Why Bother? (Mark 5:35)
In Mark 5:21-43 Jairus, a synagogue leader, asked Jesus for help regarding his 12-year-old daughter, who was on her deathbed. As they made their way to Jairus’s home, Jesus was interrupted by a woman who had been suffering for 12 years with a bleeding problem. She believed that if only she could touch Jesus’ robe, she would be healed, and she was right (see vv. 25-29). When the woman touched His robe, she was “instantly” (v. 29) healed, and Jesus “realized in Himself that power had gone out from Him” (v. 30). Jesus asked who had touched Him, and while many had done so (see v. 24), this woman’s touch had been unique. So, with “fear and trembling” (v. 33), she identified herself. “‘Daughter,’ He said to her, ‘your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be free from your affliction’” (v. 34).
As Jesus was speaking these words to the woman who now was well, “people came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher anymore?’” (v. 35). The word translated bother means “to trouble or annoy.” From Jairus’s perspective the matter was of course of utmost urgency, yet use of the word translated bother implicitly underscores a recognition that Jesus constantly received requests like this. Indeed, the very interruption that had just taken place highlights this reality. The phrase Why bother…? also conveys a sense of hopelessness. The child had died, so now nothing could be done; yet Jesus was about disprove this assumption (see also John 11:1-44).
Remarkably, the woman who was healed when she touched Jesus’ robe could have asked the very same thing: “Why bother?” She had endured her problem for 12 years. She’d seen “many doctors”; in fact, from verse 26 we also learn that she had “endured much under” them. While incompetent doctors will surely cause unnecessary problems for their patients, a patient still might “endure much” under a skilled doctor’s care yet not improve. This woman didn’t improve. She “spent everything she had” (v. 26), and still her condition worsened. Yet in Jesus this ailing woman saw hope. From one perspective, she certainly could have asked herself, “Why bother Him?” Yet from another, what did she have to lose? But a third perspective comes to the forefront with regard to this woman’s—and Jairus’s—situations, and it is this: Jesus is the source of real hope, even in circumstances—and maybe especially in circumstances—where all other sources of hope have run dry. This is not to say that we should look to Jesus only after we have exhausted all other possible avenues to solutions. It is to say that we ought to look to Him for hope and for answers, even as we pursue legitimate options to address our urgent concerns. This woman’s example of determination is instructive for us. With Jesus, hope abounds! Never give up!
Just ask Jairus. As we have said, messengers arrived from his house indicating to this father that reasons to bother Jesus no longer existed. Yet “when Jesus overheard what was said, He told the synagogue leader, ‘Don’t be afraid. Only believe’” (v. 36). Here we see that faith in Jesus is the key that unlocks the door to genuine hope—even in an otherwise hopeless situation. Jesus restored Jairus’s daughter, and in so doing proved He had authority over life and death (see vv. 39-42). This last point is critical. Still, we must be careful, lest we come off as trite. As believers, we do well to avoid fear and to place our faith in Jesus, but He may not transform our circumstances in the way we would like (see Mark 6:14-29; John 16:33; Acts 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 12:6-10; 2 Thess. 1:4-5; 2 Tim. 2:3; James 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 3:13-18). Sometimes He uses our circumstances to transform us!
