2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15; Mark 5:21-43
The introduction in the bulletin to the reading from 2 Samuel reads like this: David laments over the deaths of King Saul and his son Jonathan, who was a beloved friend of David’s. David mourns for Saul, the first king of Israel, even though Saul tried to kill him on several occasions. Though deeply flawed, Saul was still God’s anointed.
We have skipped over a lot of
story between David killing Goliath and the death of King Saul and his son
Jonathan. Saul began to resent the popularity of David and eventually sought to
have him killed. David and Jonathan became fast friends, but that relationship
was broken when Jonathan chose to support Saul over David.
David laments their deaths,
expressing his deep grief. I hear him singing, “If only” things had been
different, Saul and Jonathan would still be alive, doing all the amazing things
listed in the ‘Song of the Bow’.
… I hear “if only” a lot in the
Gospel text as well. Jairus came and begged Jesus to heal his daughter, who was
dying. “If only” you will come to see her, lay hands on her, she will be
healed.
Jesus began to follow him when they
were interrupted by a woman who had been saying “if only” for 12 years. If only
this cure would work, if only the cures that didn’t work didn’t cost so much,
if only she were considered clean despite her bleeding. The woman reached out
to touch Jesus. “If only” I can touch his fringe, then maybe this time, I will
be healed. And so, her tiny hope causes her to try.
Jesus is aware of power going from
himself to the woman – wants her to declare her hope, her faith. She told him
her whole story, all the “if only”s in her life. Jesus calls her ‘daughter’ –
the same word used for Jairus child – and tells her that her faith has healed
her. This was not a huge amount of faith – it was an “if only” kind of faith,
but Jesus gives her huge amounts of credit for it.
And in the meantime, Jairus’
daughter has died. He is screaming his “IF ONLY”. “If only” this icky woman hadn’t interrupted us, my
daughter would have had a chance. … But Jesus assures him. Let your “if only” be
one of faith that she will be well. Assuring the family and the crowd that the
girl is only sleeping, Jesus turns Jairus’ “if only” into fact. He calls to the
girl and wakes her, then tells the parents to give her something to eat.
… As we have often discussed in
the Monday Bible study, these two stories form a Markan sandwich, a
story-telling technique of wrapping one story around another story. The
combination of the stories gives additional meaning to both stories.
Jairus begins with absolute faith
that Jesus can heal his daughter, then despairs when it is reported that the girl
has died, but his faith is rewarded when the girl is alive and well. The icky
woman who interrupts them is not only healed, but because she is made clean,
she is able to rejoin her community activities. Jesus has the divine power to
give life where it has been absent. The healing Jesus gives is complete –
physical, social, mental, emotional.
… We are left wondering with the
disciples, who is this Jesus? And what can he do about our own “if only”s. We
are often filled with regret, thinking about our own “If only”s. If only I had
taken better care of myself. If only I had taken a different educational program.
If only Dad had seen the car coming. If only Mom had had her mammogram. If only
there were different gun laws. If only I hadn’t married the one I thought would
be amazing but wasn’t. If only our ancestors had taken better care of the
earth, or if only they had believed that all people deserve respect, and so
forth. “If only” …
… The Apostle Paul puts a slightly
different slant on our “if only”s. Paul is collecting offerings from the churches
in Greece and Turkey to take to the churches and believers in Jerusalem, who
are being persecuted. For him, it is about trusting enough in God to make sure
that all have enough.
Paul says, “if only” you give what
you have extra, all will have enough. He makes it clear that this request is
not to cause hardship to those who are giving. Pastors around the world say “if
only” everyone would give whatever they have beyond their immediate needs, there
would be no hunger anywhere in the world. There might not be any millionaires
or billionaires, either!
… When we consider our own “if
only”s, we may land on regret and lamentation, as David did after King Saul and
Jonathan died. We may wonder what could have been different, if we had made different
choices. We may wonder if whatever happened was our own fault, or we may assign
blame on others.
When we consider our “if only”s,
we may look to the medical aspect. “If only” the treatment had worked. “If only”
we had checked out that brown spot sooner. “If only” doctors had tested for
that blood marker. “If only” we had followed the doctor’s orders.
When we consider our “if only”s,
we may think about how much time we spend in prayer, and how many excuses we
have for not praying more. The one thing God wants from us is a relationship. Let
me say that again! The one thing God wants from us is a relationship.
When we have a relationship with
God, we dare to voice or at least silently utter our “if only”s. “If only”
expresses our regrets and laments and our hopes and prayers. When we trust God
enough with our “if only”s, we believe they will be heard.
We may not receive instant healing
of our bodies or resolution of our problems – though that does happen. But
giving God our “if only”s gives God a chance to intervene, to assure us God
knows and cares about what is happening.
Often, our “if only”s are answered
when God sends someone to us. They may not look like angels, but they carry God’s
message of love and understanding and healing and community wellness – or whatever
is the “if only” in our hearts.
It’s possible, maybe even likely,
that we are the messenger God sends to someone who is hurting, who has “if only”s
that need to be addressed.
Fifteen years ago, I heard a song that is a persistent earworm for me. Brandon Heath’s song “Give me your eyes” challenges me often to see what is happening around me through God’s eyes. That shabby person sitting on our bench didn’t choose to have no home. That weeping person hoped their relationship with their spouse would be faithful and true forever, but it wasn’t. Those refugees hoped the people in the next country would welcome them and treat them with respect. “If only” I can see through God’s eyes more often! [Here’s the video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AkNqLuVgY&ab_channel=brandonheathVEVO
This week I hope you will be aware of your own “if only”s.
What are you hoping for? Have you asked God for it? And I hope you will be on
the lookout for the “if only”s of those around you. Are you called to be God’s messenger
to them? Amen
