By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
v21Jesus went back across to the other side of the lake. There at the lakeside a large crowd gathered around him. v22Jairus, an official of the local synagogue, arrived, and when he saw Jesus, he threw himself down at his feet v23and begged him earnestly, “My little daughter is very sick. Please come and place your hands on her, so that she will get well and live!” v24Then Jesus started off with him. So many people were going along with Jesus that they were crowding him from every side. v25There was a woman who had suffered terribly from severe bleeding for twelve years, v26even though she had been treated by many doctors. She had spent all her money, but instead of getting better she got worse all the time. v27She had heard about Jesus, so she came in the crowd behind him, v28saying to herself, “If I just touch his clothes, I will get well.” (Read: Mark 5.21-43)
Jesus does not promise to calm every storm in your life. Jesus does promise to calm you in every storm of life. This truth we learn from our reflection last week based on the terrifying experience of the disciples on a boat in the middle of a storm in the sea of Galilee. They were chastised by Jesus because of their shallow faith. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”(Mark 4:40). By cowardly cringing and crying out to Jesus in fear, they had revealed the shallowness of their faith. Faith and trust in Christ alone can calm us when the raging storms of life threaten to shatter the serenity of our lives. The psalmist offers this revelation: When I am afraid I put my trust in you. (Psalm 56:3). When were afraid it can literally consume us by the thought of the worst thing happening. However, when we put our trust in the Lord, He gives us the peace and comfort that we need to keep to get rid of that fear and accomplish the things we are called to do. These truths are proven in the two miraculous healing in our gospel lesson this Sunday.
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This Sunday we read in the gospel of Mark about two miraculous healings, the same healer and the same dose of treatment. First, there was this high official named Jairus whose daughter has been very sick and dying. He insisted on calling on Jesus despite being told that his daughter is dead. And Jesus assured him: Dont be afraid; just believe. He did and his daughter was healed. And then there was a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years. She regards Jesus highly that she told herself that she can be healed even by touching Jesus cloak. She did and was made well. Two healings, one healer and the same medication: Faith. And such faith is rewarded by love, the love of Jesus that heals all infirmities. When nothing on which we can lean remains, when strongholds crumble to dust, when nothing is sure but that God still reigns, then that’s the time we should trust! That is how faithful God is and we should never waver in our faith in Him.
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Looking from a social dimension there is a lesson here equally important as faith and trust.
From the sermon written by Barry J Robinson entitled, The Person Next to You is a traditional Japanese story about a fellow who dies and finds himself in Hell. He thinks to himself, I guess I was better than I thought! He is approached by a glistening angel who ushers him into a regal banquet hall in which an immense table is laid out with the best food one could ever imagine. He is seated at the banquet table with many others, and a choice selection of food is served to him. As he picks up his fork and prepares to eat, the angel approaches him from behind and straps a thin board to the back of his arms so he cannot bend his elbows. As he continues trying to pick up the food, he sees that he cant get the food to his mouth. He cannot maneuver in order to feed himself.
Looking about, he notices that all the other people around the table have their arms similarly strapped to boards so that they cannot bend their arms either. They are grunting and groaning as they attempt to get food their mouths. But they cannot; and there is great wailing and moaning at their predicament.
So the man turns to the angel standing beside him and says, This must be hell!
So the angel shows him into another huge banquet hall in which there sits another table, filled with an equally delectable array of food. Ah, says the man, this is more like it! And sitting down, he is about eat when another angel comes and ties a board to the back of his arms so that, once again, he cannot bend his elbows to feed himself. Lamenting that this is the same maddening situation as Hell, he looks about in dismay and notices that, at this table, there is something different happening.
Instead of people trying desperately to feed themselves, straining against the rigidity of their arms, each person is holding his or her arm out straight and feeding the person on either side. Each person is feeding the person next to him and everyone in the room is completely satisfied. So, this is Heaven! the man finally realizes.
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Greed and selfishness bring pain and suffering, but love brings healing and life. We see it here as Jesus reaches out to the hemorrhaging woman and the daughter of Jairus& love has the power to heal. We are Christs minions; hence, we too are called to be healers. This despite our imperfections, sins, and blemishes by our love and faith we are called to be healers. Christians are called to be compassionate wounded healers.
But compassion is not pity. Pity lets us stay at a distance. It is condescending. Compassion is not sympathy. Sympathy is for superiors over inferiors. Compassion is not charity. Charity is for the rich to continue in their status over the poor. Compassion is born of God. It means entering into the other persons problems. It means taking on the burdens of the other. It means standing in the other persons shoes. It is the opposite of professionalism. It is the humanizing way to deal with people. “Just as bread without love can bring war instead of peace, professionalism without compassion will turn forgiveness into a gimmick.” If we recognize these kernels of truth, then there will be healing.
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Jesus showed us the way to heal others by love without discrimination and to be healed by faith as a consequence of Christ s love to us. In this broken and infirmed world, let us proclaim: Love has the power to heal, love has the power to reconcile, and love has the power to redeem.
There are two women in our story: one rich; the other is poor. Jesus is approached by the father of a dying young woman. His help is very much needed; and he agrees to go. On the way to help, Jesus is interrupted by another woman who is also in need of help. Jesus delays responding to the first request, even though it is on behalf of a young woman who is at the point of death. He stops his journey to deal with a woman who is determined to get his attention.
The first young woman is the daughter of Jairus, a person of great importance in the Jewish society at that time. Hence, she is a person of privilege. Just twelve years old, with the promise of womanhood ahead of her, she has lived in the comfort of affluence.
In the contrast, the bleeding woman has suffered for twelve years. Her future has been spent. She, too, is a daughter of Israel, but she is nameless and destitute. She has no one to speak for her. She must take her salvation into her own hands by breaking the bounds of what was both socially and religiously appropriate: an outcast and a woman, she touches a man in public.
And Jesus attended to them on their needs. The healing journey of others may take detours that there may be healing for all. Jesus not only had time for the person next to him, the vision of the kingdom he came to embody pointed to a day when all would be attended to and no one would be ignored. This is equitable healing. No discrimination. Let us do likewise by thinking not only our own benefit but how we can give the same to others.
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Healingphysical, emotional, societaltakes place in many different ways. To seek healing is to hope for more wholeness, to believe that it is possible. In Christ, we believe such wholeness is not only possible but also desired by the One who created us and loves us.
After a year of pandemic, heated political divides, isolation, and unrest, we are hungry for healing within our bodies, our tired souls, and our communities. To follow Christ is to know and to be encouraged that God desires this healing. God desires fullness of life, peace, and wholeness.
So how do we need to reach out for this healing? What stories do we need to tell? Do we need to ask for help, for rest, for prayer, for companionship, for an advocate? For what and where do you desire healing, and how might you seek it?
To ask for and seek healing is an act of hope and a witness to the love of God. It is to be rooted in the knowledge that God loves us and desires wholeness for us and for our communities.
Today you may identify with Jairus and feel moved with compassion to advocate for the healing of another, knowing that we cannot accomplish anothers healing for them, but we can use our voices for good. Or you may identify with the woman, depleted yet determined to take the next step in faith.
Either way, may we seek healing where it is needed and remember that to believe in Jesus is to hope foreven to expecthealing and wholeness.
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The will of God is identified in Jesus life-giving work. Too often people assume that death and destruction are the acts or will of God. But the testimony of the Scriptures is that wherever there is death, God is willing new life.
Let us pray.
Forgive our lack of trust in you, gracious God. We quickly write you out of the equation and accept what is as your will. We even accept death and destruction as your will for us because we often doubt that you desire what is desire what is good. Forgive us for calling storms and earthquakes and accidents (and this pandemic) acts of God. Forgive us for assuming that you delight in that which hurts us. Come to us with Jesus life-giving presence. Restore us to trust, and allow us to hear your invitation to get up! In Jesus name Amen.
(Sources: The Ministers Annual; eSermon.com; Sermonthatworks.com)**
