Mark 5:24

So Jesus went with him. A great number of people followed Jesus, and kept pressing around him.


one story invades another
before a denouement is reached in one
a crowd of life stories begin to be revealed
every diagnosis reveals unknown examples
within lives of near-at-hand friends
if only we had paid attention

juggling stories is what we do
we catch and hold one
only to park it above
while catching and holding another
just long enough
for another to cycle through

from time to time an old story
can be taken from our rotation
in as surprising a fashion
a new story is tossed in
each suspension and surprise
roughens our routine

multiple story circles sort themselves
some taking up daily hourly slots
some have longer rhythms
adjusting to marshmallows axes apples
torches and intentionally-empty stories
intersect as we go stop detour go again


Again we have verification trouble. The first part of the verse is about Jairus and the second part is prelude to a next story. “Swarmed” can attest to the importance of Jairus or to the condition under which the next part of Mark’s story will take place.

= = = = = = =

Jesus seems to generally operate on a basis similar to Brownian Movement — seemingly random. With a sense of urgency pushing the action, Jesus follows Jairus as we would follow a GPS.

There is probably a bit of “recalculating” that went on as a large crowd tries to anticipate and follow along through narrow streets.

Jostling and pushing are part of the expectation as the haste of the journey and the delay of a crowd interact with one another. We could even expect a moment of road-rage as Jairus is not making good time on a very time sensitive mission.

It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to see how a longer travel time leads to an edginess in Jairus, Jesus, and the crowd pushing them closer together, forward, and ever slower. We have seen how traffic can back up of its own accord and even come to a complete stop.

What was supposed to be a quick little aside after a stressful episode with stampeding pigs on the other side of the Sea/Lake, is turning out to have its own stress and we wonder where the breaking point is going be revealed. Will Jairus claim his status and start pushing people out of the way? Will Jesus zing out an intercessory healing from afar? Will the crowd bring things to a halt, aborting a healing?

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