TEXT: Luke 8:40-56

SUBJECT: Luke #32: Lord of Sickness and Death

Today, with God’s blessing, we’ll move on in our study of Luke’s Gospel. In the second part of Chapter 8, we have four stories, grouped together, to prove the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. In the first two stories, we see His power over nature and the devil; (in calming the storm and casting out the Legion). Now, in stories 3-4, we see His mastery over sickness and death.

Today’s story takes place on the west bank of the Sea of Galilee. Our Lord has just sailed back from the other side where He had saved a man from the power of Satan.

He must have been tired from the ordeal, but no sooner does He step ashore than He is met by many others in urgent need of His help.

The first one to reach Him is man called Jairus, who’s in charge of a neighboring synagogue. The man is frantic for his daughter who’s twelve years old and near death. He falls down before the Lord and begs Him to come to his home and save the girl he loves so dearly.

Without hestitation, the Lord agrees to do it. This is worth thinking about for it was at this man’s synagogue a few months before that the Lord was nearly murdered! It was the devout men of Capernaum who had tried to push Him off a cliff—with Jairus’ approval, it seems. But Jesus Christ is not a Man to hold a grudge. What He told others to do, He did Himself.

And so, off He goes to heal the dying girl.

It’s slow going all the way, for the Lord is mobbed by needy people trying to get at Him and obtain some favor from Him. How many tried to reach Him, we can’t say. But we can say this: One of them gets through. We don’t know what her name is, but we know what’s wrong with her and what she wants from the Lord. The dear lady has a hemorrhage (what the AV calls "an issue of blood"). The problem is not a new thing to her—she’s been bleeding for twelve years. She tried doctors, but they could do her no good.

The woman believes in Christ. She knows that what doctors cannot do for her, the Lord can. She’s so confident of His power that she doesn’t even need His full attention. Even His offhand or accidental grace will do. Matthew 9:21 has her saying to herself,

It’s not easy reaching a Man in the middle of a big crowd, of course, but she pushes and shoves, climbs and crawls, until at last He’s within arm’s reach. She touches the hem of His garment—

Mark adds to the story, saying,

The cure she got from Christ was immediate and complete. She wasn’t better; she was well.

The Lord felt some healing virtue go out of Him and He wondered whom it went to. He stopped walking and yelled out for all to hear,

The people must have taken His loud voice for anger, for no one would admit to it. Peter, though, knew the Lord better than that, and reminded Him that there were a thousand people all around Him, jostling Him from every side and so, what’s He getting at?

The Lord doesn’t answer him, but just stands there waiting for an answer. He’s not going anywhere till He finds out who touched Him.

Without saying a word or pointing a finger, the Lord turns to the woman with a knowing look. He knows who touched Him and He wants her to step forward and say so.

The lady is scared to death, but at last she gives in and tells her story for all to hear. The Pharisees—I’m sure—were terribly offended. This issue of blood, of course, was a kind of ceremonial uncleanness. They must have wondered if she had touched them, too, and for if she had, they had to go through the rituals of purification. I suspect Jairus was mad as well. After all, his daughter was dying and she was gumming up the cure—he thought!

But the Lord is not unhappy with her.

The healing power of Christ is so great that even the cuff of His pants can do more for a sick woman than all the doctors in Israel.

Jairus must have been very encouraged by the healing, for if the Lord could heal this woman—without even knowing it, so to speak, surely He could heal the dying girl.

But the man’s happiness was short lived. As soon as the woman walks off, his servants arrive with the bad news,

Can you imagine what went through Jairus’ mind? They were that close; if she had lived another five or ten minutes, the Lord would have healed her! But now, she’s beyond all healing.

Or so he thought.

But the Lord thinks otherwise,

When they arrive at the house, it’s full of people crying their eyes out over the little girl lost. But the Lord tells them to quit their bawling for the girl is not dead, but is only asleep.

They think this is a cruel joke and sneer at the Lord’s heartlessness. He runs them out of the house and takes five people with Him to the girl’s bedside: her parents, Peter, James, and John. He takes her cold hand and says in Aramaic,

Which she does.

He then commands the mom and dad to give her something to eat. Now, why would He do this? It seems to me there were three reasons: (1) she was hungry, (2) she was well, and (3) she was not a ghost!

The parents—needless to say—are amazed and thankful and eager to tell everyone what the Lord had done for them.

But the Lord will have none of that! They’ve got to keep it secret for now. Later, they can tell the world (as Matthew, Mark, and Luke did), but for now, keep your mouth shut.

That’s the story.

Its message is plain: Jesus Christ is Lord of sickness and death.

Sickness and death are over us. They come without our permission and do whatever they want to with us. This is true of old people, of course, and of people who don’t take care of themselves. But it’s also true of young people who do all the right things to stay in good health. All of us are under the power of sickness and death.

But Jesus Christ is over it.

We see that in today’s story. A woman is slowly bleeding to death, but one touch of the Lord’s garment makes her well. A little girl lies dying—and then dies—but a word from the Lord restores her to life.

The two examples are not out-of-the-ordinary. In our study of Luke, we’ve seen more than I can recall: Peter’s mother is cured of a fever, a leper is cleansed, a paralytic is raised up, a man with a withered hand is restored, and the widow of Nain gets her dead son back.

In addition to the examples, we have broad summary statements, such as 4:40 and 6:19,

The power He had over the sickness and death of other people, He also had over His own death. When the Jews were demanding a sign, He gave them one,

The "Temple" they destroyed—John said—was the Lord’s body, which He raised to life on the next Sunday morning. In another place, the Lord said He would

Think of laying down a pencil and picking it up again. That’s easy for you and me. Picking up His dead body from the grave was no harder for the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Lord’s power over sickness and death is absolute. No sickness is too sick for Him to heal and no death is too dead for Him to raise back to life.

What the Lord did for the sick woman and the dead girl so long ago is an historical fact: these things really happened in time and space.

But they’re not only facts of what happened to them, but also promises of what will happen for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

Sickness and death have long ravaged the human race. But they won’t be with us forever. One day, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to the world—it may be this afternoon or a million years from now—nobody knows when. But sooner or later, the Lord will come again and cancel the curse He imposed on the world when Adam and Eve sinned.

When He does that sickness and death will be no more—and they’ll never come back. John says on that day,

It’s hard to imagine a world without sorrow and pain and death. Even if we had good health for a thousand years, there would still be something gnawing away at the back of our minds—this won’t last. But that’s the point: It will last!

One of the sorrows of getting older is the number of people you know who have died. Many kids have never been to a funeral, no less lost someone they dearly loved. But I know five people who died last month. And I couldn’t helping wondering, Who’s next?

For centuries death has swallowed life. But when the Lord comes again, Life will swallow death.

We call this the Resurrection. The believer’s hope is not to die, shake off the body and live as a spirit forever. No, our hope is to rise again in the Resurrection of the Just—to have our perfect souls united with our bodies, only now glorified, and in that state of full humanity, to live with the Lord Jesus Christ forever.

This is the believer’s hope—not his wishful thinking or silly dreams—but his hope, his sure expectation. The Day will come and all will be well then.

As for now, this all means that we can pray for healing—our own and for the healing of others too. If not even death is too strong for the Lord then neither is cancer or heart disease, or AIDS.

It also means that—if He chooses not to heal—that we can wait patiently. The worst part of any pain is the fear that it will never go away. But the believer’s pain will go away. And it will never come back. The relief may come today or in sixty years—only the Lord knows that—but we know it is not permanent because,

It also means that our saved loved ones who have died will never be sick again. Last year I spoke at a funeral and said,

That’s how it is with your dear Christian friends and family. All the suffering they endured in life is over and done with for good! They’re not wheezing or rattling; they’re not screaming or sighing; they’re not morphined up. Their souls are well and soon their bodies will be too.

Finally, it means you can face death, too, and not afraid. Death is the Last Enemy—the Bible says so—but it’s not sovereign. Your Lord is its Lord too.

As he lay on a sick bed, expecting to die at any moment, John Donne, the poet and pastor saw death for what it was and laughed in its face!

That’s how the old Englishman died. You can die that way, too. But only if you die in Christ, only if you die trusting Him. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Wouldn’t that be better than dying in blank terror or in quiet desperation? You can die that way. Because