Do you have an eye for details?

I turned my attention to Mark, chapter five, in search of the next parable but found none. Instead, I found so much more. I have always been impressed that those who chronicled these deeds of Christ chose the words that we now read. If a thing was written down, that was because the writer thought it important enough to mention. They could have lingered on the major points – that Christ was a priest/king, or that Christ was a healer, or a prophet, savior, or the very son of almighty God. Yet, they thought certain small details merited mention.

I see the authenticity of the Bible in those small details. They prove to me the humanity of Christ or the dismay of ordinary people faced with the unimaginable. I have often said that I see the things that others overlook, but in truth, we all see the details. They are there before us in black and white. A person with a blind spot will not immediately catch on, neither will the person with something to prove, nor yet again will the person who assumes, presumes, or predetermines.

Do you have an eye for details? If so, I invite you to reexamine with me the fifth chapter of the book of Mark. It is, at once, a book both of mesmerizing miracles and convincing real-life details. Christ had just taught the multitudes from a hired ship by the western shore of the sea of Galilee. He had crossed to the eastern side, calming a storm in transit. Chapter five presents us with three miracles.

The first of these is the man possessed by Legion. After the miracle, the gentiles of that region gathered to find that not only was the man dressed and in his right mind, but 2000 dead pigs were floating in the sea of Galilee. That second point affected them more than the first, for their livelihoods had been diminished. The people feared his destructive power and asked him to leave.

Back on the other side, likely at the very place from which he had departed, the leader of that city's synagogue kneeled before him to beg a favor. It is possible that Jairus was one of those who had taunted him and schemed with the Herodians for his destruction. Times and fates, however, defy the most stalwart of lives. Things change. When they do, we must change with them. Christ, having the reputation as a Master and healer was the last hope for a daughter loved, but upon death's very door. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Jairus begs for his daughter's life and Christ answers the plea. Yet, even before he raises that 12-year-old girl from the dead, he heals a woman with an issue of blood. Mark five displays three wonderful and wrenching miracles. Now, it might be enough, if the writer had only some major point to express, if only the miracles had been recounted, for indeed they showed the divine in Christ, they showed his healing power. Yet, more than these alone, the writer felt that certain small details were important enough to write about. Let us examine those details together.

We turn first to the possessed. Might it not have been enough to state that the man had an evil spirit? Would it not have been sufficient to show the power of the son of God over so many evil spirits that they were named Legion? If you just had that to report, no more needed to be said. Yet, more was said. Why? I think it is because the writer was amazed at what had occurred. The list of reported facts went well beyond the comfortable realm of that which was considered 'normal'. These are the small details that amazed the writer.

The possessed man was strong – no one could tame him. Obviously, previous attempts to subdue the man had failed. They had failed with ropes, they had failed with fetters, they had even failed with chains. The man always managed to remove them, even in some cases breaking them into pieces. Myths are built around such men, and stories of this type continue from generation to generation. As an example of such, I was once incarcerated in a jail in the city of Leesville, Louisiana. The jail had stood since the late 1880s. A story was told to me of a man so strong, that when he awoke from a drunk to find himself in jail, he bent the bars on the door with his bare hands. I saw those bars with my own eyes, they were one inch thick and made from blue steel. As I say, authenticity may be found in the details.

So, this strong wild man was important to the writer. This was the type of man that Jesus faced – a man known to inhabit the mountain wilds and tombs of the dead – a man heard by many to cry pathetically, and known for such a lamentable state that he would even cut himself with rocks. He was feared by the locals and left to his own devices. This was the man that ran at Christ while those with him watched, amazed and helpless to act. Christ commanded the spirit to depart from the man, who then fell at Jesus' feet and worshiped him.

“What have I to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God?” said the man in a loud voice, upon which Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” The man answered, “My name is Legion: for we are many.” Now, throughout this exchange, those who attended Jesus stood quietly watching. Legion begged to retain their corporal host, desperate enough to accept the bodies of 2000 pigs. The command of Christ could not be denied, for Christ would not suffer the evil spirits, and when the swine had been possessed, Christ sent them in a panic to their deaths.

So, what is the important message in this report? The story could have begun and concluded on the power of Christ over a legion of evil spirits. Yet, there are details about the wild man – and something else the writer felt was important. The locals saw their livelihoods dead in the sea. They feared him who was stronger than Legion. They rejected him who had trimmed their purse strings so short.

Then, there is the miracle of the raised girl. It would have been enough to show the healer so willing to heal. It would have been enough to show a powerful man on his knees before Jesus. But there are details, and as we are coming to see, there is truth in the details. Let us look at the details. He was back on the other side again. He was near the sea of Galilee in the same area in which he taught the multitudes in parables. There was still enough of a crowd that Jesus again was thronged. Despite the press, one of the rulers of the synagogue made his way to Jesus and fell at his feet, humble, prostrate, desperate.

Now, Jesus traveled with a sizable entourage, and upon his return to the western banks of Galilee, this number was compounded by the crowd that surrounded him. One man, proud in his station, pushed through the multitude, but his station and his pride no longer mattered: his daughter was dying, and Jesus could heal her. He had healed others. It was a father's desperation that threw this leader at the feet of a man his order rejected.

Who ruled the synagogues? A council of elders which may have been constituted of Pharisees and other religious rulers. Perhaps Jairus witnessed the healing of the withered hand. Whether his take on the law set him at disagreement with Jesus, or he had been named among those that chapter three of this book called 'friends', the healer's reputation was undeniable. Jairus humbly begged the life of his daughter.

It is the small details that make a story real. Those unsung tidbits of scripture describe the human nature. They paint a vivid portrait of the moment, and the spirit in which the facts go down. It seems rather immediate, but Jesus went with the ruler of the synagogue. Jesus' entourage went with him, and a large following of people filled in every empty space so that the writer wrote that Jesus was 'thronged'.

Under these circumstances, Jesus was bumped and jostled to the point that even his disciples could not guard his person. I don't doubt they tried. I don't doubt there was a measure of frustration in that event. Into that pressed scenario came a woman with a disease. She touched the clothing of Jesus and was healed. Skeptics will always be more of what they practice. Naturally, they will say this event is just too fantastic to believe.

There is no record that anyone knew of her until the incident. Information for the record would have had to be gathered after the fact. Again, the writer felt that information warranted mention. What are the details? The woman had an issue of blood. Her ailment had blighted her life for 12 years. She had spent all her money on Doctors, but had not improved, rather it is said that she got worse. Furthermore, the writer wanted the reader to know a small but important detail – a very human detail – the woman had suffered at the hands of those who could not really help. That represents 12 years of dashed hopes.

Yet, she had enough faith left, and enough desperation, to push through the throng and touch the clothing of Jesus. No doubt, she had been part of the multitudes since chapter three, in which the withered hand was healed. No doubt, she also heard of the man who had been possessed on the eastern banks of the Galilee. Whether in the council of friends or not, faith drove her to act.

Jesus stopped because of a detail. That detail was that he 'felt' the healing virtue leave his person. I have always found this particular story very telling. Imagine the hustle, the bustle. Imagine the jostling and the clamor of voices, the dust rising up from the road. Imagine the focus of the disciples to get Jesus to Jairus' house – and Jesus stops and turns. The voices vanish as he calls out, “Who touched my clothes?”

This is where the human factor convinces me of the truth of the miracle: his disciples responded thus, “You see the multitude thronging you, and yet you ask, who touched me?” They were incredulous. They were perplexed at his words. How could he say such a thing under those conditions? I wonder if I am the only one who sees that Jesus perceived the 'virtue' going out of him as an energy taking direction? Virtue seems a vague concept to many, but I wish the reader of this study to see virtue as energy and power, effective in its discharge. The woman, it is said, knew immediately that her plague was gone. She also felt the weight of Jesus' question as wholly personal.

I relate to that, and I'll tell you why. In elementary school, I was trying to read a comic book during a class. I had it concealed inside the school book I held so that if the teacher should look my way, he would see the jacket of the school book. A sort of charged silence overtook the classroom, and the teacher cleared his throat. A wave of adrenaline flooded my system, telling me I was the target of the throat-clearing. I knew without a doubt that I had been found out.

The woman, I have little doubt, felt much the same. She was compelled to confess her deed – not that she was guilty of any wrong doing – but still, she threw herself before him and confessed all. He said, “Your faith has made you whole.” Can you see it? Jesus deliberately and knowingly healed many people. She was not one of them. It was the woman and her faith that tapped into the energy of Christ. She effected her own healing. Jesus' words were not platitudinous but spoke of the real connection between such power and the spirit of the person.

While that transpired, people came from the house of Jairus. They were not a part of the crowd that day but surely were as privy to all the word-of-mouth that flew around the actions of Jesus. They would have known of his reputation and formed an opinion. These might have been servants of the house of Jairus, or they might have been friends or fellow elders of the synagogue. One line is attributed to them, but it speaks volumes for such an overlooked detail.

They said, “Your daughter is dead: why trouble the Master any further?” Was it mere servants who thought of Jesus as 'the Master'? Was it friends, or family, or fellow elders who used the word 'Master'? It is telling that this detail was retained in the account, more so that the writer, or translator, thought to capitalize the word.

Must have been a wrenching moment for the father of the girl, but how close to Jairus' house were they when that occurred? Probably quite close, for it was at a point where Jesus, Jairus, and three disciples could go on alone. Christ would have had to deliberately turn back the crowd that had followed him. Remember, he was thronged by a multitude. His command to the crowd to would need to be forceful. While not a part of the story, I can imagine those of the household meeting Jesus and Jairus at the outer gates of the property.

Let us look at what Jesus told Jairus. He said, “Be not afraid, only believe.” He said this on the heels of having told the woman that her faith had made her whole. I bring this up because it points to a connection between faith and fear as if they are opposites – the one being fully able to cancel out the other. Faith powers miracles and that spiritual frame of mind cannot be achieved through fear.

So, Christ enters the house to heal the girl. Obviously, there are people still there – family members, neighbors, friends of the family – grieving and mourning in the cultural fashion. Jesus rebukes the custom and is “laughed to scorn”, as the scripture puts it. Without the small details, it may be assumed a writer of such an account need only present the core matter, that being to show Jesus as the healer, and or the son of God. If such propaganda is the tactic, then all coincidental characters will have their hands in the air and be singing praises, but people knew when someone was dead, so of course, they would laugh and scorn and ridicule – that was part and parcel of who they were. That shows me they were real.

Jesus puts them all out of the room. The only others there are the parents and the three disciples. Jesus takes the girl's hand and says, “Talitha cumi.” This is a Syriac expression, which according to my inquiry, Jesus used regularly, as it was the common language in which he communicated. The writer of Mark thought this particular expression was important enough to keep in Syriac and to translate for the reader. It is confusing to me because if Jesus normally spoke in this dialect of Aramaic, then the writer was already translating what Jesus said for the reader. Why not simply do the same with this expression and say that Jesus took the hand of the maid and said arise little maid. This detail is intriguing in that the Syriac expression is treated as an incantation.

Finally, the girl arises from her state (Jesus had said that she only slept) and everyone is duly and rightfully amazed. In closing, I would like to illuminate a final detail, one that shows me the veracity of the account of a miracle. It's a little thing, but it stands tall in my estimation. Jesus turns to the parents and tells them to be sure to make the girl eat some food. Sounds like a physician. Sounds like someone who knew the first need of a body that comes from such a state as that girl was certainly in. Do you have an eye for details? Think on these. It may be the story takes on an added dimension for you – the dimension of a spiritually awakened reader.