Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S16 || Faith in the Face of Grief || Mark 5:35-43 || Session 16 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
Encounter a profound story of faith and healing in this engaging episode where we delve into the struggles and triumphs of Jairus, a desperate father seeking Jesus’ help for his gravely ill daughter. As we navigate through the emotional terrain of heartache, we explore how Mark’s Gospel portrays the actions of Jesus, emphasizing a dynamic and immediate approach to miracles. Join us in unpacking these heartfelt themes and allow the message of belief to resonate within you. Subscribe, share your thoughts, and be part of our community as we seek to strengthen our faith and trust in God's timing.
Thank you for listening!! Please give us a five-star rating to help your podcast provider's algorithm spread RTTB among their listeners.
You can find free study and leader resources at the following link - Resource Page - Reasoning Through the Bible
Please prayerfully consider supporting RTTB to help us to continue providing content and free resources. You can do that at this link - Support RTTB - Reasoning Through the Bible
May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
The Gospel of Mark is a lot of going and doing. There's a lot of action and it happens very quickly. Today, in Mark, chapter 5, we're going to feel that action in this account. We saw last time how there was a synagogue official named Jairus who came to Jesus asking him to come and heal his daughter who was at the point of death. While Jesus was going, there was a great crowd pressing in and Jesus could feel one woman who had come up from behind him and was healed of a issue of blood that she had had for 12 years. As we pick up the story again now, we're going to see what happened to Jairus' daughter. Steve, can you go ahead and read? In Mark, chapter 5, starting in verse 35, we'll find out what happens to Jairus and his household.
Speaker 2:While he was still speaking they came from the house of the synagogue official saying your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher anymore? But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official Do not be afraid any longer, only believe. And he allowed no one to accompany him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. They came to the house of the synagogue official and he saw a commotion and people loudly weeping and wailing and entering in he said to them why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died but is asleep.
Speaker 2:They began laughing at him but putting them all out, he took along the child's father and mother and his own companions and entered the room where the child was. Taking the child by the hand, he said to her Talitha kum, which translated means Little girl. I say to you, get up. Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old and immediately they were completely astounded and he gave them strict orders that no one should know about this and he said that something should be given to her to eat.
Speaker 1:Of course, mark is a book of action, as we said, and in this particular section you can just feel the action. Things seem to be happening very quickly. You can almost feel the crowd pressing in around Jesus. You can almost hear the mourners wailing Very descriptive language here, verse 35,. While he was still speaking to the woman with the issue of blood, they came up to Jairus and things happened just sort of very quickly, one after the other after the other. One of the verses that we read there had the word immediately twice in it. So things are happening quite quickly here with Jesus. I'm sure if we were a disciple of his we would see things happening quite quickly, steve. Even today in ministry sometimes we feel like things are happening quickly, but it's all in God's timing, right?
Speaker 2:It is in God's timing. And sometimes it's hard for us to wait on God's timing because we might think that things are moving a little bit slowly as we see Mark go through here one miracle after another. He just keeps going, without any type of long discourses or anything else. Between, like we see in some of the other Gospels, he's getting right to the point of who Jesus is and what he's doing.
Speaker 1:The main point of this section that we just read, of course, is this man, Jairus, and his daughter who had died. She was sick. He goes to Jesus to ask for come to my home and heal her. While Jesus is on the way, word comes to him and say she's already died. Why trouble the teacher? Well, in verse 36, Jesus turns around and responds. What did Jesus tell Jairus when he heard the news of his daughter's death?
Speaker 2:He told him. He said don't worry, just believe. It's almost like you could picture him after being told the news that he turns to Jesus, and Jesus can see the panic or fear in his face and Jesus consoles him and tells him don't be afraid any longer, just believe.
Speaker 1:He turns to Jairus Don't be afraid, just believe. That's really the message he gives to all Christians, because we at some point or another get into very fearful situations in this world. We get into situations that we don't know what to do or whether we're making the right decision or what sort of issue is going to slam us next. Our Lord turns to us and says don't be afraid, just believe. He doesn't tell Jairus here what he's about to do. He just says don't be afraid, just believe. He doesn't tell us, as we go through life, what's going about to do. He just says don't be afraid, just believe. And he doesn't tell us, as we go through life, what's going to happen next. Sometimes I'm thankful that he doesn't, sometimes we're wishing he would. But don't you think, steve? That's really where we are. We don't know what's going to come next in this life. Might be good, might be quite painful, but Jesus turns to us and says don't be afraid, just believe.
Speaker 2:What drove Jairus to come and search Jesus out amongst this great throng of people that are going with him was his faith, was his belief that Jesus was going to be able to pay care and heal his daughter from this sickness. And while they're there, the daughter passes into death. Jesus gives that comforting thing Just believe, Don't worry. Just believe. Meaning. In my opinion, he's telling them you came here under the faith that I was going to be able to heal your daughter. Well, just because she has passed on now doesn't mean that I still can't bring her back to life. Don't worry anymore, Only believe. Which had to be certainly comforting words to Jairus.
Speaker 1:In that time of distress, Jairus was already, I'm sure, emotionally distraught, because he had watched his daughter get very sick. He knew she was at the point of death. That's why Jairus went to get Jesus. Now he hears the news. No need to go talk to the teacher anymore. Now there's no greater pain that could happen to a parent than to see their young child die. The children are supposed to live on and go on and do great things. When a parent sees a child die, there's arguably no greater pain in this world. He hears this devastating news and immediately afterwards Jesus turns to him and says don't be afraid, just believe. If we were to attempt to put ourselves in Jairus' position, what do you think he's thinking emotionally? What's going through his mind when he hears this hugely devastating news that his daughter has just died. But yet the Lord is telling him?
Speaker 2:just believe I'm late. It's too late, I haven't made it in time. He might have even been thinking if he would have come a little bit quicker and not spent time with this lady that had the problem and the issue, maybe he would have been able to make it to where my daughter was not dead yet. I mean, those are all speculative things, but they're things that you would think that a parent would possibly be thinking.
Speaker 2:Again, I think the fact that Jesus tells him don't be afraid any longer, only believe, gives us an indication that there was some sort of a panic or something in Jairus you mentioned earlier, though things happen on God's timing, and this is going to be used to demonstrate the power and the ability. It's another testament of who he is, that he is the anointed one, the Messiah, the king that is bringing in the kingdom, and that he is God because he has the power over nature. Sometimes we will pray, we ask and we see what we say is an answer from God, because we get what we are praying for. Then, sometimes, we don't necessarily see what we've specifically asked for, and sometimes we might have a little bit of doubt of saying I've prayed to God, I'm not seeing what I'm asking for coming into manifestation. But if we will just continue to believe, we will see God working in our lives in those situations, even though it might not come out to the ending of how we are, what our expectation is.
Speaker 1:If I try to put myself in the shoes of this man, jairus, it's really hard to plumb the depths of his pain. At this point he had just heard the news that his greatest fears have been realized, that his daughter had died. We will go through life and we will sometimes get very painful news and sometimes we'll be tempted to get to the point of despair. Despair is when we've lost not only all hope but all strength. There's no ability to even try to continue in life. That is despair. At this point, we know that we will get bad news at times. That's just part of this life. We live in a cursed creation and we will get bad news. But, steve, if we ask the question, two questions really. What should we do when we get terribly bad news as Christians? Is it ever justified for a Christian to get to the point of true despair?
Speaker 2:Well, we should continue to believe, and I have experienced a time of despair in my life with the loss of my wife and, of course, my children as well. It is a low place when somebody loses a loved one. It's a low place in their life, but I never lost faith. I continued to believe through it, because Tina was a believer. I'm looking forward to being able to meet her again. From that perspective, I think that we as believers should not get to a place of extended despair, but we might be at a place of despair for a few hours or a couple of days, but our belief. That brings us back out of that despair and puts us back onto the road of living this life for Jesus Christ, letting others know about him and what he can do, and then continue on as we prepare for our ultimate day, whenever we're going to pass on from this world into the next.
Speaker 1:People that are not followers of Jesus Christ. I really don't see how they don't end up in despair simply because there's really no hope in this world and there's so many things that just wave after wave of horribleness in this world. The people that are not believers have justification for despair. But the Christian may get into a human condition and human weakness may bring us to the point where we feel we have no strength but the Christian. If we just realize our position in Christ and realize who God is, we have no justification for staying in the point of despair. That's the message here. Even Jairus, who had just lost his precious young daughter, the Lord can turn to him and he can turn to us and say don't be afraid, just believe. I think that's the message that can keep us all going, that can keep us from the lowest of the depths of despair. Then so they go to Jairus' home. What are they doing when he gets there, at this house?
Speaker 2:There's a group of people there that are wailing and weeping inside the house. This is something that would happen with friends and family that would come in and they're mourning the death of this little girl.
Speaker 1:They must have known that she was at death's door, because now the mourners are already there. The mourners are already at the home going through crying, and some cultures in some of the Mideastern places would have hired mourners. I remember seeing a museum where they would have tear cups and they would charge and get paid by how many tears they cried. There's a clue coming up as we'll get to it that these people were really friends of the family and were probably professional mourners. But they're wailing and crying and that gives us a clue that she's truly dead. Or they wouldn't have sent for Jesus in the first place, wouldn't have had the mourners ready to go. This was their last ditch effort. They wouldn't have had mourners if she hadn't actually died. Their response after Jesus tells them why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died but is asleep. What's their response to?
Speaker 2:that they began laughing at him and he in turn put them all out. He wasn't going to fool around with them. I think this is the indication that you were talking about. If they were truly mourning the death of this girl, they wouldn't have laughed at Jesus saying why are you doing this? She's just asleep. If anything, they would have been happy or amazed maybe. Oh, you mean, you're going to do something, but that's not their reaction.
Speaker 1:Their reaction is laughing Jesus uses the word asleep, but that's not their reaction. Their reaction is laughing. Jesus uses the word asleep. Of course he uses this same term for Lazarus over in John when he raises Lazarus. We have this analogy to sleep that the New Testament makes when we say this, simply because the body, when it's dead, looks asleep and our bodies will again raise. Just like in sleep, the body gets up again, but in death our body will rise again. Christians have always held to bodily resurrection because that's what the New Testament teaches us. When we die, the soul goes to heaven, but the soul will be reunited with the body and the body will raise. The physical body that's in the grave will rise again. We're told that several times in the New Testament. He uses this term here for sleep Again. The mourners immediately change and start laughing. They probably were not all that sad simply because their emotions changed so quickly. Then he puts some people out and he allows some to stay. Who did he put out and who did he allow to stay? Why do you think?
Speaker 2:he did that. He puts the mourners out and he brings the parents in and then his companions, and earlier it said that was Peter James and John. So we see him taking Peter James and John in many areas and you almost get the picture of him teaching these three disciples a little bit more than some of the others. He's going to show them a little bit more deeper things by the different areas as we go through the Gospels of where he takes them. They're part of his inner circle.
Speaker 1:He puts out the pretend mourners. At this point in his ministry he probably had Jewish leadership officials, scribes, pharisees following him around trying to see what he does. He puts all of them out because he didn't want to make a show of this and he didn't even allow all of the 12. It was only the inner circle and the immediate family. So he doesn't want to make a public display of this resurrection that he's praying to do. He's acting in secret. Why not do a big miracle in front of everybody? If he is who he says it is, why not take the girl out in the middle of the city square and do it in front of the whole town? Why is he doing this in secret?
Speaker 2:Because I think one thing is it's an intimate moment and he's not going to want to make a spectacle of this very, very serious matter for these parents. That's one. Second is he's been rejected officially by the rulers of the synagogue. So we do see him change a little bit as far as his miracles that he does. After that he's already started teaching the masses in parables and then explaining it to his disciples, the meaning of the parables. I think it is a little bit of a change in his ministry now that he's been rejected officially by the synagogue. But the bottom line is this is a serious matter to these parents and he's not going to make a spectacle out of the resurrection of this little girl.
Speaker 1:If I ask myself why he does this, the first thing that comes to mind is that it's just not his time yet. He knows the situation and when it's time to do things, he knows it's not his time. Remember Lazarus he raised Lazarus from the dead. If you remember where it was, it was near Jerusalem. The Jewish leaders were there. There was a large group of people there. He raised Lazarus in a very open place near Jerusalem. Remember, the disciples were saying hey, don't go back over there. The Jewish leaders are there and they're going to try to get you. One of the disciples said if we die, we die.
Speaker 1:Jesus was in control over which miracles he did and where he did them and when he did them here. It wasn't his time yet. He didn't want to force the hand of the Jewish leadership, whereas when it was his time to die, he goes to Jerusalem, does the miracle right out there in front of everybody, and then speaks right in the temple in order to force the hand of these Jewish leaders to crucify him. Jesus is in charge of this. He does it secret here simply because he already had this huge crowd following him and it wasn't his time to die just yet. In verse 40, the fake mourners laugh at Jesus. Are there people today, steve, that are laughing at Jesus?
Speaker 2:Yes, and not only Jesus, but the people who believe in him. They laugh all the time, being skeptics and think that people believe in something that is false, something that is a myth, something that's made up, and they take great pleasure in laughing and mocking believers. But all you can do is know that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and they don't. Therefore, at some point in time, they're gonna be put out, just like Jesus put these fake mourners out, and you're gonna be invited in, such as he did with the parents and these companions In this story.
Speaker 1:The people laughing at Jesus did not see the miracle In our day. The people that are laughing at Jesus do not see him work. Who sees Jesus work? It's the people who have the faith. The people that are laughing at Jesus do not see him work. Who sees Jesus work? It's the people who have the faith.
Speaker 1:The people that see Jesus work are the people like Jairus, the people that Jesus will turn to them and say don't be afraid, just believe. And then he does something tremendous, above and beyond all that we can ask or think he gives us blessings so that we're overflowing, or think he gives us blessings so that we're overflowing. The skeptical world out there do not see, but we do, simply because he works in private ways. He sometimes does things big and flashy and out there, but usually the way Jesus works is privately to his followers and he does tremendous things there. That's the same way today To those who are open.
Speaker 1:Jesus speaks to us in tender ways, just like he spoke to this girl Look at verse 41, that he took the child by the hand, which is a very tender thing to do, and he said to her this very tender thing Talitha kum, which is translated little girl, I say to you, get up. So he does this very tender thing. He speaks in the local language, a language that the girl would understand, using a term of endearment, little girl, that the girl would understand. To those that are open, they will hear his voice and he will speak in a very tender way. The Pharisees, who are hard and judgmental, jesus spoke in riddles and parables and harsh language and he ultimately puts them out To this young girl. He speaks in a tender way so that she will understand. Steve, I think that's still the way today, right? People that are critical. The Bible speaks quite harshly to them. But the people that have faith in Jesus and are followers of him, we hear a very tender voice, do we not?
Speaker 2:Well, we do. Part of it's because we're constantly going to him and conversing with him, and what I mean by that is, through prayer, asking him for advice, asking him for wisdom, asking him for healing of people, of sickness, different things and also, when I say asking, wanting him to give us that wisdom and advice so that we can follow it. Well, that's all done in a very respectful and honorable way. There is no need for any type of shouting or anything else like that. It's the voice of the Holy Spirit that we receive whenever we become a believer in this church age. We have their comforter. He's there to guide us. That is the way that God speaks to believers today.
Speaker 1:The question that each of us should ask ourselves is how does he speak to me? Is he speaking to me in a term of endearment, like he does to this girl, or does he speak in a very harsh way? Or do I not hear him at all? If I don't hear him at all, then maybe it's because I'm not his child and maybe I need to go and fall at his feet and ask for forgiveness, because he will speak. He will speak to you through his word, through the Bible. That's how he speaks to us today. He speaks in very tender ways. Those of us that are his followers, that are his children, will hear his voice and will hear him quite tenderly and quite profoundly, whereas the people are outside, the people that are laughing. He'll either put them out and not speak to them at all or, if they're religious hypocrites, he will speak quite harshly.
Speaker 1:The other thing, steve, I think that we can find here in this account if we look at this chapter, we see this account of the woman with the issue of blood and Jairus and his daughter, and we have this story here that has these tender little details and these moments that really can only be explained by the idea of an eyewitness account. They're these little details that have nothing to do with a theological point, but they tell a story and make it real for us. They also tell us that whoever is telling the story was there. For example, jairus fell at Jesus' feet. Well that, he was a synagogue official, that was kind of a high job in the community typically didn't fall at somebody's feet, especially a rabbi with no credentials is what he thought. The woman with the issue of blood was sick for 12 years. It gives that little detail. The woman approached Jesus from behind. Well, there's no theological point there. It's just that whoever was telling the story most probably Peter was describing what he saw. She came up from behind him. The fact that Jesus was still speaking to the woman and he got interrupted by the messenger from Jairus' home.
Speaker 1:The exact number of people who witnessed the event. The exact Aramaic phrase that Jesus said, talitha kum, which is this term of endearment. Jesus touched the hand of the dead girl which, if she had stayed dead, would have made him unclean. You weren't supposed to touch dead bodies. There's all these little details that can only be explained by an eyewitness account. The flavor of the language and the flavor of the story has all these details that just scream out at us that this is an eyewitness account, pulled by people that were there that saw it. The other thing that I notice here in verse 41, when he uses that term, talitha kum, which translated means little girl, I say to you get up.
Speaker 1:Well, mark and we're going to see it a couple of times in the next chapter he translates these words and, steve, I've run into many people over the years that seem to think there's an issue with translating the scriptures. It's really not. I mean the ability of which words to translate. He was wise enough to translate the right ones, because here was a very common term of endearment little girl. But it's a tender moment. He translates that Mark was Peter's interpreter, he knew the languages, so we can trust our Bible simply because there's no issue there with translations. Steve, I just find that there's so many things here that's so rich that once we start reasoning through these stories, then we find some tremendous gold nuggets.
Speaker 2:I think people also forget that when Alexander came through the region and took over the Persian Empire and expanded his, that he wanted to bring them together into the Greek culture and he came up with this Koine Greek, which was a I want to say the term simplified Greek. I'm not a Greek scholar. Koine just means common. He did that so that it would be a prevalent way for people to communicate across his empire. Just like today, in our time frame that we're making this, English is the international language of business and it's the international language for flight traffic. There's people in other countries who learn English because they know that they're going to be going into the business world and, in fact, their parents make sure that they learn English. I think people forget about that. They want to say these are all just uneducated people and illiterate. No, that's not what we see. We don't have to necessarily come to that conclusion.
Speaker 1:We have here, as you've mentioned, he translates things quite often throughout what he's writing, Not only did Alexander allow the world to speak Greek as a common language of business, but the Romans came along and built roads that were good enough to where now people could travel and move goods around. Jesus came at a very opportune time, when now there was a way for every country to talk to each other and to get to places, so that the message could go out Such interesting stuff here in the verses of Mark.
Speaker 2:We hope that you've enjoyed this. We hope that you come back and continue to reason with us through the book of Mark as we go along. Thank you so much for watching and listening, as always. May God bless you.
