THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Mark: Jesus The Perfect Servant Of God

Part II: The Perfect Service Of Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God, Mark 1:1-10:52

Q. Christ's Work To Strengthen Our Faith In Humanly Devastating Interruptions

(Mark 5:21-43)

I. Introduction

A. We learned in our first lesson in this series that Mark's Gospel presents the perfect service of God's Perfect Servant, Jesus, with Mark's focus of having rebounded unto upright Christian service from personal failure.

B. Sometimes such failure arises from life's humanly devastating trials, but these are simply the means God uses to strengthen our faith in Him as seen in Jesus' ministry in Mark 5:21-43 (as follows):

II. Christ's Work To Strengthen Our Faith In Humanly Devastating Interruptions, Mark 5:21-43.

A. Christ's raising of Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43) is interrupted by His healing of a woman with a hemorrhage (Mark 5:25-34). The connection between these two events was divinely intended, for Jairus' daughter was 12 years old (Mark 5:42), the same 12 years the woman with the hemorrhage had suffered her affliction (Mark 5:25), so God had planned for both events to occur as they did, including Jesus' ministry to raise Jairus' daughter being INTERRUPTED by the healing of the woman with the hemorrhage.

B. Yet, from the human perspective, that interruption proved to be a devastating trial for Jairus, Mark 5:21-35:

1. When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a ruler of the synagogue named Jairus came up to Him and fell at His feet, begging Jesus to come and heal his daughter who lay near death, Mark 5:21-23.

2. Jesus began to go with him, with many people following them, thronging them, Mark 5:24.

3. However, an interruption to this critical event occurred, delaying Jesus' healing of the girl, Mark 5:25-34:

a. A woman who had suffered a 12-year hemorrhage, who had seen many doctors and suffered much, spending all she had only to get worse, hearing of Jesus, came to Him to be healed, Mark 5:25-27.

b. She believed that in her unclean state (Lev. 15:2), Jesus would not want to touch her, so if she touched His clothes from behind amid the press of people, she could be healed unobserved and not offend Him.

c. When she touched Jesus' clothes, she felt that she had been instantly completely healed, Mark 5:29.

d. Yet, Jesus sensed power had left Him to heal, that someone had touched Him believing magic healed him, so He wanted to correct this error, and so turned to ask, "Who touched my clothes?" (Mark 5:30; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 125)

e. The disciples wondered why Jesus asked if someone touched His clothes since He was being thronged (Mark 5:31), but He kept looking until the woman who was healed came fearing and trembling and fell down before Him to admit her whole story, Mark 5:32-33.

f. Jesus comforted her, calling her the affectionate term, "Daughter" (B. K. C., N. T., p. 125) because of her new-found faith in Him as the Messiah, and informing her that her faith, not magic, had healed her by God's grace, Mark 5:34a. She was to go in peace and be whole from her hemorrhage, Mark 5:34b.

4. This interruption proved to be fatal: as Jesus was comforting this woman, a man from Jairus' house arrived to suggest he not trouble Jesus any longer since his little daughter had just expired, Mark 5:35!

C. When Jesus heard this news, He immediately encouraged Jairus, telling him not to start to be afraid for his own benefit (phobou, present mid. imperative with the me subjunctive adverb, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 140; The Analy. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 428), but only to keep on believing (pisteue, present imperative, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., The Analy. Grk. Lex., p. 326) that Jesus would restore his daughter, Mark 5:36.

D. When Jesus arrived at Jairus' home and saw all the mourners wailing, He asked why they were making the commotion, asserting the girl was not dead but asleep, indicating her death was temporal, Mark 5:38-39.

E. Full of unbelief, they laughed in scorn at Jesus, but he put them all out except the girl's parents and disciples Peter, James and John, and proceeded to raise the girl to life, taking her by the hand and telling her to rise, Mark 5:37, 40-42a. Those in the room were astonished at this, but Jesus charged them to tell no one about it as the people were unbelieving (Mark 4:42b), and He told them to give the girl something to eat, Mark 4:41.

Lesson: God arranged for an interruption to arise in Jairus' life to turn a crisis into a humanly devastating trial to teach him for his benefit not to start to fear the humanly devastating trial, but to keep on believing in the Lord's help. When Jairus kept on trusting Jesus, He ended Jairus' devastating trial with a great, faith-building miracle!

Application: If interruptions turn a crisis into a greater trial, we are to keep trusting so God can develop our faith.