Mark 5:21-43 – Jesus heals us as we wait for complete healing

What could He possibly be waiting for? What could possibly be keeping Him? Doesn’t He know the pain, doesn’t He know the sorrow, doesn’t He know the evil that happens while we wait for Jesus to arrive? If Jesus had already come, then so many people wouldn’t have lost their jobs. If Jesus had already come, people wouldn’t be killed in Iran wanting freedom. If Jesus had already come, people wouldn’t be going hungry tonight. If Jesus had already come, some of our loved ones wouldn’t have died. So what is He waiting for? Why hasn’t He come?

When we think about the return of Jesus, often, we have hope. We picture that day when He returns, when everything is going to be okay for those who have given their lives to Him. We imagine Him coming in all of His glory to bring heaven on earth, where there are no more tears, no more death, no more pain. What a day of rejoicing that will be.

But at the same time, while we’re waiting for this day of rejoicing, we can start to wonder why this day isn’t here yet? What is the point? Why is He waiting? Why did we need to say goodbye to our husband, our wife, our mom or dad, our son, our daughter? Why didn’t Jesus return before they had to die? And why can’t we see them now? We want to be with them. We want them to be with us. Why won’t Jesus return? What is He waiting for?

These questions, this frustration, this impatience that we live with, this is the story we find in Mark 5. As we look closely at this story, we’re going to recognize someone in this story. We’re going to recognize us. When we see Jairus, the worried grieving father, we’re going to recognize our tears. We watch the disciples, who are seeing something happen, but they’re not really sure what, and we recognize our own confusion. We see the crowd, who doesn’t see Jesus at all, and we have to admit that we miss so much of what Jesus does. And we see the little girl, who died, and we know that a part of us has died, too, and now we’re waiting to be raised to life again.

We are the father, Jairus, desperate for Jesus to show up and do something. Verse 22:

Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying.

Jairus knows the answer. He knows Who to ask. His heart is heavy, nothing else is important, and the only Person who can do anything is Jesus. Jairus knows this. His little girl is dying, and the Lord of life can save her. Jairus has his facts straight. His theology is accurate. He gets who Jesus is. His request is appropriate. He’s not asking something of Jesus that he shouldn’t be asking. He’s not asking in the wrong way, using the wrong words, asking with the wrong motives. He just wants his little girl to be okay. Verse 23:

Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

Each one of us has asked the Lord for something. We pray for people to be healed. We pray that God will provide a job. We pray for marriages to be restored. We pray for families to be made whole. We pray for mental health and physical health and emotional health. We pray that God will lead our loved ones back to church, when they’ve been gone for so long. We pray with good motives. We’re not asking Jesus for anything that we shouldn’t be asking. We just want our children, our parents, our bodies, our minds, we just want them to be okay. Please come, Jesus, and put Your hands on the sickness, and we will be healed and live.

And when Jairus asked Jesus, and when you asked Jesus, Jesus answered. Look. Verse 24:

So Jesus went with him.

Jesus heals. Jesus restores. Jesus saves. That’s what His name means. God saves. Every fiber of His being is driven to save little girls from dying. Every thought in His mind is to heal and to restore. Every moment of every day for eternity, Jesus has been reigning and working to make families and bodies and minds whole and healthy and strong. So when we ask for Jesus to come, when we ask for Jesus to heal, of course He comes. Of course He answers. He wants the healing that we want, sometimes even more than we want it. We’re worried, we’re grieving, we’re carrying this heavy burden, and when we ask Jesus to do something, He goes with us. He goes with us.

But on the way to healing, something happens. Verse 25:

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.

There’s someone else suffering, someone who has been hurting for a long time. We, with our modern eyes, have a hard time seeing the deep pain in verse 25. But for this woman, bleeding for twelve years has meant utter isolation, complete loneliness, deep, overwhelming shame. According to Jewish law, no one can touch her, because she is bleeding. For twelve years, she can’t hold children or grandchildren. For twelve years, she can’t be hugged by her husband. For twelve years, she has carried a reputation that makes people go out of her way to avoid her. Verse 26:

She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.

And just like Jairus, this woman with no name knows where to find the answer. She knew that to touch Jesus was to find healing. She thought, verse 28:

“If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

If Jesus hadn’t stopped, the woman wouldn’t have been healed. She would have continued to suffer. She would have continued to bleed. But Jesus had stopped. Because Jesus had not gone to heal the little girl yet, the woman herself was able to be healed. Jesus hadn’t raised the daughter, and so the woman was saved.

And while Jesus waits to return, people are being saved, and some of them are us. There are people, all over the world, there are people right here in town that are hearing the gospel, and they’re just starting to understand it. Some of them have heard about Jesus their entire lives, but right now is the time when it’s hitting them, when Jesus is becoming a real Person. Right now they are being saved. And if Jesus had returned to earth yesterday, or a week ago, these people would not only have suffered for twelve years. They would have suffered for an eternity.

For some of us, we have been waiting and praying for a loved one to finally understand. We want so desperately for our son or daughter, our mom or dad to really know Jesus. Jesus is holding off, for them. He’s waiting to return, so that they can be healed. He’s even waiting for some of us. There might be some of us, who come to church, even in the evening, who haven’t really known Jesus yet. We go to church. We try to do what the Bible says. We try to act like a Christian. But that’s not the way to be saved. Trying to do what the Bible says doesn’t make someone a Christian. Knowing Jesus, that’s what makes us a Christian. And Jesus is waiting, He’s holding off, until we, and our loved ones, and every person that He has chosen has finally come to love Him. As Jesus waits, we are Jairus, wanting the healing. As Jesus waits, we are the woman, needing to be healed.

And as Jesus waits, we are the disciples, who have some idea that Jesus is doing something, but really don’t understand. We are the disciples who see Jesus at work, but are most of the time confused about what He’s actually doing. We know Jesus is here, we know that He speaks, we know that He comforts, we know that He corrects. We understand that Jesus leads us like a Shepherd. We get that Jesus is the Head of the church. But how He leads and where He guides and what He says and how He comforts, we’re just not always that sure. We know Jesus is doing something while He waits to return. But what? What exactly is Jesus doing?

We see Jesus at work…sometimes. And then at other times, we are as clueless as the crowd. We don’t have time to watch what Jesus is doing. We’re busy people, after all. We have responsibilities. We have the demands of our jobs, the demands of our families, the demands that we put on ourselves, all pulling at us from different directions. And yes, sure, we should all spend more time with Jesus. We should take the time to listen to Him, to speak with Him, to notice the work that He is doing. We should follow where He leads, and do what He tells us to do. We get that.

And then we forget. We go for days without opening His word. We quick rattle off a prayer before a meal, the same words we always say, the words we can say without really meaning them. We spend our time and attention on the important things in life, our job, our community, our family. And we never really see Jesus at work. We completely miss Him. And then, when we do get a glimpse of Him working, sometimes, we can actually mock Him. We’re the crowd, in verse 39, that when we see Jesus at work, we scorn. Verse 39:

He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.

And when we’re too busy for Jesus, and we miss what He is doing, we lose. We lose a miracle. We miss out on the amazing power of Jesus. You saw what Jesus did when the crowd laughed at Him. He didn’t get mad at them. He didn’t try to explain what He was doing so that they wouldn’t laugh at Him anymore. He just simply shut the door on them. He put them out of the house.

But He took His disciples inside. The people who wanted to be with Him, even if they didn’t always understand what He was doing, the people who had given their lives to Him, who had decided to follow Jesus, Jesus lets them in and allows them to see the most amazing thing. Verse 40:

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was.

And finally, Jesus arrives. Finally, Jesus is ready. Finally, Jesus will raise this precious little girl from the dead. Verse 41:

He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.

Those were the words that came out of Jesus mouth. The actual words. Talitha koum. Little girl, get up! And there is going to come a day, a wonderful day, maybe today, when we will hear the words, the actual words come out of Jesus mouth. Revelation 11:12:

a loud voice from heaven [said] to [the people of God], “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

In English, in Chinese, in French, in Dutch, we will all hear the words of Jesus, telling us to rise. The raising of this little girl here in Mark 5 is a peak, just a glimpse, just a little taste of the day when Jesus finally arrives on earth. The resurrection of this little girl shows us our resurrection. Every dead part of our lives will be resurrected. Our minds that don’t work right, our bodies that are weak, our emotions that get all whacked out, our imaginations that run wild with us, our memories that are so heavy. All of this will be taken away, and in their place will be whole minds and strong bodies, emotions that make sense, imaginations that run wild in beautiful places, memories that are pleasant. When Jesus comes, just like the little girl, we will be raised, and given something to eat. Isaiah 25:6

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.

Until that day, we wait and hope. Until that day, we are the parents, wanting the resurrection. Until that day, we are the woman, and we know others, who need the healing power of Jesus in our lives. Until that day, we are the disciples, not always sure what we’re witnessing, but we know Jesus is doing something. Until that day, sometimes, we are the crowd, and we don’t see anything at all, we don’t even remember Jesus. But on that day, that glorious day, we are the little girl, dead, but now risen, sick, but now healed, broken, but now whole, weak, but now strong on that day when Jesus, finally, finally arrives.