Two Healings (Mark 5:21-43)

We grow familiar with things very quickly. 

Are you familiar with Jesus by this point in Mark? We have read about Jesus who heals, and does mighty things. Mark is determined not to let us grow familiar. 

(A) Jesus comes to bring us into a living relationship (Mark 5:21-34)

In the narrative, Jesus returned from the other side (where He met the demon-possessed man) and now, a great crowd gathered about Him and He was beside the sea (Mark 5:21). Jesus had entered a Jewish region and one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus, came to Jesus (Mark 5:22). He was a man of high standing, a man of religious significance. Jairus sees Jesus and falls at His feet. This is unexpected considering how the religious leaders have been treating Jesus. Mark also records how he implored Jesus (Mark 5:23), revealing a great amount of desperation on his part. Why? His daughter was at the point of death. And he believes that Jesus was able to do something (Mark 5:23). 

And yet, on the way to Jairus’ house, Jesus encounters a woman. Mark puts a dramatic story within another dramatic story and as readers, we are meant to see similarities in how these two figures are brought together.

The unnamed woman (Mark 5:25a) had a discharge of blood for 12 years, suffered under physicians who were meant to heal her, bankrupt and grew worse (Mark 5:25b-26). She was unclean and alienated because of her discharge (c.f. Lev 15:25-27, 31). We see how the people of Israel are to separate from such uncleanness, lest they die. Notice also how whoever and whatever she comes into contact with is also made unclean. Mark was not just recording a medical diagnosis or factual account but in recording this narrative, he is also helping the readers understand the woman and her challenge. We are meant to slow down and see the terror of such crippling circumstances. Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick, as Proverbs tell us. Imagine what effects her physical condition has on her emotional state. 

This woman was desperate, ashamed and happy to touch even His garments and we see some element of faith too (Mark 5:27-28).  Remember also the risk she is taking here — she is unclean and yet in the crowd. 

On the other hand, we also learnt of the religious leader Jairus (Mark 5:22a) and his unnamed daughter (Mark 5:42) who was on the point of death (Mark 5:23). Jairus was desperate (Mark 5:22a). She goes from being sick to dead (Mark 5:35) and thus, his home is unclean (c.f. Num 19:11-13). He humbled himself and wanted to ask Jesus to come and lay His hands on His daughter (Mark 5:22b-23a). 

Both of them were levelled in their uncleanness, and came to Jesus in their desperation. 

In Leviticus, we read of how the unclean makes others unclean yet here, the woman is healed immediately (Mark 5:29). Jesus knew immediately and said, “Who touched my garments?” (Mark 5:30) and look around (Mark 5:32). Jesus intentionally slowed down even though He had to be somewhere! 

The woman, knowing what had happened, came in fear and trembling and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth (Mark 5:33). Jesus wanted to address this unnamed woman who had been cut off from all social life and the first word she hears is “Daughter” (Mark 5:34). It is the language of inclusion, identity and belonging. Not only has her circumstance been changed, but also who she is. In doing so, Jesus publicly restores her though she had been struggling with a hidden disease. 

Jesus also wanted her to know why she was healed — her faith has made her well (Mark 5:34). It was not her action per se that healed her, but He had made her well. He wanted her to know that she did not come into contact with an impersonal force but a personal, living God. 

Do you have a living relationship with Jesus? Do you know Him? Mark show us here that Jesus is great, grand and glorious but is also a person who desires us to have a personal relationship with Him. What will it look like if you know God not as an impersonal force, but have a real relationship with Him? It would mean delight in loving Him — more about His personality, how He acts and draws people to Himself. 

It would also mean a delight in being known by Him. When was the last time you comforted your heart with this truth? Does it comfort you that you are known by your Maker? 

It also means that you will delight in making Him know. Jesus comes to bring us into a living relationship with a living God. 

(B) Jesus comes to grant us life evermore (Mark 5:35-43)

News came to Jairus and the crowd about the death of his daughter. The crowd reacted in a familiar way to death. They said, “Why trouble the Teacher any further? (Mark 5:35)”. Can Jesus do anything? And as they got closer to the house, they saw a commotion, with people weeping and wailing loudly (Mark 5:38). Perhaps these were professional mourners, familiar with death, who laughed when Jesus said that she was not dead but asleep (Mark 5:40). 

Like the woman, Jesus also only required faith from Jarius. He told him, “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36). 

Jesus casts out the scoffers (like how He cast out demons earlier) and only took with Him Jairus and the child’s mother, and some of the disciples (Peter, James and John)  to enter (Mark 5:37,40). 

Mark also include some practical and personal details about Jesus’ interactions with the little girl. Jesus took her by the hand, spoke Aramaic and called out to her, saying “Talitha cumi” (Mark 5:41) and she got up immediately and started walking (Mark 5:42). This meant ritual uncleanness but yet, He makes the unclean, clean. He reached out and touched death in this instance, unlike the incident with the woman earlier. 

He also told them to give her something to eat (Mark 5:43).
The disciples were immediately overcome with amazement (Mark 5:42) and yet Jesus strictly charged them that no one should know this (Mark 5:43a). Jesus wanted to curb the crowd and their enthusiasm to make them Him king. It was not time yet. 

Death is an outward sign of inward decay and it powerfully reminds us that there is something profoundly rotten within. Both the woman and the girl here were healed, but they still face death. Jesus to do something far greater. TheSon of Man did not come to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45) . He came to deal with the chief source of uncleanness.

In 1 Peter 1:3-9, Peter, one of the witnesses, go on to explain what Christ has done and our relationship with Him. The Father has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is undefiled and unfading. He describes a living, vibrant relationship with God that is what Christians can enjoy. God grants us a seed of faith to cry out to Him and have our hopes fixed on that which can never be defiled. 

Grief and suffering will come but we have this hope in heaven for us, guarded and promised because of what Christ has done. What sort of power allows us to praise God like David does in Psalm 103, even in the midst of challenging circumstances ? 

Let us turn to this God today.