Sermon for June 28th, 2015

 The reading

Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 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." So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'" He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.  He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." 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?" But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe."  He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.  When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." 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. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

The message

The Bible has 4 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  These are the inspired narratives that tell the story of Jesus birth, life, work, death and resurrection. They were written based on experiences, eyewitness reports, written sources and oral traditions.  Each of the four were written a few years apart and for a different audience. Although, almost 2000 years later, there are still a lot of disagreements and debates over the time and authorship of these books,  it is clear that Mark was the first one written and the shortest.  The authors of Matthew and Luke had knowledge of and access to Mark’s Gospel when they wrote and collected their works.

Mark’s Gospel is not only short, it is also very quick.  In Greek, the words “Kia Euthos” meaning “and immediately” appear every few verses.  Mark was originally meant to be read in front of an audience in one sitting.  The Gospel’s propose was to convince the hearers that Jesus Christ was the messiah, sent to save us from sin and bring us to eternal life.  Throughout the book Jesus work is fast and often frantic; he is constantly racing from place to place, teaching, healing, correcting, praying and performing signs of power. ‘

This morning’s Gospel reading is a good example of this pace and urgency in Mark.  Jesus arrives in a new place, where he is greeted by a large crowd (even in a 1^st century world without computers or phones, news of Jesus power and wisdom spread quickly).  Jaruis somehow makes his way through the crowd, approaches Jesus and calls out “my daughter is sick, help”.  Jesus, seeing his distress and need, gos with him. They slowly walk through this loud crowd, where everyone is pushing, shoving and trying to get close to Jesus. Everyone is hopeful and desperate.  Hopeful for verification that this Jesus is from God and that he is the long expected Messiah who would bring change. Desperate for healing, relief and blessing.  In this chaos, one woman of great faith, sneaks up, touches Jesus and is healed. Jesus knows exactly what happened and stops to find out who touched him.  This was a teaching moment about the power of faith and no matter how busy, Jesus would not miss an opportunity to share the news of faith’s power to heal and change things.  (I’m sure Jarius and his party were annoyed at this, after all, his daughter was dying and now Jesus is stopping an already slow trip to talk to some poor sick woman).  During this conversation, a group from Jarius’ house comes to let him know the feared and tragic news, his daughter is dead, don’t bother Jesus to come (assuming there was nothing he could have done at that time, healing the sick was one thing but raising the dead was another).  Jesus dismisses the crowd (Im sure this was not an easy or fast task) and brings a few disciples to see Jarius’ daughter.  Jarius’ house is another scene of chaos.  He was a religious leader and helped many in the community, It was a time of great support, mourning and disappointment that Jesus could not get there sooner.  Once at the house, Jesus takes Jarius’ daughter by the hand and says “little girl, get up”.  Immediately, death leaves and the little girl is alive. 

All of this seems to occur over the course of a few minutes.  People are left overjoyed, curious, disappointed, shocked and unsure of what just happened.  When we face a text and reading like this, it is often difficult to pick out a part to talk about, there is just so much going on and so many directions you can go in. At its heart, it is a story that shows God’s power to interfere with the world and God’s commitment to those we often ignore or step over.  I am going to focus on an often overlooked part of the story. At the very end, Jesus tells the people in the house to give the little girl “something to eat”.  This is something that happens a few times in Jesus post Easter, post-resurrection experiences as well. This was not said and done because people who come back from the dead just happen to be really hungry. This is done to prove that the dead really are alive, to show the person is not a ghost, an illusion or a spirit.

   

I think something else is going on here as well. It is about our care for each other.  Give her something to eat is not just a one time thing, it is instructions to provide for this little girl long term, to help sustain her in this new life. In my experiences, there are many people in need or struggling that I just want to say “Hey, just get up”, “stop doing drugs”, “do your homework”. “get over it” or  “get a job” and then have everything be okay for them.  Of course things do not work that way, walking with people through struggles is often a time of taking steps backward and forward.  It is a relationship of forgiveness, encouragement and celebration.   Getting away from addiction, rebuilding life after tragedy, or overcoming the challenges of poverty are not solved with one time solutions.  We do not eat one time and then we are fed for life, Even after a trip to the all you can eat buffet, you will be hungry again in a few hours. With these words, give her something to eat, Jesus is inviting them to take over the care and support of this girl, to nurture her in her physical and spiritual needs.            

Jesus does not just offer the little girl and her family a miracle repair to death and then walk on to the next person in need.  Jesus knows that a good and faithful life involves more than one time fixes.  Jesus reminds them that they are in a relationship of love and care with God and with each other.  God does not just pop up when things are bad to get people through a crisis, God is with us all the time, mourning at times of loss, celebrating at times of joy, rejoicing with success, forgiving wrongs and calling us to do the same for each other.