Mark 5:21-43 (NKJV)

Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.

Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”

Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”

And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.”

And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.

Poetry

From “The Healing of the Daughter of Jairus”
By Nathaniel Parker Willis

Like a form
Of matchless sculpture in her sleep she lay—
The linen vesture folded on her breast,
And over it her white transparent hands,
The blood still rosy in their tapering nails.
A line of pearl ran through her parted lips,
And in her nostrils, spiritually thin,
The breathing curve was mockingly like life;
And round beneath the faintly tinted skin
Ran the light branches of the azure veins;
And on her cheek the jet lash overlay,
Matching the arches pencill’d on her brow.
Her hair had been unbound, and falling loose
Upon her pillow, hid her small round ears
In curls of glossy blackness, and about
Her polish’d neck, scarce touching it, they hung
Like airy shadows floating as they slept.
’Twas heavenly beautiful. The Saviour raised
Her hand from off her bosom, and spread out
The snowy fingers in his palm, and said,
“Maiden! Arise!”—and suddenly a flush
Shot o’er her forehead, and along her lips
And through her cheek the rallied colour ran;
And the still outline of her graceful form
Stirr’d in the linen vesture; and she clasp’d
The Saviour’s hand, and, fixing her dark eyes
Full on his beaming countenance—AROSE!

The Power of Jesus to Heal: His Divine Authority and Compassion

Do you ever feel like you’re lost in the crowd, unnoticed, anonymous, overlooked? I pray this Mark 5 passage will remind you of how wide and intimate is God’s mercy.

The Gospel writer tells the stories of two people, deep in their need for help. The first story is of a rich man named Jairus who fell at Jesus’ feet, desperate as his twelve-year-old daughter was dying. Then comes the second story, one of a poor woman without a name who fell at Jesus’ feet, desperate because she had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.

Twelve years: this is how long she’d suffered. This is how long the ruler’s daughter had been alive.

This Mark 5 passage is crowded with crowds. Five times the word crowd or multitude is found in this passage, plus the tumult of the crowd outside the house of the synagogue ruler.

Yet Jesus was attentive to the one among the many. After the perpetually bleeding woman touched the hem of Jesus' cloak and was healed, Jesus turned to see who it was. As he looked around, his closest followers didn’t see what Jesus saw, saying to him: “You see the multitude thronging you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”

An overlooked line in this story is Jesus’ response to the blindness of his disciples. The Bible says that Jesus kept looking around to see who had touched him, until he found the woman, the woman now healed.

St. Augustine says that flesh presses, but faith touches. This is a story not about pressing flesh but about touching faith. “Daughter, your faith has made you well.” “Jairus, do not be afraid, only believe.”

The contrast between the two faces in the crowd is no coincidence. This, I believe, is God’s way of telling us how wide his mercy is. It stretches from the rich to the poor, from the family man to the lonely woman, from the named to the unnamed. (Though Jesus names the woman “daughter,” the only time he does this in Scripture.) These two stories reflect the spectrum of God’s grace. Who does not fit within this breadth? We all do.

Ultimately, this is a story of God giving resurrecting life to those who come to Christ as their only hope for eternal life. Resurrection: a miracle breaking through to this side of heaven, just as another biblical resurrection, the resurrection of the widow’s son in 1 Kings 17, is depicted in Peter Brandes’ striking stained glass piece from Biola University’s Calvary Chapel.

You are not alone, anonymous, forgotten or overlooked. For we are all noticed and loved by God. We are all like the two sufferers, needing to press through the crowds and to fall at the feet of Jesus, the One who forgives and restores and redeems and gives life. As they came to Jesus, hopeless as they were, the woman’s bleeding stopped, and the man’s dead daughter breathed life again. As the poet Nathaniel Parker Willis puts it, 

         ...she clasp’d
         The Saviour’s hand, and, fixing her dark eyes
         Full on his beaming countenance—AROSE!

As we come to Christ desperate for his mercy, he sees us, clasping us by the hand, raising us from our deathbeds and giving us new life, now and forevermore.

Prayer

Dear God,

You see us. You know us. You redeem us. You love us. In the midst of the pressing crowd, you know our name, our needs. In response, Lord, we ask that you would give us strength to believe and ears to hear. We pray that if we lift up the eyes of faith, and if we touch but the extreme border of your garment, it will be sufficient for rescuing us from our physical needs and redeeming us from our spiritual brokenness. We pray this in your name, Jesus.

Amen.

—Adapted from St. Augustine’s sermons on the New Testament

Dr. Barry H. Corey
President
Biola University

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