in the fifth chapter of mark, we are told of three more miracles. first, jesus heals a demon-possessed man in the region of the decapolis, sending the demons from the man into a swineherd. the 2,000 or so pigs rush into the sea and drown after the "unclean spirits" enter them. the man asks to go with jesus when he departs, but jesus tells the man to go and tell his friends "how much the lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you. mark says that when the man "began to proclaim in the decapolis how much jesus had done for him everyone was amazed."
next jesus returns to the other side of the sea of galilee, and a man named jairus, "one of the leaders of the synagogue," begs jesus to cure his daughter who is "at the point of death." on the way to the man's house, "a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years" approaches jesus from behind and touches his cloak, believing that just making contact with jesus' clothes will cure her. the gospel says that she was immediately cured. jesus, sensing that some power has gone out from him, asks "who touched my clothes?" the disciples are incredulous, since jesus is surrounded by a large crowd, and in all likelihood many people have touched him in the crush. the woman admits that she was the one who touched him seeking a cure, and jesus tells her, "daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
as this encounter is taking place, word comes that the daughter of jairus has died, so they believe jesus can do nothing for her. jesus tells jairus not to fear, but instead to believe. taking peter, james, and john with him, jesus goes to jarius' home, where the girl is being mourned. jesus asks, "why do you make a commotion and weep?" when jesus tells the mourners that "the child is not dead but sleeping" they laugh at him. taking the only the girl's parents and his three disciples with him, jesus goes to the room where the girls is. he takes her by the hand and says, "little girl, get up!" the twelve-year-old girl arises and begins to walk around the house. those present are amazed, but jesus tells them to keep what has happened secret and orders them to give the child something to eat.
mark paints a picture of a man with great power, curing a man in great mental distress, healing a woman when she has only touched his clothing, and raising a child from the dead. in the first two miracles, jesus wants others to know of what has transpired, as he tells the man to go tell his friends about his cure and calls the woman out of the crowd to tell those around him of her cure. yet he wants this final miracle to be kept secret, perhaps because thousands of others will come to him wanting loved ones resurrected, thus increasing the demands on him.
maybe the writer is attempting to show jesus as one who brought hope to those who were hopeless, making those who were at the mercy of the occupying romans and their native allies see something beyond their desperate plight. were these miracles exaggerations to give greater credibility to the claims that jesus was a man-god? did the evangelist feel it necessary to portray jesus as the equal to other god figures in the roman world? whatever the case, i long to hear more of what jesus taught, more that would show what jesus was like. surely, there was more to jesus that attracted others to him than the working of miracles. would the disciples have dropped everything to follow him if that was all there was?
may we seek the man behind the miracles. may the teachings that caused others to abandon their settled lives to follow him emerge from the little we know of jesus from the gospels. may we find the same hope that those early followers found. may the compassion that jesus showed for others be manifest in our lives. shalom.
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