God isn’t a genie. He’s not some passive deity who responds to our every whim—dispensing answers to our deepest wishes. He’s not a cosmic vending machine where we put in our quarters, hit the correct button, and then enjoy the soda or candy bar we purchased.
I carry that theology with me into Mark 5.
Jairus, he’s my dude. He does it correctly. He has a desperate need, he makes a passionate request, falling at his needs and imploring Jesus to act. That’s not treating Jesus like a vending machine. It’s treating Him like the sovereign He is.
And Jesus, no doubt impressed by this dude’s faith and respect, goes along with Jairus to provide healing for his daughter. But he’s interrupted by this great crowd.
Mark stops his story about Jairus to tell us about one of those in the crowd. It’s a woman who is as desperate as Jairus. But that’s about all they have in common. They are on different ends of the social, religious, and economic ladder. Jairus is a powerful dude. She’s simply “a woman”…a woman that is ritually unclean, filled with shame, slinking in the shadows, and flat broke with a massive pile of medical bills.
The Bleeding Woman’s Theology
What she does next shows how sharply her theology diverges from mine. Mark tells us that she comes up behind him (a sneak attack) and touched his garment. And then Mark exposes her horrible theology, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”
That’s magical and superstitious thinking. Vending machine theology. She has Jesus in an entirely passive role. She doesn’t care about relationship. She isn’t even acknowledging him. Her love of Jesus seems about as profound as my love for the outlet I found when my phone’s batter is at 1%. It’s entirely transactional.
But it works. I’m not sure why Mark tells us this. It’d be much better for my theology if she’d have come up empty. “God isn’t some impersonal force you can tap into, lady! If you want help from Jesus take the path of Jairus.” But Mark doesn’t seem to care about my theological assumptions.
Jesus stops and begins this passionate pursuit for who touched Him. I’m glad that He seems a bit more concerned about my theology than sloppy Mark. He’s certainly seeking her out to rebuke her. She “stole” a blessing. She hopped the fence. She didn’t do things the right way.
Jesus doesn’t have to search for long. The woman comes up before Jesus, falls down before him, and tells the whole truth. Good for her.
I’m grabbing my popcorn now. Waiting to hear Jesus’ theology lesson. Maybe point to Jairus as an example of how we approach the living God.
*crickets*
What Are You Doing Mark?
Sometimes Scripture speaks loudly by what it doesn’t say. There is no rebuke. In fact, there is vindication. He doesn’t say to her, “My power has made you well.” What are you doing, Mark!?!?!?
Jesus’ power calms the storm.
Jesus’ power calms the ravaged mind of the Gerasene demoniac.
Jesus’ power will raise Jarius’ daughter from the dead.
Daughter’s faith makes her well.
He’s vindicating her. I appreciate these words of Charles Powell:
This is the only woman whom Jesus addressed directly as “Daughter.” This endearing address suggests that Jesus accepted her as she was, in spite of what she had done. Jesus received this impure but courageous woman and made her feel special. In the presence of the crowd He announced that it was her faith that had saved her. [Charles E. Powell, “The ‘Passivity’ of Jesus in Mark 5:25–34,” Bibliotheca Sacra 162 (2005): 74.]
Conclusion
This little story makes a wreck of my theological assumptions. Now, don’t get me wrong. They aren’t entirely wrong. Jesus’ having sought her out is significant. It shows us that He’s more concerned with relationship than a transactional healing. He’s not a distant and detached Savior. As James Edwards as said, “Discipleship is not simply getting our needs met; it is being in the presence of Jesus, being known by him, and following him.” (Edwards, Mark, 165). Daughter needed to learn this lesson, as we all do.
But there is a desperation here that we need to embrace. There is a boldness to grabbing ahold of Jesus. And there is also a beauty in the fact that Jesus doesn’t rebuke this but actually encourages it. Sure, it doesn’t fit neatly into my theological assumptions. But we absolutely must make room for this faith. We must let Mark do what he is doing here.
He is highlighting this woman’s faith, a faith that seems to edge on vending machine faith, but one that is desperate and sees in Jesus at least a possible answer for what plagues her.
—
Photo source: here
