Let God Speak! Mark's Gospel

  Day 15: Mark 5:21-43
A Dead Girl and a Sick Woman

Jesus went back to the Jewish areas again west of the Sea of Galilee. This story is a window into some of the tragedy of life in Israel with incurable diseases for adults and children even where doctors were available. It is not known what illness the child had but it could have been a serious condition in its last stages. Jesus clearly knew what it was from his comments in verse 39.

This story is an opportunity to think about healing and where it comes from. What has God impressed on you about healing?

Do you know any situations where God needs to intervene to bring healing? What can you do about it?

Talk to other Christians about healing. Try to be clear on the difference between healing and medicine. Most experienced doctors will be able to tell you that treatment is really a process of putting the body in the best possible state to carry out its normal healing process. But we all know cases where the natural healing process itself has broken down which is the case in both of these situations that Jesus faced. This story is evidence that Jesus is both willing and able to go beyond the natural processes and bring about a supernatural healing. This account shows that we can freely ask for healing (Mark 5:23 and 34).