A tale of two daughters – Part 2

DAILY BYTE

Today we continue our reflections on the two healing stories found in Mark 5:21-43.

Jairus comes to Jesus, pleading on behalf of his daughter who is dying. He is a distraught father who is oblivious to any others around him. His concern for his daughter is such that he falls on his knees before Jesus and begs for his help. His reputation, his dignity, his social standing in the community are irrelevant. All that matters to him is his little girl.

It is at this point that the bleeding woman enters the scene, and interrupts the journey of Jesus to Jairus' house. Imagine Jairus' frustration. His daughter was on the point of death. Every second was crucial. Hers was a critically urgent situation. And now this unknown woman who was ritually impure was delaying Jesus. Did she not know that he was the ruler of the synagogue? Whatever her need, surely Jesus would realise that it could not possibly be more important, or urgent, than his.

Yet, Jesus stops. Notice that the interruption was Jesus' doing, not the woman's. She would have been happy to snatch a healing touch and slip away unnoticed. It is Jesus who stops. Who turns. Who asks.

Jesus was intentional about engaging the woman - for her sake and for Jairus'. The healing that he offered was interested in far more than cure. Jesus' healing was about reconnection, validation, acceptance and assurance. Had this woman been allowed to slip away unnoticed into the crowds, she would never have had the opportunity to declare publicly the whole truth of who she was, what she had suffered, what she had done. She would never have been given the opportunity to hear the words of peace and blessing that Jesus spoke to her.

Maybe for Jairus these things didn't matter - she was after all an unnamed, marginalised woman. But to Jesus they mattered. To Jesus this woman mattered. Unlike Jairus' daughter, she had no father to plead her cause, no one to look out for her, no one to make her feel special. Quite beautifully, Jesus addresses this 'fatherless' one as 'Daughter.' An acknowledgement of her intrinsic worth that he couldn't bear for her not to hear.

All the while Jairus was witnessing this entire episode. How would Jesus' use of the word "Daughter" have rung in his ears? Could he see a reflection of his own daughter in the face of this poor woman? Did he recognise their shared humanity when she, like he had just done, fell at the feet of Jesus? Did her healing give him hope for that of his own child? Maybe so, but then it was quickly dashed as the awful news that he had been dreading arrived. They were too late. It was all over. His daughter was dead.

But then Jesus speaks. "Don't be afraid, just believe," he tells Jairus. The words sound simple and trite. How could a father who had just heard news of his daughter's death not be afraid? How could he 'just believe'? Maybe then it would have dawned on Jairus. That he had just been shown how. For he had just witnessed this very thing. How a simple woman's belief had overcome her fear, as she risked seeking out Christ and took hold for herself that which she needed, which she (rightly) believed Jesus could give.

Suddenly everything was changed. Nameless, nuisance of a woman no more. Here was another daughter, a companion, a partner, a helpmate in faith. Indeed, the Good News that she had received was the same Good News that Jairus would know that very day, as the other daughter in the story felt the life-giving touch of Christ also.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you Lord that in our sufferings we are not alone. Thank you that your healing work always seeks to connect us with others. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Mark 5:30,33-34

Aware that power had gone out from him, Jesus turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”...the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”