18 While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler
came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay
Your hand on her and she will live.” 19 So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. 20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for
twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. 21 For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His
garment, I shall be made well.” 22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And
the woman was made well from that hour. 23 When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the
flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, 24 He said to them, “Make room,
for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. 25 But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and
took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went out into all that land.
Commentary
Vs. 18 “While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler
came and worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on
her and she will live.”
The Lord Jesus’ life and ministry was
always a busy one, for while yet concluding some profound spiritual truths too
one crowd a ruler now approaches Jesus with an urgent request to revive his
daughter who had just died. Now the desperation of the rulers request must have
moved Him to go and see to the man’s daughter; that linked with his faith for
he said to Jesus: …“come lay Your hand on her and she will live.”
Vs. 19 “So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His
disciples.”
Immediately then the Lord arose and
followed him, and so did His disciples not knowing what was going to happen,
but only that they must follow Jesus wherever He goes.
Vs. 20-21 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for
twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. 21 For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment,
I shall be made well.”
And so while they are on their way to the ruler’s
house to attend to his deceased daughter, and being flanked by the multitudes
of people who were all around them, a certain woman who had a flow of blood for
twelve years works her way through the crowds toward Jesus, and coming upon the
Lord Jesus from behind she touches the hem of His garment, “For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His
garment, I shall be made well.” Vs. 21
Notice that the woman does not approach the
Lord Jesus as the ruler did, or as anyone else would have, for in having a flow
of blood (meaning ongoing menstrual problem) she under the Law would have been
considered defiled and everyone and everything that she came into contact with
then would’ve also become “unclean.” Now in Luke’s Gospel he records for us
that this poor woman had spent her whole livelihood on physicians and yet none
could heal her (see Luke 9:43-44). And so impoverished by her aliment and
ostracized in her community because of her affliction this poor woman likely
having observed the Lord Jesus’ miraculous works and healings from a distance
now in great desperation risks her own physical well being to press through the
crowds so that she may just touch just the hem of Jesus’ garment, believing
that if she could just touch it she would be made well.
Vs. 22 22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.
Now in both Luke and Marks Gospel it is
recorded for us that when the woman reached Jesus and touched the hem of His
garment that the Lord realized that the woman had just touched Him for He
perceived that power had just gone out of Him (see Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48),
now the Lord Jesus’ did not rebuke the woman for doing so, instead He commended
her for her faith in believing that she could be made well, and so with that
the Lord Jesus turns to her and says, “Be
of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour. And so in
the healing of this woman as when the Lord Jesus healed the centurion’s sick
servant (see Matt. 8:13) in both cases it was their faith that made their desires come to pass. Now this is extremely
important because you’re and my salvation is based solely on what we believe
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Not what we do or don’t do for God (Eph 2:8-9);
but only that we believe in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ Crucified for all our
sins and transgressions and raised from the dead for our justification, for
that is the Gospel (or Good News); that God now grants remission of sins and
everlasting life to everyone who simply believes/trusts in His Son (John 3:16;
Acts 4:12).
Vs. 23-26 23 When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the
flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, 24 He said to them, “Make room, for the girl is not
dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. 25 But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and
took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went out into all that land.
And so with the woman’s healing the Lord
Jesus now comes to the ruler’s house. Now when Jesus arrives at his house there
is quite a commotion going on, there are flute players playing their laments,
and there is what the Scripture describes as a noisy crowd of people gathered
together inside of the house wailing the death of the child; however when the
Lord arrives there, even before He enters the house and sees the child, He asks
them all too: “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but
sleeping.” Immediately then the crowd believing that the child is
dead ridicules Jesus, Nonetheless the Lord is not moved by their ridiculing
Him, for He knows she is not dead and what He is about to do, that He will
raise the child and restore her to them. Now there is some who believe that the
child was dead; the ruler certainly believed his daughter was dead did when he
sought Jesus, and the crowd most definitely thought her dead when they
ridiculed Jesus for saying that she was only “sleeping” (i.e. in a comatose
state). However the Lord did not declare the child to be dead but only
sleeping, and so the miracle is not that the Lord Jesus raised her from the
dead, as He could do and would later do with Lazarus who was clearly dead, but
that the Lord Jesus both new that the child was not dead, and that He was able
to immediately revive her out of her comatose state, all which again bore
witness to the Divinity of Christ, for only God could have known and done that.
Therefore when the wailing crowd is put outside, Jesus enters the house and
takes the little girl by the hand and she immediately arises; again something
that no doctor can now do; but our Great Physician can do and does do raising
people out of their Spiritually dead state and restoring them back to God the
Father just as He restored this little girl back to her father. And so with
Jesus doing so the report of Him having doing so not only silences His
ridiculers, but also what He did went out into all that land as a testimony to
them all. For God’s work in this world and amongst us all is seen wherever His
Son the Lord Jesus Christ is sought out, received, and believed, for God’s work
in every believing person’s life and community will become known to one and to
all there as well. The only question then is will you likewise be a recipient
of God’s healing and restoring work by believing and receiving the Lord Jesus
Christ for yourselves. Do so today!
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
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