• Not a Zero-Sum Reality, Mark 5:21-43          (see below)
  Rev. Karen A. Goltz
   

• Touching Lives with Love Mark 5:21-43, by Rev. Randy Quinn 
   

• Faith and Perseverance—the Two Sides of Effective Prayer, Mark 5:21-43, by Rev. Frank Schaefer
   

• The Healing Power of God's Love, Mark 5:21-43, by SueCan
   

• Death Where is Thy Sting? Mark 5: 21-43, JP in NJ
   

• Remember And Join in Healing The World, 2 Samuel 1:1-4, 11-12, 17-27, by Kay Vorhees

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Not a Zero-Sum Reality
based on Mark 5:21-43
Rev. Karen A. Goltz

            By and large, Mark’s gospel is pretty linear in its structure.  It’s fast-paced, but it’s linear.  Things happen very quickly in Mark; everything takes place immediately, as soon as, or at once, but it all takes place one thing at a time.  Until today.

            Today’s reading lumps two stories together, intertwining them, events of one impacting the events of the other.  Why?  What’s so special about these two stories?

            They’re both healing stories.  No surprise there: Mark’s gospel is full of healing stories.  They’re both about women being healed—again, nothing remarkable about that.  The very first healing narrative Mark provides is Jesus curing Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever.  But there are differences between the pair, as well.

            The first striking difference is the manner in which the healing takes place.  Jairus begs Jesus to heal his daughter, and Jesus consents.  We can only assume that had Jesus said no, Jairus would have accepted that answer and gone home alone.  The woman, on the other hand, essentially sneaks up behind Jesus and takes her healing like a pickpocket taking a wallet.  Her hope is to remain hidden and anonymous in the crowd, and only comes forward when it becomes clear that Jesus isn’t going anywhere until he gets some answers.

            Another difference is in the social status of the people involved.  Jairus’ daughter herself is virtually a non-entity.  She is a girl and a child: double property.  But she is represented by a powerful and influential man, who lowers himself to beg Jesus on her behalf for healing.  The woman was likely a woman of means at one time.  We’re told that she’d endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had.  Only people with money could spend money on physicians.  But she was well-moneyed no more, and the nature of her illness had made her a social outcast for twelve years.  So we have a once-wealthy long-time social outcast compared to a girl-child with no rights or influence who is represented by a well-respected and influential leader of the synagogue.

            The severity of their illnesses is different, as well.  The girl is on the brink of death and time is of the essence; the woman has been living with her disease for twelve years, and a few more minutes, hours, days, or even years before Jesus could heal her probably wouldn’t change her prognosis very much.  And finally we have the difference in their ages.  The woman is an adult.  Assuming her affliction came upon her in early adulthood, she’s probably somewhere in her thirties, or maybe forties.  The girl is twelve years old.

            And that number – twelve – seems to link these two stories together in a strange way.  The girl is twelve years old; the woman has been hemorrhaging for twelve years.  It’s tempting to make the connection that from the time this girl entered the world, this woman began to suffer.  And once the woman’s suffering ended, so did the girl’s life.  Are the two related?  Can it be that the woman could not be healthy as long as the child was alive? [continue]