Mark 5:21-42 - Healings

Jesus returned to the west side and was once again met by a large crowd. Wherever He went large crowds came. One of the synagogue leaders came and fell at Jesus' feet. His daughter was dying and he pleaded with Jesus to come and lay hands on her so she would be healed. So Jesus went with him. Now as the incident recorded in Matthew with the centurion shows, Jesus did not actually need to lay hands on the girl, a simple word would have done. But Jesus is responding to faith. We need to beware of overcomplicating things. The key thing that the Lord looks for in our lives is faith.

Jairus would obviously be consumed with concern for his daughter, but other people had their own concerns  Many would just be there out of curiosity, others would have far lesser concerns than Jairus, and one woman did have a serious concern, her twelve years of bleeding. This woman thought that if she just touched Jesus' garment she would be healed. Again, the faith of the woman in Jesus is the key element. She did touch Jesus, and was indeed healed at once.

Jesus knew someone had touched Him and that healing power had gone out from Him. The disciples couldn't see the point of the question, thinking it was silly to ask it. Jesus is far more concerned about individuals than we are, and sees things that we do not see. Jesus called the woman. Why did He do this? She was healed. Perhaps He wanted to assure her that she was accepted as well, as the issue of blood would have prevented her from being involved in normal temple worship.

In the meantime people came from Jairus' house to announce that his daughter was dead. We need to beware of accepting people's verdicts on things! They will often proclaim failure when things are not over yet. Jesus reassures Jairus. Jesus went to the house, announced that the girl was sleeping and not dead. He touched the girl and commanded her to get up, which she did. Jesus could have meant either that she would not remain dead, or that she was not in fact dead. Either way, He restored her to fulness of life.