Jairus and his daughter, Mark 5:21-43, written by Pastor Steve

Mark 5:21-43

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

There are several things that are unusual about Jairus, the father of the little girl whom Jesus raised from the dead. First, we know his name! It’s actually very rare for one of the Evangelists to name a person whom Jesus helps. Usually, like the woman with the hemorrhage in the middle of this story, people are unnamed. Second, Jairus is a leader of the synagogue. That made him somebody important in town, but often, people who are leaders of the synagogues are opposed to Jesus’ work. Yet Jairus specifically seeks Jesus out.

But the most unusual thing about Jairus is that he believes that Jesus can and will help him, even though he’s never (as far as we can tell) personally seen Jesus do anything miraculous. Even when people from home arrive and tell him that his daughter has died, he doesn’t give up on Jesus.

Certainly, Mark didn’t include this story because he thought that in every bad situation, Jesus would fix all our problems. But I think Mark does include the story of Jairus (and the intervening story of the woman with the hemorrhage) because he wants to point out that unless you’re willing to give Jesus a chance and walk with him, you’ll never have any chance of God doing something great in your life through Jesus.

It would be a mistake to assume that Jairus knew that Jesus would raise his daughter back to life. Even the closest disciples were astounded by it. Jairus simply knew that Jesus was going to do something, and he was going to have to give Jesus a chance to see what it was. And sometimes, that’s the way it is for us. We can’t really be sure what God will do in our lives, and especially, we shouldn’t expect that God will simply do things our way. But through Jesus, God also says to us, “Do not fear, only believe”, and see what God will do in your life.

21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat^* to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. ²²Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet ²³and begged him repeatedly, ‘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.’ ²⁴So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. ²⁵Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. ²⁶She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ ²⁹Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. ³⁰Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ³¹And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ ³²He looked all round to see who had done it. ³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. ³⁴He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ ³⁶But overhearing^* what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ ³⁷He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. ³⁸When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ ⁴⁰And they laughed at him. Then 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. ⁴¹He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ ⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. ⁴³He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.