GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 5:22
Pride Be Gone
There is a famous story about a Syrian Prime Minister suffering from leprosy, whose servant girl told about a prophet in Israel who had performed several miracles. (II Kings 5) When the Syrian went to the prophet, the prophet told him to go bathe in the Jordan River, not once, but seven times. There was no way a Syrian Prime Minister would go and wash in the muddy little creek of a river. No, no way—a man has his pride. His servants encouraged him to try the prophet’s recommendation. It’s easy to imagine this man with a spine as stiff as oak resigning himself to the task, walking hesitantly into the Jordan in front of his retinue—drivers, menservants, and guards. Coming out of the river, he looked at the sores on his body—nothing. Disgusted, he stomped back to his chariot, shurgging off the whole affair as an assault on his pride. His servants, however, encouraged him to bathe six more times. Setting aside his pride, with stiff legs and back, he walked into the river six more times—then there was a miracle, the leprosy was gone. A miracle was almost missed because of pride.
There are many biblical warnings about the bad effects of pride. “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” (Proverbs 8:13) “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18; cf. also Isa. 2:11; Obadiah 1:3-4) In the New Testament, “Pride sets one against God Himself.” (James 4:6; cf. also I John 2:16; Luke 18:9-14) “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.” (Rom. 12:3)
St. Mark provides a story about a man who had to put aside his pride. According to Mark’s narrative, Jesus and his associates returned to the seashore near Capernaum where a crowd met them. It is easy to imagine that people in the crowd—Mark said it was a large crowd—stepped aside “And one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came, and when he saw him, he fell at his feet.” (Mark 5:22)
Jairus must have been a person of importance, for he was a ruler of a synagogue. There may have been more than one synagogue in a city as large as Capernaum, but this man’s job was the care and management of a synagogue. He didn’t necessarily take part in its meetings, but he was responsible for seeing that all duties were carried out; therefore, he was a respected man in the community. So he had to let go of his pride as he fell before this itinerant carpenter-teacher-healer, someone whom a ruler of a synagogue would probably not allow into the sacred area. On this occasion, though, the synagogue ruler fell at Jesus’ feet and bowed, touching his forehead to the ground.
There is more of this story to come, of course, but it began when a man was able to overcome the barrier of pride—a lesson never out of date.
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