The Gospel of Mark is the oldest known surviving account of the ministry of Jesus Christ that exists today. Written approximately in the year 65 CE in Rome by an unknown writer, people have attributed the name Mark to the author, although this may not have been his actual name (I will use the name Mark to refer to the author of the gospel of Mark).
As the oldest record of Christ’s ministry, it is believed that through other pieces or fragments of Jesus’ teachings and sayings, as well as stories passed down from generation to generation, Mark was able to generate his Gospel– although, the physical written documents that Mark may have used are thought to be lost, or no longer exist. Mark wrote this Gospel with the intention of his audience being Gentile Christians in Rome.
From the years 64 CE to 68 CE , under the reign of Roman Emperor Nero, Gentile Christians (who were once pagans themselves and were not familiar with Jewish customs) suffered extreme persecution because of their resistance to the pagan practices that were widespread and expected of all people, including worshiping the Emperor, Nero. Romans were uneasy at the idea that these Christians would not take part in their pagan rituals, believing that bad fortune could be a result of their disrespect for their pagan gods.
In the year 64 CE, a massive fire broke out that destroyed a very large amount of land, devastating the Roman people. Although some believe Emperor Nero himself started the fire, Christians were targeted as the group who actually started the fire, dramatically elevating the general public’s negative sentiment towards them. As Christians continued to be persecuted, crucified, and blamed for the Great Fire of Rome, Mark’s gospel was a source for Christians to draw guidance from, as Mark’s writing was not only about Christology, but also included themes of true discipleship and the kingdom of God.
Through the use of these themes, Mark was able to depict and characterize Jesus as the suffering servant– the one who does the will of God and continues to do so, despite facing immense struggles and adversity in the process, knowing that his duties are above the persecution he receives in return. Although Jesus came to the earth to fulfill the will of the Father and spread his good news, the people who he was here to save openly attacked, ejected and hated him. His preaching and iconoclastic personality prompted many leaders of the Jewish priestly community as well as commoners to despise and even hate him , perhaps out of fear and a desire for internal stability. Despite experiencing hatred and judgment for claiming he was the king of the Jews, breaking Sabbath traditions, and associating with the lowest members of society such as the prostitutes and tax collectors, he continued on his mission.
Mark’s purpose in portraying Jesus Christ as the suffering servant in his rendition of the gospel is to provide an example to the gentile Christians in Rome, who were suffering terrible persecution under the rule of Emperor Nero. Just as Jesus suffered under the Jewish people by obeying the Father, Mark in some sense, uses this as a source of encouragement or example for the gentile Christians. However beyond Jesus, Mark highlights the “fears, failures and flaws” of Christ’s first disciples, who were the upcoming leaders of Christ’s church.
By acknowledging that even the first disciples who followed Jesus the closest were by no means perfect, as none of the intended audience, the gentile Christians, were. Through the lives of disciples like Peter, Mark is able to demonstrate that despite Peter’s failures, God’s will cannot be hindered because of humans. Mark’s encouragement to the Roman Christians facing immense persecution is a form of describing the nature of God, who is merciful and forgiving, and also powerful and unstoppable by the shortcomings of humans. As Christ suffered for the sake of the Kingdom of God, Mark’s gospel encourages them to strive to overcome persecution.
Prior to the pericope under consideration, Mark uses Mark 5:1-20 to describe Jesus dialoging with and also casting out demons named Legion, allowing the demons to enter into a herd of swine. The focus of the text, which is on Jesus’ ability to cast out demons and heal the demoniac is highlighted here, and does not directly connect with the chosen pericope, which is about the faith of a sick woman who touches Jesus for healing. However, Jesus’ power and authority to cast out demons builds up and develops people’s perception of him, establishing the notion that he does indeed have some divine ability to perform miracles.
In the following verses, Mk 5:21-23, Mark sets up a situation in which Jesus is begged and implored to go and heal the deathly sick daughter of a leader of a synagogue. With the daughter of the synagogue leader “at the point of death,” (Mk 5:23) it is clear that Jesus and his disciples have an urgent matter to take care of. The urgency of this situation is used to highlight the content of the chosen pericope, because it appears as if the bleeding woman is hindering Jesus and his disciples from reaching the leader’s dying daughter.
The pericope starts from Mk 5:24 because from this verse onward, the focus is not the daughter of the synagogue leader, but the bleeding woman who approaches Jesus as he and his disciples are on their way to the house of the leader. Mark introduces the bleeding woman by emphasizing Jesus’ care for the woman who merely touched his clothing. The story of this bleeding woman in search of healing continues until verse 34, as Jesus commends the woman’s faith, and gives her instruction to go in peace.
Verse 34 ends the pericope because the focus of the text begins to diverge away from the bleeding, now healed, woman, but onto the daughter of the leader. Without this culminating verse and quote from Jesus, the crucial instruction and teaching of Jesus would be missing, improperly bringing the interaction between Jesus and the bleeding woman to and end. From this verse forward, Mark depicts someone from the synagogue leader’s house explaining that his daughter has died, as well as the encouraging insight that Jesus gives the synagogue leader.
Jesus reassures the leader, while people of his house tell him to stop troubling the teacher, Jesus . From this point on, the focus of the text is what Jesus does for the leader’s daughter after she dies. Although a contributing factor to her death may appear to be the woman who stalled Jesus from getting to her in time, it is clear that the Jesus deals with the death of the daughter in his own way after wrapping up the confrontation with the bleeding sick woman.
This pericope begins at verse 24, describing the how Jesus was crowded around by many people who wanted to see him heal the sick daughter of a leader. Scholars agree that Mark’s illustration of the crowds of people surrounding Jesus is used to demonstrate his growing popularity, and also imply that Jesus was probably in physical contact with several people at once. Hiebert also notes that this verse is significant in giving more meaning to Jesus’ actions in the following verses when he encounters the woman who touched his cloak. It emphasizes Jesus’ power, as he is able to ense that somebody touched him secretly with the intention of being healed, despite being surrounded by many people that “pressed in on him. ” (Mk 5:24) Verse 25 continues the pericope with a short description of an ill woman, who had been bleeding for twelve years. Many scholars believe that this woman’s bleeding was some type of chronic bleeding of the uterus, which would have rendered her perpetually unclean according to Old Testament Law. Since she was considered impure or ritually unclean by Jewish society, she suffered many limitations that significantly set her apart from common people.
As an unclean person, anything she touched or was near also became unclean, implying that she may have been perpetually isolated from the rest of Jewish society, as well as barred from entering the temple, a space considered holy. Additionally, Leander Kek notes the degree of her social isolation is comparable to that of the man with leprosy in Mk 1:40-42. In verse 26, Mark explains her background and struggle with her illness. Mark intensifies her longing for healing by denoting that she spent all of her money on physicians and treatments in hope of getting well, but has only seen her condition grow worse.
In her desire to be healed, she willingly endured many painful, and severe treatments under the help of various physicians, indicative that she is willing to endure whatever it takes to achieve freedom from her illness. Gundry also points out that only the rich or affluent would be able to afford the help of a physician; with this idea, he notes that the woman became impoverished because of her desire to seek treatment from a doctor. According to verse 27, in desperation, this woman, when hearing about Jesus, intentionally touches Jesus’s cloak in a crowd behind him with the hope of being healed.
Gundry indicates that this verse is also indicative of Jesus’ growing reputation, as the woman has faith in Jesus from just hearing what he has done for others, and especially because of all the failed attempts at healing she has encountered. However, as this woman is someone looked down upon in society and perhaps an outcast, she behaves in this way because she knows that it would have been disrespectful of her, someone ritually unclean, to touch or associate with someone who is presumably clean. By not pproaching and speaking to Jesus about her disease because of societal boundaries, she tries to receive healing by touching Jesus’ cloak without anybody knowing. Her faith and trust is shown here, as she intentionally takes the risk of crossing social and society boundaries, believing that Jesus does have the power to heal her. In verse 28, the woman explains her thought process being that if she touches the clothes of Jesus’, who has built up a reputation for performing miracles, she will be cured of her perpetual hemorrhage.
Hiebert explains that the woman puts her faith in Jesus by stating that by just touching what he is wearing, she can be healed despite being in state of hopelessness. Longman and Garland make note that her faith may be comprised of a degree of superstition, and the common belief at the time that power could be transferred through someone’s clothing. However, other scholars argue that her desire to touching Jesus’ clothes is more than just out of superstition; despite the prevalence of such superstitious methods of healing, her trust in Jesus’ power is indicative of her underlying faith in who Jesus is.
Scholars also argue that the woman’s faith is evident in that just by merely touching any part of Jesus’ clothing, she believed she would be healed. After touching Jesus, verse 29 explains the immediate healing that occurred, and how she felt after being free from her disease. Gundry points out the significant contrast between the physicians who not only could not heal the woman, but made her suffer, and Jesus who was able to heal the woman without any effort or suffering on the woman’s part.
