Mark 5:21-43

Intertwined Narratives

Jesus’ encounters with Jairus’ daughter and the bleeding woman are sandwiched together with the intention that the two narratives would unlock and help to interpret the other. We’ve seen Mark do this before (3:20-35). These passages, therefore, should rarely, if ever, be unwound from each other. To do so, we would rend the context which Mark has deliberately stitched together. 

Within Mark, these episodes of Jesus fall at an interesting moment in His ministry. There is an emotional push and pull at Jesus. The Gerasenes want nothing more than for Jesus to get as far from Gerasa as possible (5:17), while the former demoniac wants nothing more than to stay…