Talk 15 Mark 5:21-43 More amazing miracles
Welcome to Talk 15 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. In our last two talks we have seen the mighty power of Jesus displayed in the calming of the storm on the Sea of Galilee and the deliverance of a man possessed by a legion of demons. We now turn to Mark 5:21-43 where Jesus cures a woman with a longstanding problem with bleeding and raises a dead girl to life. As today we won’t be working through the passage verse by verse, we’ll begin by reading the entire story to remind ourselves of what happened.
21 When 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. 22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and 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.” 24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She 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. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At 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?'” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
35 While 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?” 36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” 37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But 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. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this and told them to give her something to eat.
The passage begins by telling us that once Jesus had come back across the lake a large crowd gathered around him. We have already seen how frequently Mark tells us that great crowds followed Jesus. In 1:28 we read that because of his miracles, news about him spread quickly over the whole region. In 1:32-34 we’re told that the whole town gathered at the door.
Just notice the references to crowds in the following verses:
2:2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door…
2:13 A large crowd came to him and he began to teach them.
3:7 A large crowd from Galilee followed
3:9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready….
3:32 A crowd was sitting around him…
4:1 The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat…
And now in 5:21 we read that a large crowd had gathered. And again in verse 24, A large crowd followed and pressed around him and in verse 31 the disciples say, You see the people crowding against you. But, of course, crowds are made up of individuals, and in the passage we have just read Mark tells us of two of the individuals who were part of the crowd. Their needs represent the needs of many in the crowd, and the needs of many even today – perhaps even your need. This passage reveals some important lessons about what to do when, like them, you’re faced with an apparently insoluble problem.
In many ways Jairus and the woman were very different. The woman who, because of her condition, was considered ceremonially unclean, would have been excluded from the synagogue. She was living with loneliness, sickness, and poverty. Jairus, on the other hand, as ruler of the synagogue, was in a privileged and financially secure position, enjoying the respect of the community. He had everything going for him. She had everything going against her.
Yet, despite these differences, there was one thing they both had in common. They both faced insoluble problems. She was beyond medical help and Jairus had a daughter who was dying. But they both found a solution – they came to Jesus. They came in different ways – he came openly, she came secretly – but they came knowing that their only hope of a solution lay in Jesus. But let’s look at each of them in a little more detail.
The woman
First, notice the severity of her condition. It had lasted for twelve years. She had spent all she had in seeking a medical cure, but instead of getting better, her condition was deteriorating. Mark says that she had suffered many things under the care of many doctors. Of course, the art of medicine was nowhere near as advanced as it is today, and we certainly should not take this verse to mean that it’s wrong to avail ourselves of medical help. (I deal with this in some detail in my book, Just a Taste of Heaven – a biblical and balanced approach to God’s healing power). Mark’s intention is not so much to criticise the doctors as to point out the extremity of the woman’s condition – that she had no hope, other than in Jesus.
But notice now what motivated her action. She was clearly very determined, but determination was not what motivated her. It was faith that motivated both her determination and her action. Jesus said it was her faith that saved her and freed her from her suffering (v34). She believed that if she could just touch his cloak, she would be healed (v28). But how did she come to have such faith? The clue lies in verse 27 – she heard about Jesus. Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing the word about Christ.
No doubt she had heard about some of the miracles Jesus had already performed. The news had already spread far and wide and the miracles were the main reason that the people crowded around him. This woman was no exception, and she believed that what he had done for others, he could and would do for her. And her faith was rewarded immediately. At once (v30) Jesus’ healing power flows out of him. Immediately (v29) her bleeding stops and she feels it in her body. It’s never too late with Jesus, even after twelve years!
And with Jesus you so often get much more than you’re believing for. She receives far more than the healing of her body. Jesus knew that someone had touched him, and he kept looking around to see who had done it (v32). Why was this so important? The answer lies in verse 33:
33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
Again, I’m reminded of what Paul says in Romans 10. Salvation comes not only from believing in our heart, but by confessing with our mouth (Romans 10:9). The woman had already shown great faith, but Jesus wanted her to acknowledge what her need had been. This would not have been easy, bearing in mind the stigma of being ceremonially unclean that she had carried for so long. But her public declaration of it made way for Jesus’ public pronouncement in verse 34:
…”Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
There is so much more than physical healing here. The word for healed conveys so much more. It’s used frequently in the New Testament to refer to our salvation. And what a wonderful picture of salvation we see in this woman’s encounter with Jesus! There is acceptance – Jesus calls her daughter. There is peace – the Greek word is the equivalent of the Hebrew SHALOM. And there is freedom. In healing her Jesus restores all that the dreadful condition had stolen from her. And in saving us from our sins he has done the same for us.
Jairus
As we’ve already pointed out, unlike the woman who came to Jesus secretly, Jairus came quite openly. His daughter was dying, and he urgently needed Jesus’ help. We don’t know the nature of his daughter’s illness or how long she had been ill, but by the time Jairus was seeking Jesus’ help she was at the point of death. Her need of immediate attention was even greater than that of the woman. Jairus was intentionally looking for Jesus in the crowd and as soon as he saw him he fell at his feet.
In different circumstances, as a synagogue ruler, he might well have been reluctant to do this, bearing in mind the close connection synagogue rulers had with the Pharisees who were, as we have seen, already plotting to kill Jesus (Mark 3:6). But Jairus was not afraid to risk their displeasure. His daughter was dying, and he knew that Jesus could heal her. Like the woman, Jairus had faith in Jesus’ power to heal, and he was willing to humble himself publicly to beg Jesus to do so. Interestingly, he falls at Jesus’ feet in prayer before the need is met whereas the woman does so in thanksgiving after she is healed. In both cases the action is an appropriate acknowledgement of who Jesus is and what he can do.
But it’s at this point that the woman touches Jesus’ cloak and Jesus is delayed in getting to Jairus’ daughter. We can well imagine Jairus’ anxiety and frustration about this, but as we’ve already seen, it’s never too late with Jesus. So as we pick up the story in verse 36, even when news comes that his daughter has now died, Jesus tells him, Don’t be afraid. Just believe. The Greek Imperative here means literally keep on believing. Jairus had had faith for his daughter’s healing, but now he needs faith that Jesus can raise her back to life. If ever we’re in a similar situation it will be helpful to remember that faith looks beyond the problem to the person who is able to solve the problem. Jesus was asking Jairus to keep on trusting him. Raising the dead is no more difficult for Jesus than healing the incurably sick.
So Jairus’ faith was tested, but the woman’s was not. Her faith was immediately rewarded. God deals with different people in different ways. Don’t be discouraged when you see others receiving an immediate response to their faith while yours is being tested. Remember that the Christian life is by faith from first to last (Romans 1:17) and that your faith will ultimately be rewarded.
After encouraging Jairus to keep on believing, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to Jairus’s home. On more than one occasion these three were chosen by Jesus to accompany him at critical times in his ministry – at his transfiguration, and in the Garden of Gethsamane, for example. But why he did not allow any of the other disciples to come with him is not clear. However, it seems reasonable to assume that all the disciples were at different stages in the development of their faith and understanding, and this may have been a determining factor in making his decision on this occasion.
If the other disciples thought that it was unfair – and this seems quite likely bearing in mind their indignation when James and John asked Jesus for unique privileges in the coming kingdom (Mark 10:35-41) – what they did not know was that in time they would all witness an even greater miracle than the raising of Jairus’ daughter – the raising of Lazarus. And eventually they would meet the risen Christ. God’s timing in his dealings with us is one of the hardest things for us to understand. We just need to keep on trusting him. He loves us and whatever he gives to us or withholds from us, is for our good. Christ is the head of the church and to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it (Ephesians 4:7).
So they arrive at Jairus’s house and there’s a crowd of people weeping and wailing, as was the custom at the time. Jesus silences them and says, The child is not dead but asleep. He says this to indicate that the child’s death was only temporary, because he knew that he was about to bring her back to life. But, quite understandably, the people laugh at him, knowing, Luke tells us, that she was dead (Luke 8:53). They may have known she was dead, but they didn’t know who Jesus was! To him who is the resurrection and the life (John11:25) raising the dead is no more difficult than waking them up. And the day is surely coming when the Lord himself will descend from Heaven with a loud command and those who have ‘fallen asleep’ in Jesus will rise from the dead. His command is enough. Talitha koum! Little girl, get up! And immediately she stands up and walks around. Yet another evidence of his deity, which, for the time being, must be kept a secret, because his time has not yet come.
But now let’s summarise what we have learnt from this passage about what to do when we are faced with insoluble problems. We have seen that, whatever our differences, we all need Jesus. We all have needs and we need to admit it. We need to acknowledge we’ve got a problem.
But however great your problem, Jesus has the answer. Make a conscious decision to come to Jesus. Ignore the crowd. Humble yourself – don’t worry about what others might think or say about you. Come in faith. Faith comes by hearing the message about Christ. Believe the message you’ve just been listening to. If you need more faith, read the Gospels. What he’s done for others, he can do for you. Trust him.
Sometimes our faith is rewarded immediately. Sometimes it’s tested. Things might seem to get worse before they get better – but keep on believing. Faith looks beyond the problem to the person who can solve it – Jesus. And it’s never too late for Jesus.
And finally, remember that Jesus can do far more than solve the problem you’re currently dealing with. Our greatest problem is our sin. But Jesus offers us forgiveness for all we’ve ever done wrong. He offers you peace, life, freedom, acceptance, restoration, and a home in Heaven when you die. Acknowledge your need. Come to Jesus. Put your faith in him. He is the only solution.