Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 5.djvu/109

Rh the enjoining of religious exercises, the weakness and infirmity of young christians ought to be considered: as the food provided for them must be such as is proper for their age, (1 Cor. 3. 2. Heb, 5. 12.) so must the work be that is cut out for them. Christ would not speak to his disciples that which they could not then bear, John 16. 12. Young beginners in religion must not be put upon the hardest duties at first, lest they be discouraged. Such as was God's care of his Israel, when he brought them out of Egypt, not to lead them by the way of the Philistines, (Exod, 13. 17, 18.) and such as was Jacob's care of his chil dren and cattle, not to overdrive them; (Gen. 33, 13.) such is Christ's care of the little ones of his family, and the lambs of his flock, he gently leads them: for want of this care, many times, the bottles break, and the wine is spilled; the profession of many miscarries and comes to nothing, through indiscretion at first. Note, There may be over-doing even in well-doing, a being righteous over-much; and such an over-doing as may prove an undoing through the subtility of Satan.

18. While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. 19. And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples. 20. (And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: 21. For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. 22. But Jesus turned him about; and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.) 23. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, 24. He said unto them, Give place; for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 25. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 26. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.

We have here two passages of story put together; that of the raising of Jairus's daughter to life, and that of the curing of the woman that had the bloody issue, as he was going to Jairus's house, which is introduced in a parenthesis, in the midst of the other; for Christ's miracles were thick sown, and interwoven; the work of him that sent him was his daily work. He was called to do these good works from speaking the things foregoing, in answer to the cavils of the Pharisees, v. 18. While he spake these things; and we may suppose it a pleasing interruption given to that unpleasant work of disputation, which, though sometimes needful, a good man will gladly leave, to go about a work of devotion or charity. Here is,

I. The ruler's address to Christ, v. 18. A certain ruler, a ruler of the synagogue, ''came and worshipped him. Have any of the rulers believed on him?'' Yes, here was one, a church-ruler, whose faith condemned the unbelief of the rest of the rulers. This ruler had a little daughter, of twelve years old, just dead, and this breach made upon his family comforts was the occasion of his coming to Christ. Note, In trouble we should visit God: the death of our relations should drive us to Christ, who is our life; it is well if any thing will do it When affliction is in our families, we must not sit down astonished, but, as Job, fall down and worship. Now observe,

1. His humility in this address to Christ. He came with his errand to Christ himself, and did not send a servant. Note, It is no disparagement to the greatest rulers, personally to attend on the Lord Jesus. He worshipped him, bowed the knee to him, and gave him all imaginable respect. Note, They that would receive mercy from Christ must give honour to Christ.

2. His faith in this address; "My daughter is even now dead, and though any other physician would now come too late, (nothing more absurd than post mortem medicina—medicine after death,) yet Christ comes not too late; he is a physician after death, for he is the resurrection and the life; O come then, and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live." This was quite above the power of nature, (a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus—life once lost cannot be restored,) yet within the power of Christ, who has life in himself, and quickeneth whom he will. Now Christ works in an ordinary way, by nature and not against it, and, therefore, we cannot in faith bring him such a request as this; while there is life there is hope, and room for prayer; but when our friends are dead, the case is determined; we shall go to them, but they shall not return to us. But while Christ was here upon earth working miracles, such a confidence as this was not only allowable but very commendable.

II. The readiness of Christ to comply with his address, v. 19. Jesus immediately arose, left his company, and followed him; he was not only willing to grant him what he desired, in raising his daughter to life, but to gratify him so far as to come to his house to do it. Surely he never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. He denied to go along with the nobleman, who said, Sir, come down, ere my child die, (John 4. 48, 49, 50.) yet he went along with the ruler of the synagogue, who said, Sir, come down, and my child shall live. The variety of methods which Christ took in working his miracles, is perhaps to be attributed to the different frame and temper of mind, which they were in who applied to him, which he who searcheth the heart, perfectly knew, and accommodated himself to. He knows what is in man, and what course to take with him. And observe, when Jesus followed him, so did his disciples, whom he had chosen for his constant companions; it was not for state, or that he might come with observation, that he took his attendants with him, but that they might be the witnesses of his miracles, who were hereafter to be the preachers of his doctrine.

III. The healing of the poor woman's bloody issue. I call her a poor woman, not only because her case was piteous, but because, though she had something in the world, she had spent it all upon physicians, for the cure of her distemper, and was never the better; which was a double aggravation of the misery of her condition, that she had been full, but was now empty; and that she had impoverished herself for the recovery of her health, and yet had not her health neither. This woman was diseased with a constant issue of blood twelve years; (v. 20.) a disease, which was not only weakening and wasting, and under which the body must needs languish; but which also rendered her ceremonially unclean, and shut her out from the courts of the Lord's house; but it did not cut her off from approaching to Christ. She applied herself to Christ, and received mercy from him, by the way, as he followed the ruler, whose daughter was dead, to whom it would be a