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.
Especially do we see that when death strikes. It seems the whole community is affected by the death of one of its members. There is a hush, a heaviness in the air as the sting of death is experienced. People speak is hushed tones, food is brought to the house where death has been felt. People hug, cry, try to console one another with words, or just the action of being there.
When our nephew died in a traffic accident at the age of 23, it seemed like everyone in this world came to the funeral home. They sat, they stared. Boys his age, just stared bewildered at the sight of death. There was just a hush in the air though hundreds of people came, there was hardly any noise in the funeral home. Death brought a quiet heaviness to everyone present.
We live in a troubled world, a world which has felt the brokenness of sin, the separation from the loving hand of God.
In this troubled world filled with sin and brokenness we tend to look to someone or something to place the blame, or place our anger upon for the troubles which surround us.
Dr. William Sloan Coffin of New York’s Riverside Church said this in the April 20,1984 Lutheran Standard after the death of his son, Alex.
"The night after Alex died, I was sitting in the living room of my sister’s house outside of Boston, when a middle-aged lady came in, shook her head when she saw me and said, "I just don’t understand the will of God."
Instantly, I was up and in hot pursuit, swarming all over her. "I’ll say you don’t, lady!!" I said. (I knew the anger would do me good, and the instruction to her was long overdue. )
I continued,"Do you think it was the will of God that Alex never fixed that lousy windshield wiper of his, that he was probably driving too fast in such a storm, that he probably had had a couple of ’frosties’ too many? Do you think it is God’s will that there are no street lights along that stretch of road, and no guard rails separating the road and Boston Harbor?"
Dr. Coffin continues in the article:"Nothing so infuriates me as the incapacity of seemingly intelligent people to get it through their heads that God doesn’t go around this world with his fingers on triggers, his fist around knives, his hands on steering wheels. God is against all unnatural deaths. And Christ spent an inordinate amount of time delivering people from paralysis, insanity, leprosy and muteness. As Alex’s younger brother put it simply, standing at the head of the casket:"You blew it buddy. You blew it."
Dr. Coffin continues:"The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is,"It is the will of God." Never do we know enough to say that. My consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex die; that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God’s was the first of all our hearts to break."
God shares our sorrow. God shares our pain.
We live in a world that has not been fully redeemed. We live in a world with brokenness, sorrow and grief.
As we live in this world, we need to remember that God is here. He has not caused our brokenness, but he is there to share it with us. God has not fully redeemed this world so He allows sin, death and the power of Satan to live in our lives.
A pastor wrote:
"Some time ago I saw a picture of an old burned-out mountain shack. All that remained was the chimney...the charred debris of what had been that family’s sole possession. In front of this destroyed home stood an old grandfather-looking man dressed only in his underclothes with a small boy clutching a pair of patched overalls. It was evident that the child was crying.
Beneath the picture were the words which the artist felt the old man was speaking to the boy. They were simple words, yet they presented a profound theology and philosophy of life. Those words were, "Hush child, God ain’t dead!" That vivid picture of that burned - out mountain shack, that old man, the weeping child, and those words "God ain’t dead" keep returning to my mind. Instead of it being a reminder of the despair of life, it has come to be a reminder of hope! I need reminders that there is hope in this world. In the midst of all of life’s troubles and failures, I need mental pictures to remind me that all is not lost as long as God is alive and in control of His world.1
God is indeed in control. And that control is seen in our gospel lesson this morning.
A man named Jairus was in a desperate way. His little girl lay dying.
Jairus was faced with the trouble of sickness. He had tried everything,doctors hod come and gone. The priests had come, but their prayers were unanswered. Jairus was in a desperate situation.
Then he thought about Jesus. No doubt he had heard Jesus preach in his own synagogue. No doubt he had heard of the many miracles Jesus performed like healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, or the man who had been lowered through the ceiling and healed on his bed. No doubt he had even heard about the miracle of Jesus calming the sea the night before.
So, Jairus thought, maybe this preacher can help me. Maybe I can swallow my pride, and try this one more thing. His hopelessness probably was turning to confidence, to faith, to trust in Jesus as he made his way to find Jesus.
Jairus sought out this wandering preacher, this son of a carpenter, this religious fanatic, this Jesus of Nazareth, this one who claimed to be from God, even God’s Son.
Jairus had faith enough to turn to Jesus in his encounter with trouble. He had faith enough to place the well-being of his girl into Jesus’ hands.
Christ became Jairus’ hope. And Christ did deliver.
Even when the messenger came to say that the girl had died Jesus said "Do not fear, only believe." Jesus gave Jairus hope. Even when the mourners laughed at Jesus, Jesus still gave hope to Jarius .He asked everyone to step outside, then Jesus took the hand of the girl and said, "Little girl, I say to you arise.’’
And immediately, the girl rose from her bed. The hope, the trust, that had been placed in Jesus was well founded.. He did deliver the girl. He did deliver this family from this moment of trouble.
So with us as we face the troubles of life. It is to Christ we must turn. It is to Christ the one who can deliver, the one who can ease our burden, who can shoulder our sorrow, who can walk with us through the valley.
It is to this Christ we must turn.
Like Jarius, we must trust Jesus with our troubles. In that trust and faith, Jesus will be present. He might deliver us, through the power of His Holy Spirit, we might be delivered. There are countless of stories of people who have had miraculous cures from disease, people who have gotten better with no physical reason. People have had tumors shrink, pain go away, tissues which were unhealthy became healthy.
"Hush child, God ain’t dead!"
Christ does deliver. He can if it be His will. But at the same time, we need to ask for the courage and strength from His presence to face the troubles in our lives. There may not be deliverance. There may be the strength, the courage, the power to live, to walk the road of life with that certain trouble walking along with us.
"Hush child, God ain’t dead!"
Now, most of us think about physical troubles, sickness, that sort of thing in which we ask for deliverance, or the courage to live with it, but there are many more kinds of trouble in life.
Troubles in relationships, troubles with not accomplishing what we dreamed for ourselves, troubles with being rejected by others, troubles in a marriage, troubles with alcohol and drugs, troubles with a child and the list could go on and on. And in many cases these kinds of troubles have no instant cure, but they go on and on. Some are cured so-to-speak with time, others are lived with. Some leave a mark on a life that will never be erased.
Christ can and does give us strength to go on living, in the full promise of His love and mercy. These day-in-and-day-out battles we all experience with trouble of what ever cause can and should be consecrated to God, lifted up to him in prayer, handed over to him for His care
"An girl who was handicapped was told that she could never escape from her prison of pain and weakness. "Oh, well’ she replied, ’there’s a lot of living to be found within your limitations if you don’t wear yourself out fighting them "
I would like to maintain that the strength to live within the limits of your troubles comes from Christ. Yes, there is a lot of living you and I can and should do as we face the troubled times of life and that living comes from Christ’s power in our lives.
"Hush child, God ain’t dead!"
A closing story tells us about the love of God in our lives.
A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Wal-Mart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout.
We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Wal-Mart. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.
The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in "Mom, let’s run through the rain," she said.
"What?" Mom asked.
"Let’s run through the rain!"
She repeated. "No, honey. We’ll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.
This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let’s run through the rain,"
"We’ll get soaked if we do," Mom said.
"No, we won’t, Mom. That’s not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom’s arm. This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?
"Don’t you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, ’If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!"
The entire crowd stopped dead silent.. I swear you couldn’t hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.
Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child’s life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith. "Honey, you are absolutely right. Let’s run through the rain. If GOD let’s us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said.
Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.
And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing. Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...2
"Hush child, God ain’t dead!" Run through the rain.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale June 26, 2006
1 James DeLoach, associate pastor of the Second Baptist Chruch of Houston, quoted in When God Was Taken Captive, W. Aldrich, Multnomah, 1989, p. 24
2 Author Unknown from The Daily Encourager
