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TWO ENCOUNTERS WITH JESUS BESIDE THE SEA
Mark 5:21-43
A sermon preached at First Presbyterian Church by Carter Lester on
July 1, 2012
Introduction: One of the unique characteristics of Mark’s gospel is his use of what some call “sandwich” stories. The “sandwich stories” begin with one encounter between Jesus and an individual or group, then cut away to a second seemingly unrelated encounter, and then come back to the first story. When Mark does this, he probably wants us to consider the two encounters in light of each other. Here in Mark 5, we have two healings but the two people healed could not be more different. One is an unnamed woman, probably poor and unmarried, who has been battling a bleeding condition for twelve years that has not only left her ailing but also has made her a social outcast because she is ritually unclean. The other person healed is a young girl who is on the verge of death. She is but twelve years old and comes from a prominent family. Her father, Jairus, is the leader of the synagogue, Mark tells us. These are stories of healing but they are also more than that. These two interrelated encounters with Jesus beside the Sea of Galilee offer unique perspectives on what he is like – then and now.
Let us read Mark 5:21-43
Do you ever wonder what it must have been like to be beside the Sea of Galilee with Jesus on the day that Mark just described? To be Jairus or the unnamed woman? Let us pray.
Prayer
(Jairus) My name is Jairus, and I was a desperate man. Do you know what it is like to be a parent and see your daughter dying – and be able to do nothing about it? I was the leader of the synagogue – but what good did that do my daughter? All I knew to do when she took a turn for the worst was to ask Jesus for help.
The crowds were growing around Jesus. Those who followed him contended that he taught with an authority that other rabbis didn’t have. Others talked about those he had healed with only the touch of his hand. But there were many men in my congregation who did not like Jesus. “Who is he to claim to forgive sins? – it is blasphemy!” some said. Others were worried that the growing crowds around Jesus would to catch Herod’s attention – and bring his troops to our village.
I didn’t know what to think about Jesus then; I tried to stay neutral and keep my distance. But the time for neutrality had passed. My daughter needed help that I could not give her; nor, could anyone else. My only hope was Jesus. People said that he was different, that he had a power and compassion that they had not seen in any other man. It was time for me to find out. I took off to find Jesus – I abandoned the steady walk in keeping with a man of my position in society – and I ran towards Jesus like a little boy, forgetting all about what it would look like. I had to find Jesus and bring him back to my house.
Woman: I was a desperate woman. Do you know what it is like to bleed all the time? No man would marry me. I could not enter the synagogue or get close to a rabbi because I was ritually unclean. Even family and friends were not supposed to touch me – or my clothes, or the bed where I had slept or the chair where I had sat. I was weak, limp, could hardly move through each day. I had spent every spare coin that I have in search of an end to this disease and this bleeding. The doctors had been happy to take my money – but they had done nothing for me.
I had heard Jesus before – and he seemed different: the way he talked, these strange parables he told, the way he looked at people and welcomed those no one else wanted around. He had healed others with just a touch. I knew he could make me well if I could just touch him.
Of course I would not be able to approach him openly and ask for healing. If anyone recognized me, they would cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” and I would be shoved aside. So I picked a chance when lots of people were around him, hoping against hope that I could somehow, someway, get close enough to Jesus to reach out and touch him. It was crazy really, but he was my only chance.…
Jairus: …I found Jesus! Of course, it wasn’t hard since I just had to listen for the noise of the crowd. But seeing Jesus, I ran right up to him, fell at his feet and cried out over and over, “My little daughter is about to die. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well, and live.” Jesus stopped what he was doing and agreed to come with me! There was no time to waste, I knew, so we started for my house. But then Jesus suddenly stopped….
Woman:…Fortunately, Jesus’ disciples were not very good at keeping people from getting close to Jesus – they were too fascinated and too excited by the surging crowds. And a lot of people were distracted when the leader of the synagogue fell at Jesus’ feet and wailed something about his daughter.
I kept pushing through the crowd. Finally, I was close enough. Jesus didn’t see me – he was turned the other way. But with all of those bodies jostling against me, I reached out and grabbed the edge of Jesus’ cloak.
When I did, I felt a jolt. A surge of power seemed to enter my body. And almost instantaneously the bleeding stopped! I didn’t have time to be excited. I couldn’t believe it but Jesus somehow knew I had touched him despite all of those people pressing about him. He stopped andasked a question that sent my heart racing: “Who touched my clothes?!”
I was shaking with fear – what would he do when he realized that someone like me had touched him?
Jairus: “Who touched my clothes?” I couldn’t believe he stopped to ask that question. My daughter was dying and he stopped to ask about someone touching him with all of those people around him? What was Jesus thinking? “Come on Jesus, we have to hurry,” I thought. I started to wonder if those people who thought he was not in his right mind were right.
And then when I saw who it was that had touched him – I couldn’t believe it. Why would he stop to talk to a woman in public? No other rabbi would do that – with any woman, but especially a woman like that! She shouldn’t be within 50 yards of Jesus! She would contaminate him. And, he acted like she was as important as any other person he would meet that day. He acted like he had all of the time in the world. I was so angry with Jesus.
Woman: “Who touched my clothes?” When Jesus turned in my direction and asked that question,I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. But there was something about the way Jesus asked the question – he didn’t recoil in disgust. I was frightened, but somehow I found myself wanting to talk with him and tell him everything. Instead of running away, I fell down at his feet and poured out my heart. I told him everything, about who I was, about what I had done and why I had done it. I didn’t dare look up as I spoke.
Do you know what he said to me in response? Do you know what the first word was out of his mouth? “Daughter.” “Daughter!” He called me – a woman, unclean and outcast, “Daughter.” He claimed me! As if I were family. I belonged.
And then the rest of what he said was just as hard to believe: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
“Daughter”…”go in peace,” “be healed.” Jesus did not just cure my illness. He changed my life. He changed my future. He changed me.
Jairus: Finally Jesus quit talking with that woman and we could continue on to my house. My worst fears were then realized. A group of people who had been at my house came running up to me and said that there was no need to bring Jesus because my daughter was dead. While Jesus had stopped to talk to that woman my daughter was dying.
But Jesus overheard what the group said to me. He then told me, “Do not fear, only believe.” I didn’t know what to say or what to do. Not be afraid? I was terrified – and sad and angry. But we continued on to my house – Jesus and three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, and myself. When we got there, my family and friends had already begun the ritual of mourning. But Jesus quieted them down by asking: “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” They laughed at him. Undoubtedly they thought him to be crazy or a fool. I would have probably done the same thing – but I had seen what he had done with that woman.
He sent all of the scoffers outside – indeed everyone, but the three disciples and my wife and me. And then inside he said to my daughter: “my little lamb, arise.”[1] He was so tender. It was almost as if she were his own daughter. “My little lamb, arise…”
And she did. She woke up. She got up and even began to walk. My daughter was alive! We were all shouting and hugging each other – we were so amazed and joyful. But Jesus didn’t want us to make a fuss about what he had done. He told us that no one should know what happened in that room – as if we could keep silent.
But you know what his final words were? “Give her something to eat.” He missed nothing. Even to the end, he was taking care of her, taking care of us.
I guess the delay with that woman did not matter for my daughter in the end. He had all of the time in the world for that other woman – and then later for us. It is as if we all belong to him, as if there is no one who he would not welcome into his family, no one he doesn’t want to make well.
Woman: It is as if whenever we come to him, he is always ready for us. There is nothing we need to hide. No shame that stands between us. There is nothing we cannot tell him. We are each his daughters and sons, his beloved, no matter who we are or what we have done. He just wants his sons and daughters to trust and not be afraid so that he can make us all well.
Jairus: Now I know I really do not have to be afraid. Even if the worst happens, even if what terrifies us most happens, even when death comes, we do not need to be afraid. He will say to us, “My little lamb, arise.”
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[1] The literal meaning of the Aramaic phrase. John R. Donahue, S.J. and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., The Gospel of Mark (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2002),178.