Mark 5:21-43
5th Sunday, Ordinary Time
5th Sunday, Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert
1 July 2012
1 July 2012
You know the scene in the movie, Bruce Almighty, where Bruce is suddenly
bombarded by the cascade of voices of people praying to God for help? Sometimes we wonder, “Does God really care
about my illness in the midst of so many major problems in the world? And does God have the power to make a
difference?” Today’s intertwined
stories help us to see that God Incarnate is responsive to our needs and does
have the power to heal us. Having just
calmed the storm on the sea, then healed a person severely deranged, the
Gerasene demoniac, Jesus keeps moving, surrounded by crowds of people. He is approached by two people in this
story, one is a powerful man, Jairus, a leader in the synagogue, whose daughter
is gravely ill. The other is an
unknown, powerless woman, who has been hemorrhaging for 12 years. In these two stories, we see the boundless
compassion of Christ, ready to assist all people in need, no matter their
station in life. We see the enormous
power of Christ in his touching and being touched by others that gives them
life and healing. We see the relational
integrity and timeliness of Christ, such that he attends to the present crisis
of need without failing to fulfill his promise to the next one waiting for his
care.
Most significantly, we see the power
of trust in those who are seeking Christ.
If you will just lay your hand on my sick daughter…. If I can just touch
his clothes, I will be made well.” Trust
is a huge factor in the power of the healing relationship. We know this to be true in our relationships
with spiritual, mental health, and medical professionals – just as it is true
in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
May the Spirit guide our reading and
hearing of this Holy Word, Mark 5:21-43.
21When Jesus had crossed
again in the boat to the other side,
a great crowd gathered
around him; and he was by the sea.
22 Then one of the leaders
of the synagogue named Jairus came and,
when he saw him, fell at
his feet 23 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." 24 So he went with him.
And a large crowd
followed him and pressed in on him.
25 Now there was a woman
who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.
26 She had endured much
under many physicians, and had spent all that she had;
and she was no better,
but rather grew worse.
27 She had heard about
Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
28 for she said, "If I
but touch his clothes, I will be made well."
29 Immediately her
hemorrhage stopped;
and she felt in her body
that she was healed of her disease.
30 Immediately aware that
power had gone forth from him,
Jesus turned about in the
crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"
31 And his disciples said
to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you;
how can you say, 'Who
touched me?'" 32 He looked all around to see who had done it.
33 But the woman, knowing
what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling,
fell down before him, and
told him the whole truth. 34
He said to her,
"Daughter, your
faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
35 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?"
36 But overhearing what
they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue,
"Do not fear, only
believe."
37 He allowed no one to
follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
38 When they came to the
house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion,
people weeping and
wailing loudly. 39 When he had entered, he said to them,
"Why do you make a
commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping."
40 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.
41 He took her by the hand
and said to her, "Talitha cum,"
which means, "Little
girl, get up!"
42 And immediately the girl
got up and began to walk about
(she was twelve years of
age).
At this they were
overcome with amazement.
43 He strictly ordered them
that no one should know this,
and told them to give her
something to eat.
(NRSV)
Richard and I had only a brief scare
when Emily was in Korea and had her seizure-like experience in the night. But it was enough of a scare to make me
realize how desperate a parent must feel when a child is gravely ill, like
Jairus’ daughter, or like the parents of Leanna Knopik, 16 year old at First
Presbyterian, Sarasota. We’ve been
praying for Leanna whose heart was so damaged by a viral infection that she is
existing with the help of a heart pump.
I can only begin to imagine the Knopiks desperation and Jairus’ and his
wife’s desperation over their sick child.
Like many people rushing into
emergency situations, pleading with the medical personnel, handle my urgent
need first. Please Jesus, come to my
house now to heal my daughter. And
Jesus does, but not without getting side-tracked, delayed briefly when he
notices that healing power has flowed from him to someone who touched him. “Who was it?” he wants to know. “Who touched me?” And everyone, including the disciples, just
want Jesus to acknowledge that any number of people in the crowd have touched
him. Let’s get on to the emergency, to
protect the daughter of the very important man. But Jesus was not interested in anonymous
healing experiences. Jesus was not
interested in ignoring the poor to help the wealthy first. Jesus WAS, despite his hurry, interested in
the particular person in the crowd who was so desperate and so full of faith,
that she reached out in trust, grabbed Jesus’ robe, and with it took some of
his healing power. She, shocked by the
power that had entered her body and stopped her menstrual cramping, fell down
before him and told him the whole truth.
I suppose that the whole truth in her case may have been a testimony of
twelve years of misery. Not only did she
have a chronic disease, but her disease made her ritually unclean and thereby
an outcast in society. Jesus called her
“Daughter” and said your faith has made you well, your trusting has saved
you. Go in peace and be healed of the disease
that has plagued you.
While he was still talking to the
woman, the worst fears of Jairus are announced. His daughter is dead. Messengers come and tell Jairus to excuse
Jesus because he is no longer needed.
It is too late. But Jesus,
apparently able to hear two conversations at once, something Bruce Almighty
could not handle, says to Jairus and friends, “Do not be afraid, only
trust/believe/have faith.”
Taking only the three closest
disciples - Peter, James, and John – Jesus approaches and challenges those who
were there to support the family with their weeping and wailing, a common
practice in first century times, to have people whose purpose is to express the
grief, to announce it. There were no
newspaper obits or facebook messages or church bells to ring to announce the
news. Professional wailers made it
clear that a grief was being observed.
Jesus tells them to hush because he says the child is not dead only
sleeping. They don’t believe him, but
he proves his power once again, in this amazing way, by entering the room with
parents and inviting the little girl to get up and the parents to feed her.
A day in the life of Jesus –
calming/healing/saving storm-threatened disciples, a mentally ill person, an
outcast with a chronic malady, a child who has died. In each of these stories, fear is overcome by
the power of Christ and people learn to put their trust in him.
If any of you read my faith column in
the Bradenton Herald yesterday, I want to make it clearer now than I did in the
newspaper that the point of this passage scripture is trust in Jesus Christ,
the Healer. I also want to make it
clear that I truly respect all who have a different notion than I regarding the
direction our country should go with healthcare. But as I was studying this passage and
listening to the debate that ensued from Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling, I could
not help but see some connections in the power of trusting for healing even in
our modern medical context where God works through professionals who are paid
for their work and their expenses.
I believe that we need to continue to
move toward an economically-sound healthcare system which guarantees access and
affordability to all its citizens. I do
not think we have reached the goal. I am
not intending to sound partisan, though many of you may hear me that way. I simply want to see our broken healthcare
system changed into something that will be more healing and humane for all people
in this country.
We can have a discussion about the
specifics of how to achieve that, because neither the Republicans nor the
Democrats ever have all the right pieces to the healthcare puzzle, but my
prayer is that we can work together, not against one another. My hope is that we can continue to build trust
into our system of care so that all marginalized people with chronic medical
issues and all worried parents with sick children, not to mention senior
citizens, the middle class, and the very poor, can receive the healing touch of
good, solid, not overly defensive medical care.
Jesus Christ is the Miracle
Worker, but we are His hands and His feet.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ we pray for a good and fair, bi-partisan process that will
make healing healthcare an affordable, sensible, and enduring reality for all in
this great land of the free and the brave.
Teach us to respect one another, listen to one another, and be the
healing presence of Christ for one another.
Thank you for pouring your power out on your church and for calling us
to be your body in the world, broken yet strong with the strength that we gain
from merely touching your cloak as we gather to worship you, to be
saved/healed, restored to wholeness by you.
We actively put our trust in you, even in dire circumstances, knowing
that you make us new people by your love and power. Amen.
