Bible in 5: Mark 5:21-43 — Do Not Fear, Believe
Two daughters and twelve years: a sick woman and a dead girl show where Jesus' power lies.
A father has just been told that his daughter has died and that there is no need to bother the Master anymore. Jesus' response, in Mark 5:21-43 (Reina-Valera 1960), is brief: "Do not fear, only believe."
Who wrote it and for whom
Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels. Tradition links it to John Mark, a companion of Peter, who wrote down the apostle's preaching about Jesus. His first readers were not Jews: believers gathered probably in Rome, between AD 50 and 65. That is why he clarifies Aramaic terms—including "Talitha cumi"—and customs they did not practice. Before this scene, Jesus calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee (4:35-41) and freed a man tormented by an impure spirit in the region of the Gerasenes (5:1-20). Now the boat returns to the other shore.
Two women, twelve years, one same wait
Jairus, a synagogue leader, falls at Jesus' feet and begs for his daughter, who is dying. He is on his way when a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years comes up behind him and touches his cloak. She had spent all she had on doctors without getting better (5:26), and her condition made her unclean under the law. To approach like that was to risk rejection. Jesus stops and asks: "Who touched my garments?" (Mark 5:30, RVR1960). What seems like a delay is the point where the two stories intersect: while he attends to one, they announce that the girl has died (5:35).
What this passage reveals
The power was not in the cloth, as if the cloak were an amulet: Jesus knew that power had gone out from him (see Mark 5:30). To the woman he not only restores her health; he calls her "Daughter" and says: "your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." (Mark 5:34, RVR1960). Her faith was not valuable for its size, but for who sustained it. Then he arrives at the house and states that the girl is sleeping (see Mark 5:39). He takes her hand and commands: "Little girl, I say to you, arise." (Mark 5:41, RVR1960). Jesus approaches what the law marked as contaminated and leaves it clean. He also does not put on a show: three disciples and the parents enter, he asks for silence and that they give the girl something to eat (5:43). The miracle ends at a family table.
Maybe you have been asking for something with a date for months: the result of a study, your mom's health, an immigration procedure, a job that does not come. While Jesus was stopping for another person, Jairus was told that his daughter had died. If you have ever thought that God answers others and for you there is only endurance left, this passage is for you. It does not matter that your faith is small; it matters in whom you place it. And going to the doctor, using the clinic, or asking for help when you need it does not make you a weak believer: they are paths that God uses. This week you can do what Jairus did: tell Jesus what you need, with name and detail, and also tell a friend, a church brother or sister, or your pastor, so you do not carry it alone.
What are you asking Jesus for with a deadline? And if the answer comes later than you expect, but it is more than you asked for?
