Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 7 Study # 6
August 2, 2009
Lincolnton, NC
<547>
AV Translation:
51 And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden.
52 And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.
53 And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.
54 And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.
55 And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.
56 And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.
1901 ASV Translation:
51 And when he came to the house, he suffered not any man to enter in with him, save Peter, and John, and James, and the father of the maiden and her mother.
52 And all were weeping, and bewailing her: but he said, Weep not; for she is not dead, but sleepeth.
53 And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.
54 But he, taking her by the hand, called, saying, Maiden, arise.
55 And her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately: and he commanded that something be given her to eat.
56 And her parents were amazed: but he charged them to tell no man what had been done.
Luke's Record:
- I. The "Intro": Jairus' Plight.
- A. The highly contrastive "welcome" of the crowd [See Notes from June 28, 2009<536>].
- B. The enormous responsibilities of Jairus [See Notes from July 5, 2009<538>].
- II. The "Twelve Years" Issue [See Notes from July 12, 2009<540>].
- III. The Woman's Action and Its Consequence [See Notes from July 19, 2009<542>].
- IV. The Intensification: "Thy Daughter is Dead" [See Notes from July 26, 2009<544>].
- V. Jesus' Actions.
- A. He refused to permit anyone except Peter, John, James, the father of the child, and the mother to be present in the room where the girl was.
- 1. Jesus clearly did not intend to permit the majority of the people around Him to be witnesses of how He was going to do what He was going to do. By this, Jesus was opening the door for unbelief. It is always possible for those who do not wish to believe to recount His words, "she is not dead, but sleepeth", and contradict what they "knew" well enough to laugh at Him. In other words, rather than "believe" that He raised her from the dead, they could "believe" that they had been wrong about the claim that she had died. The power of disbelief is very great. Its "issues" do not lie in the realm of "reason" or "choice".
- 2. He also, however, clearly intended to make a particular impact upon three of His disciples.
- a. This could not help but make a distinction among The Twelve. How the other nine were to "handle" this is not even addressed, but, given the competition between the individuals within The Twelve (Luke 22:24), this was no small issue. It was a "temptation" to feel "slighted" and to give in to those feelings of inferiority that gender "boasting" as a way to bolster one's ego. However, a small bit of reasonable thinking would have "handled" that: both the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus are presented as objects of "grace" (neither 'deserved' what Jesus did for them, both 'deserved' what was happening to them before Jesus came along) so that anyone who is thinking clearly has to understand that the good experiences which Jesus permits are not "deserved" so that there is nothing about which to feel inferior or superior.
- b. That said, however, there is no denying that being an "on the site" witness of Jesus raising someone from the dead had to have done something significant to Peter, John, and James. Unfortunately, what it may have done, according to the Luke 22:24 statement, was blind them somewhat to "grace". On the other hand, however, "blind" or not, there was no way the three were not going to grasp the enormity of the power (kratos) Jesus exercised when He took the girl's hand. John had introduced Him as "mightier" (ischuros) and this use of this "might" in this "form" was absolutely indisputable.
- 1) We must remember that this is not the first time these men had witnessed this kind of power (Luke 7:11 et. al.).
- 2) As in all things, multiple exposures to the same kind of phenomena lead to a kind of acceptance that not everyone exercises. People can "get used to" many things if the level of exposure is sufficient. That the disciples did not "get used to" Jesus' ability to raise the dead shows up at the crucifixion and burial, but neither Peter, nor John had as much difficulty with His resurrection as did Thomas.
- 3) Since the resurrection from the dead was going to become the central thesis of the Gospel, it was necessary that there be a beginning of "faith" in that central tenet if the proclamation was to be one of profound conviction. But this question remains: were not all of the Twelve going to be sent out to proclaim that message?
- 3. He also clearly intended to make an impact upon the father of the child and the mother.
- B. He contradicted those who wept and wailed and was scorned.
- C. The Textus Receptus says He made everyone but those named above leave the room/house, but the editors of the Nestle/Aland 26 did not consider the textual support for this claim to even have enough support to include it in their apparatus. This could be the result of the inevitable biases in textual criticism, but, in any case, the facts are established with or without it. No one witnessed the event but the five identified above and this is emphasized by the deliberate statement of 8:51 and 8:56. There were to be only a very few "witnesses" of the "how", though all who were there "knew" she was dead and saw her after she was fed. Thus, the "what" was witnessed, but the "how" was not.