From the SALT blog:. “Having just underscored the barrier-breaking character of his ministry by healing a Gentile man in Gentile territory, Jesus now crosses back over the Sea of Galilee into Jewish precincts — and now he will dismantle at least two other kinds of barriers: one between “clean” and “unclean,” and the other between life and death.”
1. Clean and unclean – “Mark’s early audiences would have been at least loosely familiar with the purity practices recorded in scripture: menstruating women were allegedly “unclean” (Leviticus 12:1-8; 15:19-30), as were corpses (Numbers 19:11-13), such that anyone and anything they touched also became “unclean.” Jesus overturns these ideas in this story, and bearing them in mind helps highlight the tensions pushing the narrative forward. Did she, an unclean woman, really just touch him, the Holy Teacher? And did he really just touch a stranger’s corpse?
“The fact that she’s “endured much under many physicians” suggests she was formerly a woman of some wealth and status — and now has become an outcast, declared “unclean” by holy writ (Leviticus 12:1-8; 15:19-30). Her persistence and audacity is striking: not only does she push through the crowds, she pushes through the words of Leviticus, too, the ancient ideas that not only is she “unclean,” but anything she touches will become “unclean” — including the one whose clothing she seeks to touch!
“An “unclean” outcast, she pushes through a crowd, disobeying ancient, scriptural prohibitions. She audaciously touches a holy teacher without his permission, apparently desecrating him in the process. And as it turns out, she thereby delays him on his journey to the home of a local religious leader. And so when Jesus stops, turns, and demands to know, “Who touched me?” — we can imagine a collective gasp from Mark’s early audience. Jesus must be angry! And look, she knows it, too: she’s coming forward “in fear and trembling”… (Mark 5:30-33).
“And now the story pivots in a stunning, scandalous direction. Jesus is not angry. On the contrary, with the crowds and Jairus looking on, Jesus praises the woman for her audacity, her daring, her persistence, her “faith”: “Daughter, your faith has made you well” (again, the word is sozo) — a remark that is yet another surprise, since the story to this point seems to suggest that Jesus’ “power” is the source of her healing (Mark 5:30). But Jesus strikingly draws attention not to his power, but to hers.
2. Jairus daughter – Jairus, a “leader of the synagogue,” falls at Jesus’ feet, pleading that he come to his house and save his daughter, who is “at the point of death” (Mark 5:22-23).
“Jesus agrees to go with Jairus to the dying girl, but along the way, the crowds — perhaps emboldened by Jairus’ example — press in around the holy teacher. To get to him, a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years pushes through, in her own way silently calling “out of the depths.” (That is covered above)
“And at that very moment, Jairus receives news that tempts him to despair: Your daughter is dead. You’re too late. You’ve taken too long. But Jesus, overhearing the news, says to Jairus: “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36). Because of what’s just happened, the choreography is clear. It’s as if Jesus says to Jairus: Look — this woman has just shown you what genuine faith looks like: audacious, daring, persistent trust in God. No barrier can constrain God’s graceful mercy. Even the barrier between life and death, in the end, can and will be overcome.
“And so even this last barrier will be broken. At Jairus’ house, Jesus sends away everyone but the family and the disciples Peter, James, and John — the same trio invited to the mountaintop at the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2), a sign that the events in Jairus’ house have a similarly iconic, revelatory status. Taking the dead girl’s hand in his and calling her to rise (Talitha cum! Little one, get up!), Jesus breaks two barriers at once: the barrier between “clean” and “unclean” (Numbers 19:11-13), and the barrier between life and death. In both senses, the story foreshadows Jesus’ resurrection, as well as the broader promised resurrection to follow.
“Likewise, just as Jesus breaks ethnic and sociopolitical barriers between Jews and Gentiles, he also breaks barriers within religious life that contemptuously demean and separate. For Christians today, the task is most definitely not to criticize Jewish practices (thereby falling into the contempt trap all over again!), but rather to identify and root out Christian practices that implicitly or explicitly create walls between “outsiders” and “insiders.”