Title: Jesus Called Her “Daughter” first
Text: Luke 8:40-48; Jonah 4:10-11
Last week, we saw how Jesus calmed the storm in a man’s heart — the man who had many demons.
That story reminded us of Jonah, who disobeyed God. It also showed how much God values life.
We learned that faith and obedience must go together.
Today’s story also shares the same message.
There are two women in this story, and they are compared with each other.
The key word is “daughter.”
In verse 48, Jesus says to the woman,
“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
And in verse 42, we hear about Jairus’s only daughter, who was 12 years old.
Jairus was a synagogue leader — someone with a high social status, like a town leader today.
His daughter was his only child, and she was 12 years old.
The number 12 is meaningful. In Jonah 4:11, God mentions 120,000 people in Nineveh.
Both numbers remind us of something important:
souls — people who matter to God.
God cares about every soul.
Just as God cared about the people of Nineveh long ago, today He cares about Jairus’s daughter.
The love Jairus had for his daughter shows how God loves and protects us.
But there’s a difference in the two women.
One had a loving father.
The other woman — who had been bleeding for 12 years — might have had no one to care for her.
She had suffered for a long time, been ignored, rejected, and treated like a sinner.
She had been sick for 12 years — the same number as the age of Jairus’s daughter.
One girl had 12 years of love and care.
One woman had 12 years of pain and loneliness.
We can see the clear contrast.
Jairus’s daughter was precious because she was the only child.
But the bleeding woman may have been forgotten by society.
But Jesus called her “Daughter.”
He treated her like His own child.
Just like Jairus, Jesus showed deep love, care, protection, and healing to this woman.
The word “Daughter” in verse 48 is very special.
Some people only focus on the part: “Your faith has healed you.”
But if we only focus on faith and healing, we might miss Jesus’s heart.
If we see this story only through the lens of doctrine, we might say,
“Ah, if I believe, I will be saved.”
But we might miss the bigger point — that Jesus saw her, loved her, and valued her.
We can be like Jonah — ignoring or even disliking certain people,
thinking only our families or people like us should be saved.
If we think that way, we may end up outside the city, angry and bitter, like Jonah.
In emergencies, we may rush and overlook people who are hurting.
But Jesus never overlooks.
The woman’s faith was important — yes.
But what stands out even more is that Jesus called her “Daughter.”
Jesus showed love to the weak, the outcast, the forgotten.
He cared for the one society rejected, even when He was on His way to help Jairus’s daughter.
Let’s summarize:
Jesus called the woman with bleeding “Daughter.”
She had suffered for 12 years.
Jairus’s daughter had received love for 12 years.
The number 12 connects their stories.
In Jonah, God said:
“Should I not care about the 120,000 people of Nineveh?”
Today, God is saying to us:
“Should I not care about this forgotten woman, too?”
Some may focus only on the phrase “Your faith has healed you,”
but before that comes the word “Daughter.”
That word tells us everything.
Even someone rejected by society is precious to God — He sees, loves, and heals them.
Faith without obedience leads to complaints and bitterness, like Jonah.
But obedient faith brings quiet and beautiful salvation.
Let us walk with invisible faith and invisible obedience,
valuing the souls others might not see, and becoming part of God’s saving work.
I pray that we may become people who, with Jesus’s heart,
see and love every soul as precious daughters and sons of God.
In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.
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