Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping. And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. 

Luke 8:52-53

Some have no faith in Christ. Our text describes the expression of that. When Christ arrived at the home of Jairus, He said to the mourners, ‘Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.’ The hearers ‘ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.’ There was nothing wrong with their human logic. The girl was dead and to the human mind that is very different from sleeping. To them, Christ’s statement was patently ridiculous and they responded appropriately. They had no faith in Christ and said so. We are all naturally inclined to unbelief. It is only a clear sight of Christ which changes our unbelief to faith. We read His word and at times struggle with some of His promises. We often find ourselves crying, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.’ These people had no faith and ridiculed Him. We have some faith and need that faith increased. A clear sight of Christ, of His Person and His work will cure our natural unbelief. Then, His promises shine before us. We receive His word and believe. 

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we believe You, and in You. 
We praise You that You prove Yourself  
worthy of our faith on every occasion. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And He said to her, Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well.  
Go in peace. 

Luke 8:48 

What kind of faith does Christ commend? Our text is Christ’s commendation to the woman with the issue of blood who had touched the hem of His garment, believing He could heal her without ever seeing her. She was correct. As soon as she touched the hem of His garment the flow of blood ceased. Christ was aware of the touch and stopped the procession to the synagogue ruler’s house to address the woman. She, trembling and afraid came forward not knowing what to expect. Instead of chiding or berating her, Christ uttered the words of our text. He spoke to her endearingly, called her Daughter, commended her faith, and told her to go in peace. This was the most wonderful reaction for which she could hope. He did not rebuff her, but rather commended her faith. Christ wants us to have faith, gives us faith, increases our faith and then commends our faith. It is all of Him and yet He commends us for it. Here is a Savior in Whom we can believe and upon whom we can depend. He is worthy of all our faith all the time. 

Our Gracious Savior and our God, 
we rejoice that You give us faith. 
We praise You that You prove Yourself  
utterly worthy of our faith. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping. And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. 

Luke 8:52-53

Some have no faith in Christ. Our text describes the expression of that. When Christ arrived at the home of Jairus, He said to the mourners, ‘Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.’ The hearers ‘ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.’ There was nothing wrong with their human logic. The girl was dead and to the human mind that is very different from sleeping. To them, Christ’s statement was patently ridiculous and they responded appropriately. They had no faith in Christ and said so. We are all naturally inclined to unbelief. It is only a clear sight of Christ which changes our unbelief to faith. We read His word and at times struggle with some of His promises. We often find ourselves crying, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.’ These people had no faith and ridiculed Him. We have some faith and need that faith increased. A clear sight of Christ, of His Person and His work will cure our natural unbelief. Then, His promises shine before us. We receive His word and believe. 

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we believe You, and in You. 
We praise You that You prove Yourself  
worthy of our faith on every occasion. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And He said to her, Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well.  
Go in peace. 

Luke 8:48 

What kind of faith does Christ commend? Our text is Christ’s commendation to the woman with the issue of blood who had touched the hem of His garment, believing He could heal her without ever seeing her. She was correct. As soon as she touched the hem of His garment the flow of blood ceased. Christ was aware of the touch and stopped the procession to the synagogue ruler’s house to address the woman. She, trembling and afraid came forward not knowing what to expect. Instead of chiding or berating her, Christ uttered the words of our text. He spoke to her endearingly, called her Daughter, commended her faith, and told her to go in peace. This was the most wonderful reaction for which she could hope. He did not rebuff her, but rather commended her faith. Christ wants us to have faith, gives us faith, increases our faith and then commends our faith. It is all of Him and yet He commends us for it. Here is a Savior in Whom we can believe and upon whom we can depend. He is worthy of all our faith all the time. 

Our Gracious Savior and our God, 
we rejoice that You give us faith. 
We praise You that You prove Yourself  
utterly worthy of our faith. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘I Do Not Know’

And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.

Luke 8:56

The rabbis of Judaism have a saying upon which they expound: ‘Teach your tongue to say, “I do not know.”’  This is sound advice, regardless of your religious persuasion. When we come to our text for today, we find that Christ does something that we would consider odd. After He has raised the little girl from the dead, He then, ‘charged them to tell no one what had happened.’ Why did He do that? Well…we do not know. When handling the Word of God, we have to resist the urge to, ‘tell more than we know.’ We could speculate or make something up to spiritualize the action, but where would that get us really? The fact is, Christ raised the little girl from the dead and instructed these most grateful people to be utterly silent about it. What can we draw from this? At the bare minimum, we must conclude that we are always going to see Christ do some things that we are not going to understand. This is very useful toward enabling us to be content. It also touches upon our ability to trust Christ, that He knows what He is doing, in spite of the fact that we do not understand. This also aids us in our contentment. We find great joy and contentment knowing that we do not have to know and understand everything that Christ does, or tells us to do. We can be content in knowing that He knows and that He does ‘all things well.’

Our Wise and All-Knowing Savior,
We rejoice that You know all the things that we do not know.
We praise You that we may trust You
to do good in all these things.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning