The Scorning Mourners

Series on Luke

III The Initiation

D The Activities of His Ministry Revealing that the Kingdom Is:

11 Faith Laughing

Text: 8:40-56

Introduction

In the King James Version verse 53 of our text is translated, And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. The New International simply says they laughed. The King James is more accurate at this point because the Greek word here means literally to laugh down, and is variously translated jeer, mock, scorn, or deride. Thus the Scorning Mourners. But Psalm 1:1 declares Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. The heathen and unbelieving scorn the alleged credulity of those who believe. In spite of the mighty outpouring of God’s power in the works of the Lord Jesus, still there were many who did not believe Him. Much less will they believe you. In John 10:22-31 we read, Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” The refused to believe, but as John says in 20:30-31 near the end of his gospel which is designed around the signs and wonders that Jesus did, Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Thus is the man blessed who does not scorn, but delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates in the Word day and night. There are two miracles here and each of them demonstrates the extraordinary power of the Son of God. In both cases the people involved must act fearlessly, but in different ways. Consider then the bleeding pauper and the bereft parent.

I The Bleeding Pauper

The account of the woman is in the middle of our text, after the request for the synagogue ruler’s sick daughter, and before anything is done about it. This causes a frustrating delay which even 21st century readers can feel in this story. In any case her story is in verses 43-48, And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” We must understand the predicament of this woman. She was deemed incurable. For 12 years she had been in misery. To put it into perspective she had lived 4380 days, not only in tremendous discomfort, but also as a total outcast. The Jewish religious laws of her time decreed that she could not participate in any religious proceedings, could not enter the temple, could not touch other people, and had to live separate from her husband. Also she was destitute and had spent all her money trying to be healed. Let’s ask two important questions. First, why did she secretly touch the hem of Jesus’ garment? Had she been listening to some TV evangelist who was offering prayer cloths for healing, for a small offering of course. Was it superstition? No! The reason was that she was forbidden to touch anyone, so she became a covert seeker for Jesus’ healing power. She did not want anyone to know that she was touching Jesus for fear of repercussions. My second question, which may also be yours, is why didn’t Jesus know who touched Him? Of course He did. know. He knew who she was, and that she believed, and that she had been healed, so it is for her sake that he asks, “Who touched me?” The disciples are clueless because of the crowd, so he words are for them too. Jesus wants the woman to testify and to be fully restored from all her separation and suffering. He wants the prejudice and the scorn removed from her forever. She comes to Him trembling, but is immediately reassured by Jesus and thus restored to her family, to the public worship of God, and to normal society. We should also note that the faith of the woman was saving faith for Jesus says, “Go in peace.” The true value of faith derives from the object of the faith and not from the person exercising it. We should not look at this woman, as we often look at others, and think how exceptional her faith was, how strong. She was healed because her faith was in Jesus. Nothing else matters. Faith can be weak, feeble, uncertain and fragile, but if that faith is in Jesus it will save. Faith always overcomes fear and it is what enabled the woman to reach out to Jesus.

II The Bereft Parent

The bereft parent is Jairus, the synagogue ruler, and his story is in verses 40-42, and 49-56, Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any more.” Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. We must note first of all that Jairus could have lost it. He was a prominent person, a ruler in the local synagogue, accustomed to being treated with deference and respect. The delay had resulted in his daughter’s death and it was caused by an outcast woman. Jesus forestalls any untoward reaction by immediately telling Jairus not to be afraid. This means he was to believe, like the woman with an issue of blood, and apparently he did. When they get to the house, there is a crowd of mourners for the dead girl because the family is well known, and in typical Middle Eastern style they are wailing and carrying on. It was culturally dictated that the way you showed your concern for the deceased was to wail. They still do that in some places, though that is generally foreign to us. So again we will ask two questions, First, why did Jesus say she was asleep when she was not? The household and the people were convinced that she was dead, and they were right. The narrative tells us that when Jesus spoke to her, her spirit returned to her body. This is our definition of dead, the separation of spirit and body. For Christians death is when the spirit goes to be with Jesus for Paul said in II Corinthians 5:8 that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Jesus said she was asleep in the same way that early Christians coined the word cemetery. In the Greek this meant a dormitory for sleeping. Now it means a graveyard. They referred to those who died in Christ, as the New testament sometimes does, as sleeping. They used this term because they knew that their bodies would be raised one day and reunited to their spirits. That’s what Jesus is saying, but of course, the unbelievers there have no clue as to what He means. Our other query is to ask why did Jesus keep the entire incident private. The answer to that is that this had been a somewhat overwhelming experience for them. Jesus wanted them to appreciate the deep spiritual significance of this event. They would lose that opportunity if the multitude was allowed in or if they went out to meet them. The disciples would tell the story and call off the funeral. Friends, in all of history there has never been a better last laugh, and he who laughs last, laughs best. They laughed Him to scorn, but when the girl arose and ate, all heaven laughed because of Jesus power over the grave. This meant Jesus was defeating sin and the devil who has the power of death. As death could not hold Jesus in the grave, so it cannot hold the girl when the mighty Savior says, My child, get up! Do not be afraid he said to the bereft parent, and so he says to each of us right now, do not be afraid, just as John records His words in Revelation 1:17 and 18, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.