The Book of Mark
The Power and Passion Jesus, Part 3
Mark 5:35-43
We come tonight for the third time to look at the story of two miracles recorded for us in Mark 5. We find there this strange mix of people from opposite ends of the social spectrum who are brought together by the same need. They need Jesus.
Not only is it the story of two miracles, we also get to see two characteristics of the ministry and life of Jesus. We see in Him both power and compassion. He is moved by the needs and fortunately for them, He can do something about them.
We have, first of all, this desperate, heartbroken father who comes to Jesus seeking help for his twelve-year old daughter. She is either at the point of death and he wants Jesus to go to his home and heal her.
Jesus agrees and as they are traveling they are interrupted by a woman who is plagued with a terrible health problem. She has dealt with an issue of blood for as long as this little girl has been alive. And from the throng of the crowd, she touches Jesus and is healed. After a conversation with her that results in her salvation, Jesus is ready to continue his journey with Jairus.
We pick up the story at 35
Don’t you know this father is heartbroken and angry and bitter and resentful? If if weren’t for this woman, they might have made it. But now the delay has proven deadly.
This is reminiscent of Martha and Mary’s experience with Jesus and the death of their brother, Lazarus. On that occasion Jesus intentionally delays his coming and Lazarus died and their response is, “It’s too late. You could have done something if You had gotten here before He died.”
They say, “Why trouble the teacher anymore?” Why trouble the teacher anymore? I think it important to note that title. We would expect Jesus would be best known for His miracles and healings, but here we have evidence that His reputation was that of a teacher. His message was more important than His miracles.
And I want you to notice the demeanor of Jesus. He is in the midst of a crushing, noisy, demanding, aggressive crowd. It is hard to imagine the emotion of that moment. On the one hand, here is a woman praising Him for His grace and mercy and power. On the other hand is a heartbroken dad who is festering with anger and disappointment and in the middle of all that stands Jesus like the eye of a hurricane.
We’ve already seen four characteristics of the ministry of Jesus in this story. He was accessible, approachable, interruptible and personal. Let me add another to the list. He was
5. Undisturbable
There could be absolute chaos going on around Him, panicky messengers, an anxious Jairus, a crushing crowd laying all of its demands on Jesus and He is just completely at calm and we see that unfold as He moves to the house.
verse 36
A literal Greek translation is, “Stop fearing. Keep on believing. Replace your fear with your faith.”
There’s a great Old Testament demonstration of that in Psalm 22 which our Lord quotes on the cross.
verses 1-5
Here is David in deep despair, but he intentionally begins to praise the Lord so his faith can triumph over his fear. That’s the attitude that Jesus wants for this man Jairus. Stop fearing, continue believing. And Matthew and Luke add that Jesus said, “And she will be made well”. Jesus tells him he has nothing to fear, then adds what he desperately wanted to hear.
The Lord’s perspective is completely different than everybody around Him because He moves in the perfect knowledge of the will of His Father.
Verse 37
Obviously He couldn’t take the crowd. He couldn’t even take the Twelve. That would be too much, and maybe out of respect for Jairus and his family, he narrows the crowd down to himself and three others.
By the way, this is the first He isolates these three. IT certainly won’t be the last. This inner circle, Peter, James and John, are three of the first four Apostles that He called. James and John were brothers and Peter and Andrew were brothers.
Peter becomes the leader. James and John, the other two intimates, and Andrew is a sometime inclusion in the inner circle. It isn’t that they were given special treatment. I see it as greater responsibility. They were the first touch with the Lord and they were to touch others, including the rest of the Apostles.
Jesus could only give Himself intimately to a few and this must be the perfect number for Him to work with intimately and through these three He disseminated the experiences and the instruction back to the rest.
Verse 38
By now the funeral is in full swing. Enough time has passed for word to get around of her death. The mourners have gathered, everybody is there and it is quite a scene.
In our society funerals are quiet and reserved. People talk in whispers. We have quiet reserved music and everybody moves slowly and sadly.
Not so in first century Middle East and not even today. Jewish funerals had three elements that would be a little bit unique for us. First, they expressed their grief very outwardly and openly. It included shrieking and crying and tearing the clothes.
The second element of a funeral was to bring in professional wailers who had developed the art of howling and shrieking. They sort of primed the pump or set the stage for the amateurs. They encouraged everybody else.
And then the third thing they had was the playing of flutes. Flutes were the most common instrument so flutes and flautists were available and they all showed up and played off key. They played random tunes and created this cacophony noise. The very poorest of the Israelites had to have at least two flutes and one wailing woman.
And Jesus very calmly walks into this chaotic environment. Again, there is no panic. He’s not desperate. He’s not in a hurry. He justly calmly and resolutely strides in and takes control.
Verse 39
According to Luke He ordered them to stop weeping and making all this commotion. Matthew adds he told them to get out. Bay the way, Peter must have been paying close attention because he does the same thing when he raised Tabitha from the dead.
This undisturbable, calm, in control Jesus orders them all out and in so many words says, This funeral is over!”
Must have been shocking to the crowd! Could you imagine? Everyone knows the child is dead and a funeral is in order. And here is this guy saying she’s not dead, she’s only sleeping.
Now they didn’t realize it, but in that moment Jesus redefined death in New Testament Christian terms by using this term “asleep”. Read the letters of Paul and you will find him using that term time and time again.
Sleep isn’t the same as death. It has some similarities such as being unresponsive and insensitive to the environment around you. When you’re asleep, you don’t hear conversations or participate in what’s going on. But it’s just a temporary situation. You’re not dead; you’re just asleep. And that’s what Jesus is saying about this little girl. This is just temporary. This is not permanent.
Well unless any of them had seen another resurrection Jesus had done, they would have never in their life heard of anybody being raised from the dead and they would never ever refer to death as sleep.
So their reaction is understandable.
verse 40
What’s going on is so obvious. The little girl is dead. They know it. They’ve witnessed it. She’s not breathing, perhaps even turning blue by this time and Jesus says it’s just sleep, so they laugh at Him. And it’s not just nervous laughter. It is mocking, scornful ridiculing laughter. It’s the laughter that says, “What kind of fool is this guy who thinks this child is merely asleep?”
So Jesus drove them all out of the house, took his followers and the parents and gathered around that little girl’s lifeless body.
And in this final scene, we discover one final word about Jesus and it is. . .
The one I will share with you next week.
Let’s pray
