Healing Faith | Mark 5:21-43
Last week, we explored the authority of Jesus casting the legion of demons out of a man. Exploring the story challenged us to kneel at the foot of the cross, worshiping the one true king, Jesus. This week, we witness two more miracles performed by Jesus. As Jesus leaves one side of the lake because they ask him to, he returns to the other side and instantly draws a crowd. One so large that it was hard to tell who was touching him.
A Jewish man with a young daughter approaching the age of marriage (12 years old) is sick and dying. I can only imagine this man pacing the shore and waiting for Jesus to return to the area. When he arrives, even though many other Jewish leaders are upset with Jesus, this man is willing to risk his position to ask Jesus to heal his daughter. When Jesus arrives, he runs up and asks Jesus to come to heal his daughter. Jesus says that he will heal the daughter, but they must travel to her to do so. They begin to travel to this Jewish leader’s home. The crowd continues to press in around Jesus as they travel.
Suddenly, Jesus asks who touched him because he has felt the power leave him to heal someone. See, there was a lady in dire need of physical healing after spending years bleeding. How she has been bleeding has caused her not only to live a life likely constantly unable to do what others can but also make her ceremonially unclean, causing people to avoid her in case she might make them unclean. The disciples see this request as totally crazy. The crowd is so big that they are being touched constantly. How could they know exactly who was healed by simply touching Jesus?
The woman, though fearful, responds to Jesus’ request and says that she is the one who has been healed. How frustrated the man with the dying daughter must be at this very moment. Why are we stopping to talk to a woman who is already healed? My daughter might not make it if we keep stopping. Jesus tells the woman that it is her faith that healed her. Then, the man gets the news that his daughter is dead. Jesus tells him not to fear but to believe. In one way, the woman is an example to the man and, in another, a hindrance to the man.
As they arrive, the house is already mourning the death of the girl. Yet Jesus tells them that the girl is only sleeping. The mourners laugh at Jesus—their observance of the world. Their knowledge of how things work has closed their eyes to the reality of who Jesus is. Jesus invites only those who have faith in who he is and what he can do to observe the miracle that is about to happen. So Jarius, his wife, James, John, and Peter enter the girl’s room, and what happens next can only be explained as a miracle. Jesus tells the girl to wake up, and she does.
What kind of faith is Jesus speaking of? What do the women and Jarious believe about Jesus? Can we have faith like them?
In Mark’s gospel, we are beginning to see that Jesus is different from sinful humanity. Jesus has authority and control over things that sinful humans don’t. Jesus can cast out demons, heal, and raise people from the dead. Jarius and the woman may not have the purest motives in their belief, but they must have begun to understand the authority that Jesus had to be able to heal. As they experienced Christ’s healing, they saw Jesus’s kingdom priorities coming to light.
I invite you to read this passage (Mark 5:21-43) and note how your faith resembles Jarius and the woman. In what ways do you need Jesus to help you increase your faith as you learn Christ’s kingdom priorities? Pray, asking Christ to increase your faith in him as the King of God’s kingdom.