A Feminist Interpretation of Mark 5:21-43
Mark 5:21-43 is a story within a story, which begins and ends with a man named Jairus and his dying daughter while the middle illustrates a story of a hemorrhaging woman. Jesus entered a town and was approached by Jairus, a leader of the synagogue who begged Jesus to heal his dying daughter to which Jesus agreed and followed. The passage is then interrupted by the story of the hemorrhaging woman. Jesus was pursued by a large crowd including a woman who suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years. The woman said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” (Mark 5:28 NRSV) After this statement and her contact with Jesus’ clothes, she was healed. Jesus noticed the power leave his body and asked
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The passage itself is uniquely structured, with the beginning and ending as one story and the middle a different story. This feature is distinctive to the Gospel of Mark and is used to connect these two stories for better interpretation. Mark 5:21-43 begins with the story of a synagogue leader named Jairus, who begged Jesus to lay his hands on Jairus’s dying daughter, “so that she may be made well, and live.” (Mark 5:23b) Jairus shows great distress at the thought of his daughter’s death, and trusts that Jesus will be able to heal her with the touch of his hands, a feature that will be mentioned later. Something interesting is that the daughter is unnamed in this passage, which I will touch on …show more content…
Pheme Perkins states, “By interrupting the journey to Jairus’s house with the story of the hemorrhaging woman, Mark is able to show that Jesus can heal a chronic condition without even touching the person directly. Her story also highlights the importance of faith to the healing.” This story begins with Jesus entering the scene with a large crowd pursuing him. (Mark 5:24) The passage introduces an unnamed woman in verse 25 and identifies her as someone who has experienced hemorrhages for twelve years. Many women in the Bible are referred to in relation with a husband, but this woman is referenced in relation to her disease. The woman’s reference to her disease, which has casted her out from the community, is only changed when Jesus comes into the scene. Also, while this woman’s hemorrhaging is often interpreted as vaginal bleeding, twelve years of continual hemorrhaging would actually have caused death for the woman. Regardless, because vaginal bleeding is seen as impure according to Leviticus 12:1-8 and 15:19-30, it gives the woman more reason to be socially outcast from the community. What is highly significant about the healing of the woman is the faith that she portrayed in Jesus’ healing power and believed that by touching his clothes, healing would ensue (Mark 5:27-28). “She does not ask Jesus for healing but acts on her own initiative in a way that prompts it.” The hemorrhaging woman shows
The Gospel of Mark is a narrative of the life of Jesus Christ, leading up to his death. The Gospel of Mark starts off with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. In the first couple of chapters, Mark
When I read Mark during church we would read the long ending, at the time I didn’t know the difference between the endings. I was confused to why there were three different parts to it and they were broken up as if they were supposed to be a new verse. When I asked the leader of the class she couldn’t give me an explanation. With the research I have done I feel that I have come to a conclusion as to which ending is the most correct and why there are multiple endings.
Butler delves into the complexity, intricacy, and lengthy explanation of the Black church’s social construct within the black Pentecostal religion that established both an order and a tone for its female congregants. The Butler review chronicled one sect of the black church giving its attention to the upward mobility of leadership for the women of color within the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). Albeit, the black religious institution is a broad and differentiated one, its tenets are fluid in details and calls for this examination, which looks at the outcomes of the reformations that were made through this movement that burgeoned in early 1896, where
Jesus spends his time on Earth trying to tell His disciples who he is, and then fulfills His promise to them, and spends time with the disciples after he has risen and returned. For the disciples, this is momentous because everything that Jesus had been preaching to them was coming true. Unlike John, the gospel of Mark leaves a cliff hanger (referring to the non-extended version). The gospel simply ends with “for they were afraid.” Even with the additional 11 verses, the gospel of Mark does not emphasize Jesus’s resurrection as boldly as John. Despite this cliffhanger, this resolution to the plot of Mark is fitting. Just as Jesus was elusive with who he was, he was elusive in his
Further to this, is another fascinating account according to Luke (13:10-13) when Jesus heals a disabled women on the Sabbath day in the
In Mark 2:1-12, the story of healing of a paralytic man is told. Jesus heals this man in front of so-called non-believers in His power. In fact, when He poses the question that “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? (Mark 2:1-12) There are symbolic reflections of this rhetorical question. On the one hand, Jesus justifies that it is preferable to forgive the sins to heal someone directly. He conveys the message that being the Son of Man, he has the authority and ministry to ‘forgive’ the sins of that paralytic man, however, instead of approaching the healing or the removal of physical ailment, he deals with the matter impressively because he has to give a message to the non-believers in God’s power. He clearly mentions that men have the power to forgive because this ability is God’s virtue. Man is the live reflection of God and thus, he can perform the act of forgiveness and become great in life. The important aspect of this story is to show before the people that Jesus has been born with an authority to heal, cure or forgive people and thus, he is passing the message of God to the entire humankind.
Understanding the significance of several details of Mark 5:21-43 is crucial before fully understanding the significance of the passage itself. One of these details is location. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, Jesus spends much of his time traveling “to the other side”—that is,
Mark gets right to the point when telling the story of the life of Jesus; he does not talk about the birth, Jesus ancestry, nor his mother, or father. Mark recognizes Jesus as a person, as a messiah, a son of God, he shows that he is the son of God. Mark 1:11 says, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God”(NIV, p 1653). He shows who Jesus is through the things he does, not so much what Jesus said, Mark focuses more on the life Jesus lived. Showing the miracles Jesus performed, and talks about the people Jesus healed, Mark speaks of over 15 accounts where Jesus preformed these miracles walking on water, healing people/strangers of diseases, sickness, pain and weakness. Jesus says in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (NIV, p 1679). Mark does paint a beautiful picture of Jesus but he shows a different side, a side of Jesus who did not flaunt himself as the Messiah. Although Mark refers to Jesus as the Messiah or the Son of God he often shows that Jesus does
Christianity has been seen as a church that professes the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Just with this introduction, feminist individuals would have already have some opposition with the terms used and attributed to God. In this paper I will explore on several aspects that the feminist movement provides to Christianity. First, I will illustrate on what is feminist Christology. Then I will present passages from Sacred Scripture, both in Old and New Testament. Then I will go further on and reflect on the Ecclesial aspect and the service god has provided to creation. Last, I will conclude by acknowledging all aspects exposed, yet analyzing the fact that God would be limited if he had a
The genre of this specific pericope is best described as a narrative (Mann 398). This narrative is seen not only here in Mark but also in Luke 18:18-30 and Matthew 19:16-30. Thus, though the Markan story is written by Mark, it does not stand alone. The Book
The Gospel of John’s viewpoint is distinct when compared to the similar stories, parallel sequence and wording of the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Although John is not included in the Synoptics, all four gospels describe the crucifixion of Jesus. Yet only John (19:26-27) acknowledges the presence of Jesus' mother and "the disciple whom Jesus loved" at the cross. Also, only John 19:31-37 accounts of a soldier who pierces Jesus’ side.
After reading Mark, chapters one through five, several things stood out to me. First, when Jesus heals the paralytic that is lowered from the roof in Mk. 2:11, the healed man doesn’t even thank Jesus! He just walked out of the building and back to his house. This stood out to me because most of the time,
Mark: The Gospel of Mark tells the story of Jesus Christ’s life from when he was baptized by John the Baptist until the days of his death, and his resurrection. Mark was the second of four Gospels although some Scholars argue and insist Mark was the first Gospel written 1. Mark was written by John Mark in AD 65, with a target audience of Roman Christian beleivers 2. Mark was written in a unique manner in regards to literary genre, as it contains figures of speech, and portray life situations in a passionate story like setting that can make the reader feel as if he is there 3. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, however it is written in a manner that emphasizes more so on Jesus’s works than Jesus’s words 4. The key theme in Mark is to portray the life of Jesus Christ as the son of God 5, and the purpose was to show the human qualities and emotions that Jesus displayed from anger (Mark 3:5), and compassion (Mark 1:41). Some of the key events of Jesus Christ’s life in the Gospel Mark include his miracles, his entrance into Jerusalem, the last supper, his arrest and trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension 6. The Gospel of Mark ends with his instruction to the eleven Apostles “And he said unto them “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:16), and his ascension into Heaven (Mark 16:19).
Mark presents Jesus as a compassionate savior who through his acts of service and acts of suffering summons unbelievers to become disciples and so that believers would understand what it means to be committed followers of Jesus. In Mark's account of the Passion of Jesus Christ, Jesus dies alone.Jesus only speaks once from the cross stating "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" and dies. Mark acknowledges that after Jesus' crucifixtion that people believed in Jesus being the true Messiah, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (15:39).
Another important thing about Jesus is that he healed many people. He gave a blind man his eye sight back, and cured multiple people with an unclean spirit. There is a pattern in which Jesus does not want his people to suffer, so he cares for them and is thankful that they believe in him. Lastly, I think the most important thing in the Gospel of Mark about Jesus is that he died for our sins. He knew that someone would betray him and he would be resurrected, but he accepted his death in the end and says he died for our sins. Jesus suffered in order to protect his followers, and we should be thankful