9: Jesus heals in response to faith – Mark 5:21- 43

5²¹ When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. ²² Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet ²³ and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” ²⁴ So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. ²⁵ Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. ²⁶ She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷ She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”
²⁹ Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. ³⁰ Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” ³¹ And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” ³² He looked all around to see who had done it. ³³ But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 

³⁵ While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” ³⁶ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” ³⁷ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. ³⁸ When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹ When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” ⁴⁰ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” ⁴² And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. ⁴³ He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. NRSV

Get into the Word

1. Where is Jesus in this incident? What happens when he arrives? How does the man greet Jesus? What does he ask Jesus to do? How does Jesus respond to this request?

2. Who approaches Jesus next? What is this person’s situation? What does she say to herself? What does she do? Why would she do this? What happens to her?

3. What does Jesus do as a result of the woman’s actions? How do the disciples react? How does the woman respond to Jesus? What does Jesus say to her?

4. What happens next? How does Jesus react to the news? What does he do next? Who did accompany him? What happens when Jesus gets to the house? How does the crowd react? What does Jesus do with the girl? How does she respond? What does Jesus say to the parents?

Get Personal

1. What do these three incidents tell us about the Kingdom of Heaven? About God’s power? About how he deals with people? What have you learned about God’s power in your own life? In the lives of others you know?

(Cross-references to Matthew and Luke are given in brackets)

5:21. Healing in response to faith — Matthew includes the basic facts of these two incidents, but, again, his version omits much of the detail Mark records, [Mt 9:18-26]. Matthew follows these healings with one not in Mark or Luke, about two blind men who follow Jesus into the house where he was staying and ask him: “Son of David, have mercy on us!” Jesus touches their eyes and they could see, [Mt 9:27-31].
Luke tells these two stories much as Mark does. He has Jesus tell Peter: “I felt healing power go out from me.” In Luke’s version Jesus does not stop the crowd until they get to Jarius’ house. The rest of the story is almost identical to Mark, [Lk 8:49-56].
5:22. Leader — a lay person responsible for maintaining the building as well as organizing worship and education.

5:25. Suffering hemorrhages — if linked with menstrual bleeding she would have been “unclean” according to the Mosaic Law.
5:29. Immediately — both the woman and Jesus experienced the shift in spiritual power.
5:36. Do not fear, only believe — Jesus is about to demonstrate that he has power even over death, something that all people fear.
5:43. No one should know this — in Jewish communities Jesus knew they would not correctly interpret his title of Messiah, so he told people to not share news of his healings; but in non-Jewish areas people thought he was a magician, so he tells the man healed of the demons to spread the news about how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you, [5:19-20].