nagogue."

"And taking the child by the hand, He saith unto her, Talitha cumi;
which is, being interpreted, Damsel I say unto thee, Arise. And
straightway the damsel rose up, and walked."--_Mark_ v. 37, 38, 41,
42.

The first scene in which we find John as one of the favored three is in
the house of mourning. It was the home of Jairus in Capernaum. He was a
ruler of the synagogue. "He had an only daughter, about twelve years of
age, and she lay a dying." He hastened to Jesus, fell at His feet,
worshiped Him, and besought Him saying, "Come and lay Thy hands on her
that she may be healed; and she shall live."

Did he not have in mind Peter's wife's mother, living in the same town,
and how Jesus "came and took her by the hand and lifted her up; and
immediately the fever left her"? Jesus started for the house, followed
by a throng, some doubtless full of tender sympathy for their townsman,
and some curious to see what the wonder-worker would do.

A messenger from Jairus' home met him saying, "Thy daughter is dead;
trouble not the Master." But the father's faith in Jesus was not limited
to the power to heal. Could not the hand that had already touched the
bier of the widow's only son, be laid on his only daughter, with
life-restoring power? Could not the command spoken in Nain "I say unto
thee, arise," be repeated in Capernaum, and in like manner be obeyed?
Without heeding the messenger's question about troubling the Master, he
cried out yet more earnestly, "My daughter is even now dead; but lay Thy
hand upon her, and she shall live." But the father's entreaty was
unnecessary, for Jesus was already responding to the messenger's words
as, turning to Jairus, He said, "Fear not, only believe."

How eagerly the curious crowd hastened toward the ruler's home, because
of a possible miracle, even raising the dead. But they were not to be
witnesses of such display of Divine power. Yet even if the throng be
excluded, might not the Twelve, following close to Jairus and Jesus,
expect admission to the home? What was the surprise and disappointment
of nine of them to be forbidden admission by Him whom they were
following. But so it was. "When He came to the house He suffered not any
man to enter in with Him, save Peter, and John and James, and the father
of the maiden, and her mother."

[Illustration: RAISING THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS _H. Hofmann_ Page 99]

This is the first we know of this distinction in the ap