Reach Out to Jesus
Mark 5:21-43
Introduction
The Healing Touch of Jesus is our current series of messages and we continue to see Jesus at work.
Capernaum was a city on the NW shore of the sea of Galilee which served as Jesus’ Galilean home base after he left Nazareth. It was a relatively small town with about 1,500 residents. It was the home of several of his disciples. James and John and the Zebedee family were prominent residents of this town. It was in Capernaum that Matthew sat at the ‘tax office’ collecting taxes. Many “mighty works” were done by Jesus there including
the healing of the centurion’s servant, the nobleman’s son, Peter’s mother-in-law, and the paralytic, casting out of the unclean spirit. Jesus is no stranger in this small town. It is the setting of our stories today in Mark 5.
Two stories are intertwined in this text. There are two unnamed women.
One suffered for 12 years, and one is only 12 years old.
Both women are daughters, in different ways.
In both stories desperate people fell at Jesus’ feet.
In both stories, reaching out to Jesus is the answer to brokenness and heartache.
Let’s take these stories as Mark tells them.
1. Jairus Begs For Jesus’ Help (Mark 5:21-24)
Mark 5:21-24 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. ?--?Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ?--?He 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.” ?--?So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
Jairus is a synagogue leader. Barclay says he would have been responsible for making sure all of the duties were carried out in good order. “The ruler of the synagogue was one of the most important and most respected men in the community.” Jairus appeal for help is not natural, but understandable.
Out of love for his dying daughter, Jairus …
Forgot his judgment of Jesus as an outsider, a dangerous heretic, someone who was to be avoided, hated. Kernaghan: “the breach between Jesus and the synagogues had become irreparable. Leading members of the synagogues had conspired to kill him.”
Forgot his dignity - throwing himself at the feet of Jesus.He has a formal position in town and is highly regarded. Forgot his pride - in public, he appeals to Jesus in front of everyone in town who knows him and respect him. Barclay: “Here was a man who forgot everything except that he wanted the help of Jesus; and because of that forgetfulness he would remember for ever that Jesus is a Savior.”
He asks Jesus to come and help: “So Jesus went with him.”
2. An Unnamed Woman Reaches Out To Jesus (Mark 5:25-34)
Mark 5:25-34 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ?--?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. ?--?When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ?--?because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ?--?Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. ?--?At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” ?--?“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” ?--?But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ?--?Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ?--?He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
This woman faced many challenges.
Health / Medical. Barclay says the Talmud gives at least 11 cures for such troubles. Some are sheer superstitions like carrying the ashes of an ostrich-egg in a linen rag in summer and a cotton rag in winter; or carrying a barley corn which had been found in the dung of a white donkey.
Poverty
Social outcast
Religious outcast
Relationship outcast
Swindoll: “…she eked out a meager existence…. She had been struggling with this illness for as long as Jairus’ daughter had been alive.”
“At this point Jesus did something that is not repeated elsewhere in the Gospel of Mark. He called the woman daughter.” - Ronald Kernaghan
3. What Happened At Jairus’ House (Mark 5:35-43)
Mark 5:35-43 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” ?--?Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. ?--?When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ?--?He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” ?--?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. ?--?He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). ?--?Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ?--?He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
You can imagine Jairus’ impatience as Jesus helped the woman in the crowd. And receiving the news of his daughter’s death was crushing.
Bookout: “Jesus overcame the powers of darkness in the first three stories: He overcame storms, demonic spirits, and sickness. Now, can He overcome the power of death itself?”
Tim Keller points out that Jesus speaks to the little girl with a term that a mother would use with a little girl (“honey”)… “Jesus is doing exactly what this child’s parents might do on a sunny morning. He sits down, takes her hand, and says, ‘Honey, it’s time to get up.”
4. How Desperate People Reach Out To Jesus
Overcome all the obstacles in your way. Both of these people had to lay down defenses to reach out to Jesus.
You are not the only one who has to overcome obstacles!
Reach out in humility to Jesus with your request. Ultimately if Jesus is Lord, we must humbly accept him.
What pride can we have when we are in the presence of Jesus?
Trust Him to respond in compassion. In both stories, Jesus responds warmly - graciously caring about what happens to both of these people. Jesus cares about you as well. He is compassionate. Akin: “We can come to Jesus with our request no matter who we are or what we have done. We must come to Jesus in faith, believing and not fearing. God honors imperfect faith from a sincere heart…”
Accept his answer. Understand that He will answer in his way / time. I’m sure Jairus was feeling impatient when Jesus stopped to help that unclean woman who he couldn’t be around. Although Jesus raised Jarius’ daughter from the dead, we do not always receive what we want when we want it. He only raised Jairus’ daughter, the widow of Nain’s son, and Lazarus. Many people died during Jesus’ life on earth. When God answers prayer, it is always the best answer in the best time -whether we can see that or not.
Don’t be afraid to Believe. Jairus received the worst news of his life - but Jesus told him not to be afraid. Whatever we face in life, we must not be afraid to believe that Jesus is both in control and has our best interests at heart.
Conclusion
A powerful man who became a beggar, and a beggar woman who became a daughter.
Keller: “Jesus is the ultimate Parent who has you by the hand and will bring you through the darkest night. The lord of the universe, the one who danced the stars into place, takes you by the hand and says, ‘Honey, it’s time to get up.’”
Reach out to experience the healing touch of Jesus.
“When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.”
What a friend we have in Jesus!
___________________
To receive sermon notes in your email inbox, subscribe here:
https://forsythesermons.substack.com/
To receive emails from John Dobbs on topics of faith, books, photography, and miscellany:
https://johndobbs.substack.com/l
To receive a daily picture, passage, prayer starting January 1, subscribe here:
https://holylens.substack.com/
To watch videos of sermons from Forsythe Church of Christ:
https://www.youtube.com/c/ForsytheChurchofChrist
Our church website is http://facoc.org
___________________
Questions for Discussion
1. What are some of the ways that these stories intersect / have common themes? N. T. Wright said, “Clearly Mark intends us to see the stories knocking sparks off each other.”
2. What do you think motivated Jairus, a synagogue leader, to seek Jesus’ help for his daughter? How did he show his faith and humility in approaching Jesus?
3. How did the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years demonstrate her faith in Jesus? What obstacles did she have to overcome to reach him? How did Jesus respond to her touch and her confession?
4. Travis Bookout observes: “Ordinarily, uncleanness spreads and contaminates, but with Jesus, the opposite occurs…His cleanness spread to others.” What are some of the ways that the cleanness of Jesus spreads to us and through us?
5. How did Jesus deal with the crowd and the messengers who brought the news of the girl’s death? What did he mean by saying that she was not dead but asleep? How did he show his authority and compassion in raising her back to life?
6. How do these two healings reveal Jesus’ power and love for people in need?
7. How do these stories challenge you to trust Jesus more in your own life? How can you share his healing and hope with others who are suffering?
___________________
Resources
Akin, Daniel L. Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Mark. Holman, 2014.
Barclay, William. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Mark, Revised. Westminster Press, 1975.
Bookout, Travis. Cruciform Christ: 52 Reflections on the Gospel of Mark. Cypress, 2022.
Keller, Timothy. King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus. Dutton, 2011.
Kernaghan, Ronald J. IVP New Testament Commentary Series: Mark. IVP, 2007.
Tenney, Merrill C. Ed. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 1. Zondervan, 1976.
