April 11, 2025; Mark 5:21-43

Daily Dose of Hope

April 11, 2025

Day 5 of Week 2

 

Scripture – Mark 5:21-43

 

Prayer – Holy and Merciful God, We are so thankful that your mercies are new every morning.  No matter what yesterday held, help us start afresh and anew with you.  Lord, help us set aside our distractions and gather our scattered thoughts so we can fully focus on you and your Word.  Help us sit in these next few moments of silence, remembering that you are God and we are not...In Your Name, Amen.

 

Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts. Today, we are finishing up Mark 5.  Remember, yesterday we spoke about Jesus’ healing of the man possessed by evil spirits over in Gentile territory.  Now, he is back to the Jewish side of the lake and more healing awaits him.

 

It starts with Jesus being encountered by Jairus, a synagogue leader, whose daughter is very ill and dying.  He wants Jesus to come to his home and heal her.  I want you to think about this situation.  Jairus had high status in this community.  He was a Jewish leader.  We can surmise that he didn’t want to have to go see Jesus, this odd teacher and healer.  Jairus was desperate – he had probably tried all kinds of healers by this point and nothing had worked.  As a parent, he was willing to do anything to save the life of his daughter, even lower himself to ask Jesus for help.

 

But while they are walking to his home, Jesus has an encounter with someone else, a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years.  It was a massive crowd, with everyone pressing up against him, but she touched the edge of his robe but he felt the power go out of him. 

 

Let’s talk briefly about this woman.  Bleeding made this woman unclean according to Jewish law.  Bleeding for twelve years probably had ruined her life.  If she had been married, the husband would have left her by now, meaning she would not have had a way to support herself.  She would have depleted all her resources trying to get better.  Physically, she would have been extremely fatigued and weak.  And finally, this would have alienated her from community.  Being unclean, she could not go to the synagogue and she really wasn’t allowed to be in that crowd.  But she is also desperate, so she breaks the rules, desperate to touch Jesus. 

 

Jesus knows who has touched him but he asks out loud anyway, “Who touched me?” She couldn’t stay hidden anymore so she comes forward.  I can imagine how terrified she would have been.  And then Jesus says the most amazing thing, “Daughter, your faith has made you well