One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter. To fully understand the scope and meaning of this miracle, it is essential to go beyond the surface narrative and dive deep into the text and examine the most minute details.

INTERSECTING LIVES

We cannot read the story of Jairus’ sick daughter and not spill over into the story of the woman with the issue of blood and vice versa. These two stories have often been seen as two separate miracles and stories. However, using the tool of hermeneutic, more specifically ‘inclusio’ we will see how these two stories are connected and are framed with the common theme of desperation, fear, faith, the number 12 and essentially reads like a Part I and Part II of the same story.

The narrative begins with Jairus and his daughter. As the story unfolds, it suddenly stops and branches off into a second story, that of the woman with the issue of blood. Just as that story is ending, the story line returns the reader to the story of Jairus, and it ends with the resurrection of his daughter. Both stories are told together and are framed with many commonalities. Let’s examine them.

THE DESPAIR OF A FATHER

The passage begins with Jairus, a father in the midst of a crisis. His daughter is about to die. He leaves his daughter’s bedside and desperately goes in search of Jesus for help. When he finally finds Jesus in the middle of a large crowd, he begs Him to head to his house and save his dying daughter. Jesus agrees. Jairus is well aware that time is of the essence. And as he and Jesus are rushing back to his house…the unthinkable happens.

A woman comes out of nowhere, works her way through the crowd, touches Jesus’ robe and causes Him to stop! then Jesus proceeds to enter into a conversation with her. Jairus and Jesus’ travel comes to a sudden and complete stop!

THE DESPAIR OF A SICK WOMAN

All focus is now on this woman and Jesus. Their conversation is so riveting that Jairus slips out of the reader’s mind, falls in the background, becomes eclipsed and his presence at the scene is forgotten.

Any parent who has ever rushed with a sick child to the emergency room can identify with Jairus. The red light that will not change, the pedestrian who leisurely walks in front of the car, and slows you down, the surrounding cars cruising along as if the entire world is on vacation. Everything seems to be conspiring against you to delay your arrival to the emergency room. Remember the aggravation and frustration you felt? Even anger?

We wonder how Jairus must have felt; silently standing in the background as he waited for Jesus to finish talking to this woman. Did he think: “Oh no! Oh no! We can’t stop Jesus, we can’t stop. My daughter is about to die!” or did he think “Lady! My daughter is about to die! But you’ve been sick for 12 years! a few more minutes will not make a bit of difference for you. Look, just follow us to my house, Jesus will help you after he saves my daughter!” We don’t know. The Bible does not tell us Jairus’ thoughts. But any parent can imagine this father’s silent despair.

During Jesus’ conversation with this woman, someone from Jairus’ house comes to tell him that his daughter had died and that Jesus’s intervention was no longer needed. It is at this point that the story returns to Jairus and the reader suddenly remembers Jairus’ presence at the scene.

We get a glimpse of Jairus’ thoughts when Jesus tells him “do not fear, just believe” (Luke 8:50 ESV)

A THEME OF FEAR & FAITH

Note that the two stories deal with the same theme of Faith. After Jesus heals the woman with the issue of blood, He tells her “your faith has saved you” (Luke 8:48 ESV). Likewise, Jesus tells Jairus not to fear, to “…just believe [faith]” (Luke 8: 50b ESV). The same theme of fear is also seen in both stories (Mark 5:36 ESV). The woman feared she was discovered (Luke 8:47 ESV) and Jesus apparently saw the fear in Jairus’ heart and told him not to fear (Mark 5:36 ESV).

The story then takes us to Jairus’ house where Jesus finds this child dead and takes her by the hand and tells her: “little girl…arise” and resurrects her (Mark 5:41, ESV). Notice that it was the sick woman who touched Jesus. But at Jairus’ house, it is Jesus who touched the little girl.

THE TYPOLOGICAL MEANING

The chronological order of these miracles is essential. First, we see the threat of death (the sick child), followed by a bloodletting (the sick woman) which is then followed by a death and finally a resurrection (the sick child).

This mirrors Christ redemptive work. Because of the Adamic nature (the sinful nature) inherent to all mankind, man lives under the constant threat of death (like Jairus’ daughter) Luke 1: 78-79 ESV,

After His arrest, trial and crucifixion, Christ suffered a bloodletting (like the sick woman) through a severe beating (a scourging), crown of thorns, nail pierced hands and feet, pierced side, He expires (like Jairus’ daughter) and the bloodletting stops (the sick woman), He is buried and is then resurrected ( like Jairus’ daughter).

But the final amazing element of these two stories which crystallizes the entire picture, comes at the end and reads as a disclaimer “…and immediately the girl got up and began walking for she was 12 years of age.” Mark 5:42 (NIV)

Why would the Bible specify the age of this girl? What does her age have anything to do with the story? Why is the author (the Holy Spirit) drawing our attention to the age?

Notice the grammatical structure of this sentence. The little girl started walking “for she was 12 years old.” In Mark 5: 42 (ESV) this is written in parenthesis, as if written as a disclaimer. Standardly the preposition “for” in a sentence means “because” or “since.” To say that she is walking because she is 12 years old or She is walking since she is 12 years old” is difficult to understand, because 12-year-olds are expected to be able to walk. It is a moot point. And in the Bible there are no moot points. Therefore, to grasp the meaning we must look at the original language in which it was written, Greek.

IMPORTANCE OF THE GREEK WORD

The Greek word used is γάρ which is a contraction of “yap gar (ye ap age ara).” It expresses cause, explanation…inference, continuation (Strong’s Greek).

The preposition ‘for’ splits the sentence in half. The first half states a fact, “she is walking…” The second half of the sentence gives the reason that she is walking “for she is 12 years old.” To say ‘for’ is to infer that the first part of the sentence “she is walking” is due to the second part of the sentence “she was 12 yrs. old.”
There is a causal relationship between the first and second part of the sentence.

However, the word γάρ also means ‘and’ (Louw nida). To say ‘and’ does not infer causality. It infers additional information. In other words, the second part of the sentence “and she was 12 yrs. old” is an independent statement of fact and being 12 years old has no causality to her ability to walk.

The sentence is to be understood and read thusly “she is walking AND is 12 years old” and is to be seen as an additional detail about this girl. So, the question remains, why the additional detail of the age of the sick girl? because it ties both stories together and frames them as one.

MEANING OF THE NUMBER 12

The woman was sick for 12 years and this sick child was 12 years old.

In the Bible, the number twelve stands for government (the 12 tribes of Israel, 12 months in the year which governs human time, just to name a few). In this story the number 12 indicates that Jesus governs over life and death, He rules over the earthly realm and the human body. He governs it all in His sovereignty.

TYPOLOGY OF THE FEAST OF THE LAMB

Furthermore, after Christ resurrected the little girl, He instructed them to “give her something to eat” v. 43 (ESV). This may appear as simply a practical thing to instruct. After all, she was sick, died, and was resurrected. Naturally, food would follow for sustenance.

But again, we must look beyond the surface narrative to understand why the Bible would include such a minor detail. This instruction given by Jesus is part of the entire typological picture in this passage dealing with Christ, faith, death, resurrection and the afterlife.

The Bible instructs that when Christ returns and the dead in Christ are resurrected, it will be followed with a banquet, a feast called the marriage supper of The Lamb (Rev. 19:6-9). Resurrection of believers is followed here with food (a feast) which is the eschatological end of every believer. The resurrection of the little girl is also followed with food.

Everything in this story points to Christ’s redemptive work and is replete with the Gospel message. From man’s threat of death (due to sin) to faith in Christ for redemption from sin which brings resurrection to eternal life followed with the eschatological end of the believer who will sit and eat at the table in the marriage feast of the Lamb.

Copyright 2020 Marilyn Delinois