Do Not Be Afraid; Only Believe: St. Mark 5:21-43

St. Mark 5:21-43: "21 Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, 'My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.' 24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him. 25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, 'If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.' 29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, 'Who touched My clothes?' 31 But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, "Who touched Me?"' 32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.' 35 While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, 'Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?' 36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not be afraid; only believe.' 37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38 Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. 39 When He came in, He said to them, 'Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.' 40 And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. 41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, 'Talitha, cumi,' which is translated, 'Little girl, I say to you, arise.' 42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. 43 But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat."

Today, our Lord heals two people, one with a flow of blood, which had lasted twelve years, and one who was dead, being only twelve years old. This number twelve is what connects this woman and this girl. Another thing that connects this healing and this resurrection is faith. On the one hand is the faith of the woman with the flow of blood for twelve years, who believed that if she only touched the hem of our Lord Jesus' garment she will be healed. And on the other hand we have the faith of Jairus, who believed that if our Lord Jesus would only lay His hand on his little girl she would be healed.

It should also be pointed out that this narrative takes place shortly after our Lord casts out the demon Legion, for our text says that He had crossed over to the other side of the sea. What the Evangelist St. Mark is saying to us, is that our Lord, having received resistance to His holy Word, crosses over the sea, to go to a place where it will be more better received. And we find here in this area, two people who believe that our Lord is the Messiah.

The first one is Jairus, whose name means "illuminating, or illuminated." He comes and he begs our Lord to come and lay His hands on his daughter. Make note of the leader of the synagogue, a man who, in the eyes of the world, is in a position of authority, but when he comes to our Lord, bows himself before the Lord Jesus, showing that he knows Who has the true authority and power. This also shows us how we are to approach our Lord. It shows the humble attitude, and in what position we are to esteem our Lord when we come before Him. This is why the Church kneels or genuflects or bows at certain times during worship, and when we approach the altar, we are showing, through an exercise of our physical movements, our humility, and thereby are showing due honor to our Lord God.

Jairus also shows his faith, because he believes that our Lord Jesus could actually save his daughter. And it should be pointed out at this point, that this faith does not leave him, when comes those who say his daughter is dead. The reason will be given shortly, after we consider the other person of faith in this pericope, the woman with the flow of blood for twelve years.

This woman also has faith, but because of her uncleanness, she is afraid to approach our Lord face to face. She is considered unclean because of the levitical laws regarding a woman's flow of blood. There were two types of uncleanness of women in this regard. The first was after a woman gave birth to a child. If she gave birth to a female child, she was unclean for two weeks, that is, fourteen days, or twice seven, and then she would remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days, or a total of eighty days. However, if she gave birth to a male child, she was then considered unclean for seven days, and then remain in the blood of her purification for a total of forty days. We have an example for us tomorrow, when the Church observes The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Presentation of Our Lord. This festival takes place forty days after Christmas on February 2nd. During this period of uncleanness, the woman was not allowed to enter into the sanctuary, or touch any holy thing (for example our Lord), and afterwards she would be required to offer both a sin offering and a burnt offering at the Temple through the priest.*

The second type of uncleanness in regards to the flow of blood applies to this woman. From the first flow of blood a woman was considered unclean for seven days. Anything she touched was considered unclean, anything she sat on was considered unclean. If someone touched something that she had sat on or touched was considered unclean. If a man had sexual intercourse with her, he was considered unclean for seven days. If the flow of blood lasted for more than seven day (as in the case of this woman whose flow of blood lasted twelve years), the woman was considered unclean all the time of her flow of blood, and if it stopped, she would then count seven days from the time it stopped, and then offer a sin offering and burnt offering.**

What this shows us, is that on account of her uncleanness, that anything that she touches will become unclean. And on account of her uncleanness, she is not allowed to approach our Lord, who is holy. And so she steals a cure. In this she shows her faith. For she believes that our Lord Jesus is the One and True Physician who will heal her, unlike the many false physicians who chiseled away all her funds in finding a cure. It should also point out that during this entire twelve years she was not allowed to enter into the synagogue, therefore she was unable to hear the Word of God for these twelve years.

The Church of the New Testament has a similar practice, although it has fallen somewhat into disuse, this is the practice known as "churching of women." This practice arose out of the question of what to do with a woman, who was considered part of the faithful, but became pregnant, and therefore carried an unbaptized baby in her womb, or perhaps even the baby was recently born, but had not been baptized yet. Since, only the baptized were allowed to come to communion, and take part in that part of the service, what was to be done with these women. This question development into a particular rite in the Church, where pregnant women, and those who had given birth, but whose baby had not been baptized yet, would enter into a separate door meant specifically for this, typically located in the south wall just outside the chancel gate, where the woman would come and kneel wearing a white veil, and holding a lighted candle, and would receive a prayer and a blessing from the priest, dressed in cassock and surplice, to set them apart, and to pray for the unbaptized baby that they may be protected from the evil one, until they could receive baptism. This eventually came to be a rite of thanksgiving for women who had given childbirth, and is still practiced in some parishes.

However, in the churching of women, they were still permitted to participate, unlike this woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years. And so, in her faith, she reasons within herself that if she simply touched our Lord's hem of His garment she would be healed. And she was, and she knew and sensed it immediately. So does our Lord. This is important to point out, for both the woman and our Lord sense within themselves that something has happened. The woman realizes she is healed, and our Lord Jesus realizes He has healed. So, our Lord asks the curious question to ask within a throng of people, "Who touched Me?" He asks this not because He did not know, but in order to point out to all those in the crowd, especially Jairus, this woman's great faith. For it stands to reason that if our Lord says nothing, than this act of faith would remain silent for all eternity. But in order to show what sort of faith this woman had, He calls for her to make it known.

In fear and trembling, we are told, she comes and bows down before the Lord. Notice that she also embodies the same posture as Jairus at the beginning of the reading. Then our Lord, after she relates to the crowd what she did, and why she did it, (this we learn from St. Luke's Gospel) tells her to go in peace, for her faith has healed her. Of course it is not her that is doing the healing, even less so is her healing dependant on her faith, but it is our Lord that does the healing. Her faith simply grasped onto that objective reality. In other words, it didn't happen because she believed, but rather her faith gave her the confidence to trust that our Lord Christ would make it happen.

This scene, which happens just before the men from Jairus' house show up, and indeed, they show up "while He was still speaking," serves to bolster Jairus' faith, especially when he hears that his daughter is now dead. Notice that even though the ones who come tell him to not bother our Lord Jesus anymore, Jairus never tells our Lord Jesus to forget about it. This silence is also a sign of faith in Jairus. And our Lord reassures him that everything will be fine; to "not be afraid."

Having taken only St. Peter, St. James the Elder, and St. John with Him, and not permitting the crowd to follow, our Lord finally comes to find people wailing and crying outside, to which He responds that she is only sleeping. For this He is ridiculed, or as the King James Version says, "they laughed Him to scorn." Our Lord raised three individuals during His earthly ministry (not including Himself, and the ones who were raised at His crucifixion and death). This is His first. The other two are Lazarus, and the son of the widow of Nain. But our Lord raises this young girl only in the presence of her mother and father, and his three chief disciples.

Our Lord raises this girl by His holy Word. "Talitha, cumi." Which is literally translated in the Hebrew as "Little girl, arise." The Evangelist St. Mark, adds the appellation "I say to you" to show that it is by the Lord's preaching that this girl is raised from the dead. The same is true of us as well, we are raised from the spiritual death caused by sin, through our Lord Jesus' preaching, which He accomplishes through His means of grace.

There are two other things of import in this resurrection, first that she immediately gets up and walks around. This shows us a couple of things, first that she was wholly healed. She was not only restored to life, but the sickness, which prompted Jairus' calling upon Jesus is gone too. Also it shows us our response after being awakened from sin and spiritual death, that is, we now walk around in the faith of our Lord Jesus. We follow Him, obey His commands, worship Him, hear Him, and pray to Him. We participate in receiving His holy means, and by these means we are fully cured and healed of the sin and death that infected us.

The second thing of import to point out is that the little girl is given something to eat. Again, we see the importance of meals and eating in holy Scripture. We cannot help but call to mind the meal that we eat, after having been resurrected from spiritual death through Holy Baptism, which gives us sustenance in faith and life. The True Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, given in bread and wine. By this meal we receive forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation, and thereby make a remembrance of our Lord's death and resurrection.

Therefore, today, we have two women who are healed by faith. One through her own faith, and the other through the faith of her father Jairus. Both of whom, by faith, had the boldness to trust that our Lord Jesus can heal and cure. And these to women are also connected by the number twelve, which mystically speaking refers to the twelve tribes of Israel who waited patiently for the coming of the Messiah, and the twelve Apostles who were sent out into the far reaches of the earth to proclaim that our Lord Jesus was the Messiah come. Mystically this means that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has come into the world to heal us of our sin, and raise from us from spiritual death, by preaching to us His holy Word, wherein He speaks to us, "Do not be afraid; only believe."

May God be with you!

Deacon Dulas

* For more information read the section in holy Scripture which applies to this from Leviticus 12:1-8.

** For more information read the section in holy Scripture which applies to this from Leviticus 15:19-33.