When Jesus had crossed again in the boat* to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’
While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing* what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. (Mark 5:21-43)
Ilya Repin. Raising of Jairus' Daughter.1871. Oil on canvas.
The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
[I got to see this painting. Repin is way cool]
Another favorite passage of mine with two stories arranged to comment each upon the other. Mark uses this parenthetical structure (called inclusion) in many instances. Sometimes a central passage is framed, or enclosed, by a recurring phrase. At other times a narrative is, apparently, interrupted by something else, then the tale resumes. These juxtapositions are deemed, by interpreters, to be quite inentional. Mark means for us to wonder what relationships there are between the story of the bleeding woman and the young girl.
We may begin by noticing that we have two stories of women. Not enough people realize that the roles of women in the gospels have much to say about challenging the sexism and stereotyping of Jesus' and subsequent ages. There is also the reference to twelve years (age; time suffering).
We have a girl just entering womanhood and cut off from any future by seeming death.
We have a woman cursed in her womanhood and cut off from social contact by traditions about ritual purity.
Touching or being touched by either would render Jesus ritually unclean.
One comes to Jesus in her own desperation; the father of the other comes to Jesus in his desperation.
One is surrounded by family and the other shunned by all.
Just in these two vignettes there are so many variations of circumstance as well as so many parallels. It is a rich nexus of social connectedness / social isolation and how death, physical or social, can touch us all.
Jesus comes in physical contact but instead of becoming unclean (what is supposed to happen), the sufferers become whole and are restored to life and relationship. The expected is quite overthrown.
Restore us, Lord God of hosts; *
show us the light of your countenance and we shall be saved.
Look upon the heart-felt desires of your humble servants, Almighty God, and stretch forth the right hand of your majesty to be our defense against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.--the BB
No comments:
Post a Comment