And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, “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.” And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling 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 disease.”

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But 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. Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,”which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.—Mark 5:21–43

Introduction

This is sermon #20 in our journey through the Gospel of Mark together. One of the things we celebrate at Bethlehem is that we are a people of the Book. As people of the Book, we unite under the Book. We don’t put ourselves above the Bible; we rest under it and its authority. We live by every word that comes from the mouth of the living God.

So we turn to the second half of Mark chapter 5. Remember that Mark has a special device that he likes to use that scholars call a sandwich, so Mark was the sandwich artist long before Subway. He loves to do this all over his gospel. He’ll start with one story, one situation, and then he gets interrupted with something else. After the interruption, he finishes the story that he started. You can all see that in our text today. Verses 21–24 start with Jairus, the synagogue ruler, and his daughter who is near death. Jesus goes with Jairus to help with this daughter, but while he is traveling there, it looks like he gets interrupted. So, the ESV subtitle that I have included here shows the two parts of the story: Jesus Heals a Woman and Jairus’s Daughter.

You may ask, “Why would Mark go out of his way to do it that way?”

The two stories are paired together because they mean more together than you can see when they are segregated. When you read one story in the light of the other, they both shine with greater glory. So, we will look into this, but let me give a little hint: I do not like the subtitle “woman with the flow of blood.” I really don’t like it. I feel very strongly about that and you’ll see why.

Outline:

(1) Jairus’s Daughter (vv. 21–24)

(2) The Woman in the Middle (vv. 24–34)

(1) Jairus’s Daughter (vv. 35–43)

1. Jairus’s Daughter – Part 1 (vv. 21–24)
   

And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, “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.” And he went with him.

Jesus crossed sea and land to get to the Gentile regions (the other side) and now there is a newfound disciple because of it. Jesus crossed the sea and changed that life so that others could be changed by that man’s testimony.

So now Jesus is back among the Jews. There is a crowd again and then one of the rulers of the synagogue comes to him in verse 22: “Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him he fell at his feet.”

There is a recognition of Jesus’ authority—the synagogue ruler falls at his feet just like the demoniac did earlier in the chapter “and implored him earnestly, saying ‘my little daughter is at the point of death’” (v. 23). Notice he doesn’t just say “daughter,” he uses what is called the diminutive in Greek. Why does that matter? It takes a category of something and fills it with even more tenderness and warmth—dogs become little dogs or puppies, cats become little cats or kitties, daughter becomes little sweetheart, honey, darling. My little baby girl. She’s not so little. We are going to find out she is 12 years old. This is a word for affection and tenderness and value. This is my little girl.

So he pleads with Jesus (just like everyone did in the previous story) “‘Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live’” (v. 23). And verse 24 tells us that Jesus agreed to go with him: “And he went with him.” 

2. The Woman in the Middle (vv. 24–34)

“And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him” (v. 24). There are no throw-away words here. Mark is trying to set up the scenery in such a way as to say that there is a throng, an absolute zoo of people. That’s going to become important. “And there was a woman, who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years” (v. 25). Think about this, she would also be considered unclean. In the Old Testament, a woman was considered unclean during her menstrual cycle, during her flow of blood. This person was unclean not just for that time of the month, but for every day of every week of every month of every year—she was regarded as an outcast. If she ever touched someone, she was like a leper. If she ever touched a person, it would make that person unclean. The person touched would have to go through a ceremonial washing to be restored to cleanness again.

But that’s not all, she was even worse off than that. She “had suffered much” not just under the disease, but under people trying to cure her “… under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse” (v. 26). Her body is broken, but now her piggy bank is broken too. She is worse off than before—still sick and now hopeless and poor. For 12 years she went to the people who were regarded as the only ones who could do anything about this. Did they love her and care for her and keep treating her? As long as she paid them. But no free services. So, she has literally run out of hope, run out of money, and people are not showing her mercy at all. She had gone from bad to worse.

I know some of you can actually relate to this experience. You get poked and prodded and tested, your wallet takes a whopping, the medical bills pile up, and you are still not better, just worse for the wear at the end of the day.

So, people with the demoniac tried to help and couldn’t do anything (Mark 5:3–4). People with the woman tried to help—they were trying to heal but there is money involved in the transaction. So they didn’t help for motives that were purely merciful—they were monetary. And she is worse off; no one could do anything for her.

Verse 27 brings a bright ray of hope. She “came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.” For a Jew reading this (Mark set it up with this theme of uncleanness), this is unthinkable. Your uncleanness is contagious in the Jewish view. You just made this teacher unclean. You just forced him to go through a series of very inconvenient washings to be able to return to teaching. And notice, she touches him from the back, from the shadows. She doesn’t come to him thinking that she is worth anything, that he will take time with her. She touches his garment and then runs back again. “For she said, ‘if I touch even his garments, I will be made well’” (v. 28). 

So here, this woman has faith. She knows “I don’t have to touch his skin, I don’t have to touch his body, I can just touch the edge of his cloak.” Her faith says something about the healing power of Jesus. Her hope is not in how strong her faith is, but in how strong the object of her faith is. Jesus can do what no one else can do. “I can even just touch the very edge of him and that’s enough.” Now she thinks, “If I do this, I can be healed. So, I’m just going to get the healing and then go back to the shadows.”

“And immediately the flow of blood dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease” (v. 29). So certainly, she is happy about this. Her suffering has been relieved. She’s now been healed, and she knows it; she perceives it. She could be the only one in the entire crowd who knows this, but she’s not. There’s a connection.

And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”—Mark 5:30

They share a connection—she knows it, and he knows it. Ever since the first sin, people have tried to hide when they feel shame, but God graciously will not let them hide. Jesus asks a question like the one God asked Adam and Eve when they tried to hide. But Jesus won’t let her hide.

How do the disciples respond to this question? Do they have eyes to see what is really happening? The disciples (as in common in Mark) blow it. They are blind; they don’t understand what he’s asking. There is always a little bit of irony in their question: “And his disciples said to him ....” Use a little imagination when you read the Bible here: “... Um, Jesus, how do I put this lightly for your sake? Um ... I don’t want to embarrass you too much, well, do you see? Did you happen to notice the crowd, Jesus? There are these people around you who touched you—everyone is touching you. Who touched you?? Everyone! You have heard the phrase that “there are no dumb questions.” The disciples disagree. They think Jesus has just asked a dumb question. “Everyone has touched you, and yet you say, ‘Who has touched me?’”

But Jesus is up to something really glorious. He sees way more than the disciples see. “And he looked around to see who had done it” (v. 32). He is going to let the rest of the story serve as his rebuke. (He does not directly respond to the disciples—the only way they will get it is if he shows them):

“But the woman, knowing what had happened to her came in fear and trembling and fell down before him.” Everybody is falling down before Jesus. She came with fear and trembling and “told him the whole truth.” So think about this: Jesus in his tenderness knows exactly what everyone needs, and he patterns his healings around that knowledge. 

She is known most often as the woman with the flow of blood. Why does he do it this way? Why doesn’t he just let her go? She thought her problem was a flow of blood. She thinks the only thing she really needs is healing. But she needs so much more. She was locked away in a prison of shame. She was living in the shadows. She was an outsider, an outcast of society. She didn’t belong; she didn’t fit in. She was on the outside. She didn’t belong anywhere, and Jesus knows this, so he turns around to face her. She is not going to face him directly. He turns around to face her and forces her to come in front of everyone. 

Normally, he moves them away privately. He does that with almost every healing, as we will see in chapter 7 with the man who was mute and deaf. He is dealing tenderly with people he loves—he is not putting on a show. That would make the people the sideshow, a source of entertainment. 

But here he doesn’t take her aside privately. He doesn’t want this to be private. I wonder why? And he forces her to tell the story. He doesn’t do it himself. He could—he could tell you the whole crowd, “Hey, here’s what I did, here is what happened.” He makes the woman do it. Why? She needs to be set free. Her tongue needs to be set free. The shackles of shame need to be broken, and she needs to be able to say, “This is my story. This is what happened; this is my testimony.” He tells the demoniac man, “Go tell your testimony to everybody.” And now he says to this woman, “Go ahead and tell your testimony to everybody.” Tell them how much the Lord has done for you. Tell them about his mercy. This is your story now. It is what defines you. My mercy has changed you.

Then he makes the pronouncement—which leaves me speechless: “And he said to her ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well’” (v. 34). The word there for “made well” is the word for “saved.” The faith that you had to be healed, in seeing my authority is more than just a physical healing—all of you has been healed. All of you has been set free. You’ve been saved totally. Inside and out—you are no longer an outsider. Now you belong. You didn’t just need healing; you needed a family.

Now when you go, you go not to hide in the shadows. You go in the fullness of God’s peace. Salvation, then shalom. You’ve been saved; now you’re at peace—peace with God and peace with others. Be healed of your disease and everything that goes with it: the shame, the feeling of “I don’t belong” and being the outcast. You are healed of all of it. Continue to be healed of that.

But while on his way, Jesus is delayed. We are going to see that the action slows down because Jesus is going to heal a woman with a flow of blood. Why is that important? I think we’re supposed to feel the drama here. The woman with a constant menstrual flow is a tragic medical problem, but it is not life-threatening. The little girl is on the verge of death. Why does Jesus stop? He really seems to take his time. The woman doesn’t have anyone advocating for her, but a powerful person (a synagogue ruler and loving dad) is pleading with Jesus to come quickly. This would be medical malpractice if a doctor treated a menstrual condition before a life-threatening one. The little girl’s condition is an emergency room, drop-everything-and-help-situtation. This delay could be deadly! 

Jairus’s Daughter, Part Two (vv. 35–43)

And we learn in verse 35 that it was. 

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

So, Mark is trying to tell you, this is a sandwich “While he was still speaking …” not the next day, not an hour later, “while he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, ‘Your daughter is dead, why trouble the teacher any further?’” Do you see what the man is saying? “Why trouble the Teacher any further?”—he means, “It is too late. No one can do anything for her now—not even Jesus, the Teacher.”

But Jesus overheard this conversation. So Jesus intervenes. He goes to Jairus and says, “Do not fear, only believe” (v. 36). What does that mean? He is saying, “I know you are afraid. You think that my delay was death for your daughter, and now your last desperate hope is gone. No one can do anything now. Fear gives way to dismay and despair. Jesus says, “Think again—take another look. Believe! This delay and now death is something that calls for faith, not despair. There is still hope. Wait upon me; watch me; hope in me. Believe that something can still be done. Believe that I don’t make mistakes.”

So Jesus takes an inner circle with him (three disciples: Peter, James, and John), and they came to Jairus’s house. What did they find? Verse 38: “Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.” Now Jesus asks what looks, again, like a dumb question. “Why are you making a commotion and weeping?” (v. 39). It would be like going to a funeral and saying, “Why is everybody crying?” Isn’t it obvious? Death!

Jesus says that “the child is not dead but sleeping” (v. 39). This had to be somewhat insulting to them. Did Jesus think they did not know the difference between sleep and death? Someone can wake up from sleep; they cannot wake up from death. How did they respond? They thought his words were ridiculous. “And they laughed at him” (v. 40).

It’s the laughter of unbelief. They thought he was a joke. So, again, the crowd doesn’t believe. “But he put them all outside.” Those who were inside are not put outside (v. 40), and he took the child’s father and mother and Peter, James, and John to where the child was. I marvel at Jesus. If this were me, I would want everybody to see what I did so that I could be vindicated in front of everyone else.

But the joke will be on them. They can only wake up someone who is sleeping, but Jesus can wake up someone from death. He can do what no one else can do. He took the little girl by the hand and he spoke to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” “Talitha, ‘little girl,’ ‘I say to you, cumi, get up.’” He does not use the word for resurrection. This is the word for “wake up.” The word “little girl,” in Aramaic, would be like what I do with my girls, when I say “Honey, time to get up,” every morning. I touch their feet or something: “Honey, come on, time to get up.” That’s what Jesus thinks of this little girl—“Darling, time to wake up.” … “And immediately the girl got up and began walking, because she was twelve years of age.” So, the woman with the flow of blood had the flow of blood for 12 years, the same length of time that this little girl was alive. Do you think they are linked, maybe?

“And they were immediately overcome with amazement”—seems like an understatement! Jesus is not done being tender and showing his love. He is acting like a true parent here, isn’t he? “He strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat” (v. 43). This is what parents and grandparents specialize in, even with their adult children, right? Has this ever happened to you? We are taking our five-hour trip back to Minneapolis and our parents will say, “If you get hungry, make sure you stop and get something to eat.” Comedian Tim Hawkins jokes about this and says, “Thanks Mom, maybe I will need to call later and ask, ‘What do I do if I get thirsty?’ Thank you.” Here, Jesus is caring for every little detail of her life. In your amazement, don’t forget to feed her.

The Significance of the ‘Sandwich’

Now, why put these two stories together, and why is “woman with the flow of blood” such a terrible subtitle? Do you see the significance? Point 1 should be Jairus’s daughter and point 2 should be Jesus’ daughter! He called her “Daughter”—the only time Jesus ever calls someone his daughter is this story. As we are reading Mark 5:21–43, we see someone pleading with Jesus, “Would you please come and heal my daughter, my little girl, the one that I love,” and Jesus, in the middle of the passage, gets interrupted and takes time to say, “Hey, I’ve got to stop for a moment and heal my daughter. She doesn’t seem to matter to anyone else. She seems like an inconvenience. No one else sees her. She doesn’t feel connected to anyone else. But she is mine. I see her. I want her to know—and I want everyone else to know—that she is my daughter; she is with me. I want to vindicate her and release her from her shame in front of everyone—I want to give her a new identity.

Faith is a miracle in the Gospel of Mark—not only when it is given, but in terms of what it gives. It doesn’t just give healing, it gives an identity, a belonging; it means you are part of my family: “I am yours and you are mine. You are my daughter, and I am not ashamed to testify to it in front of a crowd.” 

Main Point: Jesus is stronger. The main point is the same as the first half of chapter five. Jesus can do what no one else can do. He is stronger than demons, stronger than disease, stronger than death. But what really shines is the strength of his mercy and love. Jesus will fight demons or death or disease with unstoppable force, but watch how tenderly he treats his people!

How Does It Work?

Do we just come to him for physical healing? Has he promised that? When a pastor officiates a funeral, should we be praying for Jesus to wake that person up again? It is true that Jesus still heals illness today. I have seen it, and I have been part of praying for it. But it does not always happen. And there are very few stories in the Gospels of Jesus waking someone up from the dead. Why? It is no great blessing to have to die twice. The Gospels hold out a much greater hope. Jesus’ strength is on display in a different way in the first half of the Gospel and the second half. 

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

In the first half of the Gospel, Jesus’ power is obvious—a flow of blood dries up with a touch and a little girl awakens from the dead. But they point to a greater cleansing and a greater victory over death in the second half of the Gospel.

Yes, you may be here today and fear has gripped you. It could be the fear of death or it could be your feeling of guilt and shame and the fear of being exposed. What if people find out what I am really like? But Jesus is different. Yes, you may have lived a very morally unclean life. Why would I feel comfortable coming to Jesus? He is sinless. How would he even understand? Wouldn’t he just look down on me more? Just like physically unclean people do not have the power to make Jesus unclean—his cleanness makes them clean—the same is true today of the cross of Christ.

You need to see this because his power to save is the same way. There is a fountain filled with blood that no sin and no sinner could ever contaminate or defile. I know that there are people here who feel sure that they are too dirty and too defiled to embrace Jesus. 

The flow of blood made the woman unclean in this story, but in the last story it is Jesus’ flow of blood that makes the unclean sinner clean and a child of God. You may wonder, “Why would he ever want me?” You may even dare to hope a little that Jesus may receive you, but you feel so tentative because you have been rejected so many times before. You really wonder if it could be true. She had the courage to just try a touch. Is it enough? You always get more than you bargain for when you come to Jesus. His blood can make the foulest clean. Jesus’ flow of blood is what cleanses.

What about the little girl that suffered death? Jesus overcame death by speaking to death from the outside. The Gospel ends with Jesus defeating death from the inside. Jesus defeated death by dying. He entered into the grave as the Author of life—an indestructible bunker-busting bomb that caused death to explode from the inside. The light of the world was slain by darkness, but he burst forth in glorious day. The darkness could not overcome the light. Death could not stand in the face of life.

Personal Identity: No Longer a Slave to Fear—I Am a Child of God

People will come to you and you will receive both criticism and affirmation. The danger is that criticism could falsely deflate you and affirmation could falsely inflate you.

Look at what the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection does. In Christ, you have already received the greatest criticism and the greatest affirmation. What criticism could be greater than that your fallen, sinful, rebellious condition could only be forgiven through the death of the Son of God? You were guilty of an infinite offense!

But the gospel also brings the greatest affirmation. It says that in Christ you could not be more accepted and secure. It is finished. You are a child of God and that cannot be taken away. You didn’t earn it! How could you lose it? Will that gift be taken away? Will you be snatched away? No way!!!

 In your sin, more wicked than you thought possible and in Christ—more loved than you dared to hope. Some of you are tempted to believe the lie that you are not loved, that you don’t belong, that you are not pursued, that you feel shame—and somehow your sin or your struggle or your situation has become your identity instead of “daughter.” That’s who you are. We struggle with this thing about proclamation versus projection. We are constantly struggling with the fact that we tend to take how we feel about us and project it to God and think that’s how he must feel about us, when the gospels and the word of God come along and say, “Let me proclaim to you what he thinks of you. Let me tell you—let him define how he interacts with you, what he thinks of you, how he feels about you.” Believe that! He is who he says he is. He interacts with you the way that he says he does. He feels about you the way that he says he does.

Corporate Identity – Behold the Love Lavished on US!

Do you know what that does to a person? If he is not ashamed to call you “son” or “daughter” in front of others, suddenly you are not ashamed to testify to it either. And then out of the overflow of this—this is why I love narrative, because you have the characters in the story, and it’s like the movie The Neverending Story, where you realize “I am in the story, I am a part of this,” and you have to say, “Jesus called her daughter,” and the reader says, “Is that me, me too?” Yes, you too—working our way out, we go and do likewise.

We say, there is hope found in the word of God, seeing the beauty of Jesus. There is suddenly something in us that wants to be merciful, that wants to go after people who feel like outsiders and bring them in. Don’t you feel that rising up in your heart? You see the beauty of what Jesus did and you realize “Okay, this is revelation from God for me, and I want to worship him in all of his beauty, and I want to receive it as this is talking about me, and then I want to reflect it. I want to go around and go and do likewise.” And you don’t need the command from Ephesians 5:2 or something to show tenderness and be kindhearted. You already find it here, the Gospel itself does that, there’s the beauty not just in the command but in the indicative, the power is there to say “This is who he is,” and as his daughter, you are called to reflect him, to be like him, to have this moral resemblance to him. This is beautiful. A message of grace should create a culture of grace.

Conclusion: The Blessing of Brokenness – Come to Jesus

I wonder if you see yourself in either of these stories? The common denominator is that these are people who know their neediness. It is not abstract. They are totally desperate—they seem to be defined by desperation. Could it be that we should see the pain as a gift? The blessedness of brokenness? Yes, they know pain and despair in a way that others don’t, but they received something that others didn’t. Maybe cool distance or dull complacency makes you stand on the sidelines as an outsider. But maybe the gift of desperation draws you out to Jesus to the inside to experience the strength of his mercy and the tenderness of his affection. Blessed are the broken! Those who are poor in spirit and mourn because they come to Jesus and get a front-row seat to a healing that the world can’t give because only heaven can bring it.  

Could it be that the pain created an emptiness—a huge void—that only Jesus could fill? Who are the people that run to Jesus in the Gospel of Mark? It is not the smug, self-righteous scribes and Pharisees. It is not the hard-hearted crowds that listen intently to his teaching but then go away. It is the people who have been so broken that they need a healer. It is the people who have known pain and are drowning in a sea of shame and fear and desperation. They know all those things intimately. But they don’t know grace, freedom, peace, love, power, and mercy until they meet Jesus. The pain pushes them to him. They are falling and Jesus fiercely and tenderly comes to the rescue and breaks the chains, calms the fears, gives new life.

The broken come to Jesus. In Mark, the people who don’t ask Jesus any questions are the ones who don’t know their neediness. But all over the place, it’s the leper, it’s the mute and deaf, it’s the blind, it’s the woman with the flow of blood, it’s those who know their neediness and come to Jesus and ask him to do what no one else can do. That’s what we are doing, we go to Jesus because he is the only One who can do what no one else can do. Whatever issue you have in your life, bring it to him and see his power and love. Don’t sit on the sidelines. Don’t pretend to be strong and self-sufficient. Blessed are the thirsty because they run to Jesus and are filled. Blessed are the weak because they find a strong Savior. Blessed are the lonely because Jesus gives them a family. Run to him. Rely upon him. Rest in him. Trust him to do what no one else can do in your life.

Sermon Discussion Questions

Outline

1. Jairus’s Daughter: Part One (vv. 21–24)
2. The Woman in the Middle (vv. 24–34)
3. Jairus’s Daughter: Part Two (vv. 35–43)

Main Point: Jesus is stronger—he can do what no one else can do.

Discussion Questions

• What are the three parts of the “sandwich” in this text? Why does Mark link these two stories together?
• How does the story connect with the rest of chapter 5? How does Mark help us see the point he stresses through his editorial comments?
• How does Jesus show his power to cleanse and his power over death in the first half of the book of Mark? How does he do it in the second half of the book of Mark?

Application Questions

• How does the gospel give the greatest criticism and the greatest affirmation? How does that truth affect the way you relate to others?
• The mercy of Jesus makes us part of the family of God! How does this truth change us so that we want to build others up in our corporate identity in Christ?
• Why could it be a blessing to be broken?

Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to see and savor our strong Savior!