March 1 – Mark 5:21-43

Jesus proved He has authority over both nature (Mark 4:35-41) and the supernatural realm (Mark 5:1-20). In today’s passage, He proves He also has authority over disease and death! His miracles show God’s love and compassion, and at the same time, they proclaim Jesus’ divinity. Only the hardest of hearts could deny Jesus is the Messiah after seeing the miracles He was constantly performing. And yet the hard hearts were there—mostly among the religious leaders of His day.
Jairus, the synagogue leader in this passage, is not one of those hard hearts, though. He had enough faith to go to Jesus when his daughter was dying. (A “synagogue leader” was not a rabbi, but he was a prominent layperson who oversaw worship and helped maintain the synagogue building.) Though Jairus was an important, highly respected man, he “fell at [Jesus’] feet” and “pleaded earnestly” for Jesus to heal his daughter (vv. 22-23). This is a humble, willing acknowledgment of Jesus’ authority—unlike the demons who fell at Jesus’ feet in yesterday’s reading (Mark 5:1-20), who were forced to acknowledge His authority.
Jesus agrees to go with Jairus, and a large, curious crowd follows them. In the midst of the throng is a woman who has had continual menstrual bleeding for twelve years. This condition made her ceremonially unclean according to Mosaic Law, and anyone who touched her would be unclean (see Leviticus 15:19-30). That is why she is so frightened when Jesus asks who touched Him. Admitting to doing so and telling the truth about the reason why would also be admitting that she had just made Jesus unclean as He is about to go lay hands on a dying child.
But when unclean people go to Jesus, they can’t defile Him; instead, He cleanses them. When the woman admits what she did, she falls at Jesus’ feet, too, in humility, shame, and fear (v. 33), but instead of a reprimand, she gets reassurance. Jesus tells her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (v. 34). Can you imagine her relief and joy?
At nearly the same moment the woman is filled with joy, Jairus is filled with sorrow. People from his house arrive with news that his daughter is dead (v. 35). I wonder if in that moment Jairus felt any animosity toward the woman who had detained Jesus or any frustration with Jesus for stopping to ask about her. Scripture doesn’t tell us, but Jesus’ immediate response is, “Don’t be afraid; just believe” (v. 36). In that moment, I wonder if the woman’s miracle became the source of Jairus’s hope rather than a frustrating cause for delay. If the poor woman got her miracle, then maybe Jairus, the important synagogue leader, would get his.
He does. Jesus raises Jairus’s daughter to life again. The girl was twelve years old—the same number of years that the woman with the issue of blood had been suffering. Jesus loved them both—young and old, wealthy and poor. He overcame disease for one and death for the other. And He still has that love and that power for you and me. But we have to go to Him like Jairus. We have to have the faith of the woman. We have to set aside our fears and “just believe.”
Reach out to Jesus today. Believe that He listens to you and that He cares. Believe that He has authority over every circumstance of your life and that He wants to work in those circumstances. Sometimes that means healing. It always means spiritual growth. It also means cleansing. Bring your troubles and struggles before Him now. Speak them aloud, and ask for His help. Believe.
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