Mark - Lesson 5C

• We left off last week with a cliff hanger.

  • We ended our time together with the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years, now having been fully healed and whole.

    • This was accomplished by her touching the hem of the garment of Jesus.

    • However, the text made it evidently plain that the healing of her body and being restored back to community came because of her faith in Jesus.

  • It was not the garment that made her well, it was her faith that made her well.

    • And we concluded that our faith in Christ is what truly makes us well.

    • Not just in the sense of physical healing in which the story shows us, but it is rooted in spiritual healing.

  • Faith in Christ alone moves us from spiritual death to spiritual life.

    • Believing faith brings about salvation in the One who makes us right before God.

  • It would now be at this point of the woman’s healing that Jairus would receive word, at such a celebratory time, the worst news of his life.

    • His daughter had died.

    • So now our text pivots back to our first story and that is where we will pick up our reading as well.

  • I invite you to open your bibles with me to Mark 5:35-43.

Mark 5:35 While He was still speaking, they *came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?” 
Mark 5:36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.” 
Mark 5:37 And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 
Mark 5:38 They *came to the house of the synagogue official; and He *saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. 
Mark 5:39 And entering in, He *said to them, “Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.” 
Mark 5:40 They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He *took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and *entered the room where the child was. 
Mark 5:41 Taking the child by the hand, He *said to her, “Talitha kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 
Mark 5:42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded. 
Mark 5:43 And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.

• Let’s Pray.

• Emma Johnston wrote a hymn entitled, “Only Believe” in 1889 based upon Mark 5:35-33.

  • My favorite line of that hymn is verse 2. These are the words she penned.

“His word is assurance complete;
Thy sins and thine idols now leave
Come, pleading His promise, and fall at His feet
The you’ve nothing to do but believe.”

• Belief upon Jesus Christ is not simply a matter of believing upon what He can do for you, but rather it is a complete assurance/confidence of who He is in His person, identity, and work.

  • Jairus will face this reality in tonight’s text and will be confronted with this same statement – to “only believe”.

  • Let’s go back and reread verses 35-37.

Mark 5:35 While He was still speaking, they *came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?” 
Mark 5:36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, *said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.” 
Mark 5:37 And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James.

• So our scene picks back up from where we had previously left off and now Jairus’ situation emerges back onto the scene.

  • As you can imagine Jairus is witnessing this amazing miracle before his very eyes.

    • The woman with the issue of blood for 12 years had been healed because of her faith in Jesus by touching the hem of His garment.

    • If you recall, her faith in Jesus was not based upon word of mouth, but by the word of God.

    • More specifically, it was Malachi 4:2 that expressed that the “sun of righteousness would have healing in His wings” (hem).

  • And while the woman is probably, inwardly, rejoicing, Jairus receives word that his daughter has died.

    • Picture this scene here as if it were being played back on video: Jesus is pressing through a crowd headed toward your immediate need.

    • However, in the process He is interrupted by another need for another person and now your need seems to be out of His immediate purview.

    • Now the moment arises where your answer to prayer and desperation for this need is right around the corner – only to find that it’s too late.

  • This news is gut wrenching! This man who has risked everything to get to Jesus, is now left hopeless – in his mind.

    • However, Jesus gives Jairus a word of hope with a promise.

    • Jesus tells the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.”

  • The text mentions that Jesus hears the report from the men reporting from Jairus’ home.

    • However, what is most interesting is the Greek language for Jesus having “overheard” their conversation.

    • The word “overheard” in Greek is parakouo which means you hear what is said but you ignore the report.

  • In other words, Jesus lets Jairus know, “I know what your men told you was true, but I am who I am – watch me demonstrate who I am so that you may see.”

    • Jesus tells Jairus to not be afraid but only believe.

    • I love Luke’s account of this event because he provides us a bit more information than Mark in this instance. Check out Luke 8:50.

Luke 8:50 But when Jesus heard this, He responded to him, “Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.” 

• It is interesting to know that even when the world gives you their facts and their findings, that their information and reports pale in comparison to the prognosis and promises of the King.

  • Jesus’ word should be a comfort to our hearts and souls. May our confidence be in His words and not this world.

  • Now as they arrive to Jairus’ house, notice in verse 37 that Jesus allows none of His disciples to accompany Him, except for Peter, James, and John.

    • If you recall these were among the first of Jesus’ recruited disciples now turned Apostles.

    • It’s important that you remember these 3 apostles because they will be accompanying Christ consistently in moments of great revelatory significance.

    • We will see these moments in Mark 9:2 with the transfiguration, the final discourse regarding the destruction of the temple while sitting on the Mount of Olives in Mark 13:3, and at Gethsemane to pray before His betrayal by Judas in Mark 14:33.

    • These 3 men will also play a vital role in the establishment of the Church in the book of Acts and this moment would play a pivotal role as future leaders in the Church.

  • This is key to not skip over too quickly because it points to Jesus’ focus and priority on discipleship and training in Leadership.

    • Discipleship requires one to follow closely with Jesus because as we follow Him we will eventually see the cost that comes with the call to Him.

    • Let’s keep moving to verses 38-40.

Mark 5:38 They *came to the house of the synagogue official; and He *saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing. 
Mark 5:39 And entering in, He *said to them, “Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.” 
Mark 5:40 They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He *took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and *entered the room where the child was.

• Now, upon the arrival at Jairus’ home, Mark tells us that they are met by a commotion of “people weeping loudly”.

  • It was not unusual to have professional mourners at the site of the loss of a loved one. This was common sighting within Jewish life in that day.

    • In case you find it hard to believe, here is a quote from Rabbi Judah a century later:

“Even the poorest in Israel should hire at least two flute players and one wailing woman.”

• • These professional mourners exemplified the present realities of the current situation at hand; the child was dead, and nothing could be done to undo her death – at least that’s what they thought.

  • Jesus, hearing their mourning and wailing, asked “Why make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but asleep.”

    • Now understand that to those who were uninformed about who Jesus was and Him being unaware of the situation, this had to be comical at best.

  • In essence, the reality that Jesus sees this situation as salvageable was laughable to the mourners.

    • And isn’t this quite indicative of many unbelievers today?

  • When it comes to the message of the gospel being preached and heard, to the world, to the skeptic, the message seems foolish.

    • Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 1:18:

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

• The reality was these mourners had seen dead people time and time again in their professional mourning careers. Dead is dead and there’s no coming back from that – in their minds at least.

  • However, they have yet to meet the God-Man, Messiah, Jesus Christ, the one who would be the firstborn among the dead.

  • Colossians 1:18 tells us this:

Colossians 1:18 He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

• So in Jesus’ growing frustration and the unbelief of those around Him He dismisses the mourners and clears the room of all distraction.

  • And as we mentioned earlier only permits Jairus, his wife, Peter, James, and John into the room.

  • For Jesus is about to do something that was going to completely blow the minds of those who were in the room. Check out verses 41-43.

Mark 5:41 Taking the child by the hand, He *said to her, “Talitha kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 
Mark 5:42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded. 
Mark 5:43 And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat

• As Jesus, Jairus, his wife, and Jesus’ close inner circle enters into the room they see laying on the bed a lifeless body.

  • Maybe the parents are staring endlessly at their baby girl possibly even choking on their own tears based upon what they see before them.

    • Yet with this reality before them, Jairus is reminded of Jesus’ word: “Do not be afraid, only believe!”

  • Jairus is probably then reminded about the woman that he had just encountered who was troubled with her illness for 12 years.

    • Her willingness to press through the crowd and the faith to believe that Jesus was who the scriptures said He was.

    • That was enough for Jairus – now it was time to watch Jesus do what no one else could do.

  • Jesus goes up to the little girl who is now dead, lifeless, and technically considered to be unclean.

    • He takes her hand and says to the lifeless little girl in Aramaic “Talitha Kum”, which means “Little girl, I say to you , get up!”

  • The text in verse 42 then tells us, immediately the girl got up and began to walk.

    • One interesting detail to note here is that Mark also provides us with the age of the little girl – she was 12 years old.

    • We will come back to the significance of the number 12 regarding both the girl’s age and the 12 years of suffering of the woman, momentarily.

  • But let’s pause here really quickly: This scene is quite interesting, because as believers, we find ourselves at a similar crossroad –

    • This space between helplessness and hopefulness.

    • We too experience circumstances in our lives that cause us to question if God can or even will.

  • It is often times in our battles of doubt that our faith is tested greatly: It leads us to ask the question: Do I take God at His word?

    • Can we truly lean upon Jesus even when it seems like there is nothing left to do? The answer is Yes.

  • I believe that it is important that we don’t over emphasize the miracle that has happened here.

    • Because the tendency is to read this and say, well if I need healing all I need to do is believe by faith and I’ll be healed too.

    • Or if I go to scripture and find all the healing scriptures and say them and memorize them then God will heal me of this or that.

    • When we begin to eisegete the text, we begin to formulate how God should respond in our lives according to how He specifically responded in this instance. (Prescriptive v. Descriptive)

    • We see this approach to the text destroying people’s understanding of God’s word especially with individuals who are in the “Word of Faith” movement.

  • Remember, the miracle is not the emphasis here, the emphasis is the faith.

    • The miracle is not the end goal, the true miracle is the faith in knowing that Truth came in the form of a person and His name is Jesus Christ.

  • It is upon Jairus’ daughter getting up and walking again that verse 42 says that everyone in that room was “completely amazed”.

    • The Greek wording for “completely amazed” is a compound of 3 Greek words.

    • The language renders this idea that those in the room were in great amazement as if their breath had been completely removed from their lungs.

    • This type of astonishment is literally someone being beside oneself.

  • Friends, this type of miracle is one that, as a father, you would want to run and tell everyone about what Jesus has graciously done for you.

    • However, Jesus gives everyone in that room strict orders not to say anything to anyone about what they had just witnessed.

    • The question you may be asking at this point is: Jesus, why not!?

  • We must not forget that our why has been answered sometime back in our Mark study.

    • The religious leaders have rejected Jesus as their Messiah thereby Israel nationally has rejected its King .

    • It’s almost as if the mourners were setting the proverbial tone for where the people, nationally, were in general.

    • The professional mourners were convinced that Jesus’ claim to bring a girl back from the dead was comical. We will come back to this towards the end.

  • Friends, faith is not based upon what you can see, it’s based upon what you can’t see.

    • Faith is based upon what you know to be true even when you can’t see it right now. Faith is responding to God telling the truth!

  • What I find most interesting however is the fact that although Jesus tells them not to say anything to anyone, that it would not remove the fact that those who knew she was dead would eventually see her!

    • Again, everyone is made aware that Jairus’ daughter died – eventually they were going to see at some point that she was alive again.

  • Here’s what I believe is happening: If they say what they saw, the people will not be convinced it was Jesus’ doing – therefore this speaks to the people’s spiritual blindness.

    • However, if they see it for themselves, they will now have to wrestle with what they cannot unsee.

  • You either believe that Jesus is who He is or you don’t, but the reality is, it will eventually be made known that He is a truth teller. God can not lie!

    • One either responds by faith or they don’t, but know that Christ has made Himself evidently known – the evidence is clear.

  • Well, we find towards the end that those in the room are in such shock that Jesus has to tell them “Make sure you feed her, she needs to eat.”

• The big question that comes to a head in our study thus far is: How do these 2 stories connect?

  • Remember, everything up to this point is building and Mark’s use of these 2 scenes in this chiastic form is not by happenstance.

    • So Lord, what are you showing us here in the text?

  • We can surmise that both Jairus, on behalf of his daughter, and the woman with the issue of blood, come to Jesus in faith.

    • Jairus is seeking for his daughter to be healed of this bedridden sickness at the age of twelve.

    • While the woman with the issue of blood is seeking to be healed from her 12 years of hemorrhaging.

  • Both the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus’ daughter were deemed unclean.

    • Yet both women are able to encounter the healing hands of our Savior and are made clean and whole.

  • Both Jairus and the woman have come to the end of themselves and could bring nothing to Jesus but themselves.

    • Jairus, willing to risk his career, status, and livelihood, all for the sake of his daughter being saved.

    • And the woman, depleting all of her resources for the sake of getting to the only source that could make her whole again.

    • Both situations call for desperate measures.

  • To everyone else, what they were doing looked costly, it looked crazy, and to some it even made no sense.

    • But both Jairus and the woman knew something that the others did not know.

  • As John Grassmic mentioned in his work on Mark, he states:

“Faith involved more than simply believing Jesus could perform miracles. No one questioned that in Nazareth.”

• He then goes on to say:

“Both Jairus and the woman displayed faith that God was somehow at work in Jesus”

• I would take Grassmic’s statement a bit further and state that God was evidently at work in Jesus because Jesus is God – the second person of the Trinity.

  • He was with God in the beginning! (John 1)

  • Both Jairus and the woman encountered God in the flesh!

  • What Jairus, his wife, Peter, James, and John witnessed in that room that day was only something that God can invite you into and that is to see Him for who He is!

  • And that’s where our story ends.

  • Before we wrap up, I mentioned earlier there were two things I we would eventually come back to:

    • 1. The significance in the terms being asleep versus death.

    • 2. The significance of the number 12 in this story.

  • Within scripture, more specifically the New Testament, we see the terms “asleep” and “death” used in different ways.

    • Someone being “asleep” is usually connected to that of a believer. It connects the reality that death is not the end for the believer, only the beginning to an eternity with Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

    • Whereas death is a permanent condition by which there is no coming back. Death, therefore, is the end of life rendering an eternity separated from God and His presence.

  • So in a way, Jesus is showing that for those in the room who have life in Him, death will not be their end. Jesus has the power over death itself!

    • Paul tells us this glorious truth in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57:

1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 
1 Corinthians 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 
1 Corinthians 15:57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Lastly, we seek to understand the significance of the number 12.

  • Some say that the number twelve simply speaks to the age of the little girl and the years of suffering of the woman – nothing more and nothing less.

  • But to simply put that to coincidence is not comprehensible.

  • The number 12 in scripture speaks to the government of God and the completeness of His purpose.

    • The significance of this number can be seen all the more in Matthew’s central focus on Jesus as King of the Promised Kingdom in his account.

    • So what better way to see how one enters God’s Kingdom than through these 2 stories in Mark.

  • To enter into the Kingdom requires faith alone in Christ alone.

    • Christ is the object of our faith.

    • He is the only one in whom we must place our faith in because He alone paid our debt and bore our sins. (1 Peter 2:24)

  • Christ made us clean/right before Holy God through His death. Paul tells us this in Romans 5:9-10.

Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 
Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

• Christ is the only one that can move men and women from unclean to clean.

  • He is the only one that can put men and women in right standing with God.

  • Faith is not this ethereal thought of mystical sayings, ideas, and chants.

    • As I mentioned earlier tonight, Saving Faith is found in a person!

  • Friends, Jesus makes Himself known both personally and relationally and He is very much available, but you must believe.

    • Do you believe Jesus is who He says He is?!

    • Let’s Pray.

Citations:

• R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002), 239.