The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 219

The saved lead others to the same Saviour whose virtue they have themselves experienced. Vera. 21-24, 85-43.-TM maiden's splrle rualled. This narrative is a striking example of lnterceBBion, and of its appreciation and reward by the Lord Jesus. The suppliant, Jairus, pleaded for his daughter, and he did not plead in vain. Jesu~ wrought upon his behalf one of the three miracles of raising from the dead which have been recorded by the evangelists. I. MAN IB TBOUJILED, AND JEsus IS OOHPABBIOl.UTl!l. The distress of a father'a 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" I He is ever the same, "touched with a feeling of our infirmities." He will go with us to the hoW!e 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. Il. MAN 1s 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 I Yet the great PhyHician 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 succour. 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 DESPAms, 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 maiclen 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 despond- ing hearts with heavenly hope. Let us learn the lesson that, where Jesus is, there is no place for despair. 'l'hese words of his come to us when downcast, cheerless, and oppressed beneath the cares and woes of life. IV. MAN IB AGITATED, AND JEsus 1s CALK. 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 Ea.stem 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 I He rebukes the noisy crowd and puts them forth, and with tranquil and authoritative mien leads the parente, with the three favoured 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 o.nguish. V. MAN 18 P0WEILLESB, AND JESUS IB 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 18 AMAZED, AND JEBUB I8 COLLECTED A.ND 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 I And how like him, too, instead of seeking to increase his fame and favour with the people, to arrange that the miracle should tor the present, as far as possible, be concealed I Wisdom, consideration for others, were apparent in his whole demeanour,  216 THE O'OSPEL ACCORDING TO ST, MARK. [en. v. 1--4.3.