Mark 5:21-43

Gospel according to Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the synagogue leaders named Jairus came and, when he saw Jesus, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the pint of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and alive.” So, Jesus went with him. And a large crowd followed him. Some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” Jessu allowed no one to follow him. When they came to the leader of the synagogue, they saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Then Jesus 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. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about for she was twelve years of age. At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.

Reflections

Jesus and the disciples reached the shore and immediately, on that side of the lake, a large crowd started to gather to listen to Jesus. They probably heard about the Rabbi who makes miracles and who teaches with authority that is different from the way the pharisees and the scribes teach. Jesus owned the words and lived them. He spoke with complete confidence and determination about God the Father, which the other religious leaders refrained from. This was because they did not have the same authority from heaven as Jesus did.

In the crowd, there was a religious leader, the leader of the local synagogue who came to see Jesus because he had an urgent need. His twelve-year-old daughter was dying. Desperate, this man fell at the feet of Jesus to beg him to come to his house and cure his daughter. It was not common that leaders of the synagogue would turn to Jesus with confidence because they were jealous of their status. Mostly, they preferred to watch from the fringes and see who went to beseech Jesus and who was healed. They themselves did not request favors from him. Thus, seeing the leader of the synagogue kneel before Jesus and beg him was rather unusual. His own servants came to tell him to “not to bother the Master” any longer, because the child is now dead.

These people put a seed of doubt where confidence had been. They wanted to deter the leader of the synagogue from relying on a favor from Jesus. But Jesus, knowing their anxieties, reassured the leader of the synagogue with the words: “Do not fear, only believe.”

When they entered the house, there was a large commotion that they found. It was customary to express one’s love for the deceased by hiring people who assisted with the mourning and the grief. These people were loudly wailing and weeping, announcing to everyone that there had been a great loss in the family. The child’s death had already been established, because by the time Jesus got there, all the mourners were already loudly crying, and they laughed at Jesus when he said to them to leave because the child is “just asleep,” but not dead. Here we see the spectrum of lack of trust in Jesus go from doubt to mock and disbelief.

Jesus took with him his disciples and the parents of the child. He took the girl by the hand and said to her; “Little girl; get up!” And instantly, the child opened her eyes, got up from bed and went from person to person, while everyone was utterly astonished. So, Jesus asked the parents to give her something to eat, since she had not eaten for some time already. This point was to restore the girl entirely to health.

The faith of the leader of the synagogue has met its reward. His daughter was alive and well. But Jesus wanted them to keep this secret, to make the healing a private matter because it was not for the show. It was in response to the request of the father and the mother who had braved all prejudices or preconceptions about who they were, how they were expected to behave and what they were expected to do when their daughter died. Jesus responded to the fervent request in the immediate need. He, too, acted immediately, naturally, and entirely in accordance with his nature: to be a healer and consoler of his people (Isaiah 40).

While miracles of this nature we cannot ask for nowadays because they occurred at a particular time of God walking on earth, sometimes they still happen when there are medically unexplainable miraculous healings of the body and the mind through the intercession of the saints. Generally, we rely on the medical profession to cure and to heal. Jesus promised his disciples that they will have the power to heal if they have faith (Luke 9). Still, the priests and bishops of today, or even the Pope, cannot perform such miracles. They do help to cure the soul by the grace of God, which can, in some instances, lead to healing of the body and the mind, but, in general, we would not be able to approach them requesting healing for our bodies and minds. The most they can do is to strengthen our spirit, so that we can reach out for help that we need.

There is one great paradox: Everyone can heal the world a little bit, one at a time, through their actions and their attitudes. This is how God’s grace can act through persons in the world. Occasionally, the outpouring of grace can be manifested in a miraculous healing that the medical profession cannot explain.

Miracles belong to God. Asking for them puts us in connection with God. He who knows everything, and he who can cure everything, knows where and how we will be able to encounter him on our path. For nothing is impossible to God, and he is not blind or deaf to our prayers.

Everything that we go though serves our salvation if we hold on to the power and grace that he sends to embrace the cross, if we have to endure suffering. This, he promised to change into an infinite glory at the end of time. Through the death of Jesus on the cross, our glory with him is ensured if we hold close to him. The greatest miracle of all is the resurrection. This is the miracle that Jesus promised this to all who believe in him.

What is still to come is not late. It is coming. It was promised and it will be done.

Jesus’ own body and blood are the foretaste and the sign of this covenant.

As for the behavior of the “crowd” in this reading, there are a few social patterns that we can recognize: (1) The collectivistic thinking; (2) the provisory attitude; (3) the fatalistic attitude; and (4) the fanatic attitude. (1) Collectivistic thinking refers to acting without taking individual responsibility for one’s actions, going with the masses, the flow, thinking and behaving as the majority. A provisory attitude refers to an ephemeral way of living, from day to day, but not according to a purposeful organizing higher principle. The fatalistic attitude says: “Do not bother the teacher for something that is not even possible.” To the fatalistic person, everything functions according to mechanistic principles, and it is useless to search for a spiritual realm. The fanatical person elevates a relative good to the level of the absolute to seek and to attain, even at the cost of meaningless means. These were the people who were so focused on mourning that they mocked and laughed at Jesus because they missed the bigger picture of possibilities.

In response to social trends why we may close ourselves to the possibility of seeing meaning, Jesus restores the emphasis on the present moment, the one, the singular, and the affirmative. He answers with yes to the meaning of the moment which reveals God’s ultimate “Yes” to us. Not in random chaos but in the order and harmony of the universe in which every human being, even the smallest and the most vulnerable is counted, known, and wanted.

Reference:

1. Frankl, V. E. (1967|). Psychotherapy and Existentialism. Collective Neuroses of the Present Day. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.