JESUS RAISES JAIRUS' DAUGTHER FROM THE DEAD
MEMORY VERSE
John 11:25, ESV
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live...
DAY 1
LUKE 8:40-42, NIrV
40 When Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him. They were all expecting him. 41 Then a man named Jairus came. He was a synagogue leader. He fell at Jesus’ feet and begged Jesus to come to his house. 42 His only daughter was dying. She was about 12 years old. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.
BIBLE STUDY
As the Son of God, Jesus had power to fix unfixable problems and cure all kinds of incurable diseases. The exciting stories of Jesus' mighty miracles often traveled to places faster than his legs carried him. When he entered a new town, Jesus was often greeted by a crowd begging him to fix their unfixable problems and cure their incurable diseases. This time, Jesus was met by a man named Jairus. He was a leader in the synagogue, a place where people met to worship God and learn about his word. He begged Jesus to fix a very unfixable problem: his 12-year-old daughter was dying!
+ Why did Jairus think Jesus could help his dying daughter?
+ How many daughters did Jairus have? (vs. 42)
DAY 2
LUKE 8:42-44, NIrV
42 His only daughter was dying. She was about 12 years old. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.
43 A woman was there who had a sickness that made her bleed. Her sickness had lasted for 12 years. No one could heal her. 44 She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his clothes. Right away her bleeding stopped.
BIBLE STUDY
Lots of people wanted help from the miracle-working Jesus. Suffocated and squeezed by the surrounding crowd, he barely had room to walk! Among that jumble of people was a woman who’d suffered from a bleeding disease. For twelve long years (the same length of time Jairus’ daughter had been alive), her body slowly bled, day after day. No matter how many doctors she saw or how much money she paid them, her problem only grew worse. But when she touched the edge of Jesus’ clothes, her unfixable problem that dozens of doctors failed to fix for a dozen years was cured in an instant!
+ Before touching Jesus, what had this woman tried to cure her disease? (vs. 43)
+ Why did touching Jesus’ clothes fix something that was unfixable for years?
DAY 3
LUKE 8:45-48, NIrV
45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
Everyone said they didn’t do it. Then Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pushing against you.”
46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me. I know that power has gone out from me.”
47 The woman realized that people would notice her. Shaking with fear, she came and fell at his feet. In front of everyone, she told why she had touched him. She also told how she had been healed in an instant. 48 Then he said to her, “Dear woman, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
BIBLE STUDY
When Jesus asked, “Who touched me?”, Peter (one of his disciples) said, “Uh, Jesus? You’re surrounded... everyone’s touching you!” Of course, Jesus already knew that. He asked his question because he felt miracle power go out from him. It took a moment for the woman who touched Jesus to admit the truth. When she fessed up, she bowed low to the ground, shaking with fear. Why? Because she’d had touched the all-powerful Son of God without asking! But Jesus wasn’t angry. He explained to her, “Your faith has healed you.” Because of believing in Jesus, her bleeding went bye-bye!
+ How did Jesus know that someone had touched him? (vs. 46)
+ When the woman believed in Jesus, she was healed. What happens when sinners believe in Jesus?
DAY 4
LUKE 8:49-50, NIRV
49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus. Jairus was the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” the messenger said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”
50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe. She will be healed.”
BIBLE STUDY
As Jesus stopped to speak with the woman he healed, I’m sure Jairus thought, “Stop wasting time, Jesus! My daughter could die any minute!” Sadly, that’s exactly what happened. As Jesus was speaking, a messenger delivered the sad news: "Your daughter has died. You can leave Jesus alone." It seemed too late for Jesus to help. Or was it? He turned to Jairus and gave him an incredible promise: “Believe and your daughter will be well.” On one hand, Jesus’ offer to save his daughter was totally nuts! On the other hand, Jairus had just seen a woman be healed simply by believing in Jesus!
+ What did Jesus say would happen if Jairus believed in him? (vs. 50)
+ How could Jesus possibly heal a girl who had died?
DAY 5
LUKE 8:51-53, NIRV
51 When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let everyone go in with him. He took only Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 During this time, all the people were crying and sobbing loudly over the child. “Stop crying!” Jesus said. “She is not dead. She is sleeping.”
53 They laughed at him. They knew she was dead.
BIBLE STUDY
When Jesus finally arrived at Jairus’ house, it was certainly a sad-sounding scene. And for a good reason! The death of a child is perhaps the saddest thing possible. But the crying of the crowd quickly turned to laughter. Why? Because Jesus said, “She’s not dead. She’s only sleeping!” Was Jesus confused? Did he not hear what the messenger had said? Nope! As always, Jesus knew exactly what was going on. He understood that Jairus’ daughter had died. But when you have Son-of-God miracle power, raising a dead person to life is just as easy as waking a child up from an afternoon nap!
+ Who were the only ones who came into the house with Jesus? (vs. 51)
+ Why did the people laugh at Jesus? (vs. 53)
DAY 6
LUKE 8:54-55, NIRV
54 But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” 55 Her spirit returned, and right away she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.
BIBLE STUDY
How do you wake up in the morning? Does your mom or dad say, “Time for breakfast!”? Do you use an alarm clock? Or are you such a deep sleeper that somebody needs to shake you before you stop snoozing? There are many ways to wake a sleeping person. But there’s absolutely nothing you can do to wake a dead person!
Unless, of course, you’re Jesus. He grabbed the lifeless hand of Jairus’ daughter and said, “Get up!” Incredibly, the dead daughter obeyed! She hopped up and started walking around. Jesus told her parents to give their no-longer-dead daughter a bite to eat. It seems dying and rising from the dead can leave you with quite a big appetite!
This week, we got two miracles for the price of one. Jesus performed one miracle (healing a woman with a 12-year-old bleeding disease) while on his way to perform another miracle (raising Jairus’ 12-year-old daughter from the dead). These two miracles have something in common... and I’m not talking about the number twelve!
Think about what Jesus said after the woman touched his clothes. “Your faith has made you well.” And what did he say to Jairus? “Just believe and your daughter will be well.” These two miracles show us the power of faith: believing and trusting in Jesus to save us. Both the woman and Jairus believed in Jesus. And what happened when they believed? A disease was destroyed and a dead daughter was raised!
In John 11:25, Jesus talked about what happens when you and I believe in him. "If you believe in me, you’ll live, even if you die." If we believe in Jesus, he has promised to raise us from the dead to spend forever with God in his good kingdom.
How can we be sure that Jesus is able to keep such a hard-to-believe promise? Because he has already proved that he has the power to keep the incredible promises he makes. He promised Jairus to raise his daughter if Jairus believed. And was he able to keep that incredible promise to Jairus? You betcha!
But we have even more reason to believe Jesus can keep his promise to raise us from the dead. Think about what happened to him at the end of his life. His hands and feet were nailed to a cross and he hung on it until he died. But what happened on the third day after his death? He raised himself back to life! If Jesus can raise himself from the dead, then he certainly can raise you and me from the dead, too.
Now that you’ve heard Jesus’ incredible promise to raise us from the dead, now that you understand all he asks you to do is believe in him, what should you do? The answer is clear: do what the woman and Jairus did: believe in Jesus to save you! If you do, Jesus has promised not only to raise us from the dead, but to forgive our sins (the times we’ve disobeyed God) and give us a place in his forever kingdom!
+ Why was Jesus able to raise a girl from the dead?
+ How can we be sure that Jesus can keep his promise to raise us from the dead?
© 2023 Andrew Doane. All rights reserved.