Bible Study Week 16: Lets focus on a Jesus who cares

In Chapter 5 we encounter an amazing moment of love and care that restores more than someone’s life and gives us a glimpse into how Jesus wants us to treat others. We will focus on Mark 5:21-43.

I know I said that we would look at Jesus calming the storm last week, and we will get there, but I really want to focus on this, and we can look at that story at a later time.

What you will need

Bible (We are going to be jumping around a bit)
Pen and Paper

Before we read the story, let’s get a bit of cultural context. Back in the time of Jesus, the people viewed sickness in a quite different way. Often people thought that it was due to sin or curses,, God had given them laws to help regulate and protect people from sickness, but without modern medicine, this lead to some people being stuck in a place where no-one would go near them.

Read Leviticus 16:25-27

This little section might seem mean, but remember, in a time before sanitizers, blood can be a dangerous thing to have around. Being unclean meant you couldn’t go to temple, you couldn’t cook for others, you couldn’t fully take part in your community. It was like everyone had to social distance, but only from you.

Read Mark 5:21-35

How do you think the woman felt when Jesus called for her? (Remember she was unclean and anyone who touched her was also unclean)
How do you think the crowd felt?
Why do you think Jesus called for her?

Jesus calling for her out of the crowd would have been a tense moment. Back then communities were smaller, and most would have known that you should stay away from her. But Jesus wanted more for her than to get healed and disappear, he wanted her to get her place back in her community. The text tells us that she was bleeding for 12 years. That’s 12 years of people avoiding her. When Jesus says she is free from her suffering, he means more than physical.

But what about the girl who was dying?

Read Mark 5:35-43

Why did Jesus keep so few people in the room?
What do you think the family was feeling before he got there/when he arrived?
What was Jesus’ instruction to her parents when she got up?

It’s amazing that the first thing Jesus says is to get her some food. We have a daughter of a synagogue leader, a girl who would be well known, Jesus wants her to be taken care of not shown as an example. Its almost the flip of what he did for the woman, the woman was healed and made right with the community. The girl was healed and allowed to be left alone by the community.

This story shows us that Jesus cares for us in so many ways, our mental health is as important as our physical and spiritual health.

Have you considered that God cares for peoples mental health? How might God do that?