A man in distress. Hair matted; wrists bloodied from the stone he recently used in his distress. Festering sores cover his ankles from the chains that once bound him but could not hold him due to his fierce strength. Tombs housed him. People feared him. And an impure spirit wrought havoc on his life day and night.

But out of a boat stepped Jesus.

A woman bleeding. Twelve years she suffered. No doctor could heal her. No amount of money could free her from her disease. Every seat she sat in became unclean. Every person she met knew of her condition. Never was she allowed to participate in the festivals of her people. Diseased. An outcast. Unclean.

But then she touched the cloak of Jesus.

A girl dying. Her mother and father torn with grief. Desperate for a sliver of hope, the synagogue leader abandons any pride or fear of the ramifications this action may have. He throws himself at the feet of Jesus and Jesus goes. But he is too slow, too late. She is dead and hope is dead too.

But then Jesus takes her hand.

Each of these stories is so powerful on their own, but together they paint an even more incredible picture. This is the first time in the history of the Law that clean and unclean meet and clean wins. Before Jesus, when clean met unclean, the clean ones were always defiled. When Jesus entered the scene, unclean lost its power in light of perfect purity. The impure spirit is driven away at the command of Jesus. The woman, unclean for 12 years without success from any doctor, is made clean by touching the hem of his garment. A dead girl- unclean in every way by Jewish standards- is raised to life when Jesus takes her hand.

Today, it may not be a death, disease, or impure spirit that defiles us, but our sin does. Thankfully, the God we serve still reigns supreme. We too, can introduce unclean to clean and walk away pure. We too, can cling to him and be cleansed, pure, and righteous.

Do an Experiment

What You’ll Need:

• Water or Soda Bottle
• Scissors
• Small Rocks
• Sand
• Cotton balls
• Crushed up Charcoal
• Dirt
• Water
• Coffee filter

What You’ll Do:

• Cut the top off the bottle and place it upside down over the bottom of the bottle
• Place your coffee filter inside and fill the filter with charcoal first, then rocks, sand, and cotton balls.
• Mix water and dirt together to make a muddy mess, and pour it into your filter.
• Watch as the water becomes clean

What’s the Science:

• As the dirty water hits the cotton balls, sand, and rocks, it begins to leave behind the dirt that was mixed into it. Charcoal has magnetic properties which gather even the smallest bits to it, and the coffee filter blocks the rest. It certainly isn’t clean enough to drink, but you can see the difference in the water.

How Does it Apply to Me?

• Jesus is better than any filter or sand. Nothing we can do on our own can make us clean, but when we come to Jesus, when we acknowledge our sin before him and ask his forgiveness, he cleans us. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Because “when we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Take delight in that today. Like the man who suddenly knew peace and freedom from the impure spirit. Like the woman clean after 12 years of suffering. Like the girl, alive after being dead. Like all followers of Jesus, cleansed from sin and made pure by the grace of Jesus.

More Free Resources

If you’d like to take a deep dive into the Gospel of Mark, check out my beginner commentary for kids here. Read it aloud with your family and understand the life of Jesus and why he came.

If you are looking for lesson plans to use in your kid’s Sunday School classes or to incorporate science experiments into your study of the Bible with your kids, find free lesson plans here.