Jesus’ Authority Over Death

Jesus’ Authority Over Death | Matthew 9:18-26 | Philip Dhinakar
The intertwined miracles in this passage are about two females restored by a touch. One is a very young ‘woman’ aged just 12 and the other is a more mature woman. Both women are addressed by Jesus as “daughter” affectionately. Both the duration of the woman’s illness and the age of the daughter are given as 12 years. In both cases, life had ceased in different ways. In the case of the older woman, she was dead to society, while the young girl was dead physically. The miracles in both cases show that Jesus has the authority to restore life. This is the main point of the passage.
We will focus our attention on the story of the young girl, the daughter of Jairus who was raised to death.

The Desperation of Jairus
Jairus, the respected ruler of the synagogue, came to Jesus in a moment of deep personal crisis. Though synagogue leaders were generally opposed to Jesus, Jairus’ love for his only 12-year-old daughter—who was dying—drove him to humble himself and kneel before Christ. He was not motivated by love for Jesus’ teaching but by desperation, grief, and helplessness, having exhausted all other options. His act shows how deep need and suffering often bring people to Christ when nothing else can.
The lesson drawn is that sorrow, grief, and pain—though hard—can be God’s messengers to lead people to Him. Jairus no longer cared about his reputation or the disapproval of fellow leaders; only his daughter’s life mattered. The story challenges us to consider whether suffering may, at times, be God’s way of awakening us to our greatest need: salvation in Christ.
The Fledgling Faith of Jairus
There is no doubt that Jairus would have heard the reports of Jesus’ miracles, and he may have even seen a healing miracle with his own eyes. But resurrection belonged to a different category.
According to Mark and Luke, Jairus first asked Jesus to heal his child who was at the point of death: “Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” He thought that was the inevitable way healers worked. His understanding of Jesus’ authority was limited compared to the centurion in Matthew 8, who believed that Jesus could heal someone from a distance by word alone.
Jairus’s faith was real, but weak—in need of strengthening. Jesus immediately set out with him, but they were slowed down first by the crowds and then by another desperate person—the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. Jairus may have thought that precious time was being wasted while his daughter’s life was slipping away. Mark records that while Jesus was speaking with the woman, messengers arrived to tell Jairus that his little daughter had died. Their subtle advice—“Why trouble the Teacher any further?”—portrayed Jesus as one too busy to listen and too weak to help in the face of death. How often we believe such a word!
But Jesus overheard the conversation and counseled Jairus: “Do not fear, only believe.”
As Dale Ralph Davis puts it: “Jesus calls him to a deeper, higher step of faith. It’s as if Jesus was saying something like: you trusted Me in what was urgent, now trust Me in what is hopeless; you trusted Me in what was alarming, now trust Me in what seems irreversible; you thought I was adequate for that original situation—but what about this? Can you trust Me, can you believe that I am adequate for this very different, much more difficult one?”
Later, at the house, Jairus stood between the laughter of the crowd and the promise of Jesus. When Jesus went in to where the child lay, He reached out and took her hand. According to Numbers 5, touching a dead body defiles a living person—but with the Lord Jesus, holy power flows the other way. He not only has authority over nature and demons, but also over death itself. So, Jesus reached out, took the little girl by the hand, and immediately she got up.
Matthew writes: “And the report of this went through all that district.” From Capernaum to Jerusalem to Damascus to Rome, it spread—and it is still spreading today—bringing hope to all who trust in Christ and His resurrection power.
Not all healing is given in this life; some healing is reserved for the life to come. Yet our faith does not rest in the gift, but in the Giver. And this we know: God’s goodness is unchanging. He is no less kind when He heals in the next life than when He heals in this world. Even when His purposes are hidden from us, His heart is steadfast. We can rest in His hand, even when His face is veiled from our sight.
“Let us see in this glorious miracle a proof of what Jesus can do for dead souls. He can raise our children from the death of trespasses and sins and make them walk before Him in newness of life. He can take our sons and daughters by the hand, and say to them, "arise," and bid them live not to themselves, but to Him that died for them and rose again. Have we a dead soul in our family? Let us call on the Lord to come and quicken him. Let us send to Him message after message and entreat Him to help. He that came to the support of Jairus is still plenteous in mercy, and mighty in power”. [J.C.Ryle].