How to Read the Good Book Well

On Jairus' daughter and the woman infected by Jesus's holiness

The lectionary Gospel passage for this coming Sunday is Mark 5:21-43:

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well."

Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'" He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.

When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!"

And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

I managed to make it all the way to my first semester at Princeton Seminary before I realized: I didn’t know how to read the Bible. I managed to get through confirmation as a high school junior. I managed to major in Religion at UVA. I managed to pass the entry steps in the ordination process without ever learning how to read the Bible.

When I started seminary, all first year students were forced to attend a weekend retreat. It was every bit as painful as that sounds. The Saturday afternoon of the retreat one of the leaders instructed us to get our Bibles and to find a place by ourselves somewhere on the grounds and have “quiet time with scripture.”

I had no idea what that meant.

So I asked her.

She suggested that I simply “turn to a random verse of scripture and meditate on it” (for the record: this is terrible advice).

So I did as she suggested. No joke, the first passage I turned to was Genesis 27 where what first caught my eye was: “Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands...”

Which turned out to be hard to meditate on. So I turned a bit more in the Bible and what did I come to?

“Some small boys came up to Elisha and jeered at him, saying, ‘Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!’ When he turned round, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. From there Elisha went on to Mount Carmel, and then returned to Samaria.”

So I turned back a bit in the bible only to discover:

“Then the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ Balaam said to the ass, ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’

So I turned to the Gospels and I found Jesus telling me to hate my mother and my father. I turned further on back in the New Testament and it was all about circumcision.

I decided then that I didn’t know how to read the Bible.

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The Bible is inspired, but the Bible is not a magic Ouija board that gives you whatever answer or uplift you need. There are right and wrong ways to read it. And Mark’s juxtaposed stories in chapter five are a good example of the three perspectives readers ought to bring to bear on every passage of scripture.