Healing the hurts

 

2 Corinthians 8:7-15; Mark 5:21-43

I am thinking today about the emotions that must have been felt by the people in the Gospel reading. But, first, I want to make note of the story that was skipped over by the Lectionary Committee.

In last week’s Gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples got in the boat to go to the other side of the Lake; Jesus took a nap and a storm came up; Jesus told the storm to “stifle”, and it did.

Once they landed on the shore they were in the land of some Gentiles, the Gerasenes. Here Jesus heals a man who has been plagued by legions of demons. The demons ask to be allowed to enter a herd of swine, which immediately run into the lake and drown, which takes care of the demons.  

The healed man wants to follow Jesus, but Jesus sends him to tell his story to the people on that side of the lake, and he does just that. The swine-herders are angry that they have lost their source of income, so they want Jesus to go back to where he came from. Jesus and the disciples head back across the lake to Capernaum.

The Gospel reading for today begins with a plea for healing. Jairus is the leader of the synagogue, rather like the business manager. He is a somebody, with a reputation to uphold. But his daughter is more important to him than his reputation. She is very ill, and Jairus begs for Jesus to come and heal her. He is afraid she will die, and he will do anything to save her. He sets aside his reputation for the sake of his beloved child, and Jesus agrees to go and help her.

As they are walking, there are crowds all around them, pushing and jostling to get close to Jesus. They are excited this famous rabbi is there with them, and hopeful he will heal them or their loved ones.

As Jairus leads the way to his house a desperate woman takes a risk. This woman has been bleeding for twelve years, as long as Jairus’ little girl has been alive. The doctors have no answers, and now she is destitute, out of money.

There was a belief in Jesus’ time that women’s bodies were not as important as men’s bodies, and that if blood can come out, bad things could get in. They could spread these bad things to men, so women who were bleeding had to avoid touching other people, especially men but also other women who could transmit those bad things to the men in their lives.

Today, we laugh at this, and think of cooties, which refers to some imaginary pest passed between boys and girls in middle school. (You may remember that cooties originally meant lice.) In ancient days, this perception about women was a life and death matter. When this woman walked in the street, the rules said she was supposed to make sure she didn’t touch anyone else. And no one else should touch her. She lived an isolated life!

But on this day, she doesn’t care about the rules. She is determined to get close enough to Jesus to simply touch his clothing. She is certain that if she touched just the clothes he wore, she would be healed. And she sees her opportunity – she pushes her way through the crowd and stretches out her arm. She touches the edge of his clothing, and she can feel the change in her body.

She is backing away, out of the way of the others who sought Jesus’ attention. She thinks she is invisible, and unknown. But Jesus notices. He felt the healing power leave him. Jesus amazes the disciples by asking, “Who touched me?” Knowing she has been discovered, the woman kneels at his feet and confesses. Terrified, yet defiant, she waits for his rebuke, but it doesn’t come. Instead, I imagine he raises her to her feet, offering her the first intentional human touch she has felt in twelve years. He calls her “Daughter,” praises her faith, and sends her on her way.

In the meantime, I am sure Jairus is worried and frustrated. Is he standing there glowering and tapping his toes in a hurry to get home? Is he thinking, “His daughter is near death and Jesus is taking time for this untouchable woman!?” When Jesus is ready to move on, messengers come to say that the daughter has died. Jairus’ heart plummets, and he wants to be angry with Jesus. But Jesus says, “it’s OK, Jairus. It will be fine, the girl is only sleeping.”

Jesus arrives at the house, goes inside with a few disciples and the parents. He calls to the girl, who rouses and is given something to eat.

So, what do you think? Was Jesus right to pause to talk with the woman, or should he have gone quickly to the girl and come back to the woman? What if he was too late to save the girl, and he didn’t yet have the power to bring her back to life? What about the healing in the Gentile territory? Yes, the man has been healed, but how will the swineherds make a living? Their capital has just drowned in the lake, so they have no funds with which to restart their business.

Is any of these people and their diseases more important than the others? This is exactly the point Jesus is making. He knows first-hand all the emotional and economic complications of being human. While we might prioritize either the bleeding woman or the dying girl or the demon-possessed person, Jesus knows everyone deserves to be first.

Certainly today, there are plenty of people who die without Jesus’ healing touch. At least without physical healing. But, physical healing is only part of the healing, isn’t it? When we are ill, our whole being is engaged in healing.

With my broken ankle, I had to accept that I was not able to just get in the car and go. I had to carefully transfer on one foot from bed or chair to wheelchair or walker to go anywhere until I could put weight on my foot.

Getting breakfast for myself took patience and a new set of skills as I navigated around the house. It took determination and creativity to do the laundry or cook. It took accepting all the help that was offered, at home and at church, which were the only places I was going to. It meant knowing what it was like for people who were permanently disabled and dependent on others. It was a humbling experience!

Each of the people in our Gospel stories had other healing as well as the physical one.  

The man with all the demons and the woman who was bleeding both had to learn how to act in their communities after their healing. They have been shunned, cast out for so long, it will be a long time before they and their communities accept them again.

Jairus now must deal with all the people who were opposed to Jesus, and the potential for a power struggle in the synagogue leadership team. At the same time he can’t praise Jesus enough for the healing of his daughter. We don’t know exactly what the daughter experienced, but it is easy to assume she is grateful to be well again after such a terrible illness.

Today, we offer a different kind of healing to some people in our community. The piles of undies and socks in Benson Hall along with the cash donations are a testimony to the belief that we should live generously, just as God has been generous with us. Imagine having only one set of undies, or having none because yours were so worn out you had to discard them. Receiving fresh new undies gives these folks a sense of pride, a bit of healing.

Thank you for the healing you are doing in Jesus’ name. Amen