Mark 5:21-43

Sermon exegesis for July 7-9, 2012.

MARK 5:21

21 Καὶ διαπεράσαντος τοῦ ᾽Ιησοῦ πάλιν εἰς τὸ πέραν συνήχθη ὄχλος πολὺς ἐπ' αὐτόν, καὶ ἦν παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν. 

21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake.

διαπεράσαντος, aorist participle διαπεράω "cross over;" preliminary participle.
ὄχλος πολὺς "a large crowd," a frequent expression in Mark (14x).
συνήχθη aorist passive indicative, aorist "began to gather around."

The crowds were constantly rushing around the Sea of Galilee to find him, no matter where he went or what means he used to cross. Sometimes it was Peter's fishing skiff (Mark 6:51-55), sometimes it was in one of the "Galilee taxis" or little botas for hire (Mark 4:34-41), and of course once it was even on foot across the waves (Mark 6:47-50). But the crowds would rush around and find him, time after time.

MARK 5:22

22 καὶ ἔρχεται εἷς τῶν ἀρχισυναγώγων, ὀνόματι ᾽Ιάϊρος, καὶ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν πίπτει πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ 

22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet.  

πίπτει πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ "fell at his feet" A position of prayer and of begging (1 Samuel 25:24; Luke 8:28), of a defeated enemy (2 Samuel 22:39; Psalm 18:38), of thanks (2 Kings 4:36). It will happen again in this very story when the woman with the flow of blood also falls at Jesus' feet (5:33).

This man was the ruler of a synagogue (Mark 5:22). There are no mentions of synagogues in the Old Testament, but they are fairly common in the New. The synagogues came into being because of the exile in Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:1, etc.) began carrying the Jews away into captivity, they found themselves far away from the temple (which Nebuchadnezzar burned down). God had commanded the people to bring sacrifices only to the one temple (see Exodus 25-31, especially 29:44-45; and 1 Kings 5:5 and 6:1), but now they had no temple and they were not in Jerusalem. They were in captivity for seventy years, through the reigns of Belshazzar (Daniel 8:1) and Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-4). Although Cyrus sent them home, ending the captivity in 539 BC, many Jews chose to stay behind. They were still in Babylon during the reign of Xerxes (Esther 10:1-3). Almost a century after the release, Nehemiah asked Artaxerxes' permission to briefly travel to Jerusalem (445 BC, see Nehemiah 2:1-9).

While they were away in this exile, how did they worship? They began to meet together to read the word of God and teach it to their children. They would also sing songs and pray. They might have said something like this: "Let's go together to so-and-so's house and read the Bible." Or they might have said, "There's no one to lead worship, so let's lead it together, taking turns." The Greek for both "go together" and "lead together" is syn-ago, so the place they went to (or took turns leading) was called a "synagogue."

The "ruler" of the synagogue was more of a chairman than an executive. He organized the rotation of who would lead, and he was also the custodian of the building (often his own house).


MARK 5:23-24

23 καὶ παρακαλεῖ αὐτὸν πολλὰ λέγων ὅτι Τὸ θυγάτριόν μου ἐσχάτως ἔχει, ἵνα ἐλθὼν ἐπιθῇς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῇ ἵνα σωθῇ καὶ ζήσῃ. 24 καὶ ἀπῆλθεν μετ' αὐτοῦ. 

23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.

Mark and Luke tell us that the girl was actually "almost dead." For his Roman readers, Mark (5:23) translates into Greek a Latin phrase, in extremis (ἐσχάτως ἔχει "she has the end (in sight); cp. our saying "on the brink"). Matthew ("My daughter has just died," 9:18) seems to have condensed the story for us.

Jesus had been in Capernaum for some time. Why didn't this man come to him sooner? We don't know. Perhaps his faith was somewhat shaky, or brand new. He didn't want to trouble Jesus, but now, at the last second, he needed him. Don't wait until the last second to ask God for help. Our whole lives are lives of prayer. Our Lord knows how to give good gifts. Don't be afraid to ask.

     Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God.
     Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.  (Psalm 4:1)

At this point, a sick woman with a flow of blood intervened. It's difficult to include both events in a single sermon, although I feel strongly that from time to time the whole account should be bitten off and presented as a big unified account.

Since this sermon is on Jairus' daughter, we will jump ahead to verse 35 in the sermon, but here are some comments on verse 24b-34:


MARK 5:24b-28

Καὶ ἠκολούθει αὐτῷ ὄχλος πολύς, καὶ συνέθλιβον αὐτόν. 25 καὶ γυνὴ οὖσα ἐν ῥύσει αἵματος δώδεκα ἔτη 26 καὶ πολλὰ παθοῦσα ὑπὸ πολλῶν ἰατρῶν καὶ δαπανήσασα τὰ παρ' αὐτῆς πάντα καὶ μηδὲν ὠϕεληθεῖσα ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εἰς τὸ χεῖρον ἐλθοῦσα, 27 ἀκούσασα περὶ τοῦ ᾽Ιησοῦ, ἐλθοῦσα ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ὄπισθεν ἥψατο τοῦ ἱματίου αὐτοῦ·  28 ἔλεγεν γὰρ ὅτι ᾽Εὰν ἅψωμαι κἂν τῶν ἱματίων αὐτοῦ σωθήσομαι.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him.  25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.  26 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.  27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed."  

How do you express your faith? This chapter gives two very powerful pictures. Here was a man with a twelve-year-old girl (Mark 5:42). He knew that Jesus could save her. Here was a woman with a twelve-year-old condition. She knew that Jesus could save her.

We don't know the woman's condition (it may have been menorrhagia, or it may have been something else), but she had suffered a long time. Jesus knew, as Jesus knows all of our troubles and rescues us from them. Notice that the woman touched the edge of Jesus' cloak. Was she thinking of Zechariah 8:23 ("…take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you'")? Or was she thinking of the Old Testament passages about making tassels on garments (Numbers 15:38-39; Deuteronomy 22:12)? Or was she remembering the hem of the robe of the priests, as she put her faith in Jesus, the Great High Priest (Exodus 39:24-26)? Whatever her thinking, she knew Jesus would heal her.

Jesus knows our problems. He knows us inside and out, and he knows what we need. When we ask Jesus for help with a specific problem, we show him our faith just by the asking. Trust in him. He is the LORD, the Good Shepherd, who always keeps his promises, who leads us and guides us, and who covered over all of our sins.

          The LORD is good,
             a refuge in times of trouble.
          He cares for those who trust in him.
                              -- Nahum the Elkoshite (Nahum 1:7)

MARK 5:29-34 

29 καὶ εὐθὺς ἐξηράνθη ἡ πηγὴ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔγνω τῷ σώματι ὅτι ἴαται ἀπὸ τῆς μάστιγος. 30 καὶ εὐθὺς ὁ ᾽Ιησοῦς ἐπιγνοὺς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ δύναμιν ἐξελθοῦσαν ἐπιστραϕεὶς ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ἔλεγεν, Τίς μου ἥψατο τῶν ἱματίων; 31 καὶ ἔλεγον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, Βλέπεις τὸν ὄχλον συνθλίβοντά σε, καὶ λέγεις, Τίς μου ἥψατο; 32 καὶ περιεβλέπετο ἰδεῖν τὴν τοῦτο ποιήσασαν. 33 ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ϕοβηθεῖσα καὶ τρέμουσα, εἰδυῖα ὃ γέγονεν αὐτῇ, ἦλθεν καὶ προσέπεσεν αὐτῷ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. 34 ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῇ, Θυγάτηρ, ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέν σε· ὕπαγε εἰς εἰρήνην, καὶ ἴσθι ὑγιὴς ἀπὸ τῆς μάστιγός σου.

29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.  30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"  31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'"  32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.  33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.  34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."  


The woman had weakly grasped at the hem of Jesus' cloak, but it was her faith grasping at Jesus himself that was important. She believed Jesus could and would help her. That means she already had faith in him. Now she was putting that faith into action. That's what one king of Judah was doing when he said to his people, "Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful" (2 Chronicles 20:20).

Faith is the channel through which God gives not only physical healing, but also true spiritual healing. David points out both kinds of healing when he says, "The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed" (Psalm 41:3) and "heal me, for I have sinned against you" (41:4). Solomon also prayed, "Whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made...then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive." (1 Kings 8:37-39, 2 Chronicles 6:28-30).

The most important healing we have is God declaration of "not guilty." He has taken away our sins and declared our innocence (2 Chronicles 6:23).

          O LORD, I say to you, "You are my God."
             Hear, O LORD, my cry for mercy.
                              -- King David (Psalm 140:6)


Back to our story of Jairus' daughter...

MARK 5:35-36

35 ῎Ετι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος ἔρχονται ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀρχισυναγώγου λέγοντες ὅτι ῾Η θυγάτηρ σου ἀπέθανεν· τί ἔτι σκύλλεις τὸν διδάσκαλον; 36 ὁ δὲ ᾽Ιησοῦς παρακούσας τὸν λόγον λαλούμενον λέγει τῷ ἀρχισυναγώγῳ, Μὴ ϕοβοῦ, μόνον πίστευε. 

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”  36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

The idea that they shouldn't "bother the teacher" (τί ἔτι σκύλλεις τὸν διδάσκαλον) anymore reveals the awe and reverence with which people held Jesus. And yet the beginning of verse 40 (see comments below) show that the reverence could quickly fall to ridicule.

Μὴ ϕοβοῦ, μόνον πίστευε. "Stop being afraid. Just believe." These are some of the most powerfully comforting words in the Bible, because of what happens later in this story.


MARK 5:37-39

37 καὶ οὐκ ἀϕῆκεν οὐδένα μετ' αὐτοῦ συνακολουθῆσαι εἰ μὴ τὸν Πέτρον καὶ ᾽Ιάκωβον καὶ ᾽Ιωάννην τὸν ἀδελϕὸν ᾽Ιακώβου. 38 καὶ ἔρχονται εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἀρχισυναγώγου, καὶ θεωρεῖ θόρυβον καὶ κλαίοντας καὶ ἀλαλάζοντας πολλά, 39 καὶ εἰσελθὼν λέγει αὐτοῖς, Τί θορυβεῖσθε καὶ κλαίετε; τὸ παιδίον οὐκ ἀπέθανεν ἀλλὰ καθεύδει. 

37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, 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.” 

The funeral was already underway. The familiar group of hired mourners was at the house, and the professional musicians were there. We shouldn't be shocked or confused by such things. They might be equally amazed that we put on dark or conservative clothes, that we make little noise at all and speak in hushed whispers, and that we tend to make casseroles when there is a funeral.

There was something different about this funeral, though: Jesus. Jesus arrived and claimed the girl was not dead, but sleeping. Now, it was obvious that she had died. There was no life in her body, her heart had stopped, her lungs had stopped taking in air -- she was dead. Yet David says, "Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death," calling death and sleep the same thing, from a believer's perspective (Psalm 13:3). What is the difference between death, and "sleeping death"? Sleeping death is truly death, but death that has an end, a resurrection.


MARK 5:40a

40 καὶ κατεγέλων αὐτοῦ. 

40 But they laughed at him. 

This is the word (καταγελάω) used in the translation of Job 30:1, "But now they mock me." The verb is an inceptive imperfect showing the beginning of an action repeated for some time.

Perhaps any individual member of that crowd believed jsut a little bit that Jesus could raise that little girl from the dead, but when one person laughed, the rest followed along. The devil likes to turn us down the wrong path with the "everybody else is doing it" trick. How quickly we're willing to turn away from faith and into folly! But this sin of doubt and of going along with the lemmings is also forgiven by Jesus' healing and peace.


MARK 5:40b-43

αὐτὸς δὲ ἐκβαλὼν πάντας παραλαμβάνει τὸν πατέρα τοῦ παιδίου καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ τοὺς μετ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰσπορεύεται ὅπου ἦν τὸ παιδίον· 41 καὶ κρατήσας τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ παιδίου λέγει αὐτῇ, Ταλιθα κουμ, ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον Τὸ κοράσιον, σοὶ λέγω, ἔγειρε. 42 καὶ εὐθὺς ἀνέστη τὸ κοράσιον καὶ περιεπάτει, ἦν γὰρ ἐτῶν δώδεκα. καὶ ἐξέστησαν εὐθὺς ἐκστάσει μεγάλῃ. 43 καὶ διεστείλατο αὐτοῖς πολλὰ ἵνα μηδεὶς γνοῖ τοῦτο, καὶ εἶπεν δοθῆναι αὐτῇ ϕαγεῖν.

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 began to walk 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. 

When this girl rose, alive, awake and certainly hungry (καὶ εἶπεν δοθῆναι αὐτῇ ϕαγεῖν,  verse 43), she did not go instantly into heaven. In fact, we don't know what happened to her, except that she certainly grew older, and died again. But she, and you and I, will rise from the sleep of death into eternal life. Jesus showed he has the power over life and death by raising her, and by raising himself. And he promises to raise us, too.

That's news that needs to spread.

          Answer me when I call to you,
               O my righteous God,
          Give me relief from my distress;
               Be merciful to me and hear my prayer. -- King David (Psalm 4:1)