Back to Home Page

ABOUT US

MINISTRIES

TEACHINGS

NEWS

TEACHINGS TO VALLEY VIEW COMMUNITY CHURCH

The Good News of Jesus

02/08/2009 - Desperate Daughters, Mark 5:21-43

A few months ago our daughter, Chelsea, told us that she was battling a sore throat. Chelsea is a sophomore in college up in Boston and so we encouraged her to visit the medical facility there on campus. And she did. The doctor examined her and swabbed her throat and said it wasn't strep. He concluded it was a virus and so he didn't prescribe an anti-biotic. Instead, he sent her home and told her to take some Advil and get some rest. But her throat didn't get any better, instead it got worse.

So the next day she called us and she could hardly talk. She sounded horrible on the phone. It was obvious that she was in a lot of pain. And so now we started to get worried. And of course we felt helpless as parents being so far away. So we told her to go back to the doctor and get checked out again.

Well the next morning we got a phone call that Chelsea was on her way to the hospital. Apparently, what had started out as a virus had turned into an abscess during the night and not only couldn't she swallow without pain, but she felt like she could barely breathe. And now the thought of our daughter going into the hospital without one of us being was just too much to take. We had to do something.

And so I jumped in the car and headed up to Boston as fast as I could. I couldn't get there soon enough. And when I arrived I discovered that Chelsea had actually gone to two hospitals. She started out in the emergency room at the general hospital and then was taken to the ER of the eye and ear hospital where a doctor lanced the abscess in her throat so that it could drain. Chelsea said it was the most painful thing she ever experienced.

Fortunately, she didn't have to spend the night in the hospital and they sent her home with a few prescriptions to fill and told her to come back the next day for a check up.

So by the time I arrived Chelsea was in her dorm and I went right to her room and gave her a huge hug. It was so good to see her and then I hustled off to the pharmacy and filled the prescriptions. That night I crashed on her floor and then the next day I took her back to the hospital where they had to lance the abscess a second time to drain it completely. It was brutal and she was a trooper through it all.

But I was just so glad to be there so that Chelsea didn't have to go through that alone. I wouldn't have been any other place in the world because when you're a parent you do those kinds of things. When you have a son or a daughter whose sick you'll do anything to help them get better. And in the story we're going to look at today we find not one, but two daughters who need to be healed and they are both desperate for Jesus.

If you have a Bible turn with me to Mark 5:21-43. (Show Map Slide) Two weeks ago if you remember Jesus had crossed the Sea of Galilee with his disciples, calmed a storm, and stepped into Gentile territory for the very first time. And there near the town of Gergesa he healed a maniac who had been possessed for years by a legion of demons.

And after he was healed the man wanted to come with Jesus, but Jesus said, "No. I want you to stay here. I want you to go home and tell your family and friends how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you." And so he did. The man wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus said no. Meanwhile, the people wanted Jesus to leave. And Jesus said, "Okay. I will. I'll go if I'm not wanted here." So he got in the boat with his disciples and sailed back across the lake most likely to Capernaum which is where this story takes place.

Look at Mark 5:21, 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.

It was like the people were waiting for him to come back and when he landed word traveled quickly. It didn't long for Jesus to draw a crowd. And in the midst of that crowd was a very important person in that community.

Look at verse 22,Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³He 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." ²⁴So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

Once again, Jesus is approached by someone falling at his feet, but this time it's not a naked, screaming demoniac. This time it's a dignified man in a three piece suit, a very well respected leader in that town named Jairus. In Hebrew the name Jairus means "Jehovah Enlightens," and this man is about to be enlightened by Jesus. He's about to have his eyes opened.

Jairus is a ruler in the synagogue. He's not a rabbi. He's not a teacher, but he's in charge of what goes on there. It's his responsibility to open and close the building, to keep it clean, to put out the scrolls, and to line up rabbi's to speak. So it's very possible that he would have known Jesus. He may have booked Jesus to speak. Jesus had taught in the synagogue at Capernaum, cast a demon out of that synagogue, healed a man with a shriveled hand there.

But since that time a lot's happened. Jesus had become a lightning rod of controversy. The religious establishment was threatened by Jesus. They had accused him of eating with sinners, breaking the Sabbath, and casting out demons by the power of Satan. They were already hatching plans to kill him.

So if you were connected with the synagogue in anyway and wanted to keep your job you better steer clear of Jesus. "We don't want Jesus speaking in our synagogue anymore," which is why in Capernaum, at least, Jesus was speaking more and more down by the lake and out in the fields.

But now Jairus' daughter was sick. And when your daughter's sick you'll do anything to get help. And he hears that Jesus is back in the neighborhood. And he wonders, "Should I go to Jesus? Could he help my daughter? What if he can't? What if he won't? What if I'm seen? And he talks it over with his wife. And his wife says, "Go get Jesus right now!"

And so he comes running to Jesus. And as a sign of respect in that culture he falls at his feet which could cost him his job, certainly his reputation, but he doesn't care, his little girl, twelve years old, his only daughter, Luke says in his account, is going to die and if only Jesus could put his hands on her she would be healed. Every second counts and so Jesus goes with him while hundreds of other people are pressing in all around. And out of that chaos another desperate person comes to Jesus.

Look at verse 25, And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶She 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. ²⁷When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." ²⁹Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

Jairus is desperate for his daughter to be healed and this woman is desperate for her body to be healed. But that's about all they have in common. Other than that they couldn't be more opposite in that culture. He's a man. She's a woman. He has a name, Jairus. She has no name. He's a leader in the community. He has respect. She's an outcast. She has no respect.

She's been bleeding for twelve years and the doctors had taken all her money and her condition had only gotten worse. This week I read that one prescription in that day for her condition was to burn an ostrich egg and then to carry the ashes around in a linen rag during the summer and in a cotton rag during the winter until the bleeding stopped. Well she had tried that. She had done the ostrich egg thing and it didn't work. Nothing worked. She had lost so much money, she was dirt poor and she had lost so much blood, she could barely walk.

But not only was she poor and not only was she sick, because of her bleeding she was considered unclean. And according to Leviticus 15:25-27 everything she touched became unclean, every garment she wore, every chair she sat in, every bed she slept on, every person she touched was defiled and would have to go through an elaborate purification process. As long as she was unclean she couldn't go to the temple to worship, she couldn't go to the synagogue to hear the Scriptures read, she couldn't go anywhere. Nobody wanted to be around her. She had no friends. She had no family. She was all alone and she was desperate. She hadn't felt human touch in years.

And when she hears that Jesus is in town she musters up all her strength and all her courage to find him because she believes that if she can just touch the tassels of his robe she'll be healed. It's worth a try. And she does. And immediately her bleeding stops and she feels this surge of strength flowing through her body. She is being released from her suffering. Now if she can only disappear into the crowd that would be great. But it's not going to be that easy!

Look at verse 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?'"

The disciples are like, "You've got to be kidding, Jesus. There are hundreds of people here and tons of them have been touching you all along." But this touch was different. This was a touch of faith that had released healing and Jesus knew it because in some mysterious way power had gone out of him. That's an interesting thought isn't it? Jesus felt this power surge.

Verse 32, But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.

The woman's been found out. So she comes clean and owns up to the whole thing. And she's scared to death. She's just created a scene and that's the last thing she wanted to do. She didn't even want to talk to Jesus. She didn't want to bother the Rabbi. But now she feels like she just got caught stealing. And she's afraid. She's afraid that she's made Jesus unclean and that he's angry about it and now he's going to publicly scold her or punish her or maybe take her healing away. But he does none of that.

Instead, look at verse 34, He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

Jesus doesn't scold her. He doesn't punish her. Instead, he commends her. He lifts her chin and looks into her eyes and calls her, "Daughter! My daughter, don't be afraid. Your faith has healed you. Go in peace. You're free." Jesus calls this outcast of a woman, "Daughter!" But she's not his daughter or is she?

And our mind goes back to that time when Jesus' was teaching in a house in Mark 3 and his mother and brothers showed up to do an intervention because they thought he was out of his mind. And when he hears that they're outside he says, "Who are my mother and brothers? Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

We'll this woman just got into the family because she did God's will. And God's will is to believe in his Son Jesus and she did. She had the faith to believe that Jesus could heal her. And she took a risk to act on that faith. And in calling her daughter Jesus gives her a completely new identity.

She's not an outcast anymore. She's not unclean. She belongs. She's valued. And once again Jesus elevates those that society ignores and oppresses and marginalizes. He's give worth to people that society says are worthless. And so should we. You have never locked eyes with a person that Jesus does not love and does not value. As Christ followers we are to value every human being and not categorize people as clean or unclean, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight, liberal or conservative, or whatever other label the world wants to slap on people. We need to see all people as loved and valued in God's eyes.

And while all this is going on Jairus is sweating, and his heart is racing, and he's looking at his watch saying, "Come on, Jesus! We gotta get going! My daughter's going to die! Who is this woman anyway? Let's go!"

Look at verse 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 any more?"

"My daughter is dead? What? No way! She can't be dead!" And he looks at Jesus and then he looks at the woman and he thinks to himself, "You! It's all your fault. We were going to get there. I know we would have, but you had to stop Jesus. I can't believe this is happening!"

Verse 36, Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, "Don't be afraid; just believe."

There it is again, this contrast between fear and faith. "Don't be afraid, just believe." That's what Jesus had said when they were in the boat, remember? "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" Jesus is always trying to move us from fear to faith. What are you afraid of right now? There's a lot to be afraid right now isn't there? Like Jairus we fear for our kids, like the woman we fear for our health, in this economy we fear for our jobs and for our futures. And to all that I think Jesus would say to us, "Don't be afraid. Trust me. I will take care of you."

Jairus needed to learn, and so do we, that sometimes Jesus doesn't do what we want when we want it. Sometimes he makes us wait so that he can do something even better. He's stretching Jairus faith here and he'll stretch ours too, because he wants to display his power not just to heal, but to conquer death itself.

Verse 37, He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. (Jesus wanted three witnesses to see what he would do.) ³⁸When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." ⁴⁰But they laughed at him.

In those days when a person died the whole town would know about it within minutes. Often professional mourners were hired and they would come to the house, usually accompanied by flute players, and they would cry and they would scream and they would wail and let everybody know that there had been a death in the family. And by sunset that evening the deceased would be wrapped in grave clothes and buried in a tomb. It would all be over in one day.

So there were lots of tears and for the family they were genuine. But for the paid professionals they were staged. Crying is what they did for a living. And so when Jesus says, "What's all the commotion? The child is not dead but sleeping," the professionals burst out laughing. They could turn it on and off in a second. So Jesus tells them to leave. Their services were no longer needed.

Look again at verse 40, And 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. Six of them go into the room where the little girl's lying motionless, not breathing, dead. And again Jesus is in situation where he's around someone who is unclean and could defile him, but that's not his concern. She wouldn't be unclean for long.

Look at verse 41, He (Jesus) took her by the hand and said to her, "TalithaTalitha koumkoum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). That's not abracadabra. That's not a magic formula. That was a simple, ordinary Aramaic phrase that meant, "It's time to get up, little girl! It's time to get up!"

Verse 42, Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). (Interesting that she had been alive the same amount of years that woman had suffered from her bleeding.) And at this they were completely astonished. ⁴³He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Jesus raises this girl from the dead! He brings her back to life again! This is a first for him, at least in the gospel of Mark. He's never done this before. He's healed the sick. He's cast out demons. He's stilled a storm. But he had never brought the dead back to life.

This is the first time for Jesus, but it won't be the last time. He'll do it again when he raises a young man from the dead and then he'll do it a third time when he raises his friend Lazarus. Three times he'll raise the dead during his ministry and in every case they are an "only."

This girl is the only daughter of her parents. The young man he raises is the only son of his widowed mother. And Lazarus is the only brother of Martha and Mary. Interesting, Jesus will rise from the dead too and he is the only begotten Son of his Father.

This is the compassion of Jesus caring for those who would be left behind. For who is like the Lord my God, compassionate and full of mercy. Who compares to your great love, there's none in all the earth.

But again he gives strict orders not to tell anyone about this because he knows that this could blow the lid off his identity as Messiah and lead to all kinds of problems with the Jewish leaders and with Rome. If they find out that he can raise the dead his life is going to be in real jeopardy and he's not ready for that to happen, at least not yet. So he say's, "Let's just keep this amongst ourselves. It'll be our little secret."

In his comments on this passage Tom Wright says, "Only if we see Jesus' movement in all its dimensions, including the political one, will we understand that behind the intense and intimate human dramas of each story there lies a larger, and darker, theme to which Mark is repeatedly drawing our attention. Jesus is on his way to confronting evil at its very heart. He will meet Death itself, which threatens God's whole beautiful creation, and defeat it in a way as unexpected as these two healings. This time, though, there will be no command to keep silent."

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.