“Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.”[14]
Upon the return of Jesus to Capernaum, he was received very cordially by the people; for they had missed him, and mourned even his short absence. The busy life of Jesus, in preaching his gospel, and in enforcing his authority by miraculous deeds of beneficence, seems to have engrossed every moment of his time.
Immediately upon his return to Capernaum, we find him surrounded by an immense concourse of people, drawn together by the novelty and the charm of his teachings. While he was addressing them, Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, came, and, falling upon his knees at the feet of Jesus, earnestly entreated him to save his little daughter, who was lying at the point of death. “Come, I pray thee,” said he, “and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.”
Jesus accompanied him to his house: his disciples and the crowd followed. While on his way through the streets, a woman, afflicted by a distressing disease, which, according to the law, was pronounced unclean, and was deemed incurable, stealthily pressed her way through the crowd, and, striving to avoid observation, touched the hem of his garment; for she said within herself, “If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.”
The result cannot be more impressively told than in the words of the evangelist: “And straightway the fountain ofher blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And, when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”
While this scene was transpiring, a messenger came from the house of Jairus to inform him that his daughter was dead, and that, consequently, all hope was at an end. But Jesus spoke words of encouragement to the grief-stricken father, saying, “Be not afraid: only believe.” They repaired to the house. The members of the bereaved family were giving utterance to their grief by loud weeping and wailing. Jesus gently reproved them, intimating that he would awake her from the sleep of death, by saying, “The maid is not dead, but sleepeth.” This assertion only excited the derision of the unbelieving group who had gathered around the corpse.
He ordered all to leave the death-chamber. Then, entering with the father and mother of the child, he took the lifeless hand in his own, and said, “Damsel, arise!” Immediately the glowing blood of health rushed through her veins; and the daughter of twelve years rose from her couch, to be encircled in the arms of her amazed and grateful parents.
Thus wonder after wonder greeted the ears of the astonished citizens of Capernaum. Returning from the house of Jairus to the dwelling, probably the house of Peter, which he made his temporary home while in Capernaum, he was followed by two blind men, who incessantly exclaimed, “Thou son of David, have mercy on us!” For some unexplained reason, Jesus paid no apparent heed to their cry. But, when he entered the house, the blind were permitted by the multitudeto crowd their way in also. Jesus then, turning to them, said, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” They replied, “Yea, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, and said, “According to your faith be it unto you.” We know not why Jesus should have enjoined it upon these blind men, as he did upon the parents of the maiden restored to life, not to proclaim the miracle abroad. It seems impossible that such astounding events, occurring in a crowded city, in broad day, could be concealed, or that any advantage could be derived from their concealment.
Jesus returned to Nazareth; but his reception by his fellow-townsmen was not cordial. Though he performed some miracles, and taught in their synagogue with such wisdom and authority as astonished them, still they rather sneeringly remarked,—
“Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James and Joses and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence, then, hath this man all these things?”