The focal point of the passage is the chamber of death in the house of
Jairus. There we learn that He Who had shown Himself to be Lord of
nature and of human nature, Master of the spirits of evil, and Saviour
from sin, is also Conqueror of Death. He needs no preparation for the
encounter. The summons comes to Him in the midst of a discourse, yet
He asks not a moment's delay, but sets out at once; on the other hand,
He is in no haste, for He has time to attend to another sufferer by
the way; and there is no exhaustion afterwards, for He deals with
another case, and still another, on His way back.
* * * * *
The question with which He was engaged when the summons came was one
raised by the disciples of John, who, as we learn from the other
accounts, were prompted by the Pharisees in the hope of exciting
antagonism between the followers of John and of Jesus. Perhaps also
they had the hope of setting Him at variance with Himself, for had he
not declared that one jot or one tittle should not pass from the law
till all was fulfilled? Why, then, did not His disciples fast? To this
it might have been answered that the frequent fasts observed by
Pharisees, and also by the disciples of John, were not really
appointed by the law, which prescribed only one day of fasting in the
year--the great atonement day. But the Saviour gives an answer of much
wider scope and farther-reaching significance. There was involved, not
the question of fasting only, but of the entire ceremonial law; and He
disposes of it all by a series of characteristic illustrations, each
of them as good as a volume on the subject could have been.
The first of these illustrations sets the true principle of fasting in
full, clear light by a simple question--"Can the children of the
bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the
days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and
then shall they fast." There is here much more to think of besides the
answering of the question. There is a treasury of valuable suggestion
in His calling Himself the Bridegroom, thus applying to Himself the
rich imagery of the Old Testament on this theme; while at the same
time He adopts the very figure which John himself had used in order to
mark his relation to Jesus as the Bridegroom's friend (cf. John iii.
29); and it is especially worthy of note how this keeps up the
_Gospel_ idea,--the great joy, as of a marriage, in the yielding of
the heart to Christ. No less striking is His touching reference to the
dark days coming, the first distinct foreshadowing of the Cross. It
has been well said by a German writer, "What man has ever looked so
calmly, so lovingly (_lieblich_), from such a height into such an
abyss!" from the position of the Bridegroom of humanity to that of the
outcast on the Cross. Ah! the shadow of that Cross is never off Him,
not even when He is exulting in His bridegroom joy. But these are only
incidental suggestions; the main idea is the true principle of
fasting, which, like all the observances of the New Testament, must be
the expression of that which is in the heart. Let the heart only be
true, and when the Bridegroom of the heart is present, fasting will be
entirely out of the question; but when He is absent no rule will be
needed--they will fast as the natural expression of their sorrow.
The two companion illustrations which follow set in the clearest light
the large subject of the relation of the new dispensation to the old
in respect of forms. As to substance, He had already made it plain
that the old was not to be destroyed, nor even superseded, but
fulfilled, to its last jot and tittle, as harvest fulfils seed-time.
But as to form, the case was entirely different. The new life, while
losing nothing which was in the old, was to be larger and freer, and
therefore must have new garments to match. To try to piece out and
patch the old would be no improvement, but much the reverse, for a
worse rent would be the only result. The second illustration,
suggested like the first by the associations of the marriage feast
(the Saviour's illustrations are never far-fetched--He always finds
exactly what He needs close at hand, thus proving Himself Master of
the imagination as of all else), is to the same purpose. The new wine
of the kingdom of heaven, though it retains all the excellence of the
old vintage, yet having fresh properties of its own, must have fresh
skins to hold it, that its natural expansion be not hindered; for to
attempt to confine it in the old vessels would be to expose them to
destruction and to lose the wine.
What a striking illustration of these suggestive words of warning has
been the history of doctrine and of form in those churches which cling
to the worn-out ritualism of the Old Testament! Old Testament forms
were good in their time; but they are not good to hold the new wine of
spiritual life; and to attempt to combine them, as modern ritualists
do, is to injure both, to do violence to the forms by subjecting them
to a strain for which they were never intended, and to lose the
greater part of the life by trying to put it in moulds which were
never intended for it. There is now no longer the excuse which our
Lord was so ready to make, at that time of transition, for those who
were slow to recognise the superiority of the new--a point which is
brought out in the pendant to this illustration which the Evangelist
Luke records: "No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth
new: for he saith, The old is better;" or rather, according to the
more correct reading, "the old is good." Thus, while the true
principle was laid down for all time, excuse was made on behalf of
John and his disciples, for clinging with a natural fondness to that
which had done good service in the past. A very needful lesson this
for too ardent reformers, not considerate enough of what is in many
respects wholesome and praiseworthy conservatism.
* * * * *
It was in the midst of these important teachings that the message came
from the chamber of death, to which we must now again direct our
thoughts: "While He spake these things unto them, behold, there came a
ruler, and worshipped Him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but
come and lay Thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose,
and followed him, and so did His disciples." This promptness is a most
precious revelation of the Divine readiness to help at any moment. No
need of waiting for a convenient time. Any moment is convenient for
Him, to Whom the affairs even of the infinite universe are no burden.
The same lesson is still more strikingly taught by His manner of
dealing with the case which met Him on the way to the ruler's house.
So hastily had He set out, in response to the ruler's appeal, that one
would have thought this of all times the most inconvenient--especially
for a chronic invalid--to gain a hearing. Here is a woman who has had
a disease for twelve years, and who therefore might surely be asked to
wait a few hours at least, till the Physician should be at leisure!
And the case is not at all forced on His attention; she does not stand
in front of Him, so that He cannot pass without noticing her,--she
only "came behind Him"; nor does she take any means that seem likely
to arrest His attention,--she only "touched the hem of His garment."
But it is enough. Slight as the indication is that some one needs His
help, He at once observes it; nor does He exhibit the least sign of
impatience or of haste; He turns round, and speaks in the kindest
manner, assuring her, as it were, of her right to enjoy the great
blessing of health, which had just come to her, for as soon as she had
touched Him He had cured her of her long and weary ailment. What
encouragement to the most timid soul! and what a revelation of the
large sympathy and ever-ready helpfulness of our Saviour Christ, and
of our heavenly Father Whom He so gloriously reveals!
The scene is now changed to the chamber of death. There are most
interesting details given in the fuller account by the Evangelist
Mark, but our scope is large enough here without endeavouring to bring
them all in. The maid had been at the point of death when the father
left the house; now it is all over, and the room is full of noisy
mourners. These clamorous demonstrations were evidently very painful
to the sensitive heart of Christ, not only, perhaps, on account of
their unreality, but also because of their inappropriateness in view
of the better hope which He was bringing into light. For we take it
that in these words "Give place: for the maid is not dead, but
sleepeth," there was not only a reference to His intention at once to
bring the dead one back to life, but to the true nature of death in
His kingdom. In it death was to be death no longer--only a sleep, with
the prospect of a speedy and blessed awaking. Therefore such
heathenish lamentations were to be henceforward out of place. Perhaps,
too, He wished to set these people thinking on the great subject of
death--what it is, what it means, and whether after all it need be
death in the sense in which alone the noisy mourners thought of it.
But "they laughed Him to scorn," so they must be "put forth." The Lord
of life cannot reveal Himself to such as these. Only the faithful
disciples, and the parents whose hearts have been prepared for such a
revelation by the discipline of genuine grief, are permitted to be
present. It is probable that both parents had their hearts fully
opened to the Lord; for though the mother had waited by the daughter's
bedside, she had no doubt gone with her husband in spirit on his
hopeful errand; and the father's faith must have been greatly
confirmed by what had happened on the way back--there was nothing lost
by that delay, even though in the meantime the message had come from
the house that it was too late. It was not too late: it was well that
the damsel had died; for now the Saviour has the opportunity to show
that He is no less Master of the last great enemy than of all the
other enemies of man. "He took her by the hand, and the maid arose."