The Secret About the Little Girl's Healing Hunch 35
While Jesus was still speaking,
some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your
daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?"
Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid;
just believe." He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and
John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler,
Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 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. 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. 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. He gave strict orders not
to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
In a Nutshell
The healing of the little girl took place just as Jesus had intended when he went along with the girl's father. We not only hear that the little girl was raised. Mark also tells us how Jesus cared for that family in a special way.
Questions
The gospel doesn't tell us everything. It doesn't tell us why Jesus required the little girl's parents to keep the matter in the family! Why was that, do you think?
Later
when he told the story of how he had pleaded with Jesus to come and restore his
little girl Jairus would also tell that part of the story, where the elderly
lady grabbed Jesus' cloak and how Jesus stopped to tend to this woman. There is
no doubt about Jairus's sense of urgency. He had told Jesus his daughter was on
the point of death! By stopping Jesus had shown him that when you put your
trust in God's Son, you can trust His time-table. But still, Jesus hadn't seen
the little girl yet! And hadn't He become unclean after the woman touched Him?
It
was then that some men, members of Jairus' household, came and told the Rabbi
He was no longer needed. The danger was over. The child had died! So what was
Jairus to think? Hadn't the delay prevented Jesus from getting to his daughter
on time? Apparently not. Mark tells us Jesus kept going. He told Jairus not to
worry, to believe. Jesus ignored the message and kept going to Jairus' house.
He wasn't backing off. He was taking Jairus with Him.
When
he got there the professional mourners laughed when He said she was sleeping.
But Jesus raised the little girl to life. That laughter would have been
transformed into something quite different! Jairus, his wife and the little
girl were just like any other needy person in God's sight. Jesus showed them
His power, a power that not only defeated demons and long-term illness. He
showed His power over death.
Jesus
continued to work and strong opposition continued to grow. We read of these
healings and now we know that they were part of the lead-up to His trial and
execution. They help us understand why the gospel is Good News about God's
Kingdom. Some of the first to hear and read these stories would be the people
of the Decapolis and Galilee whose lives was changed after meeting Jesus. That
was years before the gospel was written down. They might also have seen Him
again when He returned there after His resurrection.
I have a question: How come, since Jesus told Jairus, his wife, Peter, James and John not to tell anyone, that we have read about it? Did someone have to disobey Jesus for it to get out? My hunch is that this is important for understanding this story.
Let's
think about it some more. Knowing there was a secret is not the same as knowing
what the secret was. My hunch is that though we know they had a secret, we do
not know what it was that they had to keep secret. Here's what Mark 6:43 says. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this,
and told them to give her something to eat. It sounds like Jesus
told Jairus and Mrs Jairus to keep it all to themselves. Why would He say that?
What did they have to keep to themselves? The little girl had been raised.
Surely the crowd would hear about this sooner or later, anyway? She'd be
running around the village playing tiggy with friends and they'd see her and
say: "Hey, there's that little girl Jesus raised on the day He healed that
woman!" So why did Jesus give strict orders not to tell? I think He wanted
this family to enjoy the occasion together; keeping quiet was their part in
keeping the crowds away. He wanted this synagogue household to enjoy the
special event and not to proclaim it. Yes, the news would get around
eventually. But it wasn't their task. Jesus helped them enjoy family life again
and was well and truly in control at the centre of their family life. Remember,
He made sure the "great crowd" stayed away (v.24), and those who
laughed, the prayer meeting preparing for a funeral, were told in no uncertain
terms to butt off (v.40)?
The
little girl's health depended on the parents doing exactly what the Healer
said. No ifs, buts or maybes. They had to not tell anyone about what had
happened when He raised the little girl and what He had said to them. Jairus,
the girl's mother, as well as Peter, James and John were all parties to that
secret. They knew what they were to keep secret. We don't. It is enough for us
to know, just like the people in the village would learn, that the little girl
had been raised. That's all we need to know. Jesus strictly advised them to
keep it between themselves.
Jesus
gave Himself to that family in a special way, saying something like: "You
need your privacy to be a family again. Here's your little girl. Be a family
together!"
We don't
know girl's ailment, only that Jesus said "Little girl get up!" The
parents were stressed and Jesus helped them, by reminding them she needed food.
Eating together they would become a family again. Jesus' strict words meant
Jairus and his wife would not even be telling the members of the synagogue.
Think about that. These important people of that community had not solved this
problem on their own. They had discovered how much they needed God's help to
live day by day. Mark's good news is also about how Jesus came into people's family
lives, helping them to live together. For families, that sometimes means those
on the outside, like members of that synagogue, do not get to know the details.
They don't have to. Jesus' advice helped the synagogue ruler and his wife and
kept the synagogue in its place so that it didn't rule their life. Jesus
protected them as a family. It's good to tell others that Jesus has helped us,
but sometimes families have to keep the details to themselves. Parents need to
grow wise about family secrets. By following Jesus in family life, we actually avoid
situations where we have to tell others to "butt out".