"Hush Child, God Ain't Dead!"

4th Sunday after Pentecost

Proper 8

Mark 5: 21-43

"Hush child, God ain’t dead!"

21 ¶ And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him; and he was beside the sea.

22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and seeing him, he fell at his feet,

23 and besought him, saying, "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 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him.

25 And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,

26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.

27 She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.

28 For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well."

29 And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, "Who touched my garments?"

31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ’Who touched me?’"

32 And he looked around to see who had done it.

33 But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

34 And 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, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?"

36 But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe."

37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James.

38 When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly.

39 And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping."

40 And they laughed at him. But 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 Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Talitha cumi"; which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."

42 And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.

43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat

Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, who is the Christ. Amen

A woman lost her husband and went into an extended grief period. She took flowers to the cemetery weekly. She secluded herself, dropped out of organizations and activities. Her doctor became very concerned about her.

Symptoms of physical illness began to appear. One day, he told her about two of his patients in a nearby hospital. They did not have families to visit them. They were alone in the world. The doctor said to the grieving woman, "Next Sunday, Instead of taking flowers to the cemetery, why don’t you take them to those two lonely patients of mine in the hospital? Just say ’hello’ to them, and see if they need anything; see what you can do for them."

Somewhat reluctantly, the woman did as her doctor suggested. And by that simple little act, the logjam was broken. It melted the ice around her heart. It washed away the bitterness. More and more often she took the flowers to the hospital instead of the cemetery. She found the healing power of God, which she had been resisting, had broken through, and she was healed of the kind of destructive grief that had been diminishing her life. She had moved into the gracious circle - and all because of a simple act of mercy.

We need each other when troubles strike. her simple act of sharing flowers taught her that everyone has troubles in this world.

Everyone has encountered troubles in one form or another. Trouble is everywhere, grief, sorrow, pain, heartache, sickness, loneliness, we could go on and on. As one human being aches, all human beings experience something of that ache. When one hurts all hurt.