CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 8:43. Issue of blood.—A disease which, in addition to its painful and weakening character, exposed her to the disagreeable restrictions imposed on those who were ceremonially unclean. Spent all her living, etc.—St. Mark says she “had suffered many things of many physicians, and was nothing better, but rather grew worse.” The somewhat trifling remark has been, made that St. Luke, as a physician, is more gentle in his reference to those of his profession who had attempted to cure the woman. There seems to be little ground for the statement.
Luke 8:44. The border of His garment.—Perhaps the fringe or tassel of blue, worn in obedience to the law in Numbers 15:38-40.
Luke 8:45.—The hasty and almost impatient reply of Peter is very characteristic of him.
Luke 8:46. Virtue.—Rather, “power” (R.V.). I perceive that virtue, etc.—Rather, “I perceived that power had gone forth from Me.” This proves Christ’s knowledge of the circumstances at the very moment of the cure.
Luke 8:47. Before all the people.—Peculiar to St. Luke. It is a significant detail: she had sought a cure in secret, but is led to confess it openly.
Luke 8:48. Daughter.—This is the only occasion on which Christ is recorded to have addressed a woman in this way. The kindliness it expresses is specially appropriate to the circumstances of the case. Be of good comfort.—Omitted by the best MSS.; omitted in R.V.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 8:43-48
Timid Faith rewarded and confirmed.—This incident is marked out among our Lord’s healings by these two peculiarities. It was a miracle within a miracle; and it was a cure obtained without a word spoken beforehand. Jesus is called to go on an errand of mercy, and finds another merciful work to do on the way. The power of Jesus not only flows out, but overflows and dispenses blessings by the way. The crumbs that fall from His table are better than the feasts of other masters. It was also a healing granted without any previous conversation. In this it was exceptional. He usually talked with the patient, or with those interested in the case, before He wrought the cure. The faith of this woman was so fearless, prompt, and resolute that without question or explanation, before a word had been spoken, she believes, resolves, acts. She has snatched the blessing, and is only not permitted to steal it. For He would not let her go until He had obtained a confession of her faith from her own lips. Thus, though the conversation was not held till the cure had been wrought, the exception confirmed the rule on which He acted, that, apart from faith, and the acknowledgment of faith, there would be no blessing. Two things in the narrative especially claim our attention: the woman’s confidence in Christ, and Christ’s action towards her.
I. The woman’s faith in the Saviour, its strength and its weakness.—She put herself in Jesus’ way on this eventful occasion, and thus proved the strength of her faith. She was filled with a belief that He was able to heal even her. She never seems to have doubted for a moment her right to take the cure if she could get it. Such a Saviour should not come within arm’s length of her, but she would stretch out her hand for the blessing. Though she should have to press her way through the crowd to reach Him, she would touch Him and be healed. No doubt there were defects in this faith. Its strength and weakness lay close together. It had the defect, so to say, of its quality. Its promptness may have owed something to the mechanical or material conception of the Healer’s power, as if it were some atmosphere that surrounded Him, or some magical influence that flowed even from His garments. The confidence she had in Jesus was typical in that it was strong and well-founded. That it was mixed with those other elements from which the Lord proceeds immediately to purify it may teach us a double lesson. It hints, on the one hand, how small a part of gospel truth may save the soul, if there be faith to receive and love to act upon it. The spiritual value of faith is not to be reckoned by the correctness of conception on which it rests. Yet, on the other hand, the trust which is well-founded and generous will meet with its reward in a rapid and progressive enlightenment through Christ’s word and Spirit.
II. The Saviour’s action towards the woman, its wisdom and tenderness.—The active faith of the sufferer, as it were, takes the blessing by storm, though from One who is always willing to bless. He was not, indeed, unconscious of the virtue He put forth, nor of the faith which received it. But to bring that faith into clearness and purity it was necessary to bring the subject herself into conscious and open relation to her Healer. Our Lord straightway turns round, and puts the question which amazed the disciples, and drew forth Peter’s characteristic remonstrance. Searching the crowd around, and hitherto behind Him, His gaze falls upon the woman. The thin and pinched features, the pallor of habitual ill-health, helped, perhaps, to single her out. But now there mingles in it the glow of instantaneous success, and the blush of womanly sensibility. She knew instantly that she was healed. She felt in that moment how far her sanguine boldness had carried her. She perceived, indeed, that nothing was hid from her Healer, but also that His mien was as gracious as His person was mighty. What look of His met hers we can imagine. A rare delight filled His countenance—a foretaste of the joy set before Him—at the signal proof of confidence given by this poor, lone woman. This sunshine of His face, added to the joy of her own success, gave her courage to tell Him, both “for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed immediately.” The avowal cost her not a little. She came “trembling” as she “fell down before Him,” and made her confession “before all the people.” But it was richly rewarded. With a kindly word of greeting, He clears her faith to her own mind, He confirms her cure as a permanent healing, and He claims to be Himself the knowing and willing author of it all. We can see why for His own sake, and for His works’ sake, Jesus had to make the cure public. But we are also to note how good it was for the subject of it herself. She did not mean perhaps “to filch the blessing.” Her failing leaned to virtue’s side. She deemed it not worth while to have Him stop for her, when He was in such urgency, and stand and speak the healing. One quiet touch would do all she needed. Had she been allowed to slip away without the public scene, she would have lost two things: the honour of confessing her faith, and of having her cure confirmed. Reserve was her fault, a wish to hide the cure; thus at once cheating her own self of comfort, and withholding from the Lord His due honour. He corrects that fault most gently and wisely. He does not insist upon publicity till the healing had taken place, thus making confession as easy as possible for her. The object of its publication then becomes apparent, viz. to show that the medium of the cure was faith, not physical contact, to confirm what she had already taken by His own pronounced bestowal of it, and to bring her out in grateful acknowledgment, both for His glory and her good.
There are Christians whose fault is reserve. They would be saved, as it were, by stealth. The Saviour will not have it so. True conversion is, no doubt, a secret transaction, very close and personal between the soul and Christ. But it cannot remain secret. The virtue which is gone out of Him is a savour which cannot be hid. A seen religion is not always real, but a real religion is always, seen. We cannot claim Christ for ours, but He will also declare His part in the blessed bond, and have us acknowledge that we are His. “To confess with the mouth” is an essential part of the salvation which comes by believing with the heart; indeed, it is the consummation of it. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” This is the private justification of the man before God. “With the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” This crowns the transaction. It is more than its mere publication—namely, its perfection. The salvation is neither comforting nor complete until it is openly acknowledged.—Laidlaw.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 8:40-56
Luke 8:40. “All waiting for Him.”
I. A sad father waiting.
II. A dead child waiting.
III. A sick woman waiting.—Watson.
Luke 8:41-44. Two Forms of Faith.
I. Jairus openly appeals to Jesus on his daughter’s behalf, but is secretly anxious: his faith, weaker than it appears, would have ebbed away but for the Saviour’s word of encouragement.
II. The woman is too timid to make her case known to Jesus, but for all that her faith is stronger than one would have judged it to be from outward appearances.
Luke 8:41-42. “Besought Him that He would come.”—Similarity between the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the raising of Lazarus. In both cases there is (l) delay in bringing help;
(2) the patient dies before Christ’s arrival;
(3) there is a mysterious promise of deliverance;
(4) death is spoken of as a sleep.
Luke 8:42. “She lay a-dying.”
I. There is nothing like trouble to drive people to Christ.—So long as things go on prosperously, many men do not ask favours of Him; but when great trial comes, He is the first to whom they turn. This is one of the most obvious uses of trouble.
II. The little daughter “lay a-dying.” This is a universal experience. The paths of earth run diversely, but they all reach this point at last. No one knows when he will come to it. Sometimes it is reached in early youth. Children should think of it, not sadly, and prepare for it, not regretfully.
III. The strongest men break down when their children are ill or in danger.—It is a touching sight to see this father falling at Christ’s feet. Stern, hard men often reveal tenderness in such times of trial. Behind such sternness and severity there is often a gentle, loving, affectionate heart.—Miller.
Luke 8:43. “Could not be healed of any.”—In like manner—
I. Sin is a disease of the soul.
II. When recognised, recourse is often had to inadequate means of cure.
III. No sinner, however inveterate his case may be, need despair of a cure if he will apply to Christ in faith.
Luke 8:44. Faith’s Approach to Christ.
I. Faith comes with a deep despair of all other help but Christ’s.
II. Faith has a Divine power to discover Christ.
III. Faith comes with an implicit trust in Christ.
IV. Faith seeks, for its comfort, close contact with Christ.
V. Faith, with all its imperfections, is accepted by Christ.
VI. Faith feels a change from the touch of Christ.—Ker.
The Power of Feeble Faith.
I. Very imperfect faith may be genuine faith.
II. Christ answers the imperfect faith.
III. Christ corrects and confirms an imperfect faith by the very act of answering it.—Maclaren.
Faith mingled with superstition.—This is a most encouraging miracle for us to recollect, when we are disposed to think despondingly of the ignorance or superstition of many who are nominally Christian: that He who accepted this woman for her faith, even in error and weakness, may also accept them. Superstition tinged her thoughts, but her feelings were ardent and pleasing to the Lord: the head may have been affected by vain imaginations, but the heart was sound.
Luke 8:45. “Who touched Me?”—The fact that many thronged about Christ, and only one, by reason of her faith, was healed by touching Him, is highly significant. Many in our day are in close contact with the Saviour, in worship, in reading the word of God, and in celebrating the sacraments, who are not healed by Him for want of the faith which this sufferer manifested.
Luke 8:46. “Virtue is gone out of Me.”—The poor woman had approached His sacred garments as men are said to touch relics, with a blind faith in their mysterious virtue and efficacy. Even thus she obtained a blessing, for it was faith. But Christ would not so be touched. He will have us know that the fountain of grace is the living God, who beholdeth all things in heaven and earth, and who claims of His rational creatures a reasonable worship.—Burgon.
Luke 8:47. “She came trembling.”—This woman would have borne away a maimed blessing, hardly a blessing at all, had she been suffered to bear it away in secret and unacknowledged, and without being brought into any personal communion with her Healer. She hoped to remain in concealment out of shame, which, however natural, was untimely in this the crisis of her spiritual life. But this hope of hers is graciously defeated. Her heavenly Healer draws her from the concealment she would have chosen; but even here, so far as possible, He spares her; for not before, but after she is healed, does He require the open confession from her lips. She might have found it perhaps altogether too hard had He demanded this of her before. But waiting till the cure is accomplished, He helps her through the narrow way. Altogether spare her this painful passage He could not, for it pertained to her birth into the new life.—Trench.
The Necessity for Open Acknowledgment.—It was necessary that this hidden act of faith should come to light in order that
(1) Christ might receive the glory due Him;
(2) the suppliant might be delivered from the false shame which would have hindered her openly acknowledging the benefit she had received; and
(3) others be led to faith in Christ.
Doubts and Fears.—In this case the cure came first—a cure wrought by Christ without a word or sign. She knew that what had been done in her was a result of her own act, without permission from Jesus, and she could scarcely hope that the faith which suggested it would be accepted as genuine; hence the terror and trembling, the sudden prostration and the full confession.
Confessing associated with Believing.—The apostle Paul lays equal stress upon the necessity of confessing with the mouth and of believing in the heart (Romans 10:9): “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Luke 8:48. “Thy faith.”—Jesus wishes her fully to understand that it is not the contact of her hand with the border of His garment that has, as she expected, wrought the cure, but her faith. The idea of a physical and almost magical operation is dispelled, and the moral significance of the miracle is brought into view.
“Go in peace.”—If we keep in mind how her uncleanness separated her off as one impure, we shall have here an exact picture of the sinner drawing nigh to the throne of grace, but out of the sense of his impurity not “with boldness,” rather with fear and trembling, hardly knowing what there he shall expect; but who is welcomed there, and all his carnal doubtings and questionings at once chidden and expelled, dismissed with the word of an abiding peace resting upon him.—Trench.
Luke 8:49. “Trouble not the Master.”—The words are kindly, and even indicate a measure of faith. “Had He arrived while she was still in life, He might have saved her; but now she is beyond the reach even of His help.”
“Trouble not the Master.”—The word σκύλλω is closely represented by our word “worry.” Its primary application is to sheep, or other tame animals, hunted and torn by dogs or other natural enemies. It is used in this sense in Matthew 9:36, and is translated in the R.V. by “distressed.” But in ordinary colloquial use it came to mean no more than “tease” or “trouble.”
The Dead Daughter.
I. Jesus is never in a hurry.—It seemed as if there was not a moment to lose. Why did Jesus not hasten? Why did He stop to heal the woman? Because He is never so much engrossed in one case of need that He cannot stop to give attention to another. He is never so pressed for time that we have to wait our turn. No matter what He is doing, He will instantly and always hear our cry of need.
II. Jesus never waits too long or comes too late.—It seemed as if He had tarried too long this time; but when we see how it all came out, we are sure that He made no mistake. True, the child died while He lingered; but this only gave Him opportunity for a greater miracle. He waited that He might do a more glorious work. There is always some good reason when Christ delays to answer our prayers or come to our help. He waits that He may do far more for us in the end. Even in answering our prayers it is best to let our Lord have His own way as to when and how to come to our help.—Miller.
Luke 8:50. “Fear not.”—The cheering word doubtless was the more encouraging to Jairus, spoken as it was so soon after the miracle which he had witnessed.
Luke 8:51. “Peter, and James, and John.”—Christ took with Him only those disciples who had hearts most open to receive the fulness of His grace; and it is interesting to notice that Peter long afterwards in Joppa, in performing a similar miracle, imitated exactly the method followed by Jesus in the house of Jairus (Acts 9:40).
Luke 8:52. “She is not dead, but sleepeth.”—She did but sleep till He who is the resurrection and the life came to waken her. In accordance with our Lord’s teaching here the apostolic and later Church has instinctively substituted “sleep” for “death,” in speaking of the believer’s removal from this world (see Acts 7:60; 1 Thessalonians 4:14).
Luke 8:54. “Put them all forth.”—
1.Their presence was not needed—they were mourners for the dead, and Christ was about to awaken the damsel from the sleep of death.
2. Their boisterous grief was incongruous with the solemnity of the occasion.
3. Their scornful laughter at His saying rendered them unworthy to witness the deed of power.
“Took her by the hand.”—Our Lord adapted His manner of working miracles to the circumstances of the occasions. He called the four-days dead Lazarus from the grave with a loud voice (John 11:43); but of this youthful maiden it is said that He took her by the hand and called her, “Damsel, arise,” and woke her gently from the sleep of death.—Wordsworth.
“Maid, arise.”—One of the Fathers remarks that if Christ had not named the child all the dead would have arisen at His word.
Luke 8:55. “To give her meat.”—An indication of an affectionate care which, even in the midst of the greatest things, forgets not the least, and which would provide for the necessity of the exhausted child on her return to life—Stier.
“Give her meat.”—Perhaps, too, partaking of food was to be a sign of actual restoration to bodily life, as when Christ Himself after His resurrection said, “Have ye here any meat?” (chap. Luke 24:41).
Luke 8:56. “Tell no man.”—The reason for the prohibition was doubtless to avoid a notoriety, which might excite the people and give occasion for tumultuous proceedings. The disciples would, of course, obey; but the parents could scarcely conceal their feelings of gratitude.—Speaker’s Commentary.
Silence enjoined.—Observe the different courses followed by Christ in these two cases: she who sought healing by stealth was constrained to confess openly the boon she had obtained; he who publicly appealed for the healing of his daughter is enjoined to be silent about the miracle.