“Healing”

(Mark 5:21-43) 

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea.  Then one of the leaders of the synagogue, named Jairus, came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and pleaded with him repeatedly.  “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.”  So he went with him. 

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.  Now there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years.  She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and she was no better but, rather, grew worse.  She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his cloak, I will be made well.”  Immediately her flow of blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.  Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my cloak?”  And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’”  He looked all around to see who had done it.  But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.  He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

 While he was still speaking, some people came from the synagogue leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead.  Why trouble the teacher any further?”  But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the synagogue leader, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”  He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.  When they came to the synagogue leader’s house, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.  When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep?  The child is not dead but sleeping.”  And they laughed at him.  Then 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.  Taking her by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!”  And immediately the girl stood up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age).  At this they were overcome with amazement.  He strictly ordered them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.

            I really like the stories in today’s reading.  I like them more each time I work with them and preach on them.  Actually, the story of Jairus’ daughter and the woman who wanted to touch Jesus’ cloak are not 2 separate stories but one placed within another.  Working with them just makes me wish that I was on the road with Jesus, that I could have witnessed the healings, that I could learn about healing from him, that I could be his student, but even more, I wish that I could actually touch his robe.

            But to imagine being touched and made well by Jesus is just an amazing thought—the concept of healing and being healed is one that many of us struggle with because we are influenced only by Western medical science wherein there is a specific cause for disease and, unless we find the cure for that disease—well it doesn’t leave much room for talk about healing.

            Yet, I think there is a way that we all need touched and healed, a way that we all need Jesus’ touch—whether it be for emotional trauma or a physical ailment, for the pain of spiritual emptiness or that which comes with age.  There is much we can learn about being made well from these healing stories.

            One thing that is easy to understand, though, is the helplessness and desperation that we see in the father, Jairus, as he comes forward on behalf of his dying daughter.  Though he was a leader of the synagogue, he could not keep his daughter from suffering and, maybe, dying.  And we can imagine what it might have been like for the woman who had been bleeding for 12 long years.  Many of us know a little something about helplessness and desperation….

            Most of us by now have learned that human life is not always a smooth ride.  The truth is that we are going to encounter troubled seas more than once in our lifetimes.  Some of you have experienced sudden, unexplainable tragedies.  Most of us have gone through illnesses of one sort or another that have struck those we love or our own selves.  We have suffered through deaths, separations, divorce, emotional pain and misery, loneliness, loss of hope, financial disasters, addiction, disappointments, fears….

            The Gospel writer Mark is telling us about our own selves and our pain but also about God in the stories of Jairus’ daughter and the hemorrhaging woman.  Jairus was a leader of the synagogue, well to do with access to the best care for his daughter.  The woman, on the other hand, because of her bleeding, would not only have been deemed to be unclean and not permitted to be in the temple or around people, had spent all she had to try to get well, but she was still suffering.

            These are powerful stories, not only because we know what it feels like to have a loved one who is ill.  We know what it’s like to beg God on another’s behalf.  We know what it’s like to be faced with death, to be terrified, to come to God when there is nowhere else to turn.  We can imagine how relieved Jairus must have been when Jesus agreed to go with him—when Jesus responded to his pleas. 

            Can you picture, then, how Jairus must have wanted to run, to hurry Jesus along, fearful and scared all the while that his daughter had taken a turn for the worse and that she might not survive another minute?  And can you imagine how Jairus must have been going crazy when Jesus was interrupted by the hemorrhaging woman?

            So, within this drama with Jairus and his ailing daughter, within this hustle and bustle of trying to get through the crowds—each of the people wanting a piece of Jesus—we see the woman who elbows her way into the crowd so that she can reach out and touch his cloak.  She just knew that if she managed to touch even his clothes that she would be made well (which, by the way, can also be translated saved).  She knew that she would be saved.

            Here is a woman weakened by 12 long years of bleeding (12 years was a whole lifetime for Jairus’ daughter), yet she was able to find the courage and strength to make her way through the crowd to get to Jesus.

            Her healing came as she reached out to touch God.  Jesus told her, “Your faith has made you well.  Go in peace.”  Even at her weakest, she knew from whom the healing came.  Faith in Jesus, faith in God, made her well.

            Meanwhile, back at Jairus’ house, tragedy had struck.  His daughter had died.  When Jesus heard this, he took several disciples and the parents of the girl inside with him, assuring the weeping and wailing crowd that she was not dead but only sleeping.  He took her by the hand and said, “Little girl, get up.”  And she did, to everyone’s amazement—this child who had been so sick that she seemed to have died.

            These are amazing stories of Jesus’ healing, amazing stories of death defeated, witnesses to the power of God in Jesus.  Faith in Jesus can make us well—the wellness we need—if not exactly what we’re looking for.  God’s power is so awesome that it triumphs over death.  Actually these stories are previews of the ultimate resurrection story.  As on that first Easter morning, death paled in the face of God’s power.

            So, as we consider our own lives and our own need for healing, sometimes we get bogged down with our fears and our misery.  We get bogged down in our hopelessness and fear about all the things that can go wrong in our lives, and we’re scared, always, about the great unknown which is death.  Jesus offered the folks in our story the possibility of being “made well,” that is, being saved.

            It seems to me that the part that is really important for us to hear is that when we trust God, when we turn ourselves over to the care of Jesus, we are saved.  Now, this may not mean that we are cured of whatever sickness or disease from which we are suffering—or it may mean we are—but it means for sure that we no longer need to fear death or anything else that can happen to us in this life.  We belong to God, and there is nothing more to fear.

            Our part is to turn ourselves over completely to God’s care by reaching out and touching God (like the bleeding woman who trusted, reached out and touched).  Our being made well may not turn out to be as dramatic as Jairus’ daughter or the bleeding woman. But nevertheless, we will be made well, we will be saved, from our fear of death—not saved FROM death, mind you.  When we are within God’s care, we are made well, whatever that is going to mean.

            These healing stories are not about Jesus as magician or dealmaker.  They’re stories about God’s power and about God’s relationship to people—to us.  God is in charge.  We are not.  Our job is to offer ourselves to God, to be touched or to touch.

            So, I’d like you to take a moment and think about how you would like God to heal you today.  Then think about someone in your life that you would like God to touch.  We all have needs and more than one, I’d guess.  You or someone you love may have a disease or physical ailment that is worrying you or making you miserable.  You may have mental pain—anxiety, depression, anger, resentment.  You may have spiritual issues, wanting to be close to God or not knowing how to find God.  You may be carrying worry or sadness over a loved one.  Think about how God can heal you and those you are close to.

            Soon we will be praying, and I encourage you during that time to offer yourself to God for healing.  Imagine touching Jesus’ cloak to receive the power and energy that only God has to offer.  Allow God to touch you as you trust God with your pain.

            This is not a one-time-only activity, though.  As you say your prayers this week, I urge you to continue to offer your hurt to God, asking for relief, asking for help, asking for guidance.  Remember your loved ones and your church and community, but don’t get bogged down in this.  God knows our needs before we ask and the limits of our humanity as we ask.

            Now, if you ever would like me to pray with you or for you, please let me know.  I’m available to you.  Just ask.  It really is important that each of us does our part in opening ourselves to God and to God’s healing.  It’s important that we submit our wills and our selves to God’s care.  May we all experience wellness in our minds, in our spirits, in our attitudes, in our bodies.  Amen.