Mark 5:21-43
"Hope for the Hopeless"

"God helps those who help themselves"
George Barna reports that eight out of ten Americans believe that the statement, is found in the Bible.
First found in the writing of Aesop who said, "The gods help them that help themselves." Euripides, a Greek philosopher, said, "Try first thyself, and after, call on God."

George Herbert in the 17th century wrote, "Help thyself and God will help thee."
Benjamin Franklin who wrote, "God helps those who help themselves." Franklin himself was a deist and so he believed that God did not play an active role in men's lives.
Jesus' interest in these two needy women must have been seen as very significant.

V.21 "Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake"
1. It provided a place for Jesus to teach.
-Where He taught many of His parables including the parable of the seeds in Mark 4
2. Where He exercised authority over nature by calming the wind and waves
3. On the other side of the lake He delivered a demon possessed man
Now Jesus crosses the lake again only to be confronted with another need
V.22-24
V.22 "Jairus, the synagogue ruler"
-As such he was responsible for the building and the supervising of worship.
For a synagogue ruler this was risky business to associate with Jesus
Mark 3:6 [After Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath]
Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. [Do you think the Pharisees had influence over the synagogue rulers?]
For the sake of his daughter, Jairus risks everything and comes to Jesus by faith
How much are we willing to risk? Is there a cost in coming to Jesus?
Luke 9:57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." 59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." 62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Elsewhere...
2 Tim 3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
Matt 10:22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Matt 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Jairus was a man of dignity and respect yet notice how he approaches Jesus
V.22-23 "Seeing Jesus, he fell at His feet and pleaded earnestly with Him."
**Luke’s gospel tells us that this was his only daughter
When we recognize our need for Jesus and understand how desperate we are for Him then we will throw off all dignity and pride and simply come
-This man’s faith has produced a response from Jesus V.24
Faith, by the way, is not only what gets God’s attention but it is what pleases Him
(Heb. 11:6)
Jairus and Jesus are interrupted
V.24-26
What do we learn about this woman?
-Subject to bleeding for 12 years (Probably a vaginal hemorrhage)
The law explicitly stated that a woman with a flow of blood was considered unclean (Lev. 15:25).
As such...
•Domestically- anything she touched was considered unclean
•She wouldn’t be able to enjoy the blessing of marriage.
If she was married she couldn’t touch her husband
•Maternally- she couldn’t bear children
•Spiritually- she was unable to enter the temple and worship
She had tried to receive help
In fact...
•She had spent all of her money on treatments
the result...
She suffered a great deal under the doctor’s care and had gotten worse instead of better
You can imagine some of the treatments that may have been given to her

Commentator Gordon Lightfoot gives, from the Rabbinical books, the remedy for a female hemorrhage:
"Let them dig seven ditches, in which let them burn some cuttings of vines under four years old. Let her take in her hand a cup of wine; let them lead her away from this ditch and make her sit over that. Let them remove her from that and sit her over another. At each removal you must say to her, Arise for thy flow.''
This is an illustration of what this woman suffered.
V.27-28
Superstitiously, she thinks that merely touching the garment of a holy man would heal her.
V.29
She knows immediately that she’s healed and immediately Jesus knows that power has left Him
V.30-32
Two reasons why Jesus seeks her out
1. To the crowd and her community she would have still been seen as unclean.
Jesus wants to release her from her public ostracism
2. Jesus searches for the woman in order to dis-spell her superstitious thoughts and elevate faith.
Was she healed because she touched Jesus or because she came to Him by faith?
V.33 "fell at His feet trembling with fear"
Her coming to Him must have taken considerable courage for she was unclean.
Perhaps He was going to bring a public rebuke against her.
V.34 "Daughter" the only time Jesus addresses any woman in that way
Think of all the words and names this woman has been called over that 12 year period
Never has she heard such words of endearment
Leo Tolstoy the Russian writer tells of time he was walking down the street and passed a beggar. The beggar asked for money. Tolstoy reached into his pocket and found nothing. Tolstoy said, "I’m sorry, my brother, I have nothing to give."
The beggar brightened and said, "You have given me more than I have asked for- you have called me brother.
What love. What compassion.
Have we forgotten about Jairus? Apparently Jesus has.
What’s Jairus thinking?

V.35
Have you ever heard those words before?
Jairus must have been crushed. His world was destroyed.
At this point, all we have is Jesus.
Jesus is enough!
V.36 "Don’t be afraid. Just believe."
What wonderful words of encouragement and peace.
Belief must always have an object.
Believe that God is all-knowing and all-loving.

V.37-38
This commotion was caused by the mourners. Some authentic and some professional
JewishEncyclopedia.com,
"After the body had been cleansed and placed on the bier, the funeral procession began, with the accompaniment of trumpets, and of dirges and lamentations chanted by wailing women Wherever this custom prevailed it was the duty of the relatives to provide the professional mourners. A husband was obliged to defray the expenses of the burial of his wife in accordance with his position, and even the poorest had to provide two flute-players and one professional mourner; if he refused to do so, the wife's relatives or friends could supply them themselves, and then collect the cost from the husband through the court."
**If a poor person was to provide at least two flute players and a mourner then you can imagine what the scene must have looked like at Jairus’ house
Jesus interrupts the mourning with an announcement...
V.39
Sleep is often used as a euphemism for death in the Scriptures because it is not final
Acts 7:60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
When we see death in this light it doesn’t seem so final and scary.
Illus: Little girl was about to enter the cemetery at dusk. An older man sitting at the gate said, "Aren’t you afraid to enter by yourself at dark? The girl answered, "No, my home is just on the other side."
Sir Walter Scott, "Death is not the last sleep. It is the final awakening."
Rev 1:18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.


V.40
Showing a complete lack of sensitivity they laugh.
Not only do they laugh but they laugh at Jesus Himself.
So, they are dismissed while only a chosen few are invited to witness this beautiful event.
V.41-43
"Talitha Koum" Aramaic -To dispel any notions that this might be some magical incantation Mark translates for us
V.43 The time was still not right for a major confrontation with the religious leaders and so asks them to keep it as secretive as possible.
C.S. Lewis, "God whispers to us in our pleasures but He shouts to us in our pain."
Where did their pain lead them? Where has your pain led you? Hiding? Rebellion?
Or will you throw off all dignity and pride and come to Jesus?