A Tale of Two Daughters (Mark 5:21-43)

We're back with two more miracles in the book of Mark. These miracles work together as a pair and are connected in some really interesting ways. Together we'll learn:

• How Jesus makes time for interruptions
• The intimacy Jesus shows his daughters
• And why faith is so pivotal when we approach Jesus.

I loved learning from this chapter and I can't wait to study together! 

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Transcript

Welcome back to Hanging on Every Word. This season we’re studying through the miracles in the book of mark and we’re back this week with two more miracles to study together. I think these two are meant to be studied together because they are related in so many really cool ways so let’s get right into it. 

So instead of breaking up this miracle into two separate sections we’re going to study them together. 

The passage starts with Jesus returning from the Garasenes. In Mark 5:21-24 we read: 

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 leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 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.” 24 So Jesus went with him.

Jairus, a leader in the synagogue had met Jesus upon his return from healing the demon possessed man with Legion the thousands of demons. As soon as Jesus return Jairus fell at his feet in front of a large crowd and begged Jesus to heal his daughter. This public display of begging Jesus was sign of Jairus’s desperation. He’s risking a lot by coming to Jesus. 

Jairus is a leader in the synagog at Capernaum. Remember, Jesus has just had an interesting encounter with the leaders at the synagog when he healed the man with the withered hand. Though we don’t know if Jairus was in on the plot to kill Jesus, we see in this verse that whatever his opinion on Jesus, he was confident in his ability to heal. Nothing else mattered but his daughter’s life and so in a great displays of humility, he fell at Jesus’s feet. And Jesus agreed to go with him to heal his daughter. 

I imagine Jairus was anxious to get Jesus back to his house, with every moment counting. But there’s an interruption on the way there. 

We find the account of the bleeding woman in Mark 5:25-31

 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.”

The bleeding woman has no name. We only know that she has been bleeding for 12 years. It’s an interesting detail when we consider that Jairus’s daughter was said to be 12 years old. She had suffered for 12 years and the sick girl was 12 years old. Both have come to this place of need at the exact same moment, and both have encountered the same savior. There’s also something deeply related to womanhood in these comparisons with a woman struggling with bleeding and young girl on the cusp of womanhood. Jesus takes these two women, helpless in the failings of their own humanity, and shows them deep love an affection in their unique situations. 

We also know that the bleeding woman has no money. She has spent everything she had on trying to find a treatment for her bleeding. We can imagine this sickness had been deeply emotional for her as she longed for a way to be healed but only continued to get worse. 

And then, she heard the stories of this man in Capernaum, one who could heal demons and diseases. She’s heard of the lepers cleansed, but never of a woman with an issue like here’s. It was impolite to even talk about it in society. More than impolite, her bleeding made her unclean. 

That was the problem, she was unclean. She wasn’t mean to be among the crowds that constantly followed Jesus. If she touched Jesus, her uncleanness would transfer to him. And so though she had heard reports of his healing, she hesitated. Until that day. 

For whatever reason she had finally had enough and whatever had stopped her before wasn’t enough to stop her now. She concocted a plan to quietly infiltrate the crowd and then just touch the hem of Jesus’s garment. If he was as powerful as she believe he was, this would be enough and perhaps he uncleanness might not transfer. 

She believed Jesus wholeheartedly. And so she risked everything. She went into the crowd uncles. And when she was close enough she mustered all the courage she had left in weak, blood-drained body, and touched the hem of his robe. And she felt it immediately. Something shift in her womb, something heal, and she knew, it worked. She was free.

But before she could quietly fade into the crowd, and return home anonymous but whole, Jesus turned around and asked, “Who touched my clothes.”

He had felt it too. The moment she felt healing in her womb, he felt power go out from him. It was a physical exchange that took place, with no words. 

His disciples, incredulous, wonder what in the world Jesus is talking about. They were all getting shoved and jostled walking through town surrounded by a desperate, sometimes greedy, definitely needy crowd of people. But Jesus knew. And he looked, intently. 

To her horror, the bleeding woman knew he was looking for her. And though she trembled with fear, she also longed to be seen by the man who saved her. And so she came shaking, terrified, and like Jairus, fell at his feet in front of the crowd. She had meant to be anonymous. She had meant to be unseen, But Jesus called her before the eyes of everyone in town. 

And she confessed the whole truth. The undignified story of her female bleeding. The crowd must have realized with discomfort that an unclean woman was walking among them. But though this woman had spent 12 years coving such a private disease, for the first time she decided to be completely honest before Jesus. 

He responded by calling her “Daughter”. It’s the only name we’ll ever have for her. And it’s the only time in the Bible any is called daughter. No longer the bleeding woman. She is daughter. What a significant moment. It’s not just a sweet name but a signifier of her salvation, the daughter of the king, because she saw who Jesus really was. 

 That was the connection, the strange force that they both felt in the same moment - healing in her body, and power leaving Jesus - the strange force was her faith. That she dared to believe Jesus was even more than she imagined he could be. And told her your faith has healed you. 

Though she already felt it, Jesus said it out loud - go in peace and be free from your suffering.

We don’t know the rest of the bleeding woman’s story, but we know what looked like an interruption to Jesus’s day, was an intervention the woman desperately needed. Jesus always makes time for the one and this story shows us that so beautifully. 

But Jesus don’ts forget his original mission. He is still on the way to heal Jairus’s daughter. 

Let’s read the rest of the account in Mark 5:35-43

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?”

36 Overhearing[c] what they said, Jesus told him, “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 leader, 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 began to walk 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.

While Jesus is speaking to the bleeding woman, messengers come to tell Jairus that his daughter is dead. 

What a deep blow of discouragement this must of been for Jairus. It’s easy to read this without the emotion that must have been behind it. It’s the same moment a doctor comes into a waiting room to tell a family their loved one didn’t make it. The same moment a terrible accident changes your whole world forever. The same moment the doctors tell you there’s nothing else they can do and death is inevitable. This is Jairus’s worst fear. It’s too late. 

But Jesus simply tells Jairus, don’t be afraid, just believe. 

Such a simple little statement, such a mountainous feat. Jesus knew Jairus was afraid. He also knew there was faith somewhere inside him. Faith that made him come to Jesus and beg for healing in front of a crowd. Faith that believed Jesu was the only solution for his sick daughter. That faith was still there, somewhere, and Jesus implores Jairus to not give up on it yet. 

Though logic and evidence pointed to the incredibility and perhaps foolishness of clinging to faith, Jesus tells Jairus to hold on. 

My ESV study bible has this line below this verse that I love. It notes that fear is a theme that leads to faith. Fear is an inevitable feeling. Especially in the face of great suffering. But that fear can be a catalyst to propel us deeper into faith. The bleeding woman had fear. Jairus has fear but when they push pas that fear they find that Jesus can do what they deemed impossible. 

So Jairus musters up enough faith to at least keep going toward the house with Jesus, intent on letting Jesus at least have a chance with his daughter. When they arrived, there was a commotion of yelling mourners, which was traditional in that culture, to even hire people to mourn outside of homes when someone died. This scene always comes across as kind of comical to me. There are people mourning and Jesus asks them, “why are you making such commotion, she’s just asleep.”

Of course, they laugh him off, but Jesus clears them out, telling them to go home and wait for a real funeral because today wasn’t a day for mourning. 

And then, Jesus takes a select group, only the girls mother and father and Peter, James, and John to the room where the little girl is lying. He simply takes her by the hand, says, “little girl, get up, and she is healed.  I find it interesting the inversion of these miracles. Jairus started out publicly begging Jesus to heal his daughter and then experiences a miracle in private. The bleeding woman starts out hoping for anonymity, and then Jesus addresses her publicly. Again we see Jesus using the onlookers as essential elements to these miracles showing us that miracles are also to spur the belief of others just as much as they are to heal the person suffering. 

Jesus employs that Messianic Secret theme again as he tells the parents to not tell anyone what happened. And then he gives the most practical and endearing advice to give the girl something to eat. Jesus understands humanity, both or deep emotions, our struggles, our fears, our lack of faith, and our very basic needs like being hungry after being sick for a long time. 

His kindness in these passages shows his identity as a loving Savior, with the heart of the father to heal his daughters, to provide for them, to give them peace and freedom, and to breath life into them again. 

Jesus knows you very intimate circumstances too. He wants you to be honest with him. He wants you to push past the fear you feel and cling to the faith you once had. There’s a lot of waiting in these miracles. A woman waiting 12 years to be healed. A man waiting while Jesus healed a woman on the way to heal his daughter. But in both cases, Jesus was not too late. And he’s not too late of you either. 

That’s a word to take with us this week. And until next time, I can’t wait to study with you!