Mark 5:21-43
New Life
No matter the story you read, you read it to pick up details about characters, plot points, and so on. But this is something we learn from everyday life that many times, not every detail is spoken or described. Sometimes we have to read between the lines to understand another aspect of the story. Good authors don’t always tell you what’s happening and have you figure it out before they come out and tell you. This can also be the case with scripture too. No matter how much we want the biblical writers to just come out and tell us everything, they don’t. They leave some things to our imagination on purpose. We’re supposed to try to fill in some details because in doing so, we find ourselves as a character of their story. By not telling us every detail, the biblical writers (all writers for that matter) want you to relate to the characters on the page, to see your life as similar with the one they’re describing. When making this argument from silence though, we also must be careful not to step beyond the bounds of the story. We should never take an argument from silence to be our key reason for believing or not believing something. While some parts of the story may be left out, that doesn’t mean that what is omitted is instantly true or false. Rather, as I said before, these omissions are simply meant to give you space to jump into the shoes of that character. We get to theorize about what we would do if we were in their place. By doing this, we’re meant to gain a new understanding and appreciation for the actions or decisions a character makes.
For let us jump into our Gospel lesson and turn towards one character in particular… Jairus. He’s a ruler of the synagogue, yet he finds himself coming before Jesus to beg for his help. Let us follow the path of Jairus so that we can better understand these words of Jesus,
I SAY TO YOU, ARISE!
I.
Jesus and his disciples had just crossed the sea after the calming of the storm so they could come to the other side. Here across the sea, Jesus runs into another large crowd who is seeking after him for all the miracles he has done. Yet, there’s one from this crowd that we’re told about… Jairus. Jairus is a ruler of the synagogue. He’s not technically a pharisee, though he’s part of the religious elite. It’s for this reason that we should be surprised by his actions, as we read, “Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing [Jesus], he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live,” Mark 5:22-23. Jairus puts his face in the dirt before Jesus to seek his help. He stupes down in humility before Jesus for the sake of his daughter. And of course, we all understand Jairus’ desperation. His daughter is sick and close to death. No parent ever desires to see their child sick, especially at the point of death. Jesus quickly agrees and goes with him.
On the way to Jairus’s house, we have another story interjected. Jairus, who was our focus, falls completely into the background. Instead, we now have a woman who has suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years! Such a circumstance would cause her to be ostracized from society based on Levitical law. As we read, “And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse,” Mark 5:25-26. She has suffered greatly, so much so that Mark calls her suffering a “scourging”. Scourging like the forty lashes Jesus receives before his crucifixion. But the amazing thing about her story is that Jesus stops everything for her. She’s healed simply by touching his garment, but Jesus doesn’t let her slip away into the crowd. Yet, it’s at this point I want you to consider again Jairus. We know that Jairus was right there next to Jesus also. So, what do you think Jairus was thinking at this delay? I know what I would think… “Hurry up, Jesus! Let’s get a move on… my daughter needs you now!” Maybe Jairus is simply praying that his daughter will hold on long enough for Jesus to arrive. Whatever it may be, we’re not told. But I think we can all imagine… for we all can understand his desperation. We know the feeling of helplessness in the face of decaying health. And Jesus, most likely his last option, is now delayed.
II.
Yet, there’s another unspoken part of these stories that we’re meant to see. It’s not a theory either. Because these two stories are interjected one into another, we’re to see the similarity between the plight of these two, between Jairus’s daughter and the woman who was healed. For as Jesus heals the woman, Jairus is supposed to see in her his own daughter. He’s supposed to see her healing as his daughter’s. Consider Jesus’ final words to that woman, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease,” Mark 5:34. Jesus addresses this woman tenderly, daughter… just as Jairus would think of his love for his daughter. As Jesus and Jairus approach his house, a member comes to meet them to tell them that his daughter has died. Time has seemed to run out, but this is where Jesus finally speaks to Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe,” Mark 5:36. Just as the other woman was “healed” for her faith, so too would Jairus’ daughter. After putting outside those who had gathered, Jesus goes to the daughter’s bedside where he says, “Talitha cumi,’ which means, ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise,” Mark 5:41. Jesus speaks to this girl and by his words, raises her from the dead!
It’s not just their suffering that is similar, but there’s a greater similarity for us to see in Jesus’ healing as well. As Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from death, Jesus grants a resurrection of sorts to the woman as well. In healing the woman with the flow of blood, he removes from her everything that had previously forbid her from truly living. He grants her new life by faith in him! So too is it with us, that Jesus grants us a type of resurrection to foreshadow our resurrection on the last day. For Jesus has removed from us everything that keeps us from living… that is, our sin, our sickness, our death. Jesus takes all of that to the cross and dies for us. The resurrection he grants to these two points us also to Jesus’ resurrection and his final victory over even death. In Jesus, we are made well, or saved, from death through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave. Jesus shall one day come to our bed, our grave and say to us, “Arise! Your faith has saved you!”
Indeed, may we see ourselves in Jairus, in the woman, in the daughter. Just as Jesus has cared for them, granting them a resurrection leading to new life… so too by his own death and resurrection shall he grant to us a resurrection leading to new and eternal life! In Jesus’ name! Amen!