The Lord of spirits.
There was for Christ, during his earthly ministry, no escape from personal toil—from the claims made upon his benevolence by human misery, or from man's ingratitude. He crossed the lake to seek repose, but at once, on landing, was met by a case of the utmost wretchedness and need, demanding the exercise of his compassionate authority. His stay was brief, yet long enough to earn the thanks and the devotion of one poor liberated captive, and long enough to qualify and to commission that healed one for a sacred ministry of benevolence.
I. We have here a representation of THE WRETCHED STATE OF THE SINNER.
1. That state is attributable to possession by an evil power. This does not, indeed, affect man's responsibility, but it affirms the action of supernatural agency. Sinners "have fallen into the snare of the devil."
2. The signs of that state are many and distressing. Like the demoniac, the sinner is injurious to himself, is harmful to others, and consequently is unfit for society.
3. A picture is here painted of the sinner's hopeless condition. As the demoniac's possession was manifold ("we are legion"), was prolonged, and Was so severe that all human efforts had failed to bring relief, so was the condition of the heathen world when the Saviour came to earthen condition so debased and so confirmed in its misery that to the human eye no dawn-streak of hope was visible. And the heart, abandoned to the control of evil, is in a state for which no human relief or help is available.
II. We have here a representation of THE SINNER'S MIGHTY SAVIOUR. A greater contrast than that between the wretched and raving maniac and the calm and holy Jesus it would not be possible to imagine. Yet the two came together. Divine authority and compassion encountered human sin, foulness, and degradation, and the demon was exorcised and the sufferer made whole.
1. Observe the Divine authority of the Lord is acknowledged. It is certainly remarkable that from the month of the demoniac should come the confession that Jesus is "the Son of the Most High God." This Christ is; and, were he not this, his approach would bring no comfort to the sinner's heart.
2. In addition to this verbal acknowledgment, we observe an actual submission to and experience of Christ's power. "The unclean spirit came out." Jesus is "mighty to save." As during his ministry, so wherever the gospel is preached, the power of Christ is proved in actual experience. However formidable the foe may be, Jesus is the Conqueror.
III. We have here a representation of THE SINNER'S SALVATION.
1. There is complete deliverance from the tyranny of former enemies. "Taken captive by the Lord's servant unto the will of God"—such is the description given by an apostle of the great and spiritual emancipation which nevertheless brings souls into a new and better bondage.
2. Sanity is a consequence of our Lord's interposition. "When he came to himself" is the description of the change which took place in the repenting prodigal. Only he who turns to God can be truly said to be "in his right mind."
3. Tranquility is a natural sign of a spiritual restoration. The Saviour is the Prince of peace, and the gospel is a gospel of peace, and peace is a fruit of the Spirit. True religion calms agitation, stills the tempests of the soul, and brings harmony to human life.
IV. We have an example of the WITNESS OF THE SAVED SINNER TO THE SAVIOUR. The conduct of the healed demoniac is an emblem of the consecrated testimony of the ransomed soul to the great Deliverer.
1. It is prompted by grateful affection—A affection that would fain abide in the valued society of the Redeemer.
2. It is appointed and authorized by the Lord himself: "Go to thy house," etc.
3. It is borne especially to those nearest and dearest: "thy friends."
4. It consists of personal experience: "how great things the Lord hath done for thee."
5. It excites interest and wonder. Such testimony from such a witness cannot be without effect. The saved lead others to the same Saviour whose virtue they have themselves experienced.
The maiden's spirit recalled.
This narrative is a striking example of intercession, and of its appreciation and reward by the Lord Jesus. The suppliant, Jairus, pleaded for his daughter, and he did not plead in vain. Jesus wrought upon his behalf one of the three miracles of raising from the dead which have been recorded by the evangelists.
I. MAN IS TROUBLED, AND JESUS IS COMPASSIONATE. The distress of a father's heart, when his child lies at the point of death, is intense indeed. Jesus comprehended and entered mentally into all relations and all experiences of humanity, for he was himself the Son of man. How touching in its simplicity is the record of our Lord's response to the ruler's appeal: "He went with him "! He is ever the same, "touched with a feeling of our infirmities." He will go with us to the house of mourning, to the chamber of sickness, to the bed of death; and his presence will lighten the sufferer's load and soothe the sufferer's heart.
II. MAN IS IN HASTE, AND JESUS LINGERS. The entreaty of the father and the concern of the thronging multitude are vividly portrayed. How natural that, in so critical a case, there should be a general anxiety to reach the abode where the dying maiden lay! Yet the great Physician pauses to entertain another application for relief, to speak words of grace to another—to a timid, downcast spirit. There is no haste in Christ's methods. It often seems to those who seek him that he delays his succor. In their impatience they may think themselves unheeded. But it is not so; the Divine leisure with which the Lord of grace is wont to act should awaken our admiration and our confidence.
III. MAN DESPAIRS, AND JESUS REASSURES. There was a limit to the faith which was cherished towards Christ. It was thought that he could heal the sick, but it was not dreamt that he could raise the dead. When the little maiden had breathed her last, the household was abandoned to hopeless grief. But this was the moment when the Divine Friend displayed the deepest tenderness of his nature. "Fear not, only believe." Such were his words of comfort, fitted to soothe and to inspire desponding hearts with heavenly hope. Let us learn the lesson that, where Jesus is, there is no place for despair. These words of his come to us when downcast, cheerless, and oppressed beneath the cares and woes of life.
IV. MAN IS AGITATED, AND JESUS IS CALM. There is a sublime contrast between the demeanour of the friends of Jairus and the demeanour of Jesus. A tumult of weeping and wailing is quite in accordance with Eastern manners, and it is in accordance with human nature that the same persons who bewailed the maiden's death should, when another turn was given to their excited dispositions, have laughed the Lord to scorn. How noble and dignified in such a scene appears the demeanour and the language of Christ! He rebukes the noisy crowd and puts them forth, and with tranquil and anthoritative mien leads the parents, with the three favored apostles, into the sad chamber of death. "The world is for excitement, the gospel for soothing." There is but One whose presence can banish alarm and disquietude, and can shed a sweet calm over the dwelling agitated by fear and anguish.
V. MAN IS POWERLESS, AND JESUS IS MIGHTY TO HELP AND SAVE. The anxiety of the parents, the lamentations of the mourners, were vain and powerless to save the child from death or to recall her to life; but the touch and the call of Christ summoned back the spirit that had fled. In the deepest woe the grace and might of Jesus are most conspicuous. He is able to quicken such as are dead in trespasses and sins, to breathe upon them the breath of life. The soul that hears his word, "Arise!" awakens from the long, deep lethargy of sin and lives anew.
VI. MAN IS AMAZED, AND JESUS IS COLLECTED AND CONSIDERATE. No wonder that the parents of the girl were overwhelmed with astonishment. And how like the Lord, to display an interest so tender in the reanimated damsel as to direct that she should be supplied with food! And how like him, too, instead of seeking to increase his fame and favor with the people, to arrange that the miracle should for the present, as far as possible, be concealed! Wisdom, consideration for others, were apparent in his whole demeanour.
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. The incident gives us a beautiful representation of the power and the love of a Divine Saviour.
2. And an example of the necessity and the advantage of faith in Jesus, in order to spiritual life and blessing.
3. And a striking instance of the efficacy of intercessory prayer. We may well be encouraged to imitate the believing and urgent entreaties of Jairus.