Mark 5:21-34
“Notice what you notice.” It’s only the first half of Mark’s account of the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of the woman with a discharge of blood, but there’s a ton of stuff that could be said. We covered this in our Men’s Group a year or two ago, so I won’t repeat those comments. It was about a 3-week discussion!
Verse 33 is intriguing to me: But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him… Yes, the synagogue official had also fallen at Jesus’ feet. But I sense something different in the woman. For the synagogue official, I can see respectful pleading that brings him to his knees before Jesus. But the woman came in “fear and trembling”. She was “unclean” and she knew it and anyone close to her also knew it. And anyone who touched her had to purify themselves according to the Law and remain unclean until evening. And presumably this happened relatively early in the day, shortly after Jesus had crossed the Sea of Galilee and come to Capernaum. So this woman knew that she might be facing Jesus’ wrath for her having touched Him. But instead He was gracious, forgiving, loving.
I expect that this is how Jesus is when we come to him with our 12+ years of baggage. Yet we also find ourselves in “fear and trembling” before Him, afraid and unwilling to admit to those deep, vile issues – of which He is already aware. It just doesn’t make sense that we keep secrets from Him. But we do. Dumb!
Blessings!