Welcome to Day 2879 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.
Day 2879 – “Never Too Little, Never Too Lost”  based on Luke 8:22-39

Putnam Church Message – 05/10/2026

The Good News According to Luke: “Never Too Little, Never Too Lost.”

 

Last week’s message was “Freedom from Bondage,” in which we learned that, regardless of the storms of life we face or the bondage we have experienced, through Christ we can withstand them and live free because believers fight on the winning side.

Today, we continue with our twenty-second message from Luke’s narrative of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Today’s message is: “Never Too Little, Never Too Lost.” Our core passage today is Luke 8:40-56, which is found on page 1607 of your pew Bibles.

Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman

⁴⁰ Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. ⁴¹ Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house ⁴² because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. ⁴³ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,^[a] but no one could heal her. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. ⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”  ⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”⁴⁷ Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹ While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”

⁵⁰ Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

⁵¹ When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. ⁵² Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

⁵³ They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴ But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” ⁵⁵ Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. ⁵⁶ Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Opening Prayer

Father, we come before You today as people who sometimes feel rushed, overlooked, unclean, afraid, delayed, or disappointed. We confess that we often measure people by status, strength, influence, or usefulness, but Jesus never does. Lord, open our hearts to Your Word today. Help us see that no one is too little for Your attention, and no one is too lost for Your grace. Teach us to trust You when life is urgent, when hope seems delayed, and even when it feels like death has spoken the final word. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing to You, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Introduction: Jesus Looks at the One

I read a story about the former president of Taylor University, Jay Kesler, who once said with a smile, “I have an office full of pictures in which I’m shaking hands with great dignitaries, all of whom are looking at someone else.”

That line makes us laugh because we know exactly what he means. We have all seen it. Someone important shakes your hand, but their eyes are scanning the room. They are already looking for the next person, the next opportunity, the next more important conversation.

But Jesus is never like that.

If Jesus were to shake your hand, He would not be looking past you. He would not be distracted by the crowd behind you. He would look into your eyes, into your soul, into the places you hide from everybody else, and He would say, “You matter to Me.”

That is the heartbeat of our message today: Never Too Little, Never Too Lost.

We are continuing in Luke 8:40–56, and I encourage you to read the full passage from the New Living Translation. Luke places two stories together that belong together: the dying daughter of Jairus and the suffering woman who touched the edge of Jesus’ robe.

One is a young girl from a respected household. / The other is an unnamed woman pushed to the edges of society.

One has a father who can publicly plead her case. / The other has no public advocate at all.

One is twelve years old. / The other has suffered for twelve years.

One is loved in the center of the community. / The other has lived on the outside, isolated by illness, shame, and ceremonial uncleanness.

And Jesus moves toward both of them.

That is good news. Which brings us to the first of four truths today.

Main Point 1: Jesus Is Never Too Busy for the Broken

Luke tells us that when Jesus returned to Galilee, the crowd welcomed Him because they had been waiting for Him.

This is important. In the previous passage, Jesus had crossed the lake into Gentile territory. There, He delivered a man who was possessed, tormented, isolated, and living among the tombs. We called that message “Freedom from Bondage.” The people of that region saw a transformed man sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind — and they asked Jesus to leave.

Now Jesus comes back across the lake, likely to the area around Capernaum, and this crowd is waiting.

Can you imagine the scene?

People are pressing forward. Some are hoping for healing. Some are curious. Some are desperate. Some just want to see what Jesus will do next.

And then a respected man steps out of the crowd. His name is Jairus.

Luke calls him a leader or official of the synagogue. He was probably not a rabbi, but a lay elder — the kind of man who helped oversee worship, teaching, building care, and community matters. / In a Jewish village, the synagogue was not merely a church building. It was the center of communal life. Jairus would have been known, respected, and influential.

But on this day, Jairus is not standing tall as a dignified religious leader. He falls at Jesus’ feet.

Why? Because his only daughter is dying.

Parents understand this scene immediately. There are few fears deeper than the fear of losing a child. Jairus does not come to debate theology. He does not come to protect his reputation. He does not come wondering whether being seen with Jesus might damage his standing among other leaders.

His daughter is dying, and suddenly nothing else matters.

It reminds us of the centurion in Luke 7, whose beloved servant was near death. It reminds us of the widow of Nain, whose only son had died, and Jesus stepped into her grief before she even asked. In that message, we said, “There is Always Hope.” Here again, Luke shows us that Jesus moves toward human sorrow.

 

And notice this: Jesus goes with Jairus.

• He does not say, “I am too busy.”
• He does not say, “There are too many people here.”
• He does not say, “You synagogue leaders have not always supported Me.”
• He does not say, “I just came back from a stormy voyage and a difficult rejection.”

Jesus goes.

Object Lesson: The Calendar and the Empty Space

Imagine holding up a packed calendar or a long to-do list. Every line is filled. Every hour is claimed. There is no margin. Then hold up a blank sticky note and place it in the middle.

That blank space represents the interruption.

Most of us do not like interruptions. We say, “I was on my way to something important.” But Jesus shows us that sometimes / the interruption is the ministry.

Jairus interrupted Jesus’ public welcome. / The suffering woman will interrupt Jairus’ emergency. / But to Jesus, neither person is an inconvenience.

In our world, importance is often measured by titles, schedules, and urgency. But in the Kingdom of God, importance is measured by the heart of the Father.

Jesus is never too busy for the broken.

Main Point 2: Jesus Is Not Defiled by Our Uncleanness — He Makes Us Whole

As Jesus begins moving toward Jairus’ house, the crowd presses around Him. Somewhere in that crowd is a woman who has suffered from continual bleeding for twelve years.

To us, this may sound like a medical problem, and it certainly was. But in first-century Jewish life, this was also a social and religious crisis.

Leviticus 15 explains that a woman with an ongoing flow of blood was considered ceremonially unclean. That did not mean she was morally evil. It meant she was ritually excluded from normal worship and normal community contact. Anyone who touched her could also become ceremonially unclean.

So think about what twelve years meant.

• Twelve years of physical weakness.
• Twelve years of failed treatments.
• Twelve years of whispered conversations.
• Twelve years of isolation.
• Twelve years of wondering whether God had forgotten her.

Mark’s Gospel tells us she had suffered much from many doctors and had spent everything she had but had not improved. Instead, she had grown worse.

Luke, a physician, simply says that no one had been able to heal her.

Now compare the two twelve-year stories.

For twelve years, Jairus had watched his daughter grow. First steps. First words. Laughter in the home. Birthday celebrations. Hope for the future.

For those same twelve years, this woman had watched her life shrink. / Less money. / Less strength. / Less welcome. / Less hope.

• The girl had a name known in the community. / The woman is unnamed.
• The girl’s need is urgent. / The woman’s need is chronic.
• The girl has a father pleading publicly. / The woman comes privately, silently, secretly.

But Jesus sees them both.

The woman believes, perhaps with imperfect understanding, that if she can just touch the fringe of Jesus’ robe, she will be healed. In those days, devout Jewish men wore tassels on the corners of their garments, in obedience to Numbers 15 and Deuteronomy 22. These tassels reminded Israel to remember the Lord’s commandments. So, she reaches for the edge of His garment. / She does not grab His arm. She does not speak His name. She does not demand attention. / She touches the fringe. / And immediately she is healed.

Now, here is the beautiful reversal: Under normal circumstances, her touch would make someone ceremonially unclean. But when she touches Jesus, He does not become unclean. / She becomes whole.

That is the power of Christ.

• Sin does not overpower His holiness.
• Shame does not overpower His mercy.
• Sickness does not overpower His life.
• Death will not overpower His authority.

Throughout Luke, Jesus keeps touching people whom others avoid. / He touched the man with leprosy. / He welcomed the sinful woman who wept at His feet. / He delivered the man from among the tombs. / And now He receives the touch of a woman considered unclean.

In the previous message, “Freedom from Bondage,” we saw Jesus cross boundaries to deliver a man everyone else feared. / In this story, Jesus allows a woman whom everyone else avoided to come near.

The Good News is not fragile. Grace does not get contaminated by contact with human need.

Modern Illustration: The Isolation of Shame

Many people today know what it feels like to live on the edge of the crowd.

Some are isolated by illness. Some by grief. Some by addiction. Some by past mistakes. Some by family wounds. Some by anxiety or depression. Some by the quiet fear that if others really knew their story, they would step away.

So, they come to church and smile, but inside they feel like the woman in the crowd: “I will stay hidden. I will not bother anyone. Maybe I can get close enough to receive something from God without anyone really seeing me.”

But Jesus does not merely heal her body. He stops to restore her identity.

He asks, “Who touched Me?” Peter basically says, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”  But Jesus knows the difference between crowd contact and faith contact.  Many people bumped into Jesus that day. / One woman reached for Him in faith.

Trembling, she falls before Him and tells the whole story. Perhaps she expects rebuke. Perhaps she fears being publicly exposed. Instead, Jesus calls her “daughter.”

That is the only time in the Gospels we have a record of Jesus directly addressing a woman that way. Daughter.

• Not “unclean one.”
• Not “problem.”
• Not “interruption.”
• Not “woman, why did you touch Me?”

He tells her that her faith has made her well, and He sends her away in peace.

In Hebrew thought, peace — shalom — means more than the absence of conflict. It means wholeness, restoration, rightness, life as God intended it.

Jesus gives her more than healing. He gives her back her place.

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