Mark 5:21-43

Please be in prayer for myself and the leadership at South Lansing Christian Church.  We started a 40 day prayer journey together yesterday.  We are launching a new strategic plan in a month.  Many things are happening around here.  Its exciting and overwhelming.  God is doing some great things, and going to do even greater things.  Your prayers are appreciated!

South's SOAP for the Day
S-Read Mark 5:21-43
O-Without even talking to Jesus, the woman’s faith healed her.
A-Does your life reflect one whose faith is just as strong?
P-Pray that God will bolster your faith.

Today's reading is going to be a challenge because there is so much going on.  None of you have posted any comments about frustration with the length of these blogs.  I'll assume that your silence means you don't mind.

Our passage today starts with a man named Jairus coming to Jesus in hopes that he will heal his daughter.  Jairus, as the text tells us is the leader of a synagogue.  It was a lot like a church, but more so.  It was the place where they went to hear the scriptures read.  It was also the place they went to pray.  It was the gathering place for community events.  It was the happening place in the community.  So, this Jairus has to be well known in the community that Jesus is coming to in our passage.

Also notice the difference in reception for Jesus here.  In the passage from yesterday, there was no one there to greet him.  The only one who raised a commotion was the demon possessed man.  Here, on the other side of the lake, a large crowd seems to almost immediately materialize.  So much so, that Jesus and his disciples are having to push through the crowd to get to Jairus' daughter.

At this point, Mark gives us a story inside the story.  There is this woman who has some sort of female plumbing issue.  She has had continual bleeding for twelve years.  This has had a great impact on her life.  For starters, Mark tells us she has spent lots of money trying to fix the problem through doctors and that she has "suffered" in their care.  Certainly, the health system back then was much different than today's system.  One can only imagine the procedures and processes first century doctors might have put her through.  On top of that, anyone who knew her would have been effected in some way, since by Jewish law, her physical problems meant she was spiritually unclean for those twelve years.  Anyone who touched her would be deemed unclean and have to wash their garments and take steps to become clean again.  Anything she touched or sat on would be deemed unclean.  It would have to be purified or destroyed depending on the item.  And, even greater, because of her unclean state, she would have not been allowed to go to the temple during that time.  In society, she was just as bad as a leper.

As I allow my mind to mess with the scene we are seeing, I wonder how her presence in the crowd affected what was going on.  Did the people know she was unclean?  As they were pressing in towards Jesus did they see her coming and scurry the other way so they wouldn't touch her?  Certainly, her presence in the crowd, pushing towards Jesus, complicated things.  And yet, she had the faith that if she were to touch Jesus, he could heal her.

Lets think about that for a minute.  Think about the possibility that everyone in the region who has heard of this Jesus who heals wants to get to Jesus.  Why wouldn't you?  Think of the masses of people that would line up if they knew this Jesus was on his way to our city?  I envision the hospitals emptying and then some...back to the story!

So this woman, who has this problem, decides she's going to simply push in the crowd, touch Jesus--because she knows he can heal her--and sneak away without a scene.  It makes sense, since she's been an unwanted person for so long with her health problems.  And, she's only planning on touching his cloak.  With everyone around him, he won't even no.  Unfortunately for her, Jesus knew.  He felt the power go out of him.  He asks the question, "Who touched my clothes?"  At that point, she can get away.  But she doesn't.   She steps forward and says, "It was me."

The thing that catches me the most is the response that Jesus gives her.  "Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."  Imagine the peace that this woman is going to have now.  Free from her bleeding.  Free to be found clean and worship in the temple.  Free to not be a burden to those around her anymore.  No suffering and much peace, because she has experienced the good news.

Jairus, at this point is not feeling peace.  He needs Jesus to go now.  I have a daughter.  If I were in his situation, I could relate.  Jesus needs to be urgent with his problem.

And then the news.  Someone comes and tells Jairus that his daughter has died.  I don't really have to wonder what he's feeling at that moment.  I can easily step into his shoes.  There's frustration with the woman for stopping the urgency of Jesus getting to his house.  There's probably frustration with Jesus for asking who touched him.  There is horror and pain from hearing that his girl is now dead.  Maybe there is frustration and horror in the callousness of the one who came to tell him his girl was dead.  "Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher anymore?"  Really?

Jesus hears the conversation.  He knows what the good news is.  He knows the power that God has given him.  He knows what happens when the Kingdom of God is present.  The sick and the bleeding are healed.  The demons are cast out.  The wind and the waves are silenced and calmed.  Can it also raise the dead?

As you have read, Jesus proceeds to the synagogue leader's house.  He encounters the mourners.  He tells them the girl is just sleeping and the laugh at him.  They don't know the power of the Kingdom.  Jesus does...and the girl is raised to life.

So, what do we learn from all of this?  My take is this:  Don't underestimate the Kingdom.  The woman who was bleeding didn't underestimate the kingdom.  Neither did Jairus.

What if we were to have the faith that these two had?  Have we put ourselves in a place where we can exist on little faith?  What might we need to do to put ourselves in a place where God has to show up?