30 Jun SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 2024
I love when characters in the Bible mimic my own tendencies or the behavior of people throughout all of history. For instance, how many of us can identify with Jairus, one of the leaders of the synagogue? How many of us, like him, have tried to deal with a hard thing by ourselves without turning to God for help at the very moment something threatens? Instead we look for solutions on our own, pop a pill, spend time problem-solving in our heads or on paper, think about what we might do or what we wish someone else would do, worrying and waiting until we ourselves or someone we love is at the very brink of collapse or death?
Then and only then, we become desperate. Without hesitation, we fall before our Lord and beg for help, asking God for what we’ve aimed and wished for all along, for ourselves or them to be made fully well and live. We ask for God to intervene directly, to make something happen or prevent something from happening without delay because we’ve been guilty of delay for too long. Or maybe Jairus was like me, thinking all along that God knew his daughter’s situation and trusting God to act directly without having to approach God directly.
Timing doesn’t matter now. Though a great crowd gathered around Jesus by the sea, Jairus rushes in front and center, falling at Jesus’ feet so that Jesus literally can’t make a move until Jairus knows he’s been heard and he receives an immediate direct response to his plea for help. This all makes sense. No one else can help his daughter now. And whatever Jairus or others have done hasn’t worked; she’s at the point of death.
Only the presence of Jesus in person, only the touch of Jesus’ hands upon her, only the power of the lifegiving Holy Spirit within him can make Jairus’ daughter well and keep her alive. Many many parents around the world have prayed a likewise desperate prayer. It’s a prayer spoken daily by thousands of mothers in Sudan where war has caused great migration and famine.
Many daughters and sons have died there, but the child in today’s gospel story lives. The story does not end in grief, but it does touch on what grief entails: weeping and wailing, a loss of hope, unwilling resignation, feeling defeated by the fact that after a loved one dies, you receive the message from society that time is up. You no longer have a right to trouble a healer any further with your present ongoing concerns.
But. Always stop and pay attention to what follows the word, “but” in scripture. But Jesus overhears what is being said and makes a request of his own, a spoken request, direct and to the point to the leader of the synagogue, to Jairus and everyone else who has ever been in a place of hurt and desperation.
“Do not fear, only believe.” Gee, Jesus. Really? Do not (blank), only (blank)? This doesn’t sound helpful to me. It sounds like the kind of advice that is too simplistic, like the solution is within a person’s willful control or power. It’s like being told by a doctor that you need to do something in order to change the final outcome.
How do you feel when you’re told to quit (fill-in-the-blank)? Quit smoking, working, watching tv or eating more than you should. Do you find it motivating? How about when your mother, father, spouse or boss says, “All you have to do is (fill-in-the-blank) honey. Well, your boss better not be calling you honey, lol.
Perhaps you should eat less and exercise more, sleep more or sleep less? If only you could stop succumbing to your addiction and do something more constructive, something else instead. What does Jesus mean by telling Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe,” ?
Is it really up to a desperate parent or any person to shift one’s mental gears and alter one’s emotional state as a prerequisite for Jesus to go and perform a miracle? I think not. The point is, Jesus wants to challenge the usual/normal ways that people react and respond to both threats and death.
Jesus wants us to do as he does, to gather people around us who already get it, who won’t say or act contrary to having faith in what Jesus can do. He wants us to challenge others and be brave enough to ask why they persist in carrying on, in making things more difficult, in looking at the down side or just plain being negative.
He challenges their behavior with facts to the contrary. They respond by laughing, then he puts them outside. (I love that part.) He carries on by taking the child’s father, mother and those already with him to where the child is, takes her by the hand and says to her, “Little girl, get up!”
Nothing in the world comes close to this scene except the fact that everyday when we get to witness loved ones and other people recover and be restored all the time. People recover and are restored from illnesses, disease and defective parts that would have surely killed them a hundred, fifty, ten, five or even several years ago.
We live in an age when miracles occur everyday and are commonplace for people living in first world countries. Even if America lives up to the claim of being the country with the world’s most expensive healthcare, we as its citizens are privileged to receive the world’s best healthcare, as well.
For a moment, let’s consider a prior reading from Lamentations written after Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians and the temple was destroyed. The book speaks of personal experience and eyewitness testimony to starvation and death, people devastated by the tragedies of lost homes, the lives of loved ones and family livelihoods.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for one to bear the yoke, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it. (The Israelites considered what happened to them a form of divine judgment.) To put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope),
to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
For the Lord will not reject forever. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
In this light, we read about a woman suffering from hemorrhages for the same length of time, that is, twelve years, the same length of time that Jairus’ daughter had lived on this earth. And Jesus himself is still under pressure, surrounded again by a large crowd.
We are told, “She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.” How about that. She doctored all that time and spent all she had, got no better, but rather grew worse. She, like Jairus, expended all of her efforts and resources prior to finally consulting Jesus. Though she had heard about him, she didn’t approach him until opportunity intersected with need.
Her internal dialogue continued as she was caught up by thinking, “If only I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” She didn’t feel the need to approach Jesus from the front, be seen or be heard, as Jairus did. She only sought to come up behind him in the crowd.
She is the one who demonstrates what it means to not fear, but believe. Immediately her hemorrhage stops and she feels in her body that she was healed of disease. In the very same moment, Jesus is aware that power goes out from him. He turns and asks aloud, “Who touched my clothes?”
Surely, he’s already aware. I wonder if Jesus sought a profession of faith from the woman who’d been healed. But, in the meantime, his disciples are clueless and unaware of what’s happened altogether, so they answer and poke fun at Jesus. “How can you say, ‘Who touched you,’ when an entire crowd presses in on you?” Snicker, snicker. Did you hear what Jesus just asked, followed by the ancient equivalent of lol?
Jesus looked all around to see who had touched him. But, there’s that word again. But, the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.
Can you relate to the kind of fear and trembling that comes from being exposed, from having your behavior or the choice that you made pointed out in front of everyone? I can tell you from experience that a person’s immediate response is panic and an overwhelming urge/need to confess or explain one’s self. I mean, it’s been a while, but I can still remember how that experience felt.
I also frequently catch myself wishing for things and forgetting to pray about them. How is that any different than seeking what we want or need without approaching Jesus face to face? Jesus does want to hear a profession of faith. Without it, how can he say, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease.”
Believing in Disney mantras like, “a dream is a wish your heart makes”, or that “dreams really do come true”, or that any fairy tale is real is no more than wishful thinking. It’s not faith. Faith is choosing to approach Jesus humbly and directly, to seek his face, to speak to him aloud, honestly and transparently as Jairus and the woman did. Share your highs and lows with Jesus. Choose Jesus as your listening audience. Don’t rely on the support of followers on Instagram or a bunch of friends on Facebook. Let us pray.
O Lord, we cry out with gratitude for your tender mercies shown. Restore the health and faith of the suffering. Strengthen personal security for those who weep and for those who feel weak. We do praise you for your faithfulness and plead our case before your face humbly, transparently, and in earnest. Thanks for being right where we are everytime we aim to find you. In your holy name we pray, Amen.