symbolic of Messiah who is to bring healing. And so that's the reason, very often I've wondered, why did she reach down to his garment? Why did she want to touch him in that way? The answer is because during the time of Christ, they believed that that symbolized the place of contact where Messiah who is bringing healing will perform healing on their behalf. We're gonna look at this a little deeper and take it a second, a little further on in just a moment. Moving on, what happens in verse 44 is immediately her flow of blood stops. When all other help has failed, her trust drives her to reach the one who can help her. You see, she had said, if only I may touch his clothes, I shall be made well. And then immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. Now, when she says I will be made well, the word well in the Greek, and I'm hoping I'm able to communicate this, as the Lord has spoken my heart about this, the word well in the Greek language is sotso, s-o-z-o. The word sotso is a word that is used for health, but it is also a word that is used for being made whole or complete. And salvation, as we'll look at it in just a moment, is more than simply being delivered from sin. Salvation is going to include a wholeness that takes place in your life. And I wanna develop that in a moment, but in verse 45, Jesus said, who touched me? Now, people are denying it. So Peter says, look, you see this crowd around you? Now, it's not as if Jesus is unaware of who touched him. He's doing something else. What he's doing is he's noting that somebody reached out in faith and touched him. So what he's asking for is a confession of praise. Because when blessings descend from heaven, we have to take time to give thanks to the one who gave us those blessings. Now, the people are denying it. And Peter is saying, look, you see this multitude here? These people are gathering around to receive a touch. They're pressing upon you. It may be that Peter's a little anxious to say, let's just keep moving and get out of here so we can get to the little girl and all. But Jesus is in no hurry and he wants to wait so he can minister to this woman more completely. Now, verse 47 says, when the woman saw that she was in hidden, she came trembling. He's looking at the crowd. She knows that she's been detected. She comes forward. Jesus doesn't want to scold her. Jesus wants to bless her. So he says to her in verse 48, be of good cheer, your faith has made you well. Now, this is what I want to talk to you about for just a moment. And he goes on to say, go in peace. She's become an evidence of the grace of God. She has become somebody that is an evidence of the works of God being worked in somebody's life. And so he encourages her. But here's something the Lord has been speaking to me about this last couple of weeks that I want to share with you. I want you to see that he says to her, go in peace. And I want to speak about that for a minute here. The word peace in the Bible is used in a variety of ways. When you use peace, you can speak about peace between nations. You can speak about peace between people. You can speak of peace between God and man. It often speaks of a cessation of antagonism. It speaks of a ceasing of hostility. And when you're at peace with man, at peace with nations, at peace with God, there is no longer hostility taking place. But the Hebrew word for peace is the word shalom speaks of more than simply an absence of conflict. It speaks of the presence of God's goodness. It speaks of wholeness. It speaks of completeness. So Jesus was blessing her in her entire being and not her physical health alone. You see, peace speaks of being reconciled to God. It speaks of being brought into harmony with him in the whole person. Salvation speaks of an immediate reconciliation with God. When you speak about salvation in the Bible, on one hand, it can speak of a legal process because God is a judge. We have broken his law. And so when I have peace with him and I have been reconciled to him, God deals with that through Jesus Christ in order that I might have a relationship with him. Jesus took my place. He died on a cross. He paid my penalty and he gets what I deserve that I might receive what he really deserves. And so when that takes place in salvation, when I understand that I have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, I've been reconciled to him. I can now have peace with God. I am no longer in hostility. He's no longer in opposition to me. And because that warfare is over, I can walk in peace with God. I can enjoy fellowship with him. And as a result of that, I am ceasing from hostility. And as a result of that, I am now being blessed by God. But here's the problem. And this is what the Lord has been laying on my heart recently about people that I know and ministry as I see it. I think that sometimes people think of salvation only in legal terms. For them, salvation has boiled down to having a relationship with God. And we speak about having Christ in my life. I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And what happens is very subtly, salvation becomes something that is really all about me. It's all about what I have with God. It's all about the blessings I have with God and all of that. But what happens is if I remain there, I am gonna remain self-centered. I'm gonna be unhealthy. I'm not gonna be healed. I'm gonna remain a broken person because I haven't understood that when Jesus is saying to this woman, go in peace. He's saying a lot more to her than simply saying your blood flow's dried up. Now go enjoy life. What he was saying to her is you have been cut off from God. You have been cut off from man. The reason you have been cut off is because of your blood flow, which is symbolic or typical of a relationship that has had a cessation because of something creating an obstacle. And so what I have done is I have taken that obstacle out of your life. But that isn't so that you can continue on and just live as a broken woman who suffered for 12 years being ostracized and ignored and isolated. I didn't heal you so that salvation is all about you. I healed you so that you can become a whole person so that you can take what I've done in your life and actually communicate it to somebody else. What we live in today is a generation of people. If it's not entertaining, I don't want it. If it isn't something fun, I don't want to do it. If it requires me to actually change or see something about myself that isn't healthy, I don't want to change. You have to accept me the way that I am, but that's not salvation, you see. That's not what God called us to. God didn't call me to please myself. God didn't call me to live for myself. God called me to realize that I am broken, a broken vessel that he has healed so that now I can carry within me his spirit and live in such a way that his gospel is permeating my life and the lives of others as it pours out of me. And so what I have to be is I have to be healed completely, not just say, well, I've got Jesus in my heart. I have a personal relationship with God, but I want to take that and give it to other people and that happens when I take my eyes off myself, when I stop looking at just me and my problems and my sorrows and my pains. You know, I was in the gas station a while back now and a young man in his early 20s pulled up and began to put his paycheck in his gas tank. And he had a beautiful car. I happened to like cars, so I know what it was. It was a Lexus, a black Lexus and nice wheels and it's just a very nice ride. And it had a nice sound system and he's playing his music real loud, you know, so that everybody can hear. And very handsome young man, I might add, very good looking guy, dressed very nicely, driving a nice car and his music's bumping and all of that and I can hear it. And I'm listening to the words of the music that I could make out and the words were saying things like life is bad, things are terrible, everybody hates me. And I'm looking at this kid and I'm thinking, kid's driving a Lexus. The guy's as handsome as they come. You know, he's dressed nicely, but he's got that, yeah, yeah, life is bad looking. I'm thinking, whoa, man. You have, you know, you want to see bad. You know, I had a 1962 Ford Falcon station wagon with a ripped dashboard, you know, tires that didn't match in size with windows painted black so you couldn't look in. You want to see a bad ride. That was bad in the literal sense. It was bad. I had an AM radio with one speaker and it was busted. I mean, now that's a bad car. And I didn't run around saying, life is bad and I'm so miserable. I mean, I just can't get into that. And I trip on, it blows my mind. I said, whoa. What's, you know, what are you so mad about? What are you so upset about? You're living better than I ever did at your age. You're so much better than I ever did at your age. And yet, I mean, you talk to people, you ask them how are things going, oh man, you're not that good, they're not that good. They're not that good. Man, what happened to you? God wants to take that self-centered mentality and break it. This woman had every reason to say, I've had it tough. 12 years of isolation. I haven't been able to be touched by anybody for 12 years. Now, some of you say, you know, that sounds pretty good to me. I wouldn't want anybody. I don't like people touching me. You know, there's some people I say, okay, we're gonna hold hands for a minute. I don't wanna hold that person's hand. You know, I don't like being touched by people. But that's because you have a choice as to whether or not you can or cannot be touched. What would happen if you simply could not be touched, that nobody could reach and touch you, not just for a week, not for a month, not for a year, but for 12 solid years. See, human beings need touch. We need to be touched. Years ago, I was a behavioral science major in college. I read about a study that was done in the Middle Ages, actually, through a particular king who ignorantly wanted to know what kind of language babies would speak if nobody ever spoke to him. And so there was a nursery with babies that were there and were never spoken to and never handled. The only times these babies were handled was when they were fed and when they were changed. And he wanted to see what language, if there's some kind of innate language within people, he wanted to see what language they would speak, but he never was able to discover that because every one of those babies in that nursery died. Every one of those babies died because none of those babies were health. None of those babies were ever held by anybody and loved by somebody. And as a result of that, they just languished until they finally just expired. And so the experiment was not a success because they never even lived long enough to make sounds like that called language. We need to be touched. We need to be held. We need to be loved. And that makes us whole. And when Jesus was speaking to this woman, he was saying, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. He wasn't simply saying to her, go in life now in an absence of conflict with God alone. He was saying the absence of conflict with God is good, but I'm touching you in every element of your life. Your emotions can be healed as well as your physical. Your spiritual life that is broken is now being made alive by my spirit. I'm doing a work called salvation. And so when she had said, if I but touch him, I can be made whole. She was actually getting something she didn't bargain for, something she didn't really understand. Yes, you can be healed, but you can also become a real person, a whole person, somebody who's put back together again. You know, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, and nobody could put Humpty back together again. But we're not Humpty. We're not Humpty Dumpty. We're not eggs. As a matter of fact, it's interesting. We don't even know that it's an egg. Does it ever say Humpty Dumpty the egg, but that's something else, you know? We always think it's an egg. I don't know what it was. All I know is he fell down and was broken. But nobody could put him back together again, but you wanna know something? God can put us back together again. And that's what the Lord has been teaching me and has been trying to remind me of. He's saying to me, listen, David, when I say to you, go in peace, I'm not simply saying look at your sin question is forgiven so you can continue to be a broken person, running around still trying to get people to satisfy every women need that you have. I'm saying I'm healing you so that you can carry my spirit and my message to people who are broken so that they can be healed too. It's not all about you. And when you talk about your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that's true. You have a relationship with him, but God didn't intend us to have a personal relationship all by ourselves, but we're to be inviting people into the kingdom of God. And so when she goes out in faith and all and goes in peace, he's going in wholeness. And that's what God wants to do in your life too. He wants to make you whole. Now, verse 49, while he was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him, your daughter's dead, don't trouble the teacher. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him saying, do not be afraid, only believe, she will be made well. When he came into the house, he permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. And now all wept and mourned for her, but he said, do not weep. She's not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed him to scorn knowing that she was dead. But he put them all out, took her by the hand and called saying, little girl, arise. Her spirit returned and she arose immediately. And he commanded that she be given something to eat. And her parents were astonished. But he charged them to tell no one what had happened. He's frantic. There is this interruption. Jesus wanted to bring the master to his house immediately. He had originally said, my daughter is at the point of death. She's about to die, you need to come now. Jesus is coming and you can almost see Jesus as he's wanting the people to get out of the way so that the master can get through so I can get him to my house so that he can do something for my little girl. But the crowd is thronging and pressing and there's no way he can get through. And now this woman has the nerve to reach and touch him and then Jesus stops. What do you think you'd be feeling like? What if you were in an ambulance and your child is in the back there and it's a traffic accident and there's no way around it. You can't get past it, it's just stopped. What would you feel like? Would you be so tense and so anxious, angry? Would you be looking at the door thinking maybe I can just get out of here and run? I would be going through 1,001 emotions at that time. How am I gonna get there in time? How am I gonna make it in time? She's at the point of death. We've gotta get out of here. I ministered to a woman years ago who told me how her nephew had had a serious accident. He had been in a lake and drowned and they had pulled him out of the lake and they threw him in an ambulance and off they went through town and as they were trying to get through town there was a traffic jam and the baby died in the back of that ambulance. Never made it to the hospital. Never made it to the hospital. Jerus is there and he's seen this take place and he's gotta be anxious. And as he's there frantically waiting he hears words that are gonna stagger him. Your daughter is dead, do not trouble the teacher. And when that comes, imagine what you would feel like. Jesus obviously overhearing it as they're whispering to it. Verse 50, Jesus heard it and he answered to him saying do not be afraid, only believe, she'll be made well. Fear, fear is the opposite of faith. And as Jesus speaks, he only has two options, either believe him now or don't believe him. But Jesus has spoken a word to him because he knows that he has to encourage him and so they finally make it to the house. Verse 51 says he came into the house, permitted no one to go in except Peter, James and John, father and the mother of the little girl. And as he enters in, verse 52, all were weeping and mourning for her. You see, this was a man who had had status in the community and so there were people who were there, more than likely professional mourners. They would actually hire people to come in and mourn for people with status and they would tear their garments and they would play music that was discordant just so it sounds confusing. It was to reflect emotional grief and confusion and all. And so there's all this sound going on in there when Jesus walks in and as he walks in, he says in verse 52, do not weep, she's not dead but sleeping and they laughed him to score and knowing that she was dead. They derided him, they humiliated him. So what's he do? Well, he kicks him out. He kicks him out and he begins to minister to the little girl. Notice verse 54, he put them all out, he took her by the hand and he called saying little girl arise. Oh boy, wouldn't you like to have been there? Wouldn't that be incredible? You know, I've performed a number of funerals, quite a number of funerals. And I've attended the death and I've seen that monitor as it, the heartbeat stops and it flat lines. And you stand there and you just see that and it's gone. It's over, it's nothing else you can do. Been there, I've seen that, experienced that. My mom tells me how my grandmother who was born and raised in Mexico, the little girl went to a funeral as a little girl and in the chapel, they had the coffin and the person who had died and the coffin was open, the lid was open but they hadn't embalmed the person they were burying and rigor mortis hit in such a way that there was a muscle contraction as my grandma was there in the church, the person in the casket sat up. Can you imagine? The whole church was emptied in a moment. They were out the door man. I'd have been leading the parade. I mean, now what if you were there crying, oh God, oh God, bring her back and she sat up. Ooh, I don't know. Well, in this, that would be scary. In this case here, Jesus has only three witnesses along with mom and dad. He's ministering to the inner circle, Peter, James and John and he's teaching them lessons of faith and he speaks to her and as he says arise, she regains life and it says that she arose immediately and he commanded that she be given something to eat. She's brought back to life. Her parents are astonished. They wanna tell people exactly what happened but notice verse 56, he says, tell no one what has happened. Of course they're amazed. Of course their minds are blown completely by this but he's charging them to tell no one what had happened. Why? Well, because he had a lot of work to do and such a startling miracle could cause miracle hungry people to follow him. And so to prove that she was alive, he gives her a meal that demonstrates that she's alive and reminds them that she has needs that still need to be met. And so they're rejoicing. They're rejoicing. Their 12 year old is alive but I wonder, I wonder if they were rejoicing when she became a teenager. Now that's another question, right? They're happy. They're blessing God. They're excited because God broke into their sorrow and healed them. So Jesus Christ touches a woman and he brings her to wholeness and he touches a little girl and gives her life demonstrating that he's capable of giving us life and a wholeness if we trust in him.