Old Sunday School Lesson

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Old Sunday School Lesson

Post by K » Mon Nov 10, 2014 5:35 am

Mark 5,21-43 Today, the pastor at the church that I go to went over this passage and drew some points from it, and I was reminded of am assessment lesson that I learned back when I was in elementary school.

First, take a thorough look at the passage. It doesn't say much about it here, but other translations and the original text indicate that Jairus kept asking Jesus to hurry up and come heal his daughter. Jesus is omniscient, but he didn't seem to be in much of a hurry, or else he would not have let the show go on, right? Keep that in mind.

Jairus starts begging Jesus to come help, and Jesus knows full-well what a rush the man is in, but He stops to bring attention to another healing that would have gone unnoticed at the time. This lady figured, "If I just touch His garment, I'll be healed." It's a bit of a ritualistic mentality, probably one that hails to some Pagan roots in her family. I'm saying that it's not exactly the most intellectual faith. She is healed, though. God doesn't need her to understand her blessing in order to bless her. He does call out to her, though. She just about craps herself, thinking that she's in trouble. Like, how dare she, an unclean person, touch the clothing of the Lord? That's what she must have been thinking. Remember that she had a bleeding disease, and it was one that the surgeons (I'm using the term loosely, here. Back then, they were little more than witch doctors. Actually, no, they pretty much were witch doctors.) were clueless on, probably some sort of vaginal bleeding disease. Anyway, He wasn't out to put her down; He wanted to let her know that she was healed because she had faith in His power to heal her. He wanted her to know that she didn't just steal a touch, that she didn't do anything wrong, and that she was healed by His power that she faithfully allowed into her life, not by any ritual. He wanted her to know, and He wanted witnesses to know.

He gets to Jairus' place, and He didn't run in there just to miss the death by two seconds, like He would if this were a movie. They already had the mourners out and hired! For those that don't know, it was a regular part of the local culture to hire professional mourners, moirologists, to make a commotion when your family members died. It was a thing. The mentality was largely something along the lines of, "I want the public to know that this death happened and that I'm mourning, but I'm too busy and my throat is too tired to stand out there and yell for hours on end, so I'll hire someone else to represent me while I stay inside and mourn in solitude." Anyway, there were already moirologists there, wailing and carrying on like they do. Jairus is told, 'Hey, she's already dead, so piss off,' basically. Jesus wasn't late. He told them that she was just asleep. Their reaction was something along the lines of, 'Yeah, she's just asleep, and we're just whispering, right? Bwahahaha!' I mean, you know, I wasn't there for the actual dialogue, but I thought that that might illustrate things a bit. Jesus walked on in, told her to get up, and she did, just like that. The thing here is that we don't really know whether she was dead, on the brink of death, comatose, in an illness-induced, death-like sleep, or what. We don't know because, back then, not a lot of thought was put into it. I'm oversimplifying things, but it basically came down to, "If they wake up while we're mourning over them, they were just fast asleep. If they don't, they're dead." Comas were barely a concept, at the time, and education levels on medical issues were, well, like education levels on other things, which I shouldn't have to elaborate on. Jesus knew, but it wasn't the time or place to give them medical insight. It was the time and place to heal her, and that's it. It was kept secretive. If word had gotten out about this, people would have just been confused. What if this dude claims that he rose someone from the dead, but only a few people claim to have witnessed it because we're talking about a child's room in a private residence to work with, here? The only one among them, the dad, that could have verified that she was legit dead before Jesus got there actually couldn't have because he had just gone to get Jesus, so who witnessed her actually take her last breath? What if she was really just asleep, and this is a ruse to make him look like a healer that he's not, huh? The story would have gotten mixed around, and it would have still been a blessing, but letting it go public immediately would have caused unnecessary confusion.

In one instance, Jesus went out of His way to make knowledge of a healing miracle go public. In another, He went out of His way to keep it on the down-low. We know that publicity is not the priority, and it shouldn't be. The motivation is clarity. In both instances, Jesus wanted people to have clear minds on what happened. In one instance, it was a matter of simply pointing it out in a way that makes His priorities clear: He didn't yell at or punish her, so she wasn't wrong to touch Him, and she was right to come to Him. She was healed by faith, not ritual, and He simply said so. He clarified things up front. In the other case, clarifying things up front to everyone wasn't a practical thing, so it was better that they just be kept in the dark. People down the street surely said, "Hey, what was that commotion? I thought that someone had died, and I figured that it was the girl, since she's been ill for a while, but I just saw her walking with her mom a minute ago!" The answer would be, "Geez, man, I don't know. I can't figure it out, either." It became old news, and then the details of the matter got out later . . . in intellectual conversation and biblical writing, not when it's fresh gossip to distort. It was so important that people don't turn this into a gossip-fest, a confusing and distorting matter, that Jesus wanted it to be kept a secret.

What are some of the lessons that we can take from this? What are the conclusions of this assessment?
  • Not all secrets are bad. Sometimes, it's okay to be kept in the dark for your own good. That doesn't mean that you should take an "ignorance is bliss" attitude to everything. You absolutely should be striving for knowledge, much moreso wisdom, but it's okay to know your limits and sometimes let others set limits.
  • Clarity is a high priority! If Jesus had said nothing, the older woman's faith would not have progressed intellectually, which is what Jesus wanted of her. He wanted her to have a clear, intellectual faith. Others surely learned from the experience. Likewise, if He had said nothing or let other, talkative folks come with Him, there's no telling what chaos would have ensued as a result.
  • Patience is a serious thing, no matter how severe our issues seem to be. We have to remember that He doesn't let us deal with things that we can't deal with. You feel like you should have been healed, already? How would you like to be on the brink of death, comatose, or totally dead before He heals you? How would you like twelve years of perma-period? How would you like twelve years of perpetual bleeding, which means that that you're perpetually unable to enter tabernacles, partake of holy ceremonies, get married, or have kids? How about losing friends because they don't understand that it's not contagious, or because it's assumed that you did something really bad/disgusting to get this problem, and they don't want to associate with such a person? How would you like that? Yeah, God's timing doesn't come with a lot of explanations. Yeah, it can be frustrating to some extent even after you've accepted it and gotten peace about it. Above all, though, you need to look back and say, "They knew that He would heal them. So should I."
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