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Mark
5:21-43
In your imagination, picture olives being crushed and pressed
together and the oil seeping out at the bottom.
That’s a picture of Jesus that Mark hints at again and again. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is in almost
constant danger of being crushed.
Mark 3:7-9:
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd
from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing,
many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions
across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the
crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep
the people from crushing him [that’s literally the word – ‘crushing
Him’]. 10 For he had
healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
That’s
why in Mark 4:1 Jesus has to get in a boat to teach people, otherwise
they’d smother Him. When he
decides in v35 to go over to the other side of the lake, v36 says ‘they
took Him along, just as He was, in the boat.’ He couldn’t even risk stepping ashore, so they whisk Him
off away from the crowds. Of course in this crossing, Jesus calms the
storm (end of chapter 4), lands on the other side (chapter 5). Then, do we remember from last week,
He meets Legion, exorcizes an army of demons and sends the delivered man
back to his people as a missionary.
That probably only took Him an our or two. So now, with that job done, He
returns. So, v21, He’s back after
His flying visit. And the crowds are there again. Mark says: ‘A large crowd gathered around
Him.’
Mark
really wants us to get a feel for this crushing crowd. And so v24 says it again:
A large crowd followed and pressed around Him.
Peter
uses the same word in verse 31:
You see the people pressing
against you [literally]
This is a mini theme of Mark’s Gospel. The whole world flocks to Jesus in their need. And in the midst of that crush –
healing, forgiveness, restoration, salvation, peace and new life flow out.
The woman in this story presses in – she’s part of this crush –
but what she finds is that, in the crush, power comes out of Jesus and
she is healed, freed, granted peace.
Now at the end of Mark’s Gospel we see Jesus praying in a garden
called Gethsemane. Gethsemane
mean oil press. It’s where the
olives from the Mount of Olives were crushed. That’s where Jesus was oppressed like you and I
would never understand, that’s where He contemplates the cross and
He undertakes to die under the weight of a world’s need. And because Jesus was crushed
the oil of His Spirit flows out for the salvation of the world. In that ultimate crush, that ultimate
power was released for all who come to Him.
Mark 5 is giving a
miniature picture of that truth.
Here in this crush, power goes out from Jesus and healing, peace,
freedom results.
In this story, two
people come to Jesus with their needs.
They are very different people.
Jairus is an important man.
V22 says ‘a synagogue ruler’.
He’s a man, he’s a ruler, he has a family, he’s religious and very
respectable in the community.
The woman is not even
named. Jesus calls her
‘Daughter’ in v34, which is even better than telling us her name. But as the story begins she is an
unnamed and unclean woman. She
has, v25, an unstoppable flow of blood which made her perpetually,
ceremonially unclean. This woman
is unnamed, unclean, sick and now destitute.
Verse 26 details her
12 years of suffering:
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.
That really tells a
story doesn’t it? Suffering under
the “care” of many doctors. I
don’t know if you’ve been passed around from doctor to doctor and they
can’t seem to help you. That in
itself is frightening and dehumanizing enough. But this woman has been suffering at the hands of these
doctors. We can only imagine how
these 1st century physicians were treating her or what they
were prescribing. Mark just tells
us that she suffered a great deal. And she paid a lot of money for these worthless and painful
treatments. Now she has nothing,
you can add financial ruin to her list of woes. This woman is in a desperate position.
So this woman has had
12 years of great suffering.
She is very different
to Jairus. Jairus, we can
imagine, has had 12 years of joy with his 12 year old
daughter. But now with his
daughter on death’s door, Jairus is brought to the woman’s level. They are both needy beggars coming to
Jesus.
Verse 22 this
respectable man falls at Jesus’ feet and pleads earnestly with Him. This was very dangerous for Jairus to
do. We know from chapter 3 verse
6 that the religious authorities have been plotting to kill Jesus. So for this synagogue ruler to fall at
Jesus’ feet could well have cost him his job and his reputation. But what’s that compared to your 12
year old girl?
So Jairus and the
woman, very different, but both come to Jesus in their need.
And both people think
they know how Jesus is going to help them. They both have very particular
expectations of Jesus.
Verse 23: Jairus
thinks Jesus ought to come and lay hands on his sick
daughter. And he probably thought
that because Jesus had performed other healings where that’s what He did
– He laid hands on people. Other
times Jesus healed people from a distance or just with a word, or He spat
on the ground and made mud or He put His fingers in their ears. Jesus didn’t have a single way of
healing people, but Jairus thought ‘laying on hands’ was the order of the
day.
Verse 28: the woman
also thinks she knows how to get a healing. She thinks if she just touches Jesus’ clothes she’ll
be healed. Why did she think
that? Well quite probably it was
because of an Old Testament prophecy. There’s a verse from Malachi
chapter 4 and verse 2 that speaks about the Messiah as the Sun of
Righteousness who would rise up with healing in His wings. That might be a familiar verse to you
– the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. Well in Hebrew the word for wings is
the same as the word for the end of your garment. Where we might talk about coat tails,
they’d talk about wings. And so
there was this expectation that when the Messiah rose up, there was going
to be healing in His wings, His coat tails, in His clothes. And this woman thought ‘if I just
touch His clothes, I will be healed.’
So in her head she was just going to grab the end of Jesus’ coat,
get zapped and slink off. That
was her plan. She had a plan, it
was her sickness, she knew how best to be treated. This is how Jesus is going to help me.
Now you can understand
their expectations can’t you?
They seem fair enough. But
for both of them Jesus frustrates their plans and they are driven down
much further than they were prepared to go before being raised up much
higher than they’d dare dream.
What do I mean they
were driven down and then raised up?
Well let’s see it first in the woman.
There she is, just an
anonymous figure in the crowd, pressing in against Jesus. She wants to remain anonymous, she
doesn’t want a fuss, she doesn’t want to meet Jesus. She just wants to get zapped and get
on with her life. Well incredibly
even with that kind of belief, which is bordering on the superstitious,
even with that tiny mustard seed of faith, Jesus responds.
Verse 30: At once Jesus
realised that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd
and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
Power goes out from
Jesus. Isn’t that amazing? Jesus feels power going out from
Him.
We might imagine that
if Jesus is the LORD of creation, well then everything He does is
effortless. Surely the One who
calms hurricanes with a word will take a healing like this in His
stride. Well if we remember that
the ultimate power of Jesus is shown at the cross, if we remember
that the healing of the world happens when Jesus is crushed, then we
might start to think differently.
Isaiah the prophet said of Jesus: By His wounds we
are healed. Are we healed by His
strength? Yes. Are we healed by His omnipotent power
over sin, sickness, Satan and death?
Yes. But it is no less
true that “by His wounds we are healed”. The healing power of Jesus is grounded
in His suffering death on the cross.
Jesus is not like a broadband package – unlimited downloads. It’s not clinical like that. It’s personal. Those He heals, He also suffers
for.
If you’ve come to
Jesus you should know He has suffered for you. You haven’t just downloaded salvation from His infinite
hard-drive, it’s personal. He has
suffered for you. Paul would
write in Galatians 2:20, “The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for
me.” Christians know this to be
true. I’m not an anonymous member
of the crowd who happens to have been zapped by Jesus. Jesus has suffered for me. He has felt power going out of Him for
me. On the cross, He was
drained… for me!
This woman thought she
would mean nothing to Jesus. She
wasn’t going to bother Him. She
just hoped for a zapping. But
there’s no such thing. You can’t
have Jesus’ power without having Him. His power is a personal power and a power that costs Him
dearly. He wants one-to-ones with
each and every one of us.
Immediately Jesus feels that power has gone out and immediately He
wants to talk to this woman.
The woman is
terrified. It seems to take her a
while to own up. Verse 32, “Jesus
kept looking around to see who had done it.” The woman wanted an anonymous experience. Jesus wants a personal encounter. And that’s scary. This is far more than the woman
bargained for. But eventually
v33:
Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at
his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
The woman is driven
down. Just seconds ago she’d
hoped for a zap and run, but now face-to-face with Jesus she falls at His
feet. And she tells her story to
Jesus. “This is who I am Jesus,
I’m a poor, sick, unclean, desperate woman. That is the whole truth.”
The woman is driven down further than she’d ever expected, but
then Jesus lifts her higher than she’s ever dreamed. Verse 34:
Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go
in peace and be freed from your suffering."
This woman is not just
an anonymous woman to Jesus. To Jesus she’s a daughter. He doesn’t want anonymous followers
hanging onto His coat-tails. He
wants daughters, He wants sons, who tell Him the whole truth.
And Jesus explains to the
woman – your faith has healed you. Jesus is telling her, ‘It’s got nothing to do with any
magical powers in my clothing. You believed in Me, that’s the thing. I’m the Power that healed you, and you
trusted Me. Now go in peace and
be freed from your suffering.’
This word peace means
wholeness, soundness, welfare, prosperity, tranquility, friendship. It’s peace with God, peace with others
– Jesus says go in peace. What a
brilliant encounter with Jesus.
She wanted to get zapped and run, Jesus wanted to call her
‘Daughter’ and give her peace.
Driven down, but raised up much higher.
Do you have a zap and
run mentality with Jesus? He
wants a face-to-face. He wants
you driven down to confess to Him your whole story and He wants to lift
you up and speak peace to you.
But you can’t just be anonymous in the crowd when it comes to
Jesus. Fall at His feet, tell Him
the whole truth. He will lift you up.
So the woman’s
expectation was frustrated, she was driven down then lifted up.
The same happens to Jairus. He had expected Jesus to come and heal
His little girl. But talk about
frustration.
Can you imagine being
Jairus in v24? You’re leading the
way back to your place, Jesus is coming but the crowd is holding
everything up. How fast can you
go when a large crowd is pressing around? You can bet Jairus wished the whole crowd would just
disappear. I mean there are even
people grabbing hold of Jesus’ clothing as they’re racing back to his
house. But frustration just isn’t
the word when in v30, Jesus stops.
“Why have you stopped
Jesus? Didn’t you understand v23:
my daughter IS dying.” This is a
race against the clock. Jesus has
brought everything to a halt and now He’s looking around a large crowd
and asks ‘who touched me?’ Put
yourself in Jairus’s shoes.
“Who touched you? Who touched you??? A) Everybody. B) Who cares!!” It’s incredible isn’t it.
I mean verse 31 from
the disciples is just dripping with sarcasm and incredulity:
"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples
answered, "and yet you can ask,`Who touched me?'"
That’s how the disciples
were thinking, how must Jairus have been thinking??
I have no medical
training, I have no healing powers but if you told me your daughter was
dying I’d come with you in a second.
And nothing would get in my way.
Jesus is very
different. He frustrates our
expectations. We keep coming up
against this in Mark. Just think
about the last three weeks. In
Mark 4 a hurricane blows up and not only does Jesus not immediately still
it, He takes a power nap. And the
disciples say “Jesus don’t you care if we drown!?” Jesus does not do what He’s meant
to. Unbelievably Frustrating.
Last week we saw Jesus
deliver a man oppressed by an army of unclean spirits. If you were here last week you’ll
remember Jesus had granted the request of the demons, He’d granted the
request of the hostile crowd but when this delivered man just wants to
hop aboard and be with Jesus, Jesus says ‘No. Go back as a missionary.’
Jesus frustrates our desires.
Here a father wants
healing for His dying girl. Is
there anything wrong with that request?
Anything wrong with wanting your twelve year old daughter to live? Well then Jesus, if you have the power
and if you’re good, you’ll do this thing. But what does Jesus do?
He waits. He stops and talks to a woman – a destitute, unclean
woman who wouldn’t have even been allowed into Jairus’s synagogue. And what’s more this woman has been bleeding
for 12 years now, she could wait another hour Jesus. But no. Jesus is unmanageable.
He has His own agenda.
He’s insanely frustrating.
And verse 35, “While
Jesus was still speaking to this woman, some men came from the
house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler.”
And here are some of the most painful words you could ever hear “Your
daughter is dead.”
“Your daughter is
dead.” Put yourself in Jairus’s
shoes. He’s left his daughter’s
bedside. He’s come and put his
career on the line, he’s prostrated himself at the feet of Jesus –
begging for his little girl’s life.
And Jesus has not come through for you. Now you hear ‘Your daughter is dead.’
Jairus’s story is our
story. Every one of us either has
had or will have moments like this in our Christian lives. We have come to Jesus. We have real needs. We are sure we know the best way He
can help us. But He doesn’t do
what we’d thought and our worst nightmare happens.
These last three weeks
have been teaching us painful but invaluable lessons.
The storm of Mark
chapter 4 taught us: We will go through storms and Jesus won’t calm them
right away. It will get to the
point where we say “I’m dying here and you don’t care do you?”. The story of Legion in Mark 5 taught
us: Jesus will say ‘No’ to us
even when our desires seem completely legitimate and godly. This week we learn: Jesus will delay and nightmare
scenarios will arise.
What do we do?
This is what we’re
supposed to do
Verse 36:
Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler,
"Don't be afraid; just believe."
That’s
incredible. How can that be in the
bible? How can Jesus say
that? Everything in us tells us
this is the moment NOT to trust Jesus.
This is the moment to conclude He’s not good or He’s not powerful
but either way He’s not helping, He can’t be trusted. Jesus says “Don’t be afraid, trust
me.”
Jairus is being driven
down further than he’d ever anticipated.
You would have thought at the start of the story that begging
Jesus for healing was as desperate as Jairus could have been. But no, his daughter is now dead
and still Jesus asks Jairus to trust him. Jairus is being driven down.
He is brought to the
point where there is no earthly hope whatsoever. Only the God of resurrection can be
trusted at this point. When your
daughter is dead you must either be swallowed by despair and conclude
that nothing is bigger than the grave or you can trust in the God of
resurrection, but there’s no other option. Either death swallows everything or there’s a God of
resurrection. Jesus says ‘Trust
me – I am the God of resurrection.
I eat death for breakfast.’
Jairus gets to see
firsthand the God of resurrection at work. Let me read from v38 (it’s
worth just reading this in full):
38
When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, 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 walked 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.
Jairus was driven down
and then lifted up in the most incredible way.
Jairus came to Jesus
for a healing. He got a
resurrection. And when it came,
verse 42 says they were ‘completely astonished’. Literally it says they were
mega-ecstatic. Mega-ecstatic.
Greatly beside themselves.
Completely astonished.
Jesus raised their dead daughter the way you or I would wake the
sleeping. Those words in verse
41, “Talitha coum,” are in Aramaic – the language Jesus spoke most
often. And Mark leaves them in
their original Aramaic because people remembered the exact words that
came from Jesus’ mouth. It was
such a precious moment people would always remember the way He spoke to that
little corpse. Jesus said
‘Talitha coum’ which is a term of great endearment. ‘Talitha’ has the feeling of ‘Little
girl’, ‘little madam’, ‘little missy’ – it’s warmly affectionate. I heard one American translate it
‘Honey.’ Honey, it’s time to get
up. That’s the flavour of what
Jesus says. He takes a 12 year
old dead girl by the hand and says ‘Honey, it’s time to get up.’ Immediately she rises from the dead at
the word of Jesus.
And at the end of the
story Jesus has saved both daughters.
He’s saved both daughters.
Everyone thought the bleeding woman could wait while Jesus healed
the dying girl. But no – Jesus
He’s saved the woman with the flow of blood and He’s saved the dying
girl. He calls the one
‘daughter’, He calls the other ‘Talitha’ – both terms of great
affection. He does care, He is
powerful and He does know how to bring things to a happily ever after
that far outstrips anything we expected.
Through sickness and suffering, through frustration and painful
delays, through death and grief, Jesus brings us through to resurrection
and leaves us in verse 43 feasting.
That’s what you do when you rise from the dead you eat. That’s what we’ll do when we rise from
the dead, we’ll feast with Jesus, and on that day we will see how Jesus
has brought us through suffering into astonishing glory.
Do you know that the
same Jesus who said ‘Talitha koum’ is alive and well and ruling the
universe? Do you really know
that? Do you really know that this
Jesus who calls the woman ‘Daughter’ and the girl ‘Talitha’, He is
seated on the throne of the universe.
He is the One ruling the events of this world and this week and my
past and my present and my future.
This Jesus who is the same yesterday, today and forever, this
Jesus is Lord.
And He was crushed
ultimately at the cross so that power could come out for our salvation –
by His wounds we are healed. He
ultimately went down into death, and He ultimately rose up again and is
now reigning over history and over you.
And now when we come to Him we find forgiveness and
cleansing. We can have a
one-to-one with Him where we tell Him the truth about ourselves. And we
can know ourselves to be a beloved Daughter or Son. And one day beyond our own deaths
Jesus will say to us ‘Rise and shine.
It’s time to get up. It’s
time to feast.’
In the meantime we may
face crippling pain, financial ruin, sickness, overwhelming grief and
horrific frustrations. But all
the time Jesus is saying to us “Don’t be afraid, just believe!” He is saying this to us right now
‘Don’t be afraid, trust me.’ And
we can trust Him. The One more
powerful than the storms, more powerful than the demons, more powerful
than death itself, will bring us through suffering to a completely
astonishing glory of resurrection and feasting.
Therefore to God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be ascribed all the glory,
all the honour, all the majesty, all the power and all our trust, now and
forever. Amen.
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