Mark 5:21-34 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Mark 5:21-34. Let’s go!
Mark 5:21-23 (NIV)
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake.
22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet
23 and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”
On verses 21-23: Had the people living in the region of the Garasenes welcomed Jesus to stay, Jesus may not have crossed over to the other side of the lake and met Jairus and his dying daughter so soon. The Garasene people’s rejection of Jesus actually opened the door for Jesus to do other and greater miracles elsewhere. When one door closes, another door opens. In all things God works for good.
Mark 5:24-26 (NIV)
24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.
25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years.
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.
On verses 24-26: This woman was bleeding not just physically. She was bleeding financially. She was bleeding emotionally. She was bleeding hope. For 12 years. No one seemed to be able to help her and she was desperate.
Mark 5:27-34 (NIV)
27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?'”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.
33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.
34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
On verses 27-34: Jesus, humble as he was, credits this woman’s faith as what healed her. Of course we know that it wasn’t just her faith but Jesus’ power that brought her healing (v30). The lesson here? Rightly-placed faith activates God’s saving power. It’s not that my faith by itself saves and heals me, but when I place my faith where it belongs – in Jesus – I experience God’s power. Like a lightswitch, my faith in Jesus, when turned on, activates God’s power in my life.
Also, notice this: Jairus the synagogue ruler (v22), the bleeding woman (v33), and the demon possessed man (v6) all “fell at Jesus’ feet” and as a result all of them experienced God’s power. The lesson here? Those who humble themselves before Jesus will experience His grace and power in their lives, whereas those who pridefully push Jesus away forfeit the grace that could be theirs. As Scripture says repeatedly, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (e.g. 1 Peter 5:5; Proverbs 3:34).
Jesus, I fall at Your feet today and ask You to fill me with Your power. I can’t do anything good apart from You, but with You all things are possible. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
