The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 5:21-43
The Sermon title is Restoration
Early Thoughts: Jesus was many things. He was a preacher, teacher and prophet. He was a rabble-rouser and troublemaker who upset the "way things are". The Gospels are also clear that he was a miracle worker, an exorcist, and a healer. The reading this week (and last week come to think of it) presents us with the Jesus of that third sentence.
The Jesus who stilled the storm on the sea and cleared the mind of the man possessed by Legion in last week's now gets drawn/invited/dragged into a couple of healing episodes. SOrt of a story within a story this week...
First Jesus is approached by Jairus, a man with a fair degree of social standing in the community but also a man who is distraught. His daughter is dying, surely Jesus can intervene. Jesus has been invited into a situation where healing is required and he accepts the invitation. We could jump to verse 35 and finish this story.
But there is an interruption. And sometimes great ministry happens when our plans get interrupted.
As Jesus makes his way through the crowd (by this point in Mark's Gospel Jesus is almost always surrounded by a crowd) a woman sees her chance. She has been suffering from a flow of blood for 12 years. Nothing has helped. But she just knows and trusts that if she makes even tangential contact with Jesus ("If i but touch his cloak") she will be healed. So she reaches out and makes her attempt. Healing follows, Jesus has been dragged into a second story even while the first has yet to be resolved.
I think the woman was hoping to remain anonymous, to get her healing and go about the rest of her day. But Jesus feels the power flow through him and stops to address what has happened. [Does Jesus feel violated that he was not asked first? Is he stopping to ensure there is proper care given?] Does this interruption mean that he will be to late to finish his errand before Jairus' daughter dies?
Apparently, because while the interruption is being resolved news comes that the girl has in fact expired. But Jesus sees no reason to stop now. The story is not yet over. More healing follows and joy replaces devastating sorrow.
Jesus the healer and miracle worker has arrived on the scene.
When we read the healing stories we can debate "what really happened". We can ask "could Jesus really change a person's health like that?". Our logical, rational, scientific mindset tends to go in that direction, usually with a degree of skepticism attached. Or we could follow the logic of Hamlet and admit that "there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy". We can not understand or explain everything, sometimes miraculous things happen. I think that opens us to a new discussion.
What does it mean to be healed? In the two healings this week the physical meaning is pretty clear. but is that all that happens in these stories? I think there is more, I think that in most, if not all, of the healing stories in the Gospels there is more than physical wellness at stake. When Jesus heals the broken body or disturbed mind, when Jesus casts out the disruptive demons, Jesus also restores things to the way they should be. Jesus restores people in their wholeness as members of the community.
The woman with a flow of blood for 12 whole years! would have been on the outskirts of society. Not only would there have been a hygiene issue and quite possibly a ritual purity issue but her ability to function would likely have been impacted. With healing the physical ailment doors open for the rest of her life. She can rejoin the community.
The family of Jairus has been torn asunder. Life has fallen apart. Jesus returns their daughter to them and restores their family. The community has been brought back into a right state. The first sign of this is that she should eat, she should return to doing what healthy people do.
Jesus brings healing. Sometimes by his choice and sometimes by the choices of others. Both Jairus and the unnamed woman seek Jesus out because they know/trust that he can make a difference, he can fix what is wrong.
Where do we need to seek out/ask for/demand/claim healing in our lives? What might that healing look like? In these stories healing means cure of the physical ailment, is that always true? Do we trust that the God we meet in Jesus can bring healing to our lives?
--Gord
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