And Jesus having passed over in the ship again to the other side, a great crowd gathered to him; and he was by the sea.
Jesus has just set a man free from demons, and that whole district asked Him to leave. Now He crosses back over the lake, a crowd forms, and one named man steps out of it to beg for his dying daughter.
The crossing in this verse starts on a shore that had just sent Him away.
The testimony was lost, however, on the Gadarene people, who had lost their swine. They did appreciate pigs and they did not appreciate grace, so they refused the Deliverer. Jesus accepted their refusal and returned to the other side of the lake to continue the display of His grace there.
The detail that He was beside the sea is not just scenery. One writer reads the shoreline as the Lord's own position.
He was by the seaside, as we have seen before, on the edge of Gentile waters, shut out from the land of the Jews. He held His place as not one of them (now) but as One who had come to them. Now that He has crossed back over, the state of the Jewish people is fully before Him.
The man who comes out of the crowd has a name and a rank: Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue.
It is worth noticing that the leading person in this episode was not one of the common people, as in the events told earlier in this Gospel. Jairus, the man asking, had social and religious standing. What is more, he belonged to the class that the opposition to Jesus came from. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were honourable exceptions. Of the rest it was once asked with scorn, "Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?" So the Lord's mercy to the ruler shows that He is rich towards all who call upon Him.
His rank did not stop him kneeling. It did not hurry the Lord either.
Jairus came to Jesus in his distress and showed Him honour by falling at His feet. That mark of respect was all the more striking because it came from a man of local standing such as a ruler of the synagogue... But Jesus did not go to the sick child at once, for He was never swayed by lesser concerns.
Here a man comes to Jesus about someone else.
This incident brings in another new feature of the Lord's ministry. It shows that He was open to people who came on behalf of others. A man whose name we are told — unlike the usual practice in the Gospels — came to the Prophet to ask mercy for his daughter... Here the worry of Jairus for his only daughter, who lay dying, shows in the earnest concern of his request for her recovery.
One writer explains what moved the Lord to go with him.
It was faith, so to speak, laying hold of the heart of Christ and moving Him to answer its appeal... What comfort this is! What encouragement to every burdened soul — burdened with whatever grief or pain — to come to Christ and draw out the sympathy and help of His grace and love, which never fail and never run out! All who come will find that He has a heart for every sorrow.
The crowd is large, but the chapter follows two people inside it: a dying girl and a sick woman. One writer reads the scene on two levels at once.
Under the events of this chapter there is surely teaching about God's ways with Israel and the nations... In the story that follows, does the dying child not picture the moral state of the nation while the Lord was present? But just as the Lord raised the child from death at the end of the story, so He will revive the nation when He returns to earth.
His purpose for the nation was not the limit of His grace.
The Lord came to save Israel's life, though the real state of the nation proved to be death when He came. But alongside this main purpose, His grace was so full that wherever there was faith in the crowd around Him, healing flowed out from the Fountain of mercy who stood there.
- Refused — one shore asked Him to leave. He took them at their word and carried His grace across the water.
- Returned — crossing back put the state of the nation in front of Him again. The shore marks Him out as One who came to His own from outside.
- Reached — a synagogue ruler, from the very class that opposed Him, fell at His feet. His mercy is rich to all who call on Him.
- Requested — a father pleads for someone else, something new in this Gospel; that plea is faith laying hold of Christ's heart.
- Revived — the crowd holds two rescues: a picture of the nation He will one day raise, and healing for anyone in that crowd with faith.
And [behold] there comes one of the rulers of the synagogue, by name Jairus, and seeing him, falls down at his feet;
Jesus has just crossed back over the lake, and a crowd forms around Him on the shore. Into that crowd steps a ruler of the synagogue. He does what no man of his standing would do: he falls at the feet of a travelling teacher.
The word "ruler" names an office in the local Jewish assembly. The same word appears in other passages.
A ruler of the synagogue. Mark 5:22, 35, 36, 38; Luke 8:49; Luke 13:14; Acts 13:15; Acts 18:8, 17. In the last two passages the Authorised Version has "chief ruler," but the Greek is the same.
What makes his coming remarkable is the group he belonged to.
In the events told earlier in this Gospel, the leading person was one of the common people. Notice that in this episode he was not. Jairus, the man asking, had social and religious standing. More than that, he came from the very class that actively opposed Jesus... Here then the Lord's mercy to the ruler shows that He is rich towards all who call upon Him.
A man his own town honoured now knelt in public.
Jairus came to Jesus in his distress and showed Him reverence by falling at His feet. That mark of respect was all the more striking from a man of local standing, as a ruler of the synagogue was.
Matthew records the same act as worship. (Where the older translation says "worshipped Him," the ESV reads "knelt before him.")
Like the leper whose case we have already looked at, Jairus worshipped the Lord Jesus when he came to Him: "behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped Him" (Matt. 9:18). Jairus asked for something only God could give. He knew this, and so he brought his request to the Lord Jesus.
Sorrow at home, not theology, moved his feet. The Lord's answer to that appeal becomes an invitation to anyone carrying grief.
He went to the house of Jairus at the earnest request of the sorrowing father... It was faith, so to speak, laying hold of the heart of Christ, and constraining Him to answer its appeal. It was the heart of Christ delighting to meet the need of one who was casting his burden of sorrow on Him in complete confidence. What comfort! And what encouragement to every poor burdened soul — burdened with whatever grief or anguish! Such a soul may come to Christ and draw out the sympathy and help of His unfailing, endless grace and love. Truly all such will find that He has a heart for every sorrow.
His faith was real, but limited. One writer measures it against the Roman officer in Matthew 8.
He did not have the faith of the Gentile centurion of Matthew 8:8-10, but thought the Lord had to come to his home to heal the young girl. The Lord graciously went with him.
One writer finds meaning in his name as well as his office.
Jair, "the enlightener," as ruler of the synagogue, may show us by both name and position the failure and the power of law. The law had said, "Do this, and you will live," but life, as he admits, is only in the hands of Jesus, to whom the conviction of his extremity brings him... It is the right effect of law when we are shut up by it in this way to the faith of Jesus.
One writer sees a picture of Israel in the story.
In the incident that follows, the dying child — do we not see in it a picture of the moral condition of the nation when the Lord was present? But just as at the end of the story the Lord raised the child from death, so, when He returns to earth, He will revive the nation. Meanwhile we learn, from the story of the woman, that wherever there are people who have faith in Christ, they will receive the blessing.
- Rank kneels. Jairus held office in the very class that opposed Jesus. Yet he went down at His feet — proof that Christ "is rich towards all who call upon Him."
- Need brings. His dying child carried him there, not his position. Faith laid hold of the heart of Christ, and that heart delighted to answer.
- Feet mean worship. He asked for what only God could give, and his posture matched his request.
- Law sends. "The enlightener," keeper of the law, found that the law could command life but not give it — so it shut him up to Jesus.
- Life comes. The dying girl pictures the nation as the Lord found it. He raised her, and He will revive them when He returns. Meanwhile everyone who has faith in Him is blessed.
and he besought him much, saying, My little daughter is at extremity; [I pray] that thou shouldest come and lay thy hands upon her so that she may be healed, and may live.
Jairus leads a synagogue, and his twelve-year-old daughter is dying. His few words say a great deal about prayer: whom he asks, what he asks for, and how much he expects.
Mark keeps the exact word the father used for his child. One writer tries hard to get it into English.
Jairus came to the Lord using a pet form of the word 'daughter' — 'thugatrion'. We find this word in only two places in the New Testament, and both are in Mark. It was Mark, more than any other, who tells us the tiny detail of some special word or look. How can we translate it? I do not know, for in English we have no pet form of 'daughter'. The translators have done their very best: 'little daughter', or 'young daughter', or 'dear daughter.' But I am sure it does not tell half the story... She was twelve years old, but to the broken-hearted father she was still his 'wee girlie'.
Jairus held office in the synagogue, where Jews met to hear and study the law of Moses. One writer finds meaning in both his name and his post.
Jair means "the enlightener." As ruler of the synagogue, his name and his position may show us both the failure and the power of law. The law had said, "Do this, and you will live." But life, as he admits, is only in the hands of Jesus. What brings him to Jesus is the conviction that he is at the end of all help. Faith springs out of his daughter's need... This is the right effect of law: it shuts us up in this way to the faith of Jesus.
Jairus asks for hands laid on his child. One writer weighs what that touch could and could not do.
This act carried love and sympathy, but not necessarily the power of cure. That power went with His word and will. We see this in the cases where He sent out His word and healed, even at a distance. This distinction is always important to notice. Many still give first place to a formal act of this kind, performed by people who claim, without any right, to act for the Lord in it.
Jairus asks Jesus to come to the house. A centurion, an officer in the Roman army, had believed a word alone was enough.
He owns the claim of faith, however feeble it may be. The centurion knew that a word would be enough. But this Jewish ruler, thinking as a Jew naturally would, wants the Lord to come to his house and lay His hand on his daughter so that she might live. He tied the Lord's personal presence to the blessing his sick child was to receive. We Gentiles, though, walk by faith, and not by sight.
One writer looks at what this asking did to the heart of Christ.
It was faith, so to speak, laying hold of the heart of Christ, and constraining Him to answer its appeal. It was the heart of Christ delighting to meet the need of one who in all confidence was casting his burden of sorrow upon Him. What comfort! What encouragement for every poor burdened soul, burdened with whatever grief or anguish! Such a soul may come to Christ and draw out the sympathy and help of His unfailing and endless grace and love. All who come will find that He has a heart for every sorrow.
One writer explains why the Gospel accounts do not word this the same way.
In Matthew 9:18 Jairus speaks of his daughter as already dead. He was perplexed whether to speak of her as gone or not. The story is drawn from life.
Jairus asked for healing before death came. Death came first.
In his affliction Jairus found his resource in an appeal to the Lord. The Lord heard him, yet did not stop the disaster, though Jairus no doubt expected Him to, with more or less faith. Circumstances combined to hinder, and the Lord did not change them. Yet Jairus' appeal did not fall on deaf ears. The answer came with a fullness of power that went beyond the father's faith, and the girl came back to life.
One writer sees the whole story as a picture of God's dealing with His people.
Before He actually reaches the scene of mercy, the one He came to help is already dead, and, to all human thinking, hopeless. The deliverance lies wholly in the power of resurrection, and the deliverance in that day will be wholly so. Such is the mind and journey of the Lord: the deliverance of the daughter of His people, those He visited in His mercy.
- Need asks. His office in the synagogue could not keep his girl alive. Helplessness drove him to Christ.
- Love asks. "My little daughter" is a father's pet word, kept only by Mark — the Gospel that records the small look and the small word.
- Faith asks small. He wanted a hand laid on her. The hand carried sympathy; the healing power went with Christ's word.
- Delay tests. The Lord did not remove the circumstances that hindered, and the child died.
- Grace answers big. The answer came with power beyond the father's faith. That is the pattern of what Christ will yet do for a people already dead.
And he went with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed on him.
A father has just begged Jesus to save his dying daughter. The answer comes in four words: He went with him. What follows is a walk through a pressing crowd, and the crowd is part of the lesson.
The verse records no speech, only movement. Jesus goes where the sorrow is. One writer puts that step in the darkest valley a person can walk:
There is no valley experience beyond the reach of the love of God. The Psalmist could say, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." So in the darkest valley of all, where we meet the strongest enemy, we have more than the endless blessings of our God. We have His actual presence with us. In Mark 5 we see Jairus passing through such a valley, and the verse says, "And he went with him." Later the shadow deepened and his daughter died. What comfort the precious words of Christ must have brought to his grieving heart: "Do not fear, only believe."
The moment could not have been worse, and He went anyway:
The timing was anything but convenient. The Lord had just faced another emergency, a matter of life and death. Jairus, a ruler of a synagogue, had begged Him to come and heal his daughter, who was on her deathbed. The Lord — despite the crowds, and despite all that He would find at the house of Jairus — had decided to go with him. This little sentence is as moving as it is comforting: "And he went with him."
A great crowd came too. They followed Him and pressed against Him. One writer looks closely at who those people were:
The expectation of a miracle had brought a crowd around the Lord for a moment... It was for the most part an idle crowd, just the sort that would before long be shouting, "Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!" There is no hint of anything better in them. Their thronging and pressing on Him was no good sign, but the opposite. If they "followed Him," it was outside interest, not love or reverence for Him. No power went out of Him for those who pressed on Him, whatever need they had. They had no real dealing with Him at all.
Physical nearness to Christ proved nothing then, and religious nearness proves nothing now:
Since "a great crowd followed Him and thronged about Him," it might look as though believing followers surrounded the Lord. In the same way today it might seem, as we see religious buildings crowded with professed worshippers of Christ... that there is a vast host of believers in Christ. Indeed, men judge that way... But does this mean that all are true believers in the Lord Jesus? That all have personal faith in Christ? Sadly, no! There is still the great throng of outward profession. And still the Lord distinguishes those who have personal faith in Himself, for we read, "The Lord knows those who are His."
The crowd did more than fill the road. It stood between needy people and Christ:
The crowd that surrounded Jesus cared little for Him. They knew nothing of His person and work. The mass of people acted as a hindrance to a helpless person, convicted of sin, who was coming to Jesus. So it is now. Who are the great hinderers of the gospel in our day? Are they not those who make a religious profession without a living acquaintance with Christ Himself?
Yet the crowd stops no one who feels their need of Him:
Many thronged Jesus that day, when only one in faith touched His clothes. Need of Him drew that poor sufferer to the Saviour, and so it is in our times too; need draws us to Jesus.
Some commentators see a wider picture here. The dying girl stands for the nation of Israel:
In real events the Lord gives us pictures of His dealings in deliverance. We have the daughter of Jairus, who lay dying, and here is a picture of Israel. The Lord was going to heal Israel, who was just like one dying, but on the way the people throng Him. What He came to do, He did. The world crowded Him while He was on the way to heal the sick "daughter of my people". Whoever could touch Him by faith received healing, as the activities of grace went out from Him.
- He went — the verse answers a father's plea with movement, not words. Christ walks into the valley with the one who asks Him.
- He went knowing — the crowd, and all He would find at the house, did not change His decision to go.
- They went too — a great crowd followed Him. But outside interest is not faith, and no power went out of Him to them.
- Throngs still form — crowded buildings and Christian labels are the same throng today. The Lord still knows those who are truly His.
- One got through — the crowd that hinders a careless person never stops real need. Need still draws us to Jesus.