Mark 5:22-43
Usually the gospels tell stories one at a time. Today’s passage is unique in that it wraps two-in-one, like a sandwich.
Jairus is a man of privilege - known to the people present there. He needs Jesus’ help and has no problem publicly asking for it. The woman is not only unnamed here, but feels as though she doesn’t deserve to be known and certainly not in the act of seeking Jesus’ help. She didn’t even want Jesus to know she was getting his help.
The woman’s condition had begun about the time the young girl was born. Twelve years. Twelve is an important number in scripture, usually reflecting on something along the lines of communal completion, unity, and solidarity (like the twelve tribes of Israel or the twelve disciples). Jairus’ daughter (known and privileged) and the unnamed woman (unknown and un-help-able) are united in their need as well as in Jesus’ salvation.
Mark 5:22-43
Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, came forward. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded with him, “My daughter is about to die. Please, come and place your hands on her so that she can be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.
A swarm of people were following Jesus, crowding in on him. A woman was there who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a lot under the care of many doctors, and had spent everything she had without getting any better. In fact, she had gotten worse. Because she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes. She was thinking, If I can just touch his clothes, I’ll be healed. Her bleeding stopped immediately, and she sensed in her body that her illness had been healed.
At that very moment, Jesus recognized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
His disciples said to him, “Don’t you see the crowd pressing against you? Yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus looked around carefully to see who had done it.
The woman, full of fear and trembling, came forward. Knowing what had happened to her, she fell down in front of Jesus and told him the whole truth. He responded, “Daughter, your faith has healed you; go in peace, healed from your disease.”
While Jesus was still speaking with her, messengers came from the synagogue leader’s house, saying to Jairus, “Your daughter has died. Why bother the teacher any longer?”
But Jesus overheard their report and said to the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid; just keep trusting.” He didn’t allow anyone to follow him except Peter, James, and John, James’ brother. They came to the synagogue leader’s house, and he saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “What’s all this commotion and crying about? The child isn’t dead. She’s only sleeping.” They laughed at him, but he threw them all out. Then, taking the child’s parents and his disciples with him, he went to the room where the child was. Taking her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Young woman, get up.” Suddenly the young woman got up and began to walk around. She was 12 years old. They were shocked! He gave them strict orders that no one should know what had happened. Then he told them to give her something to eat.
Prayer
God,
I want to see all people with deference and care. I confess that I struggle to relate to people of all sorts of stripes, but particularly as it relates to race and socioeconomics. I’m sure this is in part due to a lacking in my own self-concept.
Wow…that was a lot in but three sentences.
Help me with it all, God. It seems like I’m asking for better vision and perspective. Move through me both the social confidence and compassion for all I see in Jesus’ example. Help me to see the individuals right in front of me, but particularly those who are lost in the crowd. The crowds are pretty big today, God. And they have new nuances of invisibility that are quite challenging. So help us, God.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.