Mark 5:21-43

The evidence suggests that Mark has deliberately linked these two stories together. Not only is the story of the cure of the woman with hemorrhages placed inside of the story of the cure of the daughter of Jairus, but there are also striking similarities in the two cures.

Both are the cures of women who have lost their value in the community. The woman is not able to conceive because of her unnatural menstruation cycle and the young daughter is not healthy enough. Both are ritually unclean and contact with either would make that person also unclean. They both have “twelve” in the story: the woman has been dealing with her illness for twelve years and the girl is twelve years of age. In both cases it is the touch, the contact with Jesus, which both jeopardizes his ritual purity and brings healing to each of them. Jesus not only heals both of them but also restores them to their place in the community. With the woman, this is symbolized by Jesus calling her “daughter” and acknowledging that she is both cured and saved. (Mark 5:34) With Jairus’ daughter, Jesus tells her parents to give her something to eat. Eating together always implies the establishment and recognition of a relationship in this culture. (Mark 5:43)

1. Has anyone you love dearly ever been close to death? How did their illness affect you? How did it affect your relationships to others? Your own prayer?
2. Have you ever been seriously ill without being able to find relief? Have you ever been considered so contagious that you had to be quarantined from others? How do these experiences, or their absence in your life, affect how you hear this gospel text?
3. Mark records the name and position of Jairus but not name of his daughter or the woman who is cured. What does that suggest to you about Mark and his community? Jesus cures the daughter and the woman. What does that suggest to you about Jesus? How do you understand Jesus living within the culture of his day? What does that suggest to you?
4. The cure of the this woman is the incident in the gospels were Jesus does not seem to initiate or even control the power of healing that flows from him. What does this suggest to you about the power of God’s compassionate love for us? For you?
5. The woman in the text would have been considered as breaking socially acceptable behavior - she has not kept a distance so as not to bring ritual impurity on others. Do you think that ritual impurity affects how Jesus interacts with her? Do the social norms seem to affect how those in need interact with those around them in your community? Do social norms affect how you interact with those in need? What should be the tension here for us?

(Comments to Paul at pauljg@mindspring.com.)

Paul Gallagher, OFM
San Damiano Friary
4856 West 29th Street
Cicero, IL 60804
708.656.1022
pauljg@mindspring.com