The Lord performs two miracles in today's passage.
"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. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet. He 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.' So Jesus went with him." (Mark 5:21-24a) Luke tells us that the sick girl is Jairus' "only daughter, a girl of about twelve". (Luke 8:42) This man and his wife have done everything they can for their daughter but nothing has helped. The local doctor has probably done all he can and has thrown his hands up in defeat. But a Great Physician is down by the lake and Jairus runs for Him.
Jesus immediately goes with Jairus and is pressed upon by the crowd so much that it's difficult to even walk. Jairus must be in an agony of impatience and anxiety as he and Jesus move so slowly through the throng. "A large crowd followed and pressed around Him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 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. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak, because she thought, 'If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.' Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering." (Mark 5:24b-29)
Ancient remedies could often be worse than the maladies they were meant to cure. This woman has tried every "cure" available and has spent every penny she had and is worse than she was in the beginning. She has been sick for as long as Jairus' daughter has been on the earth and her need is just as urgent, for she must be terribly anemic by now and she will eventually die if she is not made well. In addition, because Leviticus 15:19 states that a woman experiencing her monthly period is unclean and that anyone who touches her is unclean, the fact that she has had continuous bleeding for twelve years means she is almost as much an outcast as a leper. She can't experience the simple pleasure of having someone put their arm around her or hold her hand or pat her on the arm. This is why she doesn't ask Jesus to touch her, (as Jairus asks Him to touch his daughter), but instead slips stealthily up behind Him.
"At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, 'Who touched My clothes?' 'You see the people crowding against You,' His disciples answered, 'and yet You can ask, 'Who touched Me?'" (Mark 5:30-31) The disciples say in an exasperated tone of voice, 'Everyone is touching You. We can hardly walk for the crowds. People are pressing in on You from every side. What do You mean by asking who touched You?"
People are touching Jesus for various reasons; some do it just so they can say they did, just as a person in our day might brag about having once shaken hands with a rock star. But there's something special about the faith of the woman whose fingertips barely brushed the edge of His robe. She can't remain unnoticed and Jesus doesn't intend for her to remain unnoticed. Her physical healing has already been accomplished but she needs some emotional healing too. "But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at His feet and, trembling with fear, told Him the whole truth. He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.'" (Mark 5:32-34) We don't know what this woman expects Jesus to say when she tells Him what was wrong with her and admits she who had an unclean malady dared to touch the garment of a rabbi. But she probably doesn't expect Him to tenderly call her "daughter" or look her in the eyes with more love than she has ever seen. Her outcast situation has made her somewhat invisible to her fellow man for many years, and no one has looked her in the eyes for some time, and certainly not with love. Jesus is in the restoration business and He is concerned with restoring the whole person: body, mind, and soul. The woman needs this interaction with Him to feel like a complete person again. It's possible to go through life feeling unclean because of things in the past, even though we have come to Jesus in faith, and He does not want the woman to go through the rest of her life feeling as if something is still not quite right with her. He doesn't want you and I to feel that way either. When Jesus makes us whole, He makes us all the way whole. We may have a lot of sin in our past, but after coming to Christ in faith and being made clean of our sins, we aren't meant to go through the rest of our days feeling as if we are forever marred by what's in our past. Jesus has made us clean! He has made us new! We are not who we used to be! Experiencing a continual sense of guilt over things we have already repented of displays a lack of faith in what Jesus has done for us. When He pronounces us clean we really are clean. Let's believe it!
"While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. 'Your daughter is dead,' they said. 'Why bother the teacher anymore?'" (Mark 5:35) Now here is something especially interesting. Earlier when Mark told us Jairus' daughter was dying, some commentators feel that the original text indicates she was already dead when Jairus left his house. In the English we usually find it translated something like, "she was at the point of death". When Jairus runs out of the house to find Jesus, his daughter has either just taken her last breath or is about to. It is obvious to everyone present that her life has slipped away or will in just a second. The words of the messengers reveal to us that everyone believed it was already too late when Jairus went for Jesus. They ask him, "Why bother the teacher anymore? It was already too late for Him to help when you set out to get Him. You shouldn't have bothered Him. He's healed thousands of living people, but your daughter is dead, and there's nothing He can do for her. Now get yourself together and come home and comfort your wife and help her start planning the funeral. You need to face the facts. Jesus might have been able to help her if you'd been able to get Him sooner, but what can He do about a dead child?"
"Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, 'Don't be afraid; just believe.'" (Mark 5:36) Has anyone ever told you something was hopeless? Has anyone ever direly predicted your circumstances would never change or get better? I went through a particularly awful time about ten years ago and I had people tell me to give up. One person actually said I should "stop beating a dead horse". I might have fallen for it except I knew God was able to change my situation. I didn't know for sure if He would, but I definitely believed He could. And until God clearly said "no" to me, I was going to keep on believing He just might perform a miracle in my situation. (He did, by the way, to the glory of His name! God had the last word in my circumstances and displayed His awesome power to all those who believed He wasn't going to come through for me.) Jesus says to Jairus, "Don't listen to those who claim I can't do anything to help you! Don't panic! Don't give up! I'm about to turn things around!"
"He did not let anyone follow Him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, 'Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.' But they laughed at Him." (Mark 5:37-40a) Of course Jesus knows the child is physically dead, but He also knows she has not ceased to exist. Her eternal soul is still alive and these people are not merely grieving but grieving like those who have no hope in the resurrection. (1 Thessalonians 4:13) The Bible speaks of the bodies of believers being "asleep" because the death of their bodies isn't permanent. A thing that is capable of rising again cannot truly be dead.
Jesus removes the scoffers and the wailers from the room. "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. He took her by the hand and said to her, 'Talitha koum!' (which means, 'Little girl, I say to you, get up!'). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat." (Mark 5:40b-43) Jesus tells the three disciples and the girl's parents to keep it quiet because the religious leaders may put their plot to kill Jesus into overdrive if it is known for certain that this young girl was really dead before Jesus came into the house. Jesus cannot be put to death before the proper time. When Jesus later raises Lazarus from the dead after he has been in the tomb four days, the plot against Jesus will enter its final phase. This is probably why Jesus reserved His most famous miracle for the final days of His life. The religious leaders will even want to put Lazarus to death because his presence is a witness to Jesus' power, so another reason Jesus cautions the girl's family to stay quiet may be to protect them.
Jesus has the girl's parents prepare a meal for her. Nothing displays good health quite like a good appetite. He wants the parents to treat the girl like the normal child she is. Her nature has not been changed by what has happened to her. She is not to be worshiped because she was raised from the dead. She is not to be treated like a celebrity. She is not to be handled as if she is fragile because she once passed away. Jesus has restored her life and He has restored this family to do all the regular things that regular families do. There is something so miraculous about the ordinary, isn't there? Earlier in the day, these parents never expected to have an ordinary life again because they were losing their precious child. Earlier in the day, the woman with the issue of blood never expected to have an ordinary life again because she had run out of options and expected to eventually die of her illness. Now they all can go on with their lives and can go about their ordinary daily tasks....but with an extraordinary faith in their hearts.
No comments:
Post a Comment