This week's readings are from Mark chapter 5. A complete list of this week's readings can be found here.
Today's Reading
While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s house saying, “Your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher any longer?” But Jesus, paying no attention to what was said, told the synagogue leader, “Do not be afraid; just believe.” He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. They came to the house of the synagogue leader where he saw noisy confusion and people weeping and wailing loudly. When he entered he said to them, “Why are you distressed and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep!” And they began making fun of him. But he forced them all outside, and he took the child’s father and mother and his own companions and went into the room where the child was. Then, gently taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.” The girl got up at once and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). They were completely astonished at this. He strictly ordered that no one should know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. (Mark 5.35–43 NET)
Resources for the Reading
- Podcast(s) for this Reading
- Parallel passages in the other Gospels.
My commentary stated that it was very much the norm for mourners to cry out loudly…and that it was a disgrace to the family of the deceased if it did not happen…and yes, people made mourning a “job” and would be paid to mourn after the individual past away 😳🤪👍🐮
My commentary stated that it was very much the norm for mourners to cry out loudly…and that it was a disgrace to the family of the deceased if it did not happen
This might sound very strange to us, and maybe even fake. However, in communal cultures things like mourning are often ritualized to allow for a way of knowing how to corporately respond in caring and appropriate ways. In our culture we tend to internalize and place a low (or even negative) emphasis on communal and ritualized responses. For their cultures this is an important way of addressing grief.
In a Jewish context, there is the idea of "sitting shiva" with someone who is mourning. Shiva is "seven," and it is the process of corporately engaging in a period of mourning for seven days after the loss. In honor-shame contexts/cultures, it would absolutely be a dishonorable thing to not engage in this process with someone, and the idea of paying someone is to compensate someone for their time while they make sure the mourners are not alone. This is where "professional mourners" come into play. It may be helpful to think of think of them as something akin to counselors, medical professionals, or hospice care, with the difference being that come in after the loss. They play an important role.
Regarding a corporate expression of of emotion, I saw a fascinating thing once in a trip to Tanzania. We were with the Maasai and the elder woman of the village was expressing deep anger and frustration over an issue. When she began talking and crying an entire group of women and children spontaneously began crying and crying out with her. It was strange and amazing to see. This group was feeling and expressing the feelings and thoughts of this respected woman, and it happened all at once.
It is so interesting to me that Jesus healed the demon possessed man and told him to share the news with his friends and family and he healed the woman with bleeding publicly. However, the young girl who he healed, he told not to tell anyone about her healing. Both the demon possessed man and the woman with bleeding would have been considered outcasts while the prestigious/leader’s daughter would have been an insider. Jesus turns everything upside down and I love the way Mark strategically and beautifully shares the story. All three situations are so different but yet Mark does such a good job weaving them all together.
@mallary-malwick New Testament scholar Joel Marcus does a great job on some of this comparison:
“This woman is at the opposite end of the social, economic, and religious spectrum from Jairus. While he is a male leader, she is a nameless woman; while he is a synagogue official, she is ritually unclean and thus excluded from the religious community; while he has a family and a large household, she must presumably live in isolation because of her condition; while he is rich, she is impoverished by payment of doctors’ fees (Marshall, Faith, 97, 104). But now their fortunes seem to be suddenly reversed, for his loss of time becomes her gain: the same crowd that has slowed Jesus’ progress toward his daughter’s deathbed offers her the opportunity to be healed. Earlier, in 2:2–4, such a crowd was an obstacle to healing, but here it provides a chance for the woman to make contact with Jesus without being observed.”
Joel Marcus, Gospel of Mark, Anchor Bible
This is so interesting. I love that even though her gain was his loss, Jesus isn’t contained by the boundaries of time. They both are healed/ redeemed; they both actually gain. Thank you for sharing!