Jairus’ Daughter: Fear Vs. Faith - Mark 5:35-43 Series

Mark 5:22-43 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. he turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" 31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'" 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." 35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?" 36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe." 37 he did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 he went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 he took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 he gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Introduction

This had to be the happiest day of her life. After 12 years of painful suffering and defiling uncleanness, this woman in Mark 5 is now healed and clean, and she walks away with Jesus’ promise of peace and health and wellbeing. She is now a child of God, her sins are forgiven, she has peace with God, and Jesus Christ used the father of a dying 12-year-old as an object lesson to let everyone know the depths of his love for this woman. So we left off last week with a huge smile on this woman’s face, and on Jesus’ face—but not on Jairus’ face. For him, the bottom is about to drop out of his world.

The News

Jesus stops to help this woman, and he keeps dragging it out. And then it happens. Jairus can see them coming from a couple blocks away—some of his friends. His heart sinks. He knows right away this can’t be good. Sure enough.

Mark 5:35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said.

And Jairus’ whole world goes black.

And they try to get him to leave Jesus alone.

"Why bother the teacher any more?"

It’s like in the movies when someone dies, and the loved one can’t accept it so he just keeps doing CPR, and finally some friend has to pull him away and tell him, “That’s enough—she’s gone.” That’s what these friends are doing. “Your last-ditch effort—going to this…outlaw healer, it was understandable. You wanted to try everything. But now it’s over—you need to come home. The funeral director is already at the house.”

Mark 5 is often called “the chapter of hopeless causes.” In that storm, the boat was already sinking—a hopeless situation. The maniac at Gadera—they had tried everything to restrain him with no success. Hopeless. The woman—she tried every doctor and spent every penny and only got worse. Hopeless. And now the most hopeless of all, the most irreversible disaster there is: “Sorry Jairus. Your daughter didn’t make it.”