Do Not Be Afraid; Just Believe

Lesson overview

Mark interweaves the stories of Jairus’s dying daughter and an unnamed woman who has suffered from bleeding for twelve years.

Jairus is named, respected, and publicly able to ask for help; the woman is impoverished, ritually unclean, and approaches from behind. Both come to Jesus because no human remedy can give them the life they need.

The woman’s touch interrupts the urgent journey, but not because Jesus has lost control of the story. He brings the hidden sufferer into the open, calls her "Daughter," confirms that faith has received his saving power, and sends her away in peace. During that delay, word arrives that Jairus’s daughter has died. Jesus answers the devastating report with the command that governs the whole passage: "Don’t be afraid; just believe." By taking the child by the hand and calling her to rise, he shows that neither ritual impurity nor death can overcome the life-giving authority of the King.

When fear says hope has run out, Jesus calls people to trust him: his compassionate authority reaches the overlooked sufferer, the beloved child, impurity, illness, and even death.