As he spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler coming in did homage to him, saying, My daughter has by this died; but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live.
A ruler kneels in front of Jesus and says his daughter is already dead — then asks for her life back anyway. His words raise two questions: what faith speaks like that, and who is worth kneeling to?
This appeal breaks into a conversation about old cloth and old wineskins:
From Matthew we learn what was happening when Jairus made his appeal. The Saviour was teaching that you cannot put new cloth on an old garment, or new wine into old skins (Matt. 9:14-18). He used this picture-language to show His hearers one thing. His mission of grace had nothing to do with the legal system of religious rules they grew up under. The old order of things, which demanded so much from man, had completely failed to do anything for ruined creatures. Everything now depended on Jesus. The two cases of the suffering woman and the dead girl, happening when they did, illustrated His point strikingly.
He does not just ask; he kneels before Jesus. Writers list this verse among the times Jesus accepted worship instead of refusing it:
The Lord Jesus claimed to be God (John 5 and John 8:53-58; John 10:36), and as such He never refused worship when it was offered to Him in the days of His humiliation (Matt. 8:2; Matt. 9:18; Matt. 18:26; Matt. 28:17; John 9:38, etc.) Compare this with Peter, Acts 10:26; the angel, Rev. 22:9, etc.
The ruler asks for a hand laid on the girl. Earlier a Roman officer — a centurion — had asked only for a word:
The Lord is stirred at once, and goes when the ruler calls. He owns the claim of faith, however feeble it is. The centurion knew that a word would be enough. But this Jewish ruler thinks as a Jew naturally would. He wants the Lord to come to his house and lay His hand on his daughter so that she might live. He linked the Lord's personal presence with the blessing his sick child would receive. But we Gentiles walk by faith, and not by sight. We believe in and love One whom we do not see. The Jews look for One whom they will see; and they will have Him in that way.
Mark and Luke report the girl as dying, not dead, when her father first speaks. Writers see no conflict here:
The apparent difference is this. Matthew says Jairus told the Lord his daughter was already dead. Mark and Luke make it seem she was at death's door. This variation is unimportant in itself. The Gospels themselves explain it: a messenger brought news of the child's actual death while Jesus was on the way to the ruler's house. Matthew does not mention that, because he presents the daughter's death from the very start of his account.
Beneath the family tragedy the writers see a picture of the nation of Israel:
The real state of Israel was death. Dying, as others saw it; in God's estimate Israel was dead before Jesus came. He visited it as dying — He really found it dead. So it is treated here; but, having come in life-giving power, Jesus will give it life. This will happen when He comes again.
The father's position sharpens the point. He held office in the synagogue, and the law had left his own household helpless:
The dead girl gives us a picture of Israel dead — spiritually dead — despite ages of possessing God's law. The law had not given life to Israel; so it was impossible that it could give righteousness. If it could not supply man's first need, it certainly could not supply his second.
Jairus shows what to do when nothing can be done:
The daughter was a child of twelve, just entering the age of responsibility. The father was a ruler of the synagogue. The disaster hanging over them was the last one — death. In his affliction Jairus found his resource in an appeal to the Lord. The Lord heard him. Yet the disaster did not pass, as he had expected it would, with more or less faith. Circumstances combined to hinder, and the Lord did not change the circumstances. Yet Jairus' appeal did not fall on deaf ears. The Lord answered it with a fullness of power that went beyond the father's faith, and the girl was restored to life.
- Timing. The appeal breaks into a talk about new wine and old skins. The old religious system had done nothing for ruined people. Everything now depended on Jesus.
- Worship. The ruler kneels, and Jesus accepts it. Peter and an angel both refused worship; Jesus never did.
- Faith. He asked for a hand on his child, not a word from a distance. The Lord owned that claim — feeble faith is still faith.
- Picture. A synagogue ruler's dead daughter pictures a nation the law could not bring to life. It waits for the One who gives life to come again.
- Answer. Jairus brought his grief to Jesus. His circumstances did not change, but the answer went past what he asked.
And Jesus rose up and followed him, and [so did] his disciples.
A synagogue ruler has just knelt in front of Jesus and asked Him to come to a house where a child lies dead. The answer is this verse — He gets up and goes — and commentators find a great deal in that short walk.
Jairus had nothing to offer but need. The answer came as movement, not words.
A great request was now laid at the feet of Jesus. The petitioner was Jairus, ruler of the synagogue. His daughter, a girl of twelve years, was dying. "But come," said her father, "lay Your hand on her, and she will live." Nor did our meek Master turn a deaf ear, but rose and followed him.
Another writer, reading the whole chapter together, notes the order in which the Lord's character comes out — first His stooping to walk behind a grieving father, then His gentleness with the woman who interrupts the journey:
These two cases bring out very clearly the love and power of the Son of God. First His gracious condescension in following the man, then His tender kindness to the woman.
A Roman officer had earlier asked only for a word. Kelly sees Israel itself in this dying girl.
That was exactly an illustration of the Lord's attitude toward Israel. He was there with life in Himself. Israel was like the girl who needed Him; she had no life in her: such was Israel's condition. But the Lord is at once roused, and goes at the call of the ruler. He owns the claim of faith, however feeble it may be. The centurion knew that a word would be enough. But this Jewish ruler thinks as a Jew naturally would. He wants the Lord to come to his house and lay His hand on his daughter, so that she might live.
The man asking here is no beggar. He belongs to the class that produced the opposition to Jesus.
Jairus, the petitioner, was a man of social and religious standing, and moreover of the very class from which the active opposition to Jesus came. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were honourable exceptions. Of the rest it was once asked with scorn, "Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?" (John 7:48). Here then the Lord's mercy to the ruler shows that He is rich toward all who call on Him.
Commentators differ on how Matthew's account lines up with Mark's and Luke's. One reading is that Matthew records a second approach, made after the first went unanswered.
It would seem that Matthew, in his account, is not referring to the event recorded by the other two writers. He relates how the anxious ruler sought the Lord's presence a second time. If this was so, we must suppose that the Lord did not answer the first prayer of Jairus at once. In the same way, in His perfect wisdom, He did not answer at once the urgent message of the sisters of Bethany about Lazarus... The Lord waited no longer, but "rose" — a word not found in the parallel passages — and followed him.
Another reading is simpler: Matthew leaves the stages out on purpose, because he is telling the story for a different reason.
Other accounts add details that are not here. She was at the point of death, and word of her death came before they reached the house. Whatever the time may have been, and whatever incidents others add, the account stands here for one purpose. Israel's case was desperate, even to death. So He, the Messiah, was the giver of life when all, in human terms, was over.
The child stands for something larger, and so does the request that Jesus come in person.
The ruler of the Jews wants the Lord to come in person to his house and touch the one without life. His personal presence is demanded to raise the daughter from death to life... Israel is often spoken of in the Old Testament as a daughter, the daughter of Zion. The daughter who has died is then likewise a picture of the people. Life can come to Israel only through the presence of Him who is the life. When He came the first time, they would not come to Him to have life. But He is coming again to raise up His people, to touch the daughter of Zion.
The journey itself carries meaning. He sets out for one person, and meets others on the road.
At His first coming He was on the way with Israel, the whole crowd around Him. Power was in Him, where faith was at work through grace, to stop death and to give life where everything else had failed. The poor woman pictures those whose faith took hold of Jesus in the middle of the crowd, and who were marked out from it.
- He rises. A father begs, and the meek Master does not turn a deaf ear. He gets up and goes.
- He accepts. He owns the claim of faith, however feeble it is.
- He reaches. A ruler of the synagogue, from the class that opposed Him, proves He is rich toward all who call on Him.
- He walks. On the road to the dead girl, one woman's faith takes hold of Him, and she is healed.
- He gives life. The daughter pictures Israel without life. Only the presence of the One who is life can raise her — and He is coming again.