1. The ruler, whose daughter was raised from the dead, came to Jesus when everything else had failed. He was a ruler of the synagogue and therefore should be a pillar of Jewish orthodoxy. No doubt he tried every kind of doctor and as a last resort he comes to Jesus.
2. Jesus might well have refused help to a man who came to him like that. But he bore no grudge. Injured pride and the unforgiving spirit had no part in the mind of Jesus.
3. There was wailing for the dead, there were the flute players. These are the people who are hired when someone dies. They do not really mourn for the dead but they make the visitors mourn for the dead by their professional crying and playing. That is the reason they laughed when Jesus said that the girl was sleeping. Many of us mourn for the dead like these women and flute players.
4. We have another character in the gospel that comes for a healing. From the Jewish point of view, this woman could not have suffered from any more terrible or humiliating disease than an issue of blood which made her unclean for several years.
5. When she touched his garment, Jesus halted; for the moment it seemed that for him no one but that woman and her need existed. She was not simply a poor woman lost in the crowd; she was someone to whom Jesus gave the whole attention.
We can have two lessons from today’s gospel. Like the father of the little girl, we rush to God at the eleventh hour. Jesus is not going to refuse His aid but it reflects our inadequate faith. We need to respond to God in faith not merely when we at an utter loss but also when we are in a comfortable position. The woman does not dare to touch Jesus and ask publicly for a healing since it was her private issue. She symbolically touches the garment of Jesus which is part of His body and gets healed of her bodily ailment. Jesus shows his sensitivity towards a woman by healing her without making the issue known to the other; and that could be a great lesson for the men folk.
Courtesy
William Barclay’s Commentary
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