This is the tenth post in the series from Matthew 8:28-34, 9:18-28; Mark 5:1-43, 6:1-6, and Luke 8:26-56, but today we will focus on names, titles, and their importance.
Mark 5:6 shows as soon as Jesus stepped out of the both, the demon-possessed man ran to Jesus and worshiped Him. Luke 8:41-42 tells us Jairus, ruler of the synagogue, fell on his knees at Jesus’ feet, begging Him to come home with him, lay His hands on his deceased daughter, so she would be healed and restored to life. Luke 8:44 says the woman with the twelve-year issue of blood interrupted Jesus and Jairus, who were being thronged (pushing, shoving), came behind Jesus, touching the border of His garment, to be healed. She came behind Jesus for she was illegally in the crowd, so if she came behind Him, she felt safe, but when Jesus turned to see “her that had done this thing”, they were face to face, and since she was exposed, she publicly told everything.
Jairus, synagogue ruler, is the only person these three stories give a name and title, and the only one coming to Jesus because of love for another person, his twelve-year old, dead, daughter. You know the mother was home weeping and crying out to God for here only daughter, although she knew her only daughter was dead. But carefully understand the importance of Luke 8:51-56, for when Jesus, Jairus, Peter, James, and John arrived at the deceased girl’s home, they were met by the hypocritical mourners, to whom Jesus said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping. And they ridiculed Him, knowing she was dead.” Then Jesus ousted all the faithless disbelievers.
Please closely consider Luke 8:54 and 56, where Jesus “called” (loudly) to the “little girl, arise”; therefore, there was no reason to tell anyone what had happened, for all could hear Jesus’ “call” (loudly) to the girl, and now they could see her alive. What they heard and saw was proof enough that Jesus had been there and done what her daddy had asked of Him.
But notice Luke 8:51 refers only to her family as “the father and mother of the girl”, and Luke 8:56 refers to them as “her parents”, for the name “Jairus” and title “ruler of the synagogue” was no longer important, because the unstoppable love of a daddy and mother to bring Jesus to their only daughter says it all. Parents, when our child or children will not come to Jesus, then we must bring Jesus to them, regardless of what it takes or how many interruptions try to stop us, for our children will die without Jesus unless we bring Jesus to them in unstoppable love and prayer.
In one of our previous writings, we used Jesus’ three parables from Luke 15:1-32, but now we use them as a word-picture of parents doing whatever it takes to get Jesus and our lost child or children together, so Jesus can give them eternal life, because without Jesus they have eternity in the lake of fire; therefore, our lost child or children are counting on us and our prayers to get Jesus to them before it is too late.
Names and titles are meaningless when Jesus is the only answer to an eternally lost person being so radically changed everyone hears and sees the change in them Jesus makes when they come together in a repentant, forgiven, loving, holly, pure relationship, the way 1 Corinthians 6:17 says.
Jim and Tim Nabors
