The Gospel according to Luke

8:40–56

Jairus' daughter raised from the dead and woman with bleeding issue healed

Parallel(s): Matthew 9:18–26; Mark 5:21–43

• Part of a section of multiple accounts demonstrating Jesus' power over nature / primordial chaos (wind and waves; vv. 22–25), unclean spirits (vv. 26–39), disease, and death (vv. 40–56).
• v. 40: Jesus just "returned" from "the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee" (v. 26), which was part of ancient Gilead. See note on v. 26.
• v. 41: The name Jairus is a possible allusion to Jair (Judges 10:3–5). Interestingly, Jair was a Gileadite (the land Jesus just returned from), and the next judge, Jephthah, has some interesting parallels/reversals to this account.
• Michael Heiser noted similarities between Jephthah's tragedy and Jesus' raising of Jairus' daughter in this pericope. Notable examples include:
• Name similarity: Jair vs. Jairus.
• Gilead connection: Jair (and Jepthah) was a Gileadite, Jesus just returned from Gilead.
• Only daughter: Both Jephthah's and Jairus' only daughter is the one who dies.
• Reversal of outcome: Whereas Jephthah's daughter dies due to his own foolishness, Jesus raises Jairus' daughter from the dead.
• Michael Heiser, I dare you not to bore me with the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), locs. 637–681 (Kindle edition).
• vv. 43–48: The healing of the "woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years" is interjected in the middle of the account of Jesus healing Jairus' daughter.
• vv. 42–43: The woman in the crowd has been bleeding for the entire lifespan of Jairus' daughter: 12 years. The number itself of course has additional symbolism, and everyone in these accounts has been waiting for Jesus (see also v. 40).
• Both accounts (and the preceding encounter with the Gadarene demoniac) involve Jesus coming into contact with things that cause ritual impurity (menstruating woman, death).
• v. 43: She "had spent all her living on physicians and could not be healed by any." "Her misery is thus threefold: she has no more possessions, she has lost her health, and her ritual impurity has separated her from God and from other people. In this condition she nevertheless dares to hope and to trust in Jesus. The stereotypical formula, 'your faith has saved you,' has a sociological functional setting in the early Christian church: the woman with the discharge of blood is the symbol of people who would like to be accepted by the church. With this formula, and with the telling of such miracle stories, the early church, in contrast to the synagogue, emphasizes its conviction that God will not keep such people at a distance. Unlike God’s law regarding the sanctuary (Lev 15:31), Jesus as the representative of God does not subject such people with discharges of blood to the danger of death. On the contrary, a healing power streams forth from him that restores life (v. 46). The instant healing (παραχρῆμα, 'immediately,' v. 44, is repeated in the conclusion in v. 47) shows divine agreement and the new definition of faith."
   
  François Bovon and Helmut Koester, Luke 1: A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1–9:50, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002), 338.
• v. 44: She "touched the fringe of his cloak." "Fringe" here is κράσπεδον, which may refer to the "tassel (צִיצִת) which an Israelite was obligated to wear on the four corners of his outer garment" (BDAG 2000, 564; see also Numbers 15:37–39).
• v. 48: Jesus refers to the woman as "daughter" despite likely being younger than her, further emphasizing the daughter motif in this pericope.