Daily Bible Reading 25th July 2026 // Luke 8:40-56
40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” 50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” 51 And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. 52 And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” 53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” 55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given to her to eat. 56 And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.
The raising of Jairus' daughter is, however, something else also: it is an illustration of something much greater, which is Christ's primary purpose in His dealings with men, and indeed in His having come into the world. Death, as we know it, is the wages of sin, and He has come to deal with the terrible problem of sin itself. And so, as well as raising the dead in the physical sense, He is also, and supremely, concerned to raise them in the spiritual sense and to give them newness of life. And this is far more like His resurrection than the raising of Jairus' daughter was. For spiritual resurrection regeneration - is not a return to any 'status-quo', as hers undoubtedly was, but a new kind of life altogether: 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new'. This is salvation - spiritual resurrection, being raised from the dead, given new life, new birth -
He speaks, and listening to His voice
New life the dead receive.
The miracle here is, therefore, in its deepest message, an illustration of our Lord's own words in John 5:25, 'The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.'