Mark Bradford's Bible Blog

³⁶In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas^[b]), who was always doing good and helping the poor. ³⁷About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. ³⁸Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

After the healing of Aeneas in the previous passage, the word spread of this miraculous healing to the nearby town of Joppa. As a result, when one of the believers there died, they immediately sent for Peter. Luke never says that they expected Peter to raise her from the dead, but it doesn’t seem likely that they sent two men to urge him to come and preside over a funeral. They had heard about a miracle, and I think they sent for Peter expecting one.

Luke says that Dorcas “was always doing good and helping the poor.” As we learn in the next verses, she was a seamstress who made clothing for widows and orphans. In a society where women were not considered equal to men, she was so highly valued because of her good works that two men were sent to fetch Peter when she died. Luke calls her a disciple in verse 36 without even mentioning her gender. Dorcas means deer, gazelle, or little doe in Greek, and Tabitha means the same in Aramaic. It’s interesting to me that of the two names, Dorcas and Tabitha, the Aramaic name Tabitha is the name that is still used in English, at least in the U.S. I still hear of women named Tabitha, but I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone named Dorcas. But to this day, there are charitable societies that make clothing for the poor named Dorcas societies. Girls in America are still named Tabitha, but the woman who did good for others is remembered as Dorcas.

³⁹Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

The best funerals are the ones where the deceased is remembered as one who did good for others. I recently attended the funeral of a friend of mine, Reggie McDaniel. I met Reggie in 1997 when we both worked at KOA radio in Denver. Reggie was loved by everyone who knew him, and by many who did not. He was, as I put it, full of joy. He was a man of God who made everyone around him feel good just being near him. He was a very funny guy too, and his funeral was a hoot! As my sister once said to me, it’s a good funeral when you laugh more than you cry. Reggie’s funeral was fun. What does it say about a person when their funeral is fun? His memorial service would have gone on for hours if every person who wanted to had been allowed to tell what Reggie meant to them. That’s the kind of impact he had during his life, even though he was dying of lung disease for the entire time I knew him.

I imagine that Dorcas’ funeral might have been something like Reggie’s. Dorcas had been a living example of Jesus’ teachings on giving to others. Peter had come in response to a need, and went to the upper room where the body was. But in order to do what God had brought him there to do, Peter first had to get past all of the widows who wanted to show him the things Dorcas had made for them. At my funeral, will people want to talk about what I did for others, or what I accomplished for myself?

⁴⁰Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. ⁴¹He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. ⁴²This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.

What Peter does here is remarkably similar to what Jesus did in his raising of Jairus’ daughter in Mark 5:37-43, (blog) and Luke 8:49-56, (blog). Like Jesus, he puts all of the mourners out of the room. Peter’s words in Aramaic, “Tabitha, koum,”, which meant, “Little doe, get up,” mirrors Jesus’ words, “Talitha koum!”, which meant, “Little girl, get up!” Unlike Jesus, Peter felt the need to get down on his knees and pray there in the room where the body was. Of course, Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer, but the Bible never says that he prayed right before raising Jairus’ daughter. This shows Peter’s wisdom, humility, and discernment. He knew where the miracle, if there was to be one, would come from. If Dorcas was to be raised up, it was Jesus who would have to do it, as he had done with Jairus’ daughter, the widow’s son (Luke 7:11-17, blog), and Lazarus (John 11:1-43, blog). I think it’s possible that Jesus allowed Peter to observe the miracle of Jairus’ daughter so he would have faith that it could happen for Dorcas. Peter remembered, and modeled his behavior on what he had seen Jesus do. That’s what it means to be a disciple.

It’s important to remember that Dorcas was not resurrected. She was merely revived. She went on to live a normal life and eventually died again. Jesus is still the only one who has been resurrected to life everlasting in his glorified body, but one day all who believe will be.

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Cor. 15:52)

I read one commentary today which questioned why God raised Dorcas, but not Stephen. Surely, the writer said, Stephen was more valuable to the early church than Dorcas! But I don’t believe that God considers one person more valuable to the kingdom than another. And Dorcas did provide a valuable service to the church, one that was very Christlike. But I don’t believe that’s why God raised her either. God doesn’t perform miracles for people based upon what they can do for him if he helps them. As a friend so wisely put it to me once, God can use us, but he doesn’t really need us. Someone in my family has needed a medical miracle for decades, and I have been tempted on many occasions to think of all the great things this family member could do for the kingdom if God would heal them. But it’s wrong-headed to think that way. As I said yesterday, and as I’ve said over and over in this blog, there are two reasons that God performs miracles; to glorify himself, and to help people believe. Dorcas was not raised so she could go on making clothes for the poor. She was raised to bring glory to God, and so many people would believe in the Lord, as Luke says happened in Joppa.

⁴³Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

This seemingly random observation by Luke actually has great meaning. Tanners were ceremonially unclean because they worked with the bodies of dead animals (Leviticus 11:31). According to the laws of that time, a tanner had to live at least 75 feet outside a village because of his ritual uncleanness. If a girl was betrothed to a tanner without knowing what he did for a living, the betrothal was void. Yet Peter stayed with a tanner for a long time. This laid the groundwork for what was to come for Peter in the next chapter. Peter was beginning to get past the traditions he was raised with, and evolving in his acceptance of all people. It seems to me that this goes back to his laying hands on the believers in Samaria in 8:14-17. He had accepted Samaritans as members of the church, and now he stays with a despised tanner. Soon he will be ready for what God will show him through Cornelius. Are we letting God stretch us? Are we letting him get us beyond our prejudices?

Mark Bible Acts, Dorcas, Peter, raising the dead

The Death of Lazarus

¹Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. ³So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

This is one of the most well known miracles of Jesus. It has all the more meaning because these were good friends and supporters of Jesus. He and his disciples often stayed with them when they were in the area. But this fact did not alter Jesus’ focus. In fact, it may have allowed him to do what he did. This story shows graphically what I’ve been talking about regarding the twofold purpose of Jesus’ miracles. They were not primarily to show compassion, or to help those who needed it. They were to glorify God, and to help people believe. If Jesus’ main motive were compassion, he would have gone to his friends as soon as he heard the news. But he waited till Lazarus was dead, and put his friends through days of grief so that, ultimately, God would be glorified and those who saw the miracle would believe.

⁷Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

⁸“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. ¹⁰It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.”

¹¹After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

¹²His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

¹⁴So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

I’ve said before that I think Thomas gets a bad rap for wanting proof of the resurrection. This quote shows real courage on his part. I said earlier that Jesus’ friendship with Mary and Martha may have allowed him to wait till Lazarus died to go and see them. He knew that they trusted him, and he tested their trust. This is a classic case of God not giving someone a burden that he knows they cannot bear. He knew that Mary and Martha would continue to love and trust him, even after he allowed Lazarus to die. If he had not had that trust in them, he might have felt compelled to go and heal Lazarus earlier. But their faith made way for a greater miracle. Do we have that kind of faith? Can God trust us to wait on him and let him work in his time, so that he will receive the most glory?

Jesus Comforts the Sisters

¹⁷On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Bethany was less than two miles^[a] from Jerusalem, ¹⁹and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

²¹“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

When Jesus finally arrived too late to keep Lazarus from dying, Mary could have reacted out of anger, frustration and grief. Many of us might have said something like, “Where were you? Why did you wait so long? You could have prevented this! Don’t you care about us?” That would have been an understandable human reaction under the circumstances. Have you ever been angry with God because he allowed something bad to happen? I have. But Mary didn’t react that way. Her faith was proved strong in difficult times.

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ,^[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

We can see from this conversation that Martha believed, like the Pharisees, in the resurrection of the body. Though what she was about to witness was not really resurrection, but revival, as Lazarus would eventually die again, Martha’s belief that God could raise the dead showed that she had faith that Jesus could do this. But the most important thing Martha said was her testimony of who Jesus is. She believed he was the Messiah, and because of that, nothing was impossible for him.

²⁸And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³²When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴“Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

It appears from this passage that Martha’s faith was greater than Mary’s or the other mourners. Jesus did not have a conversation about resurrection and belief with them, only with Martha. John, as Jesus’ friend, shows the human side of Jesus here. Jesus wept. He wasn’t weeping over the death of his friend. He knew what he was going to do. I think he was touched by the grief of those he loved. When I am at a funeral, I tend to be more affected by the grief of others than by the loss itself. I think that’s what brought Jesus’ emotions to the surface. Even though Jesus delayed his arrival, and did not prevent the death of Lazarus, that doesn’t mean he didn’t care. He did care, but he had a higher purpose which Mary and Martha did not yet understand. The same is true for us. When God delays, or doesn’t heal the person we think he should, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care. It means he has a higher purpose that we don’t yet see.

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

³⁸Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹“Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

⁴⁰Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Martha’s objection is amusing to me. She had shown the greatest faith among them, and what does she object to? The stink! How often do we limit God’s power because of a silly concern over our comfort?

⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

To show the power and glory of God, and so that those who saw it would believe, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It would be easy think that Jesus showed favoritism to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus because they were close. But compassion for their loss, and his, was never his primary motive, as we’ve seen. Mary and Martha’s faith and confidence in Jesus, and their love for him gave Jesus the opportunity to do something great in their lives. They got to see the glory of God. Whatever that means, I want to live in such a way that I get to see the glory of God.

Mark Bible Jesus, John, Lazarus, Mary and Martha, raising the dead

A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman

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

This account of two healings also appears in Mark 5-21-43. See my post on that passage here. Two things jump out at me from verses 40 and 41. The crowd that Jesus had been teaching before he crossed the lake, calmed the storm, and healed the demon possessed man waited for him to come back, and welcomed him when he did because they were expecting him. The crowd on the other side of the lake begged Jesus to leave, so he left. But this crowd welcomed him, and had been waiting in expectation for him, so he ministered to them. Do our lives welcome his presence? Do we wait in expectation for him? Or are we uncomfortable in his presence because of the sin in our lives?

The thing that strikes me in verse 41 is that Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, fell at Jesus’ feet. This was a man with more social status than an itinerant preacher like Jesus would have had, but in his desperation, he fell at Jesus’ feet. We shouldn’t wait until we’re in desperate straits to fall at the feet of Jesus. The sooner we acknowledge his Lordship over us, the better off we will be.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. ⁴³And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,^[d] but no one could heal her. ⁴⁴She 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.”

⁴⁶But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

⁴⁷Then 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. ⁴⁸Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

As I said in my post on Mark’s version of this event, this woman’s ailment 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.

The most terrible thing about ceremonial uncleanness was that it excluded you from having any part in Israel’s worship. You could not make sacrifices for your sin, so you could not be saved. Most things that made a person ceremonially unclean were temporary. A woman having her monthly period made her unclean, but that only lasted a week, and she could go through procedures afterward to be included in worship again. But this woman was permanently unclean like a leper, because her bleeding would not stop. One of the flaws of the old system of laws and sacrifices was that so many were excluded from salvation through no fault of their own. But Jesus died so that everyone could have access to salvation.

Both Jairus and this woman came to Jesus out of desperation. So many people never think about God until they are desperate. As Peter pointed out when Jesus asked who had touched him, lots of people were pressing in on Jesus. Many probably touched him, but this woman reached out to him in faith, expecting to be healed. That’s why healing power went out from Jesus and healed her. This is the only place in the Bible where Jesus healed anyone without it being an intentional act on his part. As Jesus said in verse 48, her faith healed her. I imagine that when Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” in verse 46, he was looking right at the woman, so she had no choice but to confess what she had done. She had tried to do this secretly because she was embarrassed, but Jesus wanted to make sure everyone knew that she was healed. That way, she could go back to her family and friends, and could be included in Israel’s worship again.

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

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

Can you imagine how Jairus must have felt when Jesus stopped to deal with this woman? He probably knew who this woman was. If I had been in his place, I probably would have been angry at her. Angry at her for being where she was not supposed to be and doing what she was not supposed to do, and angry at her for delaying Jesus, who was on his way to help his dying daughter. Then, while Jesus was still speaking to the woman, he is told that his daughter is dead. How mad would you have been at her? But Jesus reassured Jairus that his daughter would still be healed. We don’t have to wait in line for God. It may seem to you like God is delaying helping you while he helps someone else, but God is not bound by time. He does all things well.

⁵¹When 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. ⁵²Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

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

There is one difference between Mark’s and Luke’s versions of this part of the story. According to Mark, Jesus put all of the mourners out of the house after they laughed at him, because of their lack of faith (Mark 5:40). Luke leaves that part out, and if you don’t know or remember that part of Mark’s account, it seems like Jesus raised the girl up in front of the scoffing mourners. But Jesus told the girl’s parents not to tell anyone what had happened, which would only make sense if they were in private. Otherwise, he would have had to tell everyone there to keep it secret, which of course they would not have done. These “mourners” were probably professional mourners. It was required by custom to hire professional mourners at the death of a family member, and someone of Jairus’ status would have probably had a large number of them. But their grief was not sincere, so it was easily turned to ridicule.

Verse 55 says “her spirit returned”. the Greek word for spirit is the same as for life. The New Living Translation says her life returned. I am no longer convinced that the Bible really teaches the existence of an eternal soul or spirit that’s separate from the body. I believe what the Bible really teaches is that the body itself is resurrected and glorified for eternity. I don’t want to go into a long discourse about that right now. I’ll save that for another post. But the point is, she came back to life. Jesus was once again showing that he is God. Only God can command the elements (v. 22-25), only God has authority over demons (v. 26-39), and only God can give life. Jesus was not just a good teacher or a prophet. He is God.

Mark Bible healing, Jesus, Luke, raising the dead

Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son

¹¹Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. ¹²As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

Jesus, his disciples, and a large crowd of followers were approaching the town gate, while a funeral procession with another large crowd was coming out. Two large crowds met and witnessed this miracle. The tragedy of this funeral was compounded by the fact that the deceased was the only son of a widow, which meant his mother would have had no means of support, and would probably have had to beg to survive. She was facing a life of abject poverty. Jesus was moved with compassion for her.

¹⁴Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” ¹⁷This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea^[a] and the surrounding country.

In the New King James version, it says the coffin was an open coffin. The Amplified Bible calls it a funeral bier. That means Jesus could look in the young man’s face and speak to him directly. The evidence that this was a miracle of God was that the widow’s son sat up and began to talk, but the mercy of of God is demonstrated when Jesus gave him back to his mother. He was all she had. She had lost everything when her only son died, but Jesus gave him back to her.

I’ve often said that Jesus performed miracles for two reasons; to glorify God, and to help people believe. I came to that conclusion from my study of John’s gospel. That seems to be John’s emphasis. While I believe that is true, Jesus was also definitely moved by compassion to perform miracles. We only have three instances of Jesus raising someone from the dead in the gospels; this one, Jarius’ daughter (Luke 8:41-56) and Lazarus (John 11:1-45). Surely Jesus encountered more funerals and death than that. Death was a constant companion in the ancient world. Mortality rates were high. But as far as we know, Jesus only raised these three. In two of the three cases, Jesus is described as being moved emotionally. But as a result, in each case, God was glorified and people believed. That definitely happened here. Verse 16 says “they were all filled with awe and praised God”. Jesus’ miracles always pointed people to God. That should be true of our ministries as well.

In I Kings 17:17-24 and II Kings 4:32-37 the Bible tells us of how Elijah and Elisha performed miracles where sons of grieving mothers were brought back to life. That must have been on the minds of those who witnessed this miracle of Jesus, and why some said there was a great prophet among them. Miracles like this had not been seen in Israel since the days of Elijah and Elisha. But there is a major difference between what they did and what Jesus did. Elijah was not able to simply raise the dead with a command. He prayed to God to raise up the deceased. Elisha had to lie down on top of the dead body in a way that I would not feel comfortable doing. But Jesus could simply command the dead to rise, and they did. In this way, some in the crowd who saw this miracle misunderstood it. The ones who said that a prophet was in their midst had it wrong. The ones who said that God had come to help his people had it right. Only God can give life.

Remember that when Jesus raised the dead, they weren’t resurrected like Jesus was, they were merely revived. They didn’t have glorified bodies. They lived normal lives and eventually died again. Jesus was the first to be resurrected, but he won’t be the last! One day all who believe will rise from our graves in glorified bodies like his, to live with him forever.

Mark Bible Jesus, Luke, raising the dead

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.

Mark Bible Bible, Jesus, Mark, raising the dead