4th Sunday after Pentecost [Pr.8] June 28, 2009 “Series B”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, you sent your Son into our world to reveal your Word for our lives, and to redeem us from sin and death. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, open our hearts and minds to your living Word, that we might be strengthened in faith and thus be restored to a right relationship with you, our Creator and Lord. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
From Chapter 4 through Chapter 8 of Mark’s Gospel, we are told that Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee several times. This is significant, for the Western side of the lake were predominantly Jewish communities, while the Eastern side of the lake were predominantly Gentile communities. This has led many Biblical scholars to affirm that although Jesus was of the Jewish faith, his ministry and mission in the world reached out beyond the confines of Judaism to embrace all people.
In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus is on the Western side of the lake, among the Jewish communities. And I don’t think that it is insignificant, that in these two stories that comprise our lesson, Mark makes a point of telling us that the woman suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years, and that the daughter of Jarius was twelve years of age. Just as there were twelve disciples and twelve tribes of Israel, the mention of this detailed number would have alerted Mark’s readers that these stories address the faith community – including those of us who have been grafted into the history of Israel through out baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection.
First, lets consider the story of the woman with the chronic hemorrhage. For twelve years this woman has been in misery. She has sought the help of many doctors, only to see her problem persist, even grow worse. And on top of her medical problem, she had spent all of her money in the pursuit of a cure. We could say that she was in desperate need of help.
Then she hears that Jesus is in town. She has heard many stories about how this holy man of God had the ability to heal people. But how could she approach Jesus? You see, being of the Jewish faith meant that she had to live by the Torah. And in Leviticus it clearly states that “If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness.
This meant that this woman not only had a chronic hemorrhage, but she would have not been allowed to be in contact with other people, for it was believed that those who were declared to be unclean could taint those who were pure and righteous. For her to approach Jesus, especially in a crowd of people would have been forbidden. For her to touch Jesus, even his clothing, would have made him impure.
But this woman was desperate. She not only suffered for twelve years from her illness, and spent all of her resources in seeking a cure, but she also suffered from the humiliation of being labeled “unclean.” For reasons beyond her control, she felt diminished as a person, and helpless to do anything about it. Yet she thought to herself, if I can just sneak into the crowd and touch Jesus’ cloak, I can be healed.
And she did it. She ignored the prohibitions of the Torah, entered the crowd, sneaked up behind Jesus and touched his clothes. Then comes two of Mark’s favorite words – “Immediately” this woman’s hemorrhage stopped, and “immediately” Jesus was aware that the power of his ability to heal had gone out from him. So Jesus asks his disciples, “Who touched my clothes?” And those twelve faithful disciples didn’t have a clue as to what had just happened.
But Jesus wouldn’t let it go. He kept looking to find the person who had been healed. Finally, the woman herself, realized that Jesus knew what she had done, and Mark tells us that “in fear and trembling,” she came and fell down before Jesus, confessing her sin. And then we hear those intimate words of forgiveness from Jesus, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
William Countryman, an Episcopal priest and Professor of New Testament at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, in Berkley California, states in his commentary on our text, and I quote. “The assumption of purity codes is always that uncleanness is more powerful than purity, that purity is a state difficult to maintain while impurity is easy to contact. In this woman’s case, the direction of the current has been reversed. For Jesus to reverse the religious alienation of impurity is as remarkable as the overcoming of death in the raising of Jarius’s daughter”. End quote.
So let us move to the other story in our text for this morning. Here a leader of the synagogue, a person of clean heart, approaches Jesus and begs him to come and heal his twelve year old daughter, who is near death. Jesus agrees, but before he gets to Jarius’s house, word comes that his daughter has died. And when Jesus gets to his house, people are in mourning.
And Jesus enters the house, telling the mourners to stop their grieving, for the girl is just sleeping, and they laugh at him. Then, he goes to the girl’s room, with the parents and his three closest disciples, and “he took the girl’s hand and said, ‘Talitha cum,’ which [in Aramaic] means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ Then comes Mark’s favorite word, “immediately” the girl got up and began to walk around. And Mark tells us that the people were overcome by amazement. Of course, “amazement” seems like such an understatement, but then how would you describe such an event, as giving life to a dead child?
Now, not to diminish either of these healing miracles, here again, the law of the Leviticus strictly forbids a rabbi or a holy person from touching the body of a deceased person, other than the immediate family. That Jesus took the dead girl’s hand in his own, was again a defiance of the purity code of Israel. Jesus was again breaking boundaries, of convictions held by his own people.
There are two points that I can gather from these stories that Mark tells us this morning. The first is that we need to really examine and think with an open mind, how our religious concepts and tenets of faith may impact the lives of those who feel isolated from a meaningful relationship with God. If these two “unclean” women could be touched by the grace of God, and be restored to newness of life, it is a call for each of us to be open to the differences of those around us.
To be sure, there are many ways in which we, even as members of Christ’s church, fail to welcome and embrace others who might differ from us. Just look around those who are present today. Do we see any gentiles, those who are not one of us, which the word “Gentile” really means. If Jesus could cross the Sea of Galilee several times, between the Jewish and Gentile world, should we not be open to proclaim the Gospel, his message of God’s saving grace, to those who might differ from us?
This lesson has been an eye opening experience for me, in light of reading the latest issue of The Lutheran. From reading the reports of the various synods across our country, it appears to me that our church may well adopt a social statement on human sexuality that will embrace gay and lesbian relationships. And if the social statement passes, then the assembly will move to vote on the ordination of gay and lesbian pastors being in committed relationships to be ordained, and the blessing of same sex marriages.
Quite frankly, as your pastor, I will not celebrate a same sex union, no matter how the vote goes in August. Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, convinces me, that the message of God’s Word is consistent, that marriage is to be between a man and a woman. Nevertheless, I would not be opposed to a gay or lesbian couple worshiping with us. They, like each one of us, need the healing power of God’s redeeming grace in Jesus the Christ.
And secondly, let me offer a word of healing to each one of us here this morning. Perhaps the greatest miracle in these two stories from Mark is the fact that reached out to restore the “unclean” and embrace them as his own children. No matter what the reason that we feel we cannot approach God and ask to be restored to a right relationship with him, our Creator, Jesus offers us his hand. He reaches out to us to make us one with him.
In conclusion, let me paraphrase a song from VBS. The youngest group sang, “we can pray to God – when we are happy, when we are sad, when we are mad, when we are bad.” God is always open to us, to help us amend our lives, and amend our lives, so that we can live in a meaningful relationship with him. Amen.
