21 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.
Following the episode of the Gadarene demoniac in the Gentile territories, Jesus has sailed back with his twelve apostles and other followers to Capernaum. His fame has already spread through the fishing town, all the way to Jerusalem itself and people are flocking at the shore waiting for his arrival. Jesus is back in Yahweh’s land now, the regions bestowed as an inheritance to the Hebrew people.
22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and seeing him, he fell at his feet,
The synagogue was the community hub of Jewish life in second temple Judaism, it was where the people met to learn the Law of Moses, hear from rabbi’s on interpretations of the Prophets, it was not a casual place of socialising thus it had an organised hierarchy, on earth as in Heaven. Although they weren’t as rigid as the Temple cult structures, they were still organised institutions.
The ruler of a synagogue was a lay administrator selected by popular acclaim, typically one of the elders of the community with appointment influence coming mainly from the other elders of the community. They would need to be knowledgeable of Jewish Law, tradition as well as capable of handling the economic affairs of the building. They were also responsible for the allocation of local charity funds for the poor, widows and orphans which the Law required them to support.
I highlight these aspects of the ruler of a synagogue for a significant purpose, in a local first century Jewish community, this was the most respected figure and held the highest social rank and he, in this case, falls at the feet of Jesus. Essentially prostrating before him, something only done before royalty and God. Mark rarely mentions figures by name, unless they are known by the early Church community and in this situation it is revealed to us by Mark that the mans name is Jairus. This name comes from the Hebrew Ya’ir, which means “He Will Enlighten” a fitting name for a community leader that bows before Christ.
23 and besought him, 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.”
Jesus’ fame of healing has spread throughout all the land the leader of the local Jewish community knows exactly who to beseech in order for his daughter to be healed. The extremes of the illness are specified but the diagnosis is not, she is at the point of death. Child death was pretty common in this time period because of the lack of medical knowledge and their seems to be no indication of demonic activity. The girl is simply very sick, either way, Jairus knows that simply by laying his hands on her, Jesus can heal her.
24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.
We know from previous passages that Jesus’ following at this point was so large that entire synagogues were filled to bursting with crowds flocking outside of them, time has moved on and he is likely even more popular by this point in his ministry. So when we see phrases like “a great crowd” we should be thinking in the hundreds and very densely packed, this helps explain the following situation a little better since typical visual representations of this do not really encapsulate just how crowded Jesus was.
25 And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,
26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.
27 She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.
28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well.”
29 And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
A woman in the crowd who is unnamed, is suffering from a blood haemorrhage for 12 years. The number of years may be significant in both their totality of how long the woman has suffered and also the symbology, 12 is the number of the fullness of Israel because of the 12 tribes. She goes through the usual routes to amend her illness, approaching doctors and spent all the money she had in order to be cured (no free healthcare) but she ended up worse. Although it may only make us squeamish, why might this be such a harrowing affliction beyond its “ick” factor? By the emission of blood, this woman is ritually unclean. She would not be able to enter the Temple complex for the required feasts and not be able to take part in much of Jewish life. She has been suffering from it for 12 years and has essentially, in a spiritual sense become a leper, receiving similar treatment because of the blood flowing from her. This cuts her off from the covenant family.
She, as with Jairus and the crowds, are fully aware of Jesus’ healing ability but the woman’s faith goes somewhat further. She believes in heart that if she just touches Jesus’ clothing she will be healed.
30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, “Who touched my garments?”
31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
Jesus perceives that the healing power has gone out of him to someone of strong faith and he turns about the crowd to look for the faithful culprit. He asks the question “Who touched my garments?” Considering the context of how huge the crowds were that we went through earlier, this question is funny and explains why the disciples have the reaction that they do but also speaks to faithfulness of the woman. Hundreds of people are looking to see a magic trick and thus receive nothing, but this woman is so desperate in her faith she has received healing without Jesus’ actively doing anything. In his ministry days of Nazareth, Jesus could not do many miracles because of the peoples lack of faith, here the faith is so strong in this one woman that it just kind of leaks out with his intention.
Jesus is pressed up on all sides and the disciples are reasonably baffled at why he asks who touched him, again when we stress the size and density of the crowds beyond typical visualisations of this moment this reaction makes much more sense.
32 And he looked around to see who had done it.
33 But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.
34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Jesus continues to look around physically but I think it is not beyond reason to assume in his divine knowledge he already knows who it was. But the Incarnation is a mystery in space and time and there his human knowledge is a required participant, not that it is divided but to our human perception it might look like it. He wants to see her with his eyes and talk to her with his mouth. If it was just about the healing as many people assume Jesus’ miracles are, this part of the event would be unnecessary.
The woman reveals herself and is in fear and trembles before Jesus, it’s like she feels that she has stolen the gift of healing from him. She falls down before him, a sign of worship and adoration, and tells him everything. This would include how long she suffered and what from and why she reached for his garment. This act of faith only makes the circumstance from Jesus’ position better and he commends her. Calling her “daughter” and saying it was her faith that made her well. She is to go in peace because her disease is healed. Now that she has been healed of this physical ailment not only does the bleeding stop but she can be reincorporated back into the covenant life that she has been separated from for the past 12 years. She can finally enter the Temple again, albeit only the Court of Women but still, its a W.
35 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?”
The Markan Sandwich, as scholars call it, makes an appearance in these verses. We start with Jairus and his daughter, then the woman with the haemorrhage, now back to Jairus’ daughter. This is perceived as a typical element of Mark’s writing but it could also just be the sequence of events as they played out, I think scholars spend to much time sometimes imagining overly complex theories of story structure instead of the obvious reason; this is literally how it played out.
While Jesus is still speaking to the woman, people who have come from the Jairus’ house have come to him to inform him that his daughter is dead. And that Jairus should stop troubling Jesus since from their point of view, its over and nothing can be done. The tone of these people from Jairus’ household implies relatives and not servants, it is unlikely that a servant would speak like that to their master.
36 But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”
Jairus has just seen what an act of faith can achieve, the healing of the woman with the haemorrhage acts as a sign for him that Jesus’ uses as his witness. He ignores what the messengers have said and says to Jairus “Do not fear, only believe.” Jesus has done many healings and exorcisms by this point, many of which beyond the typical comprehension of his audience but now he is going to go even further, raising someone from the dead.
37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.
38 When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly.
39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”
40 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.
Jesus, taking with him only his inner-inner circle of the twelve. Peter (always named first as chief of the apostles) and the brothers James and John. These three reflect Aaronic types of the High priest Aaron and his two sons who acted as the chief priestly authority of the Hebrews in the exile. What truth we find in this is found in the even greater truth of that making Jesus the new Moses. These three will be separated off at various occasion like the Agony in the Garden and the Transfiguration.
They arrive at the house of Jairus and as the custom was, the household was weeping. This is the typical emotional response to death in the family but was also a religious prescription and wealthy people even hired professional mourners who would weep, kind of an odd concept I know but its also very interesting. Jesus enters asking them why they are weeping, stating that the child is not dead but sleeping. The people laugh at him which is rather bizarre considering the morbidity of the situation. He makes them all leave and only allows Jairus, his wife and the three apostles Peter, John and James to go into to the room where the Child is.
41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi”; which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”
42 And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.
43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Every so often in the Gospels we get a little taste of our Lords native tongue, a language that used to be the Lingua Franca until Greek took over. Aramaic. Mark tells us the exact words that came out of Jesus’ mouth in this miracle in the original language and then gives us the translation.
First of all this miracle extends Jesus’ perceived power from healing the sick, exorcising demons into the realm of conquering death itself. Through his previous miracles this has been hinted at as we have observed in previous commentaries. The ancient perception of the water depths being emblematic of death and Jesus conquers it. The Gentiles in the shadow of death, possessed by a legion of demons, Jesus conquers it. Death was the final boss basically, but Jesus until this point has only hinted his ability to conquer it. This little girl is the first evidence of actual power to conquer what no one else could, death itself.
The usage of the original Aramaic speaks to the authenticity of the event. Mark is keen to use the exact words spoken by Jesus because he too sees how momentous this event is. The girl who died and was raised is the same age as the time of suffering endured by the woman with the haemorrhage, two 12’s in the Markan Sandwich. Again, literally true but also symbolic, its the second most important number to ancient Hebrews after 7 because of its representation of Israel as a whole. A symbolic reading is the Israelites being able to return to true worship and conquering death, kind of interesting. This is a climax of sorts of Jesus’ healing ministry and despite his telling them to not spread what has occurred, they will because how could you not?
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