When All Hope Seems Lost - Mark 5:21-43

Our text today is Mark 5:21-43. I’m going to read the entire text before moving into any commentary

Mark 5:21–43 ESV

21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 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.” 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

What is the most desperate you’ve ever been in your life? Something I’ve noticed is that those who live in extreme poverty don’t seem to have much urgentness or desperation in their lives… until they’re faced with losing something they care about.

I once met a homeless man who had a small dog. He didn’t seem to care much about his living condition and the overall reality of life on the streets, until he was faced with the reality of his dog being taken away if he went to prison for some violation. Suddenly the man was desperate to do whatever he could to avoid the jail time.

Those who stand to lose something are the ones who are the most desperate.

Those on the brink of eviction present a desperation and urgency that was lacking in the months leading up to that moment. Why? Even if things were bad before, now they’re about to lose their home.

Those who receive a terminal illness diagnosis are desperate to try whatever experimental drug might be available in the hopes that something works. Why? They stand to lose their lives.

The possibility or reality of loss drives desperation.

In our text today we find Jesus encountering two individuals who are desperate. They are at the end of their ropes. They have no where else to turn, no one else who can help. They’ve tried all there is to try, and all that is left is to seek out this Jesus man they’ve been hearing about.

The rumors are astounding. Some say He’s the Christ! Other say he’s a prophet! Some say he’s a fraud.

But if nothing else, he just might be the last hope that these individuals have.

I read one commentator this week who said “Chapter Five might be called the St. Jude Chapter” because St. Jude is considered the saint of hopeless cases.

An uncontrollable demoniac.

A 12 year old on the brink of death.

A woman with a bleed that has being going for as long as that girl has been alive.

Last we saw how Jesus dealt with the demoniac. In an incredible display of power, he sent over 2000 demons to the depths of the sea with a word. He restored the man and sent him to tell others the good news.

What do we find here?

Here we find Jesus Meeting people in their deepest needs. Jesus meets people in their deepest need when they come to him in faith.

This narrative is arranged using one of Mark’s favorite literary devices, something called intercalation. Intercalation is usually identifiable with an A B A pattern. There is the beginning of a story or theme, some other story seems to interrupt or be inserted in the middle, and then there is the resumption or resolution of the story or theme at the end.

That is what we find here: The story begins with Jairus coming to Jesus and Jesus agreeing to go with him to help his daughter. That is interrupted by the case of the woman with the flow of blood, but then resumed when things get more desperate when it is reported to Jairus that his daughter has died.

The purpose of this literary practice is usually to highlight the information that is in the center, but sometimes this device is used simply to draw out comparisons and contrasts between the stories.

By way of comparrison, both stories has Jesus working a miracle for a female character, both contain the number 12, and both involve Jesus encountering the unclean. The woman with the flow of blood would have been ceremonially unclean, and the dead girl would be unclean because she had died and was thus a corpse.

By way of contrast, the two individuals who are asking Jesus for help are at the complete opposite ends of the social spectrum.

Jairus is described as one of the rulers of the synagogue. He is man who carries authority and is socially well-connected. Synagogue rulers had responsibility to tend to the synagogue, procure Scripture scrolls for reading, and line up Rabbi’s to teach on the Sabbath. They were influential and well-respected leaders in the community.

The woman is the complete opposite. She is a woman who is unclean. Because of the 12 year bleeding, she would have been a social outcast. Her bleed renders her ceremonially unclean, and unable to participate as a normal member of society. Everything she touched and every seat she sat in would have also been considered unclean.

What binds these two stories together? Both of these individuals come seeking Jesus. Both are at their most desperate moments of deepest need. Both express some level of faith in the one who is able.

There are three principles I want us to glean from this text:

First,

In your deepest need, go to Jesus

Mark 5:22–23 ESV

22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 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.”

Jairus comes to Jesus. This would have taken great courage. It is already clear from the text that the religous leaders of the day do not appreciate Jesus or the things that he is doing or teaching. They do not view him as the Messiah, but as a threat to their authority.

Back in chapters two and three, we have saw escalating encounters between Jesus and the religious leaders, and how they are already plotting to kill Jesus. For Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, to go to Jesus and fall at the feet of Jesus, which is the same posture that the demon possessed man took in verse 6, and to beg Jesus for help, this would have taken great humility and great courage.

It took courage to be willing to risk his position. It took courage to be willing to publically admit his need.

It took humility to come to bow himself before the man that his colleagues desired to kill.

But he is desperate. His daughter is sick. And what father wouldn’t be willing to do whatever it takes for the sake of his daughter?

She is not just sick, but is at the point of death. The Greek phrase is idiomatic. We might say she is at death’s door.

Jesus agrees to go with him, and the crowd follows along to see what Jesus might do, but there is an interuption. For Jairus is not the only one there who is desperate. Jairus is not the only one with a great need.

There is this woman. Her name is unknown, but her condition was well-known. The text says she had a discharge of blood for 12 years, and this likely refers to uterine bleeding. She had been to Dr after Dr, spent every penny she had, but all of it was for nothing. Not a single Dr helped her. Not only did they not help, but verse 26 says that she only got worse!

But she heard about Jesus. She has heard that this man works miracles. She has heard that this may be the Messiah Israel has waited for for so long!

So she sets out to get near him, she sets out to touch him.

Verse 28 provides her reasoning: if I could just touch his clothes, that would be enough.

This course of action would have been very risky for her. She, an unclean woman, moving through the crowd to get to Jesus. When Jesus asks “who touched my garments?” the disciples are almost indignant at the question. “ummm, Jesus. Have you seen this crowd? Who isn’t touching you??

Jesus would not have been the only person that this woman touched as she sought to get near him. It isn’t as though there was a wide open pathway to him. The crowd is jostling along and bumping into each other. This woman is doing what many would consider reckless and irresponsible. Imagine back in early 2020 before we knew the things we know now, if someone has COVID and hears of a cure, but must fight through a crowd of healthy people to get it.

That’s just irresponsible, right? What if the cure doesn’t work? You’ve just put the entire community at risk.

In her deepest need, this woman risks all to go to Jesus.

In our culture today, coming to Jesus is not as socially risky as it might be in other cultures or other time periods, but even still that is contextual.

In our area, for someone to leave the Brahnamite cult in favor of true faith in Christ, that would be risky! In Utah, leaving the LDS church would be risky. In predominately Muslim countries, leaving Islam in favor of Christ might cost you your life!

For most of us in this region, however, the risks are rather minimal. You may lose a friend. You might be ridiculed by people who mock religion. But that is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

But it still takes humility and it still takes courage. It takes humility to admit that you are helpless on your own and you need the hand of another to help you. It takes courage to publically declare that need in such a way that everyone sees.

But in your deepest need, Jesus is where we must turn, to Jesus who is strong and kind, as we sang earlier.

Not only must we go to Jesus, but we must have faith in Him as well.

In your deepest need, have faith in Jesus

This might seem like a redundant point, and to a degree it is. Why would you be going to Jesus if you didn’t have faith that he could do something in the first place? But the issue of faith is very central to the thrust of this passage, and the issue of faith is going to become even more the focal point when we get into chapter 6 where a lack of faith is an issue for Jesus’ home town. So being explicit rather than implicit about the need for faith is warranted.

This woman touches Jesus because she believes that if she just touched his clothes that would be enough, and it was! She immediately felt within her that she was healed of her disease!

Jesus also felt the power going out from him and to the woman, so he pauses and asks “who touched me?”

This isn’t because he legitimately didn’t know. We know about the nature of Christ and his knowledge of things. This was a question to draw out the woman.

The woman comes and bows herself before Christ and confesses that it was she.

The text says that she was afraid. It says she was trembling. Why? She, and unclean woman, managed to get close enough to Jesus to touch him. But She was unclean! Anyone and anything she touches becomes unclean as well! She has been rubbing against the crowd.

One commentator said “she is a walking pollution”

I really love how another commentator put things:

“What she has done needs to be exposed to the crowd, not because it was wrong, but because it was right. the crowd has not become unclean by her touch, she has become clean by touching Jesus. The crowd needs to know that… This woman’s humiliation has been public knowledge; her healing must be public knowledge as well.”

But notice what Jesus says to her: “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease”

He calls her daughter. A tender term of affection for her.

He refers to her faith. This was a central issue. She had faith that Jesus was able to do what no Dr. was able to do, faith that he was able to restore her, not just physically, but socially, and perhaps even spiritually as well.

The word that is used of Jesus when he says “you faith has made you well” the word for “made you well” is the word σωζω which is most often translated as “to save” your faith has saved you. This word is context dependent so we don’t want to back load theology into this text that isn’t here. The word can refer to physical deliverance and rescue and not spiritual salvation, so we must let context help us, but there are other words that Mark uses to speak of just physical healing, and that isn’t the word that Mark uses here. He uses σωζω.

And when Jesus tells her “Go in peace” this is not just goodbye, I’ll see you later. This is a blessing that she might go forth restored. Not just physically and socially, but in a right relationship with God as well.

It seems that she didn’t just have faith that Jesus could heal, but she also had faith that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

This is an amazing miracle, but we don’t get the soak it in for long because the text quickly moves back to Jairus and what seemed to be the more pressing need.

While Jesus was interacting with this woman, someone comes to Jairus and tells him that his daughter has died. Leave the teacher alone. This case is beyond all hope. While she was sick there was hope because Jesus was healing the sick! But she is not dead, and all hope is lost.

But Jesus hears this and says in verse 36: “do not fear, only believe”

Jesus instructs Jairus to have faith. You came to me. Trust me.

As we come to Jesus, we must have faith that he is who he claims to be and can do what he claims he can do. Faith is the conduit through which Jesus addresses our needs. Some times as we come we must cry out “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief” Sometime Jesus acts to bolster and strengthen our faith. But we must not come to him as a skeptic. Even if we have doubts, there is a difference between demanding a sign as a skeptic and seeking to strengthen faith.

And here is what you can count on:

In your deepest need, Jesus cares

We have seen the tender care for the woman with the bleeding. Daughter, go in peace. Publicly recognizing her so that he can remove the social stigma associated with her disease. Jesus cares for this woman. He care for her well being physically, socially, and spiritually.

Now we see his care for Jairus’ daughter as well.

He tell Jairus, don’t fear. Only believe.

He enters the house and challenges the mourners. Stop making such a ruckus. She is only asleep. The mourner mock Jesus, but undaunted he goes to where she is and says in verse 41:

Mark 5:41 ESV

41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

Again, we find the tender care of Christ. He takes her by the hand, and speaks gently to her, Little girl arise.

And she does! She gets up and walks around! Everyone is amazed!

This time, however, Jesus says “don’t tell anyone about this”

I believe this is another expression of Jesus’ care for this family. It would be tempting to tell everyone about what happened, but having constant guests and being the talk of the town might be overwhelming for a 12 year old girl. So Jesus tells them to content themselves in privately rejoicing at what Christ has done for her.

Finally he says to give her something to eat. This is likely to prove that she really is alive and well and this is not some kind of trick.

As we think about this text, we are reminded of the need to have faith in Jesus, and we are reminded of the reality that Jesus cares about us and our needs. Jesus here worked miracles to demonstrate that care. This might lead us to ask the question, “should I expect a miracle today”

Can and does God still do miracles? Absolutely. We are a ceasationist church, meaning we believe the miraculous sign gifts have ceased, but we must not confuse that to mean that we believe that miracles have ceased altogether. God does still answer prayer and he still works miracles. What we must be careful of is to believe that God owes us a miracle.

God is all powerful, all loving, and also all-wise. When we pray and God says “no” he does so because He knows that saying “yes” would do us more harm than good in ways we might never understand. If God does not work a miracle in your situation, we must not take that to mean that God does not care. He does care! He often answers prayers in ways we never would have expected! He is always leading and teaching us. He is always challenging us “do not fear; only believe”

But we must go him with our needs, and we must go in faith, believing that Jesus really does care.

In these stories the needs were physical, but that is not really our deepest need, is it? Jesus has been clear why he has come. Though he delights to work miracles for the sake of others, the reason he has come to proclaim the Gospel, because our deepest need is a spiritual one.

Jesus came, not to be served, but to serve, and we see that here. But that verse goes on to say that he came to give his life as a ransom for many.

Why? Because of our spiritual need. We are sinners who justly deserve condemnation for our sin. We have violated God’s commands. Our only hope is faith in Jesus Christ, the only one who is able to address our deepest need. He died on the cross to address that need, and rose again from the dead so that anyone who would but believe in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins would have eternal life! Will you trust him today?

Even as believers, we all still struggle and stumble in many ways. Our deepest need remains spiritual: I need to know Christ more that He might continue to conform me to His image. You can try and try and try and never make any progress. You must come to Christ and seek him. You must come to him in faith. Will you trust him for your sanctification, even as you trusted him for your salvation?

For the rest of our trials and difficulties in this life, Jesus cares for that as well. He is not only interested in the spiritual and the physical can be ignored. No. He cares. Take your needs to him. Trust him that even if his answer is “no” it is for your good and his glory. Do not fear, only believe. Jesus is strong. Jesus is Kind.