Pastor David B. Curtis
Pastor David B. Curtis
In our last studies we saw Jesus calm the storm on the sea of Galilee and cure a demoniac at Kursi. Now we come to a double miracle in which Jesus deals with both disease and death. The message from Mark 5 is that Jesus has power over the natural world and the supernatural world, and now we see He has power over disease and death. The point of these chapters is that Jesus is the Messiah, He can deal with any problem, and He can be trusted.
In our text for today, in characteristic form Mark tells a story-within-a-story: The encounter with the hemorrhaging woman is couched within the story of the healing of Jairus' daughter. This is technically called intercalation; a story in a story.
There is an interesting emphasis in this text on the number twelve. Notice that the woman was sick for 12 years, and Jairus' daughter is twelve years old. What does that mean? Most commentators say, "It is probably just a literary device to link the two stories together." I think it's much more than this, but we'll talk about that a little later.
Jairus is a synagogue ruler. The woman was unclean because of the blood problem. So you have an insider and an outsider compared and contrasted. There is a woman and a child, death and disease, a public miracle and a private miracle; lots of contrasts and comparisons going on in this story.
Mark 5:21 (NASB) And when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered about Him; and He stayed by the seashore.
If you remember from our last study, Jesus and His disciples had gone to the "other side" of the sea of Galilee to the land known as the Decapolis. To the Jews the Decapolis was a place to avoid; an area dominated by evil gods. This was Gentile territory. While there, Jesus confronted and healed a man possessed with demons. Then they got back into the boat and returned to the area of Capernaum. When they arrived back in Capernaum, a large crowd awaited them.
Mark 5:22-23 (NASB) And one of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and upon seeing Him, fell at His feet, 23 and entreated Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, that she may get well and live."
Jairus is the leader of the local synagogue. It could very well be the synagogue in Capernaum. Because of his position, Jairus would have been involved in the leadership of the Jewish community. His circle of friends would have included the Pharisees that sought to undermine and destroy our Lord; and that accused Christ of casting out demons "by the ruler of demons." To say that he would have been criticized for going to Christ would be an understatement. He faced great pressure to conform to the prevailing religious notions of his community. Since he is one of the leaders, I wouldn't be surprised if Jairus didn't think too highly of Jesus prior to this. But he had most likely witnessed the casting out of the demon in the synagogue and the healing of the man with the withered hand in the synagogue. And now his daughter was dying, and he was a desperate man. Desperation calls for decisive action in spite of what everyone else thinks. So he gladly faces the scorn and ridicule of the rest of the religious community if he can only get Jesus to help him.
This synagogue ruler comes and falls at the feet of Jesus. He was a man of influence and prestige, but when he came to Jesus, he did so as a desperate father seeking to spare the life of his critically ill child. The term expresses a genuine spirit of humility before One that is greater. I doubt that Jairus' faith was that Jesus was the Messiah, but he did believe that Jesus had the power to heal his ill daughter. He forgot his pride and his prejudice, and he came and asked for help.
From Luke's account (8:40), we know that when Jesus returned by boat from the other side of the lake, there was a large crowd gathered that had been there waiting for the return of Jesus. It would not take much imagination to suppose that Jairus was one of the crowd, wringing his hands in dismay, knowing that even now his daughter may have passed away. Every minute was critical, and the only One who could help was absent.
Mark 5:24 (NASB) And He went off with him; and a great multitude was following Him and pressing in on Him.
Without delay, the Lord Jesus makes His way to the home of this dying girl; thronged by a host of on-lookers. Jairus' daughter was at the point of death. He wanted Jesus to hurry and come to his house to heal her. But on his way, Jesus is interrupted by a woman who was also in desperate need of help.
I can imagine that Jairus is probably frustrated at the delay. And the delay adds to the drama of the story. It also shows us that Jesus did not neglect the needs of a lowly woman to impress an influential religious leader.
As we look at the account of the healing of the daughter of Jairus in the Synoptic Gospels, we find that in each of them the author interweaves the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage:
Mark 5:25-27 (NASB) And a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse, 27 after hearing about Jesus, came up in the crowd behind Him, and touched His cloak.
Notice that this woman had been sick for twelve years. Notice her condition. She was suffering from what doctors would call a vaginal hemorrhage, a continual flow of blood, which not only gave her great distress and pain, but also rendered her ceremonially unclean so that she was ostracized from society according to the Mosaic law:
Leviticus 15:25-27 (NASB) 'Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, all the days of her impure discharge she shall continue as though in her menstrual impurity; she is unclean. 26 'Any bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her like her bed at menstruation; and every thing on which she sits shall be unclean, like her uncleanness at that time. 27 'Likewise, whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
She had to keep her distance from everyone, could not mingle with people. She was almost like a leper. People were forbidden to touch her while she was in this condition. She was forbidden to attend services in the temple or in the synagogue. So for twelve years she had been denied all the comfort and solace of the services of the people of God. She was ostracized, separated, isolated, and in pain and distress from this unending flow of blood.
Her ailment probably had kept her from marriage, if it started at puberty, and almost surely would have led to divorce, if it began after she was married (which would have been within a few years after puberty), since intercourse was prohibited under such circumstances (Lev. 18:19), and childlessness normally led to divorce. Singleness is difficult for many people in Western society, but to be an unmarriageable woman in first-century Jewish Palestine must have often been terrifying. The stigma of childlessness and the dilemma of being unable to earn an income, yet having neither husband nor children for long-term support, would have made this woman's condition seem almost unbearable. So she was basically cut off from normal fellowship with others and with God. The stigma and humiliation of her condition was perhaps second only to those of leprosy.
Therefore, the woman is a walking source of uncleanness, rendering unclean any and all with whom she comes into contact; even more surprising, then, had the crowds known of her condition, that they would have let her push through them to reach out and touch Jesus.
Mark 5:26 (NASB) and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse,
Mark wants you to know that the doctors couldn't help her. Luke doesn't mention that she suffered at the hands of many doctors, nor that she had spent all her money on medical bills. He just mentions that she could not be healed. Why do you think Luke left that part out? Because Luke was a doctor.
She suffered as much from the doctors as she did from her case of bleeding. From various sources, we are informed as to the nature of the medical practice at that time.
Pliny's Natural History reveals the generally low condition of medical science in the world at that time: "Physicians were accustomed to prescribe doses of curious concoctions made from ashes of burnt wolf's skull, stags' horns, heads of mice, the eyes of crabs, owl's brains, the livers of frogs and other like elements. For dysentery powdered horses' teeth were administered, and a cold in the head was cured by kissing a mule's nose."
From Jewish writings, such as the Talmud, we learn of some cures for this hemorrhage: "One remedy consisted of drinking a goblet of wine containing a powder compounded from rubber, alum, and garden crocuses. Another treatment consisted of a dose of Persian onions cooked in wine; administered with the summons, 'Arise out of your flow of blood!' Other physicians prescribed sudden shock, or the carrying of the ash of an ostrich's egg in a certain cloth."
A passage in the Mishnah says, when discussing men's occupations: "The best among doctors is destined for Hell."
Mark 5:26 (NASB) and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse,
Last of all, this pathetic woman has lost all of her financial resources. Mark tells us that she had "spent all that she had" on doctor bills, with no relief, but with added affliction. And in those days, there was no such thing as a malpractice suit.
Doctor Luke softens down this criticism of doctors:
Luke 8:43 (NASB) And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone,
The bottom line was she could not be healed by anyone. So hurting and desperate, she turns to Jesus:
Mark 5:27 (NASB) after hearing about Jesus, came up in the crowd behind Him, and touched His cloak.
This unnamed woman, like Jairus, had heard that Jesus was back in their region and set out to find relief through His power. In the Greek, the definite article is before the name Jesus. Jesus was a common name in Palestine in those days. She had heard about the Jesus. She came to Jesus, the one and only person who could help her.
Mark says she "touched His cloak." The word "cloak" here is more specifically referred to in Matthew and Luke as one of the four tassels on the garment:
Matthew 9:20 (NASB) And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak;
Luke 8:44 (NASB) came up behind Him, and touched the fringe of His cloak; and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.
The word "fringe" here is the Greek word kraspedon, which means: "an appendage hanging down from the edge of the mantle or cloak, made of twisted wool."
The Law commanded the Israelites to make four tassels for their garments from a cord of blue (Num 15:37-41, Deut 22:12) and to sow them into the "corners" of their garments that they might be reminders to the Jews of all the commandments of the Lord and so be careful to do them.
This tassel consisted of eight white threads wound around or braided seven times and then double knotted eight times, then 11 times, and then 13 times. The numbers represented Hebrew letters that spelled the phrase "YHWH is ONE." Its purpose was to remind Israel of all the commandments of God:
Numbers 15:39-40 (NASB) "And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, 40 in order that you may remember to do all My commandments, and be holy to your God.
Remember that Mark wrote for Gentile readers while Matthew wrote for Jews, and the Jews were told that this woman reached out for not just the garment but for the tassel on the garment. So this woman reached for that which represented the commandments, the very Word of God; this is who Jesus Christ is: the Word of God:
Mark 5:28 (NASB) For she thought, "If I just touch His garments, I shall get well."
Superstition said that power was in the robe of a great man, priest, rabbi, etc. Her belief was that touching the fabric would make her well. In fact, when she did touch His garment, she was healed:
Mark 5:29 (NASB) And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
She knew in that moment she touched Jesus that her illness had been rectified. Luke states "...immediately her flow of blood ceased."
Mark 5:30 (NASB) And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My garments?"
After her healing, the woman probably began to shrink back into the face-less mob who were pushing and shoving for a look at the Master. To the great dismay of Jairus, Jesus stopped. It would seem that for an instant the crowd was perfectly silent. They expectantly waited to hear what Jesus would say, but they could not believe it when He questioned, "Who touched My garments?"
Mark 5:31 (NASB) And His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude pressing in on You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"
The disciples considered such a question absolutely incredible; worse yet, stupid. Everybody was touching, pushing, shoving, grabbing at the Master. How could He ask such an insipid question, they thought.
Mark 5:32 (NASB) And He looked around to see the woman who had done this.
Had Jesus not stopped and asked who touched His garments, no one would have known of the miracle except Jesus and the woman. When she saw the eyes of Jesus fixed upon her, she knew that He knew everything. She had taken nothing from Him, but He had given healing to her. She now poured out her sad and miserable life story, telling how Jesus had done what all of medical science could not:
Mark 5:33 (NASB) But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth.
Why was this woman in fear and trembling? She knew she should not have touched a holy prophet, for she had been unclean. She must have wondered what He would do. Would He chastise her? Would He restore the curse to her? What she had done was a transgression of the Mosaic Law, and it seems best to accept that her fear came about because she knew that what she'd done had a certain air of irresponsibility to it, and she was expecting to be rebuked for her attitude. She had done wrong, and knew it. She knew only too well that she was seen as an "unclean" woman, and should not have touched Him.
As we have seen before, the reason Jesus doesn't become unclean when He touches an unclean person like a leper or a corpse, is because He transfers cleanliness and life. Haggai 2:10-14 makes the point that if something clean touches something unclean, then the thing that was clean is defiled. Not so with Jesus. The details of the miracles where Jesus transfers cleanliness parallel the spiritual healing that Jesus brings where He cleanses us of our sin.
I also think that the numerous events where Jesus touches unclean people, illustrate the doing away with the law and the whole idea of ritual uncleanness. Something new was happening, and Jesus accepts all people who believe in Him, no matter what their status is in the society.
Mark says she "came and fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth." First the demoniac, then the synagogue-officer, now the woman - they all fall down before Him in earnest entreaty.
Mark 5:34 (NASB) And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."
Jesus response wasn't anger it was compassion. He wanted to help her. He did not want to leave her with some superstitious beliefs about His clothing. He wanted her to know that she had been healed, not just because of power leaving Him, but because her faith had reached out to God through Him. Many would touch Him, and it would make no difference. What made the difference was the heart reaching out in faith to God and to Him, and He wanted her to know it. He also wanted the world to know openly that she was now clean; that they need avoid her no more.
Notice what Jesus says here, "your faith has made you well" - the word "well" used here is the Greek word "sozo." This is the word usually used to mean: "saved." Not only was she healed physically, she was healed spiritually. She was saved.
It was her faith that had saved her, not her grasp on His clothing. Jesus touched many as He went about, but few of these found in physical contact with Him a wonder such as this. It was her relationship with Jesus by faith that made her whole. She believed that God's power to make persons whole resides within Jesus.
"Daughter" - is a word of affection; a sign that He was not angry. She would recognize the tenderness in the word. "Daughter" is used only in this instance by Christ for an individual lady. "Go in peace" - a recognized way of giving assurance.
What made the difference for this woman was that she recognized her complete and total inability to help herself. She looked to Jesus as her only hope of healing. When you come to a genuine conversion experience with Christ, you reach the point of realizing your total inability to do anything that will ever contribute to your eternal salvation. You, like this woman, must look to Jesus to provide what you cannot. When Jesus came to the earth, He lived a perfect and sinless life. This qualified Him to die on the cross, not for His sins, but for ours (2 Corinthians 5:21). In place of our wretchedness, He offers His righteousness. Relying fully on Him alone is what will save us, just as this woman's faith saved her.
As long as we think that there is so much as one spark of goodness, one flickering possibility that we can do something to contribute to our own eternal salvation, we are hopeless. When we come to the point of agreeing with Paul that we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1,2), then we look to Jesus alone as the source of life.
The removal of her unclean physical condition parallels the process of salvation in which Jesus removes an unclean spiritual condition. The miracle is an illustration of salvation. Jesus took what was unclean and made it clean.
We also need to see here that Jesus was never too busy to be interrupted. The compassion of Jesus demonstrated in this miracle should bring reassurance that He is not too busy with the rest of the world to care for me individually.
Back to Jairus - Jairus had to be irritated by our Lord's seemingly unnecessary delay, his daughter's life was at stake.
Mark 5:35 (NASB) While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?"
Mark picks up this story with an abrupt message that Jairus' only daughter had died. The delay caused by the hemorrhaging woman proved fatal for Jairus' daughter. Jairus' world no doubt came crashing down with the report of his servants that his daughter had died. The common belief in his day, as ours, is that "where there's life, there's hope." And now all hope was gone. Jesus had the power to calm the sea, to exorcise the demons, and to heal the woman, but certainly death would be too difficult to reverse.
It would have been natural for the ruler at this point to have rent his inner garments (a cultural sign of inner grief - Lev 10:6) upon the receipt of the bad news from his household, but Jesus' swift interjection may have prevented him from having time to perform such a culturally accepted act of sorrow. Certainly, if the Man whom Jairus had trusted to heal his daughter was assuring him of the positive outcome of the situation, he could only continue to believe that there was a twist to the story line that even he couldn't realize at that time:
Mark 5:36 (NASB) But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid any longer, only believe."
Do not keep on being afraid. Only believe - Jairus had exercised faith in coming to Jesus, and now Jesus is telling him to keep on having faith. The word "believe" (a verb) is the same as "faith" (noun). The object of faith is Jesus Christ, and now Jesus is telling him not to be afraid, only believe, have faith.
Mark 5:37 (NASB) And He allowed no one to follow with Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James.
He did not let anyone follow except the three. This was going from a public to a private instruction. This miracle is for Jairus' family and for the disciples.
Mark 5:38 (NASB) And they came to the house of the synagogue official; and He beheld a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing.
Outside the home the commotion of a typical near-eastern funeral had already begun. It was customary in those days to hire mourners to bemoan the death of an individual. There was a terrible frenzy about it. They would actually rip their garments apart, tear out their hair, and cry out with loud shrieks and howls. But even though there was some degree of professionalism about this, it represents the terrible sense of despair that people - even in Israel - had come to in the face of death. There is none of the stoic's resignation here, such as you would have seen among the Greeks, but this awful, horrible, crying out, this frenzy of despair, this sense of hopelessness at the finality of death's cold grip.
The presence of mourners shows us that everything has been done in keeping with Jewish tradition and the next stage, no doubt, is that, upon the return of Jairus, the final funeral directions would be made, and the girl would be taken out to be buried in a family tomb.
Mark 5:39 (NASB) And entering in, He said to them, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep."
By the expression "asleep," our Lord did not mean that this girl had not died, but was indirectly stating that for those who have entered the kingdom of God, death is not a permanent state, but a temporary one. Death could not claim this girl, for the Prince of Life was present.
Luke 8:55 (NASB) And her spirit returned, and she rose immediately; and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat.
This is difficult to interpret as a resuscitation of someone from a coma; it implies that the girl was no longer in the body, but that she came back upon Jesus' command.
Jesus says the same thing with Lazarus, the disciples misunderstand, and He corrects them saying, "No, he is really dead." Sleep is a euphemism for "temporal" death. Paul even uses this term for believers who have died in 1 Corinthians 11 and 15.
Mark 5:40 (NASB) And they began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child's father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was.
They laughed at Jesus. In their grief they showed their amazement at His insensitivity and foolishness. Did He think that they did not know the difference between sleep and death? It had been coming for a long time, and she had ceased breathing and was growing cold. He was talking nonsense. They all knew that she was dead.
Mark 5:41 (NASB) And taking the child by the hand, He said to her, "Talitha kum!"(which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!").
Does anything stand out to you in this verse? Jesus violates the Mosaic law. Corpse-uncleanness was the most serious uncleanness anyone could contract, rendering a person unclean for seven days (Num. 19:11). But again, Jesus does not become unclean but cleanses the unclean.
Mark is writing for an audience that cannot be expected to understand Aramaic or Hebrew; characteristically whenever he cites a non-Greek phrase in his narrative, he immediately provides a Greek equivalent.
Mark 5:42 (NASB) And immediately the girl rose and began to walk; for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.
Put yourself in Jairus' shoes for a moment. Can you imagine: Your daughter is dead, your heart is broken, then Jesus raises her from the dead, and she's up and walking? Notice their reaction, "they were completely astounded." While earlier miraculous acts by Jesus have regularly evoked a reaction of amazement, the phrasing here rises to a new level of magnitude: The Greek, if translated quite literally, says something like: "They were in ecstasy with great ecstasy" or "being beside one's self" or "being out of one's mind, being utterly shocked." The sense is quite clearly that of profound shock in that what has happened is utterly outside of intelligible or conceivable human experience.
The New Testament records for us that Jesus attended just four funerals in His lifetime, and that, at each one, He totally disrupted the proceedings. Here, the daughter of Jairus is raised from the dead when they're preparing the first arrangements for the burial. Then, in Luke 7:11-18 (an incident which probably takes place before the current passage), he meets a funeral procession coming towards Himself and the disciples from out of the city as He journeys in and raises the dead and only son of the mother back to life. Later in His ministry, He meets up with another corpse near Jerusalem, in Bethany, a man who went by the name of Lazarus (John 11:1-44). This man was already well-known to Jesus and, by the time Jesus arrived, was well-dead, too, having been in the grave for four days (John 11:39). But that didn't stop Jesus from disrupting the mourning there, either. Finally, even at His own funeral, when Jesus had the ultimate opportunity to show that He could do what was expected of Him and stay dead, He rose from the grave on the third day.
Each funeral, therefore, that Jesus ever attended, He disrupted; but, by doing so, He brought life out from death and joy from mourning.
Mark 5:43 (NASB) And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this; and He said that something should be given her to eat.
Jesus did not want the news spreading, because he knew what the effects would be. He could not go around restoring everyone who was dead. Had the girl only been healed there would not have been so much cause for their remaining quiet. Everyone knew that He performed healings.
Jesus turns to the parents and tells them to give the girl something to eat. In Luke's record, Jesus actually commands them to do this, something that's a little bit stronger than the mere suggestion that the girl may be hungry.
Almost an anticlimax; ever thoughtful and compassionate Jesus suggested that she might be hungry and needed food. She had been ill for some time. This was a practical detail that stuck in the mind of an eyewitness. It adds nothing to the story except to illustrate Jesus' thoughtfulness. But perhaps to the writer was the thought that when men were raised from spiritual death, they needed to be fed continually on the bread of life.
When viewed as a whole, the four miracles of Mark 4 and 5 prove Jesus to be not only the Messiah, but Lord of all. He is Lord of creation as shown in the stilling of the storm. He is Lord over Satan and his demons as shown by the exorcism of the Kursi demoniac. He is Lord over sickness and even death, as revealed in the healing of the hemorrhaging woman and the raising of the dead daughter of Jairus.
It is helpful to recall that in each of these cases the individuals were completely helpless and hopeless, and that others were totally incapable of helping them either. The storm on the lake terrified experienced sailors. The demoniac could not be subdued by anyone (5:3,4). The hemorrhaging woman had been seeing doctors for twelve years with only a worsening condition. The young girl was no longer ailing, but dead. In the most hopeless cases that men could present to Jesus, there was healing, deliverance, and salvation.
Not only does Mark demonstrate the power of our Lord Jesus, but he also reveals His person. What we see in these passages is not just that God is a God of infinite power, but that He is a God of infinite compassion and tenderness. He is deeply touched by human needs. He is sensitive to our sufferings and trials in life. He cares not only for the raising up and putting down of kingdoms, but also for the missed meal at a time of illness.
What do these three folks have in common? At first glance, not much. The demoniac has spent his life living out among the tombs, gashing himself with stones. That is quite a contrast to Jairus. He was part of the establishment. He was a synagogue official; he was respected; he had a good education and good theology. That is very different from the woman with the discharge. She was considered ritually unclean, ignored by people on the margins of society. She was desperately poor with shaky theology, at best. What is it that these folks have in common?
Here is what it is that they have in common: They are driven by a desperate need in their lives. The desperate need brings them to a point of complete dependence on God.
Both these stories were connected with the number twelve, is there any significance to that? Greeks see numbers primarily as a quantity. But Hebrews see numbers primarily as quality or symbol. Twelve is the number of Israel- it is the number of God's people.
The daughter had lived from conception for twelve years and was now dying. The woman had had a blood flow for twelve years, and she was cut off from the Temple and the people by uncleanness. Both were in their own way representative of Israel - dead in sin and unclean before God.
I think we can confirm the lesson lying behind our passage if we to go to Ezekiel 16. There Jerusalem was likened to a baby, cast out at birth, covered in the blood flow of its mother, whom God had commanded "in her blood" to live (verse 6). He then betrothed her to Himself, but she remained naked (it is not a natural picture). And when she came to an age for love (i.e. about twelve years of age), He wiped the blood from her (verse 9). So either the idea is that for twelve years she had been covered in vaginal blood, or that she was once again covered in blood because of her menstruation, seen as connecting back to her first condition. And now she was His to be restored to full glory. It would seem that this is the lesson behind both the child whom God will make to live, and the woman with a flow of blood for twelve years that will be made clean. The two together reveal that Jesus (the Bridegroom) has come to make clean and give life to His people so as to betroth them to Himself.
So in desperation, this Jewish official submerged his pride as a synagogue elder and sought the help of Jesus. He had enough faith in what Jesus was able to do to seek Him out. Had he not done so, his daughter would have died and gone to her grave. The lesson seems clear. If the Synagogue would humbly submit to Jesus, then life would be made available to its offspring:
Matthew 23:37-38 (NASB) "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!
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