Mark 5:21-35
A Season of Love- By Reverend A. LaMar Torrence
“Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. How do you measure – measure a year? In daylights – In sunsets. In midnights – In cups of coffee. In inches – In miles. In laughter – In strife. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. How do you measure. A year in the life. How about love? Measure in love – Seasons of love.”
The lyrics are the theme song of the film, “Rent” based on Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway musical. As a modern day version of the opera, La Boheme, Rent raises some controversial issues and subjects that the traditional church has a tendency to ignore, condemn, and/or criticize: lesbianism, homosexuality, drug addiction, identity crises, flat-out rebellion, and chaos. And as I watched the film and meditated on those lyrics, I had to surrender the “conservative holy-roller” within me to the compassionate Jesus-follower within. Why? Because that’s what Jesus would do. He would not see these characters as they were merely displayed on screen. He would see their hearts. Jesus would see the truth that lies beneath their identity crises, the cross-dressing Angel, the same-sex relationships, the heroin use of Mimi, and their bohemian life-style. Jesus would clearly see that all of these people were searching and reaching for something greater than them. They were searching for freedom, purpose, and above all else, acceptance and love.
I. How do you measure a year?
A. One could imagine how this unknown woman and Jairus spent the last twelve years of their lives prior to meeting Jesus. We know that this unknown woman had a medical condition of constant hemorrhaging. It would be a condition that would define and limit her life culturally, socially, financially, and religiously. She would be ‘unclean’. In Jewish tradition, unclean translated into ‘unfit’, ‘unworthy’, dirty, fifty, and inferior. And there is no doubt that she tried to escape from this label that society had placed on her through several doctor visits, trying the latest treatments, wholistic remedies, all of which exhausted her financially. This woman spent the last twelve years searching for a remedy to her condition. And see with modern day medicine, it may difficult for us to imagine spending every day of life with the medical condition that was permanent. Unless, you are living with HIV, diabetes, MS, Chrons disease, or something similar, it’s difficult for us to imagine a life that centered on medication, visiting doctors, and waking up ever morning with a condition. Maybe your life was one similar to Jairus whereby you spent it as family men, serving in the church, community, caring for your family and simply trying to do the right thing. There were no major disturbances in your life. Every day that you got home to see your loving children, you counted that as a good day. You had purpose. You knew that your life mattered.
II. The issues we have:
A. Until one day, trouble visits your home and your faith is tested. Everything you’ve worked for and striven toward seems to dissipate. And in your mind, it doesn’t make sense because you are a good person. You serve in the church, give to the community, you are morally upright, never committed in horrendous sins, and yet something occurs that begins to challenge your faith as a believer. And so you come to the one place looking for Jesus, like Jairus, because of an issue you have at home. This Jairus knew scripture, knew the traditions and rituals of the synagogue but he did not have the knowledge to heal is daughter. So it must have took great courage on his part as a leader in the synagogue to come out of the clique of pharasees, Sadducees, scribes, and other leaders that were criticizing Jesus to ask this man to come to his home and perform healing. Jairus was now risking his career, his friends, his ranking, as he broke ranks from the scorners and begged Jesus for help.
B. Simultaneously we see this woman with her 12 year issue also trying to get to Jesus. And she too is risking everything. She is about to commit a religious and cultural taboo. She is unclean and she is about to touch a holy man. Every Jew knows that that which the law has declared unclean cannot dwell in the presence of holiness and righteousness. One can be put the death.
C. Many people with issues are pressing towards Jesus. They are intermingled with the Sunday crowd of worshippers. They look just like you and I, but they have and issue that would classified them among the ‘unclean’, the outcast, the unacceptable people of our community. They have struggle with those issues; some turning to drugs, some finding solace in food and/or drink, some going through marital counseling, some in twelve step programs. They have struggled secretly with a variety of conditions.
1. The woman cohabitating with the man who hasn’t asked her to marry him yet.
2. The gay man in a committed relationship with his lover.
3. The teenager who struggling with virginity and sexuality.
4. The drug addict trying to hold-out one more day from using crystal methadone, marijuana, or heroine.
5. The divorcee who doesn’t discuss the reason her husband left her for another woman.
6. The wife dealing with an abusive husband.
7. The husband who is cheating on his wife.
D. Every Sunday both the sinners press in towards Jesus believing that if they just touch the hem of his garment, they would be made whole. Just a little touch-that may not happen by being slain in the spirit. They may not get through the music, but hopefully they will be able to see the lord high and lifted up with his train filling the temple. They come in fear hoping that no one will discover their issue and the fact that they too are ‘unclean’.
E. Is it not amazing that regardless of race, culture, affluence, and various backgrounds, we all come seeking Jesus. Both the saved and the unsaved; the saints and the sinners. And we have to remember that on Sunday morning we do not realize the totality of personal baggage individuals may bring with themselves to worship. We often like to make judgments about people and their needs.
III. The fear we have:
A. Fear permeates the human community today, but it is so all-pervasive and so repressed that for the most part we live unaware of it. There are the ordinary fears of life common to all humans: fear of alienation and loneliness; fear of sickness, pain, and death; fear of poverty and insecurity; and fear of rejection both human and divine. “We are fearful people… it often seems that fear has invaded every part of our being to such a degree that we no longer know what a life without fear feels lie. Much of the fear we live with has been repressed into the unconscious and it is frequently what lies behind our anger and rage. Fear can drive us into depression and despair. Fear can become so intolerable that even suicide becomes an acceptable way to escape it. In fact most of us people live in a house of fear most of the time. Why are we afraid? According the Henri Nouwen, the answer is found in the relationship of fear to power. Those and that which we fear has the tendency to have great power over us. Those who can make us afraid can also make us do what they want us to do. The basis of most authority is control through fear. We have been taught to fear. Many schools try to educate their students through fear of punishment or of failure. Most employers/companies use fear of being fired or of losing a raise/promotion to control their employees. Many churches make use of a god of fear to control their members. The quickest route to wealth in this country today is to arouse fear in the public and then claim to have a way to alleviate that fear. Think about it, those in power and influence have stirred up fears based on racism and sexism, fears of nuclear warfare, fears of terrorism, fears of disease.
1. We fear contamination: catching what they have
a) Cultural invasions - Spanish as the second language.
b) Same sex relationships as a norm.
IV. The power Jesus has: But Jesus did not fear contamination. Jesus did not fear ridicule, and criticism. That’s why Jesus tells us to “fear not.”
V. . We must believe that the power of Jesus exceeds the power of sin. The power of his love covers a multitude of our sin. The power we receive:
A. Power to trust: Faith and our confession
B. Power to touch (The Power to love) We must reach for something greater than ourselves. If the 21st century church in America is going to bear any significant impact in the kingdom of God, we must go out into the world and minister His love... and not just recite His words... to the Angels, the Mimis, the Rogers, Marks, Toms, Bennys, Joannes and Maureen’s who desperately need to hear Jesus’ message of love. They’ve had plenty of Bible verses tossed upside their heads and force fed down their throats. But declaring Scripture is not ALL we’re called to do. The theme song of Rent challenges us to measure our lives in seasons of love, similar to the words of Christ: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Some of us measure our lives in obedience to those words. But Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 13 that knowing and quoting Scripture and doing the stuff of Jesus alone is empty, fruitless, and ultimately annoying. With love as our driving force, we should be compelled to meet others where they are and plant seeds of God’s love. Remember this one fact, just as Jairus loved his daughter enough to break ranks, God loves his children enough to break ranks and taboos.
C. Power to give thanks: Regardless of how you receive your blessing, being bold enough to give him thanks.
