Two Kinds of Fear

Jesus is going to the house of Jairus to heal her daughter when the trip is interrupted by the poor woman touching his robe and wishing to be healed of her complaint of many years.

The first point we can draw from the complex story is that Jesus remains available to all, regardless of station or wealth.

Both the rich man named Jairus and the poor woman whose name we do not know are regarded by Jesus as persons worthy of attention.

Looking at it another way, neither the man's wealth nor the woman's impetuousness is able to manipulate Jesus.

He will deal with those whom he chooses, no matter what.

Neither can we bribe Jesus with money or prayers, or trick him into doing something which he doesn't want to do.

The second point is related to the first: Jesus begins to work with us where we are.

Jesus did not have to make a house-call; his word would have been sufficient.

Yet in this instance, Jesus felt that it was important to visit the house.

Jairus is identified as a rich man who undoubtedly has been after all the regional doctors with no result.

He is desperate.

He makes a public spectacle by falling down in front of Jesus to implore his help.

A rich man, a ruler of the synagogue, lying in the dust in front of an itinerant carpenter's son...it is amazing!

Jesus should perhaps have upbraided him for causing such a commotion, for looking to him as the last resort, or for regarding him mostly as a wonder-worker.

Jesus passes up all those opportunities.

He simply says...”Come, let us go to your house.

Pay no attention to the messengers of gloom. Just come.”

And then there is the woman who slips up behind him and touches the tassel at one corner of his robe.

Jesus should give her quite a lecture also!

With her bleeding illness, she was considered unclean, and so she should have no contact whatever with other people.

And now she has done the monstrous thing of touching Jesus, which would make him unclean also in the eyes of polite society.

Moreover, she has some sort of a magical understanding of Jesus' power.

Jesus is a magician in her view, with an aura about him, and she thinks that she can slip in and grab some of that power without others knowing.

Imagine the lecture that Jesus could have given her about the impropriety of trying to manipulate God for her own ends.

But again, he does not give that lecture.

He turns to her and in spite of her overly-bold behavior and her half-baked superstitions, and begins to work with her.

That is good news for us also.

In whatever state we are, with whatever kinds of understandings, at whatever level of maturity we are,

Jesus is there ready and willing to engage us in the venture of faith.

People have said to me: “Yes, I'm curious, I might want to come to this God, but I'm not quite sure yet.

Let me get my act together first and then maybe I can become a Christian.

I don't want to come right now because of my questions and puzzlements.”

Those persons have sensed that their motivations are not quite right, and so this story of Jesus is pointed to them, and indeed to all of us.

For who among us can say that we have gathered here this morning with perfectly pure motivations?

Each of us comes with a mixture of good and bad reasons.

But in each case, Jesus patiently begins to work with us.

“The greatness of Jesus is that long before he straightens out our false theologies, long before he corrects our false ideas, he accepts us.

He starts with us where we are.” [Ron Lavin]

...with marriage problems, employment problems, health problems, or whatever.

In joy or in sorrow, Jesus is there and ready to begin.

That readiness on the part of Jesus signals the third point of the gospel story... that Jesus' actions mean for us a new beginning.

This is very dramatically seen in the story when the man and his daughter and the woman all have a new life.

Things are not as they were, because of this encounter with Jesus.

For them, every day that follows will include a looking-back to that special and momentous day when Jesus changed things in their lives.

Every day thereafter, they will be asking the so-what question:
So what does this have to do with me today and tomorrow?

It is the same way with us.

The day of the first encounter was the day of our baptism.

Every day since then has been a time of asking how this fact impacts me today and for the future?

What does it mean to me today and tomorrow that Jesus took time to deal with me in this generous way?

And every day our answer will advance a little bit.

As we read through Mark in this year, we notice that the disciples are not magically or instantly changed from rabble to believers...it is a long process.

Why do they first follow?

Maybe they have some good reasons, some poor ones, but they begin.

They witness healings where everyone is asking “Who is this?”

In teaching and miracle scenes the people are amazed, but still do not understand.

Later we will hear Peter blurt out the right words: “You are the Christ.” and then promptly demonstrate that he still doesn't understand what he has said.

Only after the resurrection are Peter and the rest able to put together some of the pieces.

That is the way our Christian lives work also.

When Jesus calls us first at Baptism, whether as an infant or an adult,we really do not know what it is that we are entering.

We can only begin, follow, and allow Jesus to stir up in us the gift we call faith.

This is the place for our process called The Way, for asking the questions, for thinking about things together

As we live and work and worship together, we begin to glimpse what it all means.

We continue to unwrap that gift of faith, so that by the time we reach the end of our journey in the fullness of heaven, finally it shall all be clear.

We will lay aside false motivations;

unwise words and deeds will be wiped away;

griefs and sorrow will be overcome;

only the promise and its fulfillment remain in front of us,

And our healing will be complete.

True as that is, we hesitate to say it that way, for there is the danger of turning it into a someday, somewhere kind of faith.

But Jesus not only gives life after death, but also life before death.

What Jesus did with Jairus' daughter was not her final resurrection, but a resuscitation, a returning her to her previous everyday life, a sign that God has much more to do with her.

And so here is yet a fourth point from the story: that Jesus will continue to surprise us, that he will set her and us on another path, with new tasks, when we have been ready to give up.

We don't know what happened next with Jairus, his daughter, or the woman.

We are left with the question: what does it mean for them, for me, for us, that Jesus has reached out to each of us, and all of us together?

May his work change us from grasping individuals into his community the church engaged in its proper work of praise and service.

This is the healing that we need the most.

May God give us this life, now and always. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.