Luke 8.40-56

Jesus called Jairus to have faith at a time when it seemed like all hope was lost. Only Jesus can bring newness of life. He did so for Jairus’s daughter and he does so for each and every person who puts their faith in him!

Key Verse


– Hebrews 11.1 (ESV)


Lesson Intro (Faith is believing and trusting)

Choose one of the more confident children to be blindfolded. After turning the child around a few times instruct him (or her) to make his way across the room. Give directions often enough that he doesn’t bump into something but only just enough that you create some suspense amongst the other children.

Once there’s enough uncertainty tell the child that when you give the command you want him to sit down. He is not allowed to feel if there is anything to sit on, he just has to have faith and sit down.

As you are explaining this very quietly bring out a chair and position it so that the blindfolded child will be able to sit in it. Cue the other children in the room not to make any noise. Remember, at the start of the lesson there was no chair to sit on, he has no way of knowing if there will be a chair behind him when he sits down.

Finally, tell your helper to sit down. When he is safely seated in the chair take off the blindfold and have everyone give him a hand.

Explain to the kids that it doesn’t ordinarily take faith to sit on a chair but when you’re trusting in someone else to make sure the chair is there, that’s faith!

Bible story

Read Luke 8.40-43

40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, because they were all waiting for him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue, came up. Falling at Jesus’ feet, he pleaded with him to come to his house, 42 because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying.

Explain: “a ruler of the synagogue”, Jairus was evidently an important man.
Ask: Does it seem like Jairus had faith in Jesus? Why do we think so?

Explain that Jesus started making his way toward Jairus’s house, but the crowd was pressing in around him. There was a lady in the crowd who had been sick for many years and she also believed that Jesus could heal her, so she got close to him and touched the edge of his robe. Immediately she was healed! Jesus stopped to talk to her. Do you know what he said to her? He said: “your faith has made you well”. That was really wonderful but the problem is that while he was delayed one of Jairus’s servants arrived at the scene with really bad news! He said to Jairus: “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the teacher any longer.” (v. 49).

Ask: Does it sound like the servant had faith?

Read Luke 8.50-53

50 But when Jesus heard this, he told him, “Do not be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” 51 Now when he came to the house, Jesus did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 Now they were all wailing and mourning for her, but he said, “Stop your weeping; she is not dead but asleep.” 53 And they began making fun of him, because they knew that she was dead.

Explain: There are 2 groups of people in this story. One group had faith in Jesus. The other group did’t believe in Jesus.

Ask: How do the unbelievers respond to Jesus? Did Jesus let those people come inside?

Let’s see what happened after they went inside the house

Read Luke 8.54-56

54 But Jesus gently took [the girl] by the hand and said, “Child, get up.” 55 Her spirit returned, and she got up immediately. Then he told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them to tell no one what had happened.


Wow, that’s really amazing. This story shows us a few people who believed that Jesus is the Son of God and they put their faith in him. It also shows us a few people who didn’t believe and gave up on Jesus or laughed at him.

Jesus wants you to put your faith in him because he wants to give each one of you newness of life. Let’s think about the 12 year old daughter that was dead.  Jesus spoke to her and she was raised to life. Before we put our faith in Jesus we are also dead, not physically like the little girl in the story, but spiritually dead inside. It says in Ephesians 2:1: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” What that means is that without the life of Jesus living inside your heart, you are dead and unable to live a life that pleases God.

God the Father is like Jairus in our story. He loves you very much and he doesn’t want you to be sick with sin. Did you know that, in the same way that Jesus performed a miracle for Jairus’s daughter to come alive, he has done the same thing for you? His miracle is that he died on the cross to wipe away our sins and then he rose to life again on the third day!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank you that you have the power to bring new life. We put our faith in you and pray that you would forgive us for our sins and give each one of us new life. Thank you that you love us so much and that we can turn to you at any time.

Review Questions:

  • Why did Jairus come to Jesus?
  • How was Jesus delayed along the way?
  • What message did the servant bring?
  • What did Jesus say when the servant told Jairus to give up?
  • What does it mean to have faith?
  • What did the crowd do when Jesus said that the girl was sleeping?
  • Do you think it’s better to be like the crowds who were laughing at Jesus, or better to be like Jairus who put his faith in Jesus?

Craft Idea

Try this simple cutout bookmark of Jairus’s daughter. Click on the link below to download the pdf

Image Credit: llya Rypin, The Raising of Jairus’ Daughter, 1871
Object lesson adapted from betterbibleteachers