Mark 5.21-24, 35-43, Matthew 9.18-19, 23-26, Luke 8.40-42, 49-56.
There’s a story in the middle of this story, about a woman with a bloodflow. I’ll get to it later.
Mark and Luke tell this story after
Mark 5.21-43 KWL - 21 After crossing back over the lake in the boat,
- a great crowd again gathered around Jesus. He was on the shore.
- 22 One of the synagogue presidents, named Jaïr, saw him, fell at his feet,
- 23 and urged him to come with him, saying this: “My daughter is at the point of death.
- If you come lay your hands on her, you can save her; she can live.”
- 24 Jesus went with him. The great crowd followed—and was crushing him.
Matthew 9.18-19 KWL - 18 While Jesus said these things, look: A ruler came and knelt before him,
- saying this: “My daughter died just now, but come lay hands on her and she’ll live.”
- 19 Getting up, Jesus followed him, as did his students.
Luke 8.40-42 KWL - 40 Upon Jesus’s return, the crowd greeted him, for they were all expecting him.
- 41 Look: A man named Jair came. This man had become president of the synagogue.
- He fell at Jesus’s feet and prayed that he come to his house,
- 42 for he had an only-begotten 12-year-old daughter, and she was dying.
- As Jesus was going away with Jair, the crowd was choking him.
Maybe you caught the discrepancy; most Christians totally miss it. In Mark and Luke the girl’s at the point of death. In Matthew she’s already died.
Changes the story a little; there’s no longer any sense of urgency in getting to the house before death takes her. Not that curing illness, or curing death, makes any difference to Jesus. Does to doctors—and to us, because we have a bad habit of projecting our limitations upon God. We gotta not do that. Jesus can cure anything. Death too.
But the girl being dead already is why Matthew doesn’t include this bit in mid-story about people running up to tell them she’s died. Didn’t need to.
So was the girl already dead or not? Obviously most Christians vote not—because it’s a more dramatic story that way. But that’s not enough of a reason to pick one gospel over the other. I lean towards the idea she wasn’t dead yet, mainly because there’s no good reason to make it up. “Don’t be afraid; just trust me” is a common theme in the gospels regardless. |