Dealing with the Incurables | Mark 5:21-43

INTRODUCTION

Timothy George writes about Martin Luther’s life in his book Theology of the Reformers and shares what was probably one of Luther’s lowest moments of his life. His daughter of fourteen years old dies from the plague. He writes this about Luther’s experience.

Mark Contemporary Significance

Brokenhearted he knelt beside her bed and begged God to release her from the pain. When she had died and the carpenters were nailing down the lid of her coffin, Luther screamed out, “Hammer away! On doomsday she’ll rise again.”

In a moment of desperation, what would embolden a person to say those words? To rally the carpenter to “Hammer away!” at the coffin or their fourteen year old daughter?

Luther’s faith in God was holding on in the face of death and hurt. Luther’s faith was rooted in knowing that Jesus has conquered death in His resurrection.

Have you ever struggled with faith? I know I’ve have moments of doubt, and usually these moments center around the question: “if Jesus loves us so much, why is the world the way it is?”

Have you ever questioned like that before? Have you ever said or thought, “God if you are really up there, why did you let (fill in the blank) happen?”

As we walk through our passage, my hope is that 1) we relate to the text by trying to feel what might have been felt by the people in this passage as we experience with them a sense of desperation, experience and reflect upon Gods delay, and His ultimate deliverance. We also want to bring our text into the larger narrative of Mark by looking at Jesus’ dominion and authority as we see it amplified in our text.

We will walk through our text, and hopefully experience a sense of:

Desperation

Delay

Deliverance

Dominion

Before we begin, let us ask our Lord for help. Please pray with me.

Markan Sandwiches

One thing to note before we look at our text. I want to highlight one of the amazing literary features of Mark that is present in our text. We find in Mark, what is sometimes known as a “Markan Sandwich”. They are called sandwiches because we see one story sandwiched by another story. We will see this feature come up a few times, about 9 times in the Gospel of Mark, PNTC. Looking at the text, we can easily see the sandwich. We see the story of the woman with a serious issue sandwiched by the story of Jairus’ daughter.

As mentioned this is a feature of Mark’s Gospel, and so we have to ask, why write it this way? There are at least two reasons for the sandwiches.

First, it presents tension in the story. We see this technique in movies even today. Where you have the main story and it gets interrupted by a secondary story, which leaves the audience hanging and wanting more of the main story.

In addition to building tension, in Mark, we see that these sandwiches have a theological purpose. It invites us, the reader, to reflect upon the similarities between the stories. These similarities will reveal why Mark chose to pair these two stories together.

My sermon will be a bit different from how I prefer and typically preach, which is usually going through the text in the order that it is written. Today instead we will jump around just a bit, but I think it will help us see the connections in this sandwich.

1. DESPERATION: Ignoring social norms

We begin our passage with a clear sense of desperation.

Mark 5:21–23 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.”

We see Jesus come back from his travels on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Remember, when he crossed it first we saw Jesus’ authority over the wind and the sea when he calms the storm on the boat. Then last week we saw Jesus’ authority over the demons when he casts out the Legion of demons from a man. We now find him on the “other side” again, perhaps where he had cast off from the first time, near Capernaum.

He is greeted by a large crowd. Jesus’ teaching and miracles gain a following because they had not seen anything like what he was preaching or doing (Mark 2:12).

Jairus

Enters Jairus the Ruler of the Synagogue. The position of Ruler of the Synagogue was not of a priest or scribe. This person would typically manage the activities of the synagogue. We could consider this person like an executive who might schedule people for their services and made sure things kept running. A person in this role were typically prominent members of the community. It is with this understanding that we see Jairus’ desperation. As a prominent figure of the community, he doesn’t bow before people, in fact, it was not uncommon for people in the community to bow before higher members of society.

Jairus risks his status by bowing before a “lower” man of man and who was considered controversial. It is in his desperation that he ignores any social norm and comes to Jesus in surrender.

What caused him to act this way? His 12 year old daughter was at the brink of death. He begs Jesus to come and “lay his hands on her” to heal her.

Laying on of Hands

This idea of laying on of hands is interesting. When we survey the Scriptures for this gesture we find that it is found all throughout the Bible. We see it all the way back to Genesis when Jacob blesses Joseph’s children and lays his hands on them (Gen. 48:14). We see it in Leviticus when the high priests would raise their hands over the people to bless them (Lev. 9:22). Jesus in his earthly ministry would lay his hands on people and healed them (Mark 6:5, 7:32, 8:23, 25). We have seen it our Family Bible Hour study where Paul instructs Timothy to select elders and lay his hands on them as a symbol of being commissioned for ministry.

This act of laying on of hands is a symbol of blessing but some scholars point out that it is also a gesture that symbolizes separation. In all of these examples, the person or people who receive the laying on of hands are being set apart. Those who received healing from Jesus, were set apart or chosen and utilized to communicate who Jesus is.

This is what Jairus was desperately begging for. That Jesus would deem it worthy to set his hands on his daughter and save her from death.

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We see Jesus’ disposition here toward the needy. In Mark’s narrative, there was no small talk, no questions asked. Jesus goes with him (Mark 5:24).

Women with the issue

We see the connection of desperation also in the story found in the middle part of this sandwich. Mark 5:25-26

Mark 5:25–26 ESV

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.

Consider for a moment what life must have been for this woman. 12 YEARS of dealing with this sickness. (BTW, 12 years was also the age of the little girl).

From what I understand, this was likely more of a chronic hemorrhage, than an abnormal heavy monthly flow. This was not a sickness like a cold or a stomach bug. This was significant. In addition to the dealing with this sickness, because of the law, she was considered unclean (Lev. 12:7, 15:19-33, 20:18). Not only is she considered unclean but the law also declares anyone who touches a woman during her menstrual cycle to be unclean. In Leviticus, we see that a woman in her cycle was considered unclean for 7 days and anyone who comes into contact with her is also unclean. So this was a woman who was essentially in exile, because the presence of the constant blood left her unclean.

Her ailment was a combination of physical suffering and social shame. She may have not been dying like Jairus’ daughter, but she was living death. She also demonstrates her desperation by ignoring social norms. She shouldn’t touch anyone otherwise they would be made unclean according to Jewish law. Yet, she ignores this and goes to Jesus anyway.

It is an interesting question from Jesus when he asks “who touched me?” It’s interesting because it looks like there were many people touching him, but also because we know Jesus as the God-man. Wouldn’t he know who touched him? It’s almost as if the question assumes that Jesus did not have control over his powers when the woman touched him. Remember God’s question to Adam and Eve after they ate of the forbidden fruit. “Where are you?” We come to understand that they had rebelled against God and were in hiding and God in his kindness, is igniting the sinner to come into the light.

We should read this question the same way. This woman has disobeyed the Law of God in touching Jesus. So his question, “who touched me?” is an opportunity for the woman to come into the light. This is why she comes to Jesus in fear and trembling. She is afraid of the consequences of her actions.

Desperation

I hope we can see this connection of desperation between the woman and Jairus.

The feeling of desperation is probably not foreign to any of us. We have all felt the feeling of desperation and not knowing where to turn to. Maybe it was in light of getting news about cancer, or the sickness of a family member. Maybe it’s desperation from an addiction that you feel slaved to. Perhaps you have felt this in the midst of financial struggles, or in your marriage. I would venture to say that we all have seen or experienced what it’s like to be at the end of our rope. This was the situation for Jairus, and this woman. What they do in light of their desperation is amazing. They have a glimmer of hope, in their hopeless situation because of Jesus. This was true for them and church, it is true for us as well. We will revisit this idea later in our passage.

Faith

Our passage marries the idea of desperation with the concept of Faith. Jairus risks his social status, the woman risks the consequences of breaking Jewish law but they come to Jesus. Their affections in their lowest moments are turned to Christ. Just a couple of things to point out about faith from our text so far.

1. Faith is not meant to stay private, it is to be public.

Consider your faith. Is your faith private? If people hear about your faith, would they be surprised, or shocked? Our faith should not be private. Maybe we risk in our culture being called a hater, or narrow-minded. The lesson we learn from Jairus and this woman, is that coming to Jesus is worth any of these risks.

2. Faith is something that trusts in the midst of hopelessness.

When there is nothing left in you. What you cling to in those moments is in your faith in Jesus. Faith is what gets us up, it is our faith that we serve a sovereign King who even in my calamity, He is still in control. It is faith in his word that we cling to. Like Romans 8:18

Romans 8:18 ESV

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

What I hope we walk away with is a sense of that or faith in Christ must remain despite our circumstances because His ways are higher and He is good, even when we can’t see it, we know He is.

2. DELAY: His timing, not ours

We relate to this narrative with the feeling of desperation. This feeling is only heightened by the delay of Jesus.

Where do we see delay in these two stories? We’ve already talked about the woman who had been struggling with this illness for twelve years. What we haven’t talked about is the urgency of Jairus and now Jesus is having to stop to ask who touched him in the midst of a large crowd.

Say you are the parent (Jairus), you know your daughter is dying. You risk not being with your daughter when she passes, you risk the social norms of your society and you come to Jesus and you FIND HIM! Not only did you find him, he is coming with you to see your daughter! The healer is on his way!

…

Then Jesus stops for this exiled woman. You hear the dialogue and think, “ok Jesus, she’s got her miracle, let’s pack it up and go, we don’t have much time left!” While Jesus and this woman are speaking, you get news that your daughter has died.

Consider for a moment what you might feel in that very moment watching Jesus talk to this woman while he was on his to your daughter. What emotion would arise in you?

It is overwhelming. Maybe you feel frustrated, or angry, or furious, or upset, or sad, sorrowful. You don’t even know who to direct those emotions toward. Should I be mad at myself? Should I have done more to save my daughters life? Maybe I didn’t make the situation very clear to Jesus. If he would have known the details he wouldn’t have stopped.

Or should you direct your emotions toward Jesus. How dare he stop, and delay. He knew how serious this is. Why didn’t he come right away with me? If Jesus is all that he says he is, where was he?

What piece of hope you had for saving your daughter’s life is gone and that hope is now being replaced by grief.

Talk about the incurable. When one dies, it’s over, there is no return.

We can now see the connection between these two stories.

The woman with the issue had gone multiple procedures with physicians with no avail, to the point of losing “all that she had.” Not only did she lose it all, but ended up worse, she ended up more sick, than she was before. Whatever hope she had in the words or acts of the physicians, that hope was also replaced by grief when she realized there was nothing more to do and now she was homeless and in exile. For 12 YEARS, I mean, if she had hope that maybe her body would find a way to fix itself, that was gone too, after 12 years.

We see the connection here now between these two stories, we see the desperation and the delay. Twelve years for the woman, and Jairus watched Jesus delay while on route to rescue his daughter.

In the midst of all of Jairus’ emotions, Jesus speaks.

Mark 5:36 “36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.””

Faith

3. Faith and fear are opposing forces

We learn from Jesus’ words here that Fear and Faith are opposites. They are opposing forces, yet, they are sometimes both fighting for your attention. Fear and hopelessness say to you. “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” (Mark 5:35). Do we see ourselves in this response? “Why trouble God with this any further… It’s over… This response at the root comes from fear. You can’t handle feeling hopeful anymore. Instead, some become embittered and perhaps even purpose themselves to discourage others.

Fear is a common and natural response to hard circumstances. When fear is present, we don’t want to hide it or pretend it isn’t present. We acknowledge it and we combat it with faith.

In the midst of hopelessness and fear, Jesus offers a different counsel than Jairus’ friend. Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.” How do we counter fear? With faith.

As Gary mentioned in his sermon a couple of weeks ago. There are different types of fear. There is righteous fear of the Lord. That’s not what we are talking about. The fear we are talking about is hopeless fear. It is fear that if left untreated can feel louder than the truth of Scripture. We counter fear with truth, with faith in our Savior who has conquered all.

3. DELIVERANCE: Faith oriented toward Jesus

This response from Jesus to Jairus is the climax of this story. Which descends us to our final experience in our passage. We see Jesus provide deliverance to both the woman and to Jairus’ daughter.

We already saw the woman’s deliverance from her twelve year old illness. Not only is she healed. Jesus calls her into the light and says to her.

Mark 5:34 “And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.””

She receives Jesus’s blessing. This is the Savior we follow. He is merciful and does not deal with us as we deserve. The woman could have approached and talked to Jesus when he was alone, like the leper who comes to Jesus, she instead decides to come and sneak up to him and touch him. Jesus demonstrates his care for the needy and instead of chastisement, she receives healing and his blessing. What an amazing God we serve and follow.

We left off our story of Jairus with him receiving the terrible news that his daughter had just died. In the midst of his hopelessness Jesus speaks to him and says, to believe. He is calling Jairus to hold on to Faith and to press forward.

We arrive at the scene and we have mourners weeping for the little girl. This was a tradition of the time to have hired mourners, and because bodies would decompose quickly, mourners would be rallied up quickly to visit the dead. It was likely the hired mourners who responded to Jesus with laughter. You have to wonder, what’s most striking. Having mourners laugh during the mourning period or Jesus saying, she isn’t dead, only sleeping. If we witnessed either of these at a memorial services, we would quickly remove them from the room. Yet, Jesus puts these laughing mourners out and he stays with Jairus, his wife and the disciples Peter, James, and John.

Jesus speaks then speaks to the little girl in Aramaic and invites her to get up. AND SHE DOES!

This is impossible. Death is incurable, there was no reason to hope that she could be revived after dying. This is why when everyone witnessed what occured, “they were immediately overcome with amazement” (Mark 5:42). The greek word for amazement in this passage is a form of the greek word ekstasis, which gives us our english word ecstasy, which describes a person being thrown into a state of shock, awe, beyond themselves. Rightly so, they witnessed Jesus cure the incurable, he did the impossible.

4. Faith in Christ who can do the impossible

So what do we make of this? The lesson is not to look at Jairus and find the formula to arrive at the same conclusion and receive a miracle from God today. That’s not what Mark is communicating here. The lesson is not to have perfect faith, for Jairus doesn’t seem to have an extraordinary faith beyond what we would consider normal faith. So what is being communicated? The lesson is to believe what is beyond belief. It is to have faith not in faith itself. We have faith in Christ Jesus who can do the impossible, who can cure the incurable.

4. DOMINION: Jesus’ authority over the incurables

We have experienced with the characters of this narrative. Desperation, delay, deliverance, and lastly, we see Jesus displaying his dominion over the incurables. In Mark we have seen Jesus heal the paralyzed and this woman with her issue, demonstrating he has authority over the sickness. We saw his calm the storm, demonstrating his dominion over nature, and in essence, everything in the physical world is under his authority. We saw him cast our a legion of demons last week which demonstrates his dominion over spiritual beings. Then we see Christ’s dominion over death. Truly this is the son of God, who has all authority in heaven and on earth. Who was present when the world was created. The God-man who was present when Moses led Israel our of slavery, the God who split the Red sea for Israel to cross. The God who has kept Israel from extinction from so many people wanting to destroy them. The Savior who came and died for our sins, to rescue, to redeem, to cure the incurable of our condemnation. This Savior has dominion over the heavens, the spiritual realm, over demons, over nature, over sickness, and death itself. We are called to have faith in the impossible, because He has done the impossible! He has cured us and given us a new heart for those who are in Christ. That’s impossible without Him.

So what is our response? We do not lose hope in hopelessness. A broken marriage, an estranged child, a terminal illness, a dysfunctional family, hopeless finances, all of which would cause anyone a sense of fear and exhaustion. We do not shy away from those feelings, we combat them with Faith. Not faith in faith itself, but faith in the one who cures the incurables.

I want to be clear, I am not saying that with enough faith, God will cure your broken marriage, etc… He can, but he doesn’t promise that he will always. In fact, even the little girl who was healed and the woman who was healed, they both eventually died. They aren’t with us today. Their healing a temporal physical healing, but one that Jesus used to demonstrate that he can do the impossible, even saving us from condemnation.

CONCLUSION

The same Savior we see in these pages, is the one we pray to and worship today. So in the midst of hopelessness, we do not fear, we believe in the one who can do all things. He will sustain you, and keep you, for all things bow down before Him. Amen?

LORD’S SUPPER

We now have the opportunity to remember our great savior the way he asked us to. Before fulfilling His Earthly ministry He instituted the Lord’s supper as a means of remembrance of curing the incurable, our sin which condemned us.

We are going to celebrate the Lord’s supper now and I ask that if you are visiting our church, and have placed your faith in Jesus for salvation, we invite you to participate in this celebration with us. If you are certain about Jesus, we ask that you pass along the elements as they go by. If you are a believer but have a conflict with someone else, Scripture calls us to refrain from taking the elements and to seek restoration with your brother or sister.

Bread

Please hold on to the bread and then the cup as we will take of it together. I’ll invite the brothers to come up now and Mark Benedict one of our elders to come up and pray for the bread.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 “23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Cup

Collin Williams comes now to pray for the cup.

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

BENEDICTION

> Prayer

Numbers 6:24–26

“24 The Lord bless you and keep you;

25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

LIVESTREAM QUESTIONS

What stood out to you from the sermon? (share your thoughts with someone)

How public is your faith? Is your faith and confidence in the Lord evident to those around you, or is it hidden?