Mark 5:21 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Mark 5:21

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Behold – something we would not expect – a certain ruler, named Jairus, came to Christ with an urgent need. He is called the ruler of the synagogue – a hereditary office. He occupied a high station in society, senior to a Rabbi, and Christ also was regarded as a Rabbi, yet he comes and prostrates himself before Christ, and Matthew calls it worship. Issues of life and death move men to act in ways that express their deepest feelings in an uninhibited way: Jairus did all this in public with the crowd looking on. Christ had done miracles before. The four men had made a hole in the roof and lowered their friend. Jairus surely knew about this. We are not sure why he is named; the Gospel writers seldom name those who are healed. Probably he became a converted man so was known to Christians in the next generation.The rulers were of a fairly noble class, noble families. The synagogue ruler might be expected to be proud, but he obviously has faith. What a contrast! One moment Christ was dealing with the demon possessed, and the next with a leading member of the ruling class. He prostrated himself before the Lord. Matthew says he kneeled; he did both. A great crowd had gathered; you couldn’t easily see Christ, but Jairus worked his way to the front. His coming is especially significant because he knew that Christ had been rejected by the authorities. As the ruler of the synagogue, he would normally comply with their view on things, but not now. He cast himself at his feet; he believed in Christ; he must have seen that Jesus was Messiah to treat him in this way. Matthew says she had died, while Mark says she was at the point of death. Mark’s initial statement is intended to leave room for the further detail that Christ received a second message on his way to the house, informing him that she had now died. Matthew leaves this out and can be regarded as summarising what Mark gives in more detail. Both agree that Christ was told she was dead before he arrived at the ruler's house. This is about the centrality of faith. It is about life for the spiritually dead. On three occasions Christ raised the dead: the daughter of Jairus, the child of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. When he saw Christ, he fell at his feet.’ Matthew's Gospel [says] that he kneeled; Luke says, with Mark, he fell at his feet. Same thing. He fell before him, and probably initially was prostrate on the ground, and then kneeled. Well, that's a mighty thing for him to do. He is a man of dignity. He is not a priest, but he is a lay ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum. So he will be a man of means, a man of dignity, but he isn't afraid, even publicly with onlookers, to fall at the feet of Christ. Though Christ is criticised, though he's insulted by the priests and the rulers, yet this man isn't ashamed to worship him. Because he has got a great need, it has driven him to recognise Christ: who he is. He must be the promised Messiah. No other could do these miracles; no other could teach as he teaches; no other have his deportment and his bearing. And look at him: he is clothed as a simple, ordinary person, and yet he is a teacher and he's got followers and a great number of disciples and crowds attend him. He could make a fortune, like the Greek philosophers, like the well-known religious teachers of Israel. He could be rich. He collects no money for himself; he has no home; he has no riches. This is astonishing. He is just what the Old Testament predicted and prophesied, and he must be the Saviour.’ So need gives way to recognition.

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To the unbelieving world, this is the ultimate miracle. If Christ can raise the dead, then why not do it for all? Not to raise the dead, when you have power to do so, is dereliction of duty. It is to fail to use a power which gives mankind the ultimate benefit. The world would make Christ’s miracles serve its own interests. But it was God who sent death into the world; it was not some awful mistake. He wishes the human race to live under the power of death. Why then did Christ raise the dead? Not to bring an early end to death’s tyranny, but to be a sign of something far greater. The death of the body came because the soul of Adam was already dead. It was sin that slew his soul. To remove physical death and to leave the soul dead would be to leave man without hope. Christ raised the dead as a sign of his power to give life to the soul. The kingdom of God is for now within us. The gospel brings life to the soul, and permanent life for the body will follow at the resurrection. Till then, death must do its work of closing off hope outside of the gospel, and these three times Christ raised the dead were to give hope to dead souls.

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Mark 5:21 Commentary and Bible Study