Mark 5:21-43
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman
21When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24So Jesus went with him.
This story also appears in Luke 8:40-56. See my post on that passage here. Jesus and his disciples went back to the side of the lake where Jesus had just taught the crowd the three parables of seeds. It could be that some of the same people were there, expecting Jesus to come back. If we wait in expectation for Jesus, that shows faith on our part, and he will always show up. This time, one of the synagogue rulers came to ask Jesus for help. The fact that Mark knew his name suggests that he was known to Jesus and the disciples. Perhaps Jesus had taught in Jairus’ synagogue, and they had become acquainted. It’s possible that Jairus had been part of the Jewish leadership that opposed Jesus. But when his daughter was dying, any opposition to Jesus he might have had fell away. There are no atheists in foxholes. How long had his child been in this condition before he got past his pride and went to Jesus? So many never talk to God until they’re in desperate straits.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ “
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Here is another person who approached Jesus out of desperation. The ailment this woman had made her ceremonially unclean, and anyone she touched was made unclean. She would have had to be divorced from her husband, could not live in her home, could not worship in the synagogue or have contact with her friends. She was an outcast. She was not supposed to be in a pressing crowd, and was definitely not supposed to purposely touch anyone. And she had lived like this for 12 years! She was desperate.
When she touched Jesus’ robe, according to the law, it should have made Jesus unclean. But instead, it made her clean. When we reach out in faith to Jesus, our uncleanness does not affect him, his holiness affects us. In all the gospels, there are two things that are unique about this story. One is the fact that it’s the only place where the Bible says that healing power went out from Jesus. Nowhere else does the Bible refer to power from God flowing through Jesus into someone else.
When Jesus realized that this had happened, he asked who had touched him. The disciples’ answer shows a lack of understanding. There is a big difference between bumping into Jesus and reaching out to him in faith. Lots of people go to church on Sunday and “bump into” Jesus. The ones who go to reach out and touch him are the ones who receive from him.
This lady had tried to do this secretly because of her shame. But Jesus would not let her get away with that. Why did he make her come forward and expose her publicly? He did it for several reasons. He wanted everyone to know she was healed so that her public shame would be over. Now that she was healed, she could go back to the synagogue. She could go back home with her family. Would that have happened if she had slipped away and nobody knew what had happened? He also did it so she and everyone else would know that it was her faith that had healed her. And here’s the other unique thing about this story. Jesus called her “daughter”, which he never called anyone else in the gospels. He gave her this special honor because of the faith she had shown. And he did it to encourage Jairus. If the power of God in Jesus Christ and this woman’s faith had healed her when Jesus didn’t even intend to do so, what could Jesus do when he was making a special trip to Jairus’ home?
35While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?”
36Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” ). 42Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
While Jesus was still speaking to the woman, he overheard messengers tell Jairus that his daughter was dead. Jesus told Jairus not to worry, but to have faith. After what Jairus had just seen, that would have been easier. When they got to Jairus’ house, Jesus only allowed certain people to come into the girl’s room with him, Jairus and his wife, and his “inner circle”, Peter, James, and John. I’m sure the room was small, but there must have been another reason. One conclusion I came to the last time I went through the Gospel of John was that Jesus performed miracles primarily for two reasons, to glorify God and to help people to believe. Jesus had compassion on those he healed, but his compassion was not the main reason he performed those miracles. He called the woman afflicted by bleeding forward to help her faith and the faith of those who witnessed it, and he put the mourners who laughed at him out of the house because they had no faith. He raised the girl from her death bed only in front of those whose faith would be strengthened by witnessing it. Those are the same reasons God performs miracles today. He does it to bring glory to himself, and to help us believe.