In the gospel of Mark, an interesting dynamic emerges. When the person approaching Jesus narrates their problem as an external problem happening "out there," Jesus often refocuses their attention to their internal state. Jesus will deal with the external problem eventually; He's not ignoring it. But often, He first wants the person to recognize their own anxiety as the starting point.
Take a moment to read about one such example from Mark 5:21-42:
When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around Him while He was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet. He pleaded earnestly with Him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put Your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around Him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed."
Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched My clothes?"
"You see the people crowding against You," His disciples answered, "and yet You can ask, 'Who touched Me?'"
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at His feet and, trembling with fear, told Him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher anymore?"
Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, "Don't be afraid; just believe."
He did not let anyone follow Him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at Him.
After He put them all out, He took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with Him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished.
When Jairus first approached Jesus, he narrated his problem as one that was "out there" — the health condition of his daughter back home. Natural and understandable. If I were Jairus, that's exactly how I would narrate my problem and my request. The problem is my daughter's illness, which is happening back there at my house, and my request is for Jesus to fix that situation.
Jesus accepts this man's initial approach and travels with him back to his home, the supposed location of the problem. On the way, they are interrupted by the woman with the flow of blood, a condition that automatically marked her for shame. The woman starts telling Jesus her whole story. She has been sick for twelve years, has tried many doctors, and is discouraged because nothing worked — and so on and so on.
As this woman's narrative of worries and shame drags on, you can imagine Jairus glancing at the position of the sun (since he didn't have a watch) and tapping his sandal-clad foot. My daughter back at the house, my daughter back at the house, my daughter back at the house. That's the real problem, and this is taking too long.
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