Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 2 Study # 5
March 15, 2021
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(212)
1901 ASV
24 And he went with him; and a great multitude followed him, and they thronged him.
25 And a woman, who had an issue of blood twelve years,
26 and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27 having heard the things concerning Jesus, came in the crowd behind, and touched his garment.
28 For she said, If I touch but his garments, I shall be made whole.
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her plague.
30 And straightway Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power [proceeding] from him had gone forth, turned him about in the crowd, and said, Who touched my garments?
31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
35 While he yet spake, they come from the ruler of the synagogue's [house] saying, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Teacher any further?
36 But Jesus, not heeding the word spoken, saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Fear not, only believe.
37 And he suffered no man to follow with him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.
38 And they come to the house of the ruler of the synagogue; and he beholdeth a tumult, and [many] weeping and wailing greatly.
39 And when he was entered in, he saith unto them, Why make ye a tumult, and weep? the child is not dead, but sleepeth.
40 And they laughed him to scorn. But he, having put them all forth, taketh the father of the child and her mother and them that were with him, and goeth in where the child was.
41 And taking the child by the hand, he saith unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise.
42 And straightway the damsel rose up, and walked; for she was twelve years old. And they were amazed straightway with a great amazement.
43 And he charged them much that no man should know this: and he commanded that [something] should be given her to eat.
- I. Mark's Story Within a Story.
- A. The thoughtless crowd and the intentional woman.
- 1. Mark sets the stage by recording that "a great crowd was following Him and "they were 'acting together to afflict' Him". This factual, actual, physical behavior is the root of the metaphorical sense of "affliction" that, in the parable of the sower, caused a group of those who had received the word with joy to renounce that word when it created "affliction" for them (4:16-17).
- a. From the beginning of the post-fall records of Scripture, men have been "knee-jerk" self-centered, thoughtless of others and heedless of the damage they do to one another.
- b. Yet, also from that beginning Yahweh has been laser-focused in His intention to bring these corrupted creatures to the blessing of "Life" by bringing them into His "Love" and "Truth".
- c. This marked difference between creature and Creator generates despair on the one hand and triumphant exulting on the other. The underlying issue that directly affects everything involved in the conflict between these wholly separate attitudes is one: "Faith" in the willingness of Yahweh to respond to the need(s) of the hours, days, weeks, months, and years without a defeating intention to give what is deserved rather than what is needed.
- 1) It is man's struggle to blind himself to his hopelessness and exult in the outcomes of the works of his hands: an effort of extreme hopelessness.
- 2) It is God's work to take off the blinders and let man descend into that hopelessness for one purpose: to set "Hope" before him on the basis of "Grace" so that "Joy" might take the place of the "Death" that is marked by "Unbelief" (according to Paul in Romans 13:15, "joy" and "peace", the two most precious qualities of 'Life', are "by believing") .
- d. The "crowd" reveals the selfishness that runs rampant and, for the greater part, unchecked, in the whole of humanity; it is the "individual" whom Yahweh touches with His grace that reveals the Truth about His willingness to bless (Mark 1:40-41).
- 2. It was because this great crowd was so thoughtlessly unruly that the disciples reacted with a touch of impatient scorn to Jesus' question, "Who touched Me?" in 5:31. This is human depravity on the stage of life, seen and participated in by all men; both the jostling crowd and the disciples' frustrated scorn. We had our introduction to this reality in 2:4; the crowds are always thoughtlessly selfish. This is an example of Jesus' principle that when lawlessness increases, the love of 'the many' grows cold (Matthew 24:12).
- B. The flow of blood for twelve years.
- 1. This "flow" was an insidious "draining" that was gradually wearing the woman down (5:26 says "rather had come unto the worse"). That is was a "draining of blood" indicates that it was a "draining of the life that is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:14 and repeatedly stated in many Old Testament texts).
- 2. The significance of the number "twelve".
- a. On the bare face of it, twelve years is a long time.
- b. This number first shows up in Jesus' "creation" of The Twelve for the purpose of human representation of Jesus, the Mighty One Who Comes: 3:14.
- c. Mark may have doubled down on Jesus' "creation" of The Twelve: 3:16, but the phrase in this verse is bracketed by the editors because of textual support issues.
- d. Mark's next reference is in 4:10 where "His followers" are lumped into a group that included "The Twelve" which sought to understand the parables.
- e. The text before us in this study (5:25) is the next use of "twelve" by Mark.
- f. Then comes 5:42 where the "little daughter" of Jairus is said to be "twelve years old".
- g. In 6:7 Jesus actually does what He intended in 3:14: He summons "The Twelve" and sends them forth with "authority over the unclean spirits".
- h. In 6:43 there are "twelve" baskets of leftovers from the feeding of 5,000 men (approximately a "legion").
- i. In 8:19 Jesus, having asked The Twelve how much food was left over after the feeding of the 5,000, was told "twelve" baskets.
- j. "The Twelve" are confronted by Jesus in the midst of their argument over "greatness" in 9:35.
- k. In 10:32 we are told that Jesus "again" (see 8:31) took "The Twelve" aside and told them of His impending treatment by the chief priests and scribes and His resurrection on the third day.
- l. In 11:11 Jesus left the temple for Bethany with "The Twelve". This is after the triumphal entry and before the cursing of the fig tree because of what He "saw" in the temple the previous evening.
- m. In 14:10 the focus is upon Judas, "one of The Twelve", who goes to the chief priests to plot his betrayal of Jesus.
- n. In 14:17 He came with "The Twelve" to the observance of the Passover.
- o. In 14:20 Jesus told "them" that "one of The Twelve" would betray Him.
- p. Mark's last reference to "twelve" is 14:43 where Judas, "one of The Twelve", brings the mob to arrest Jesus.
- q. Summary: in 11 of the 15 uses of "twelve", Mark writes of "The Twelve"; in two he writes of the woman and the "little daughter" (whose birth -- a result of fertility -- was in the same year that the woman began to bleed -- a strong indication of infertility); and in two he references the number of baskets of food left over from the feeding of 5,000 men. In each case, "twelve" is a significant number: "The Twelve" are His "trained" and "sent" representatives; the "twelve years" signify how long the "little daughter" and the "other daughter" live with the "healings" with which they are involved as issues of "faith"; and the over-abundance of food after feeding a great host of "men" is a significant "lesson" for "The Twelve" regarding "twelve" as a reference to "representation". "The Twelve" are the representative of Jesus; the "twelve years" are representative of the length of time that represents Jesus' pursuit of "faith" in Jairus and "the woman" who was left "unnamed", but characterized as "Daughter"; and the "twelve baskets" of leftovers represent Jesus' ability to provide "bread" for those of His "kingdom".