October 29, 2023, Mark 5:35-43, "The Healing Power of Jesus Christ, Part 2" (Full)

[Replace your fear with your faith.]
Mark 5:35, while Jesus was still speaking with the woman He healed (Mark 5:28-34), the rulers of the synagogue interrupted and told Jairus that his daughter already died (recall the earlier context in Mark 5:23), as if to mock Jesus’ promises (note that the Pharisees were always against Jesus and those who sought Him or followed Him).

Mark 5:36, Jesus told Jairus not to fear, but rather have faith- even the faith in Christ shown back in Mark 5:23 (Jairus came to Jesus in faith, despite the increasing persecution and the potential to lose his social status)
Isaiah 35:4-7, a prophecy: trust God and do not allow fear to rule the heart, for in the future, God will come to give sight to the blind, give speech to the mute, heal the lame, open the ears of the deaf, and do away with the desolation and wickedness

2 Timothy 1:6-8, Paul told Timothy and the church: do not fear, because the spirit of power, love, and soundness of mind was given. There was no and is no and will be no "what if?". Everything is already established by the grace and power of God.

Acts 20:22-24, God instructed Paul to go to Jerusalem and leave the elders, Paul told the elders of the incoming evil that would set itself against them (even the wolves on the inside amidst the sheep and the persecution from the outside), and told them not to fear, but ultimately trust God in the absence of Paul. As for Paul himself, the only hints that were given to him about the near future were 'bonds and afflictions' and tribulation- these things he would have to suffer throughout his ministry when sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the dark world of sinners. Nonetheless, in verse 24, Paul reminded everyone about the joy and trust with God, which empowers His servants to march forward.

[Follow Jesus.]
Mark 5:36-37, Jesus told Jairus to come follow Him, and then picked certain 3 disciples (Peter, James, and John from among the 12) to also come with Him to the Jairus' house

Mark 5:38, a chaos of weeping and wailing at Jairus' house
. in this ancient time and setting, in the absence of the master of the house, someone could be hired to wail and cry at a funeral for the purpose of leading the rest of the people at the funeral in wailing and crying. Technically this 'tumult' or chaos could have been used as a distraction: to distract people from the actual truth (Jairus’ daughter was only sleeping, just as He said in verse 39).

Mark 5:39, Jesus told the people to stop the chaos of weeping and wailing, for He proclaimed that the child was not actually dead- she was only sleeping (and God cannot lie)

Mark 5:40, and the people began to ridicule Jesus, for they did not believe in Him, the messiah who would release people from the slavery of sin and death.

Mark 5:40, Jesus ended the chaos, put the crowd away, and then took the mother and father (Jairus) of the child, His disciples, and entered into the child's room. Essentially Christ told the mother, father, and disciples to follow Him and ignore the lies from the crowd and rulers of the synagogue (Pharisees) (for the child was only sleeping).

[Death (especially spiritual death) is conquered.]
Mark 5:41, with the mother, father, and the 3 disciples around Him, Jesus took the hand of the little girl and told her to rise. This was God personally spending time with His faithful people. He could have told Jairus to go home and see that his daughter was well (like in the case with the Roman centurion), but instead Jesus had Jairus follow Him to see His (Jesus Christ’s) will be done: to see that Jesus Christ was indeed the Son of God who came to give abundant life.

Mark 5:42, the little child woke up and walked, and then those around the Lord became astonished; the same Lord who died for all the sins of the world and became resurrected on the third day. The father, mother, Peter, James, and John just witnessed firsthand, the death and then resurrection to newness of life through the act of Christ’s miracle on this little child. In verse 43, this matter was sealed, since this was before the public crucifixion of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8, walking by faith and not by sight, for no one absent from the Lord in heaven (and present in the body) can see the kingdom, until they pass away and enter into the third heaven into the presence of God. The confidence towards heaven is to be in the presence of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5, mentions a heavenly body and a physical body (examples: Luke 9:29-33 hints of imagery of heavenly bodies, John 20:26-27 physical wounded body)

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, in the day when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds with a shout (day when the rapture happens), the bodies of the elect that have passed away (though their souls are in heaven with God already) will rise and be replaced with heavenly bodies first, then the same will happen with those elect who are still alive, and both will be caught up in the clouds with the Lord

2 Corinthians 5, it is important to note the concept of spiritual death destroyed: Jesus destroyed spiritual death on the cross, and all those who accept Him and follow Him will become spiritually alive and not be hurt of the second death

Mark 5:43, the mystery here was sealed ('charged them straightly that no man should know it'), and Jesus commanded that the little child's physical needs would be met, for she had been sick for a while: 'commanded that something should be given her to eat', but the world would see a healthy child walking around (not dead). The mystery of the death and resurrection would later be unsealed at the end of the book of Mark (and also mentioned in parallel verses in the other gospels) when Christ became crucified and then resurrected to sit and intercede at the right hand of the Father, where the veil was torn (no more separation between God and man because of the sin of man), and the wrath of God satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross