Day 153: Luke 8:40–42a, 49–56

Just then, a man named Jairus came. He was a leader of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet and pleaded with Him to come to his house (v. 41).

I long to sit at Jesus’ feet in heaven and hear Him describe personally His earthly experience. I want to hear all the missing details. I want to hear what He was thinking when certain things happened. And when I do, I think He’ll have plenty to say about the text we’re observing today.

Upon Jesus’ return from across the lake, a crowd greeted Him. Luke 8:40 says they were all expecting Him. (I do dearly love surprise encounters with Jesus, but I think He is quite pleased when we live our lives in expectancy.) Verse 41, however, re-introduces us to a major player who didn’t come just to welcome Jesus. He came desperate for Jesus. Jairus was a ruler of the synagogue, but this day no ritual dignity stood in his way. His daughter lay dying, and he threw himself at the feet of Jesus pleading for her life.

Jim Cymbala, in his book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, wrote, “I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him.”38 This certainly described Jairus on this day. Jairus also reminds me of the centurion in Luke 7. He seemed to understand the concept of authority because of his authoritative position. He seemed to grasp that one ruler existed before whom all others should bow, even if one of those “others” was a ruler of the synagogue.

If you were to ask any set of parents how much they focus on their child when he or she is sick or in some kind of serious danger or distress, they’d tell you they can hardly focus on anything else. This was certainly the case with Jairus. Jesus was his last hope. Who else could heal his little girl from the throes of death?

Whom do you know that is possibly down to his or her very last hope? Perhaps, like me, you even know several. Think of these people and keep them in your peripheral vision today, as well as tomorrow when we look at the story this passage is sandwiched around—Jesus’ healing of a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. He is there for the desperate. He specializes in the hopeless. Every time you think of those who are suffering, think of Jesus, who knows the path through dire need.