While He was still speaking, someone *came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.” But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.” When He came to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him, except Peter and John and James, and the girl’s father and mother. Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, “Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Child, arise!” And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately; and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat. Her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened.-Luke 8:49-56 [NASB], story also appears in Mark 5:21-43 Someone approaches Jesus and Jairus while they were having a conversation to let Jairus know that his daughter had just died. Jesus decides to go and let everyone who is sad know that there is no reason to be sad because Jairus’ daughter is only asleep. Although clearly that is not a fact, he says this as in that if he did not bring her spirit back to her body, she would be alive once again in heaven. It was a reassurance to all of them, not just about the daughter, that this is not the only life we live, but that there’s another one after we die. He wants to, as much as possible, keep the fact that He is the Messiah a secret for a bit so as to fulfill everything he must before being put to death. Jairus, being a highly known public figure, would be able to spread such a thing but Jesus did not want that yet. So he says things about the daughter in a veiled way, then literally tells them not to tell anyone. One very interesting thing I found in this story is that although Jairus is an official at the synagogue, he is totally fine with interacting with Jesus and letting Jesus help him in his time of need. The wrap Jesus was getting from any sort of Jewish official by this time already was pretty negative. It seems Jairus’ heart was not quite as cold as the others. Maybe it was because he had a daughter that he loved very much that he was unable to become as cold as the others. I imagine that Jairus did not last long as a synagogue official. His higher ups probably had a hard time understanding why he thought Jesus was so cool when he wasn’t even allowed to talk about what had happened that day. A very interesting story indeed. Although what Jesus did that day was nice and compassionate, one thing that stands out if you’re paying attention is who Jesus decides to take into the room where he heals the daughter. Peter, John, and James were his first picks. By this point it is clear, Jesus has a solid group of friends, and these three were his best friends. I’m not sure what the other disciples were up to at this very moment, but it’s clear that Jesus had the three guys he trusted the most with him. This makes sense especially because of how delicate the situation was. Jesus was going into a home where he was to bring a young girl back to life in front of her family, a family which was lead by an official of the synagogue. This could have been dangerous, but he knew he could trust these men with this secret for the time being. Again we see Peter being named first. As we march further and further through the life of Peter, we must see the significance behind him always being first. Even in the case of him being the gifted leader of the bunch, it does not make much sense in this case for him to be named first in the order. This is not Jesus vocally naming them out, and it’s clearly not alphabetically sorted, it’s just a simple list of who Jesus took with him. There is much more to learn about this, but that will come later. Just think of it in the sense that all scripture is inspired by God, and that God lead the writers of these words to always put Peter first. I think that is very interesting. Who are your best friends? Of them, do you have someone who is your absolute “bestest” friend? I believe Jesus did. He had these three, and I sincerely believe that Peter was his “bestest” friend. Jesus, being perfect, still had a limit in relationships. He had twelve solid followers, if we are to count Judas, and yet he sticks to these three. The same three we continue to see the most and hear talk the most. So if even the perfect Jesus had to limit who he had as his closest friends, and even his best friend, then we ought to look at our friends and figure out who we are closest to. On top of that we must know who we can trust the most, and if we are stretching ourselves too thin (too many people to be close to) or maybe not enough.