Mark 5:21-43
“Go in peace, your faith has saved you”
Have you ever been in a situation so dire, in such great need, so out of your control, that you could not help yourself and you knew that only God could get you out of it?
In today’s lesson from the Gospel According to Mark we hear two stories of those in dire need.
Those to whom certain life circumstances had happened.
By this point in St. Mark’s Gospel, he has already show that Jesus has authority. Authority over nature, by calming the storm. Authority over demonic forces, principalities, and powers by casting demons into a heard of pigs in the chapter before.
Now he’s crossed over the Sea of Galilee to the other side.
The first story is of a man named Jairus…and Jairus’ daughter was sick and at the point of death. And as you would expect for one of the rulers of a synagogue—they are very powerful people. But Mark tells us that he kneels before Jesus. There’s a sense of desperation, a sense of need; he knows something is wrong and only Jesus can fix it. So, Jesus agrees to go and see Jairus’ daughter.
On the way to see Jairus’ daughter, to heal her, Jesus runs into someone that Mark simply describes as a woman “having an issue of blood.”
We learn that this woman has had this issue for 12 years. Most of the commentaries I looked at said this issue probably started when she was 12 or 13 years old. Let the reader understand that probably half her life she’s had this issue. She’s gone to doctors. She’s spent all of her money And she doesn’t get better. She only gets worse. But she knows if she can just touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, she can be healed. So, she touches him and Jesus immediately knows someone has touched him.
You’ll notice word “immediately” occurs quite often in Mark’s gospel.
For some reason that’s one of Mark’s favorite words. One New Testament scholar has referred to Mark as the Twitter Gospel because he just goes from action to action to action. He just moves from event to event, and the action doesn’t let up. Jesus knows immediately that someone has touched him, and asks the disciples “who touched me?”
And the disciples answered, sarcastically: Well Jesus, it could have been any one of these hundreds of people crowded around you. We have no idea. But he says, no, I know someone touched me. And the significance is, the woman touched him, in faith. In trust, knowing that he’s the one that can take care of her situation when no one else can.
And so, after he explains that he knows that power had come out of him, someone had touched him in faith, the woman sheepishly comes forward and says “I’m the one who touched you Jesus.”
And Jesus’ response is amazing: He speaks a word of blessing to her. Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease
And the word that is used for healed may also mean saved. It’s the same term in the New Testament. There’s this sense in which she’s been healed but there’s also this sense in which she has exhibited and displayed saving faith and trust in Jesus.
Mark really likes packing stories within stories. Even though Jairus’ story is still the main focus here, this woman’s story also exhibits the same kind of faith that Jairus has already shown by coming to Jesus. So she’s been healed. And by the time Jesus has arrived at Jairus’ home, Jairus’ daughter has already died.
Associates of Jairus come out to meet him basically saying, don’t waste Jesus’ time
Your daughter is already dead. It’s too late.
St. Mark tells us this is supposed to be a private conversation between Jairus and his associates but Jesus overhears their conversation…and in compassion he turns to Jairus and says:
Do no fear, but only believe
and we see this amazing contrast.
In this narrative there are two people who express faith in Jesus. And they express it differently.
You could say the woman with the issue of blood has what we would call maybe a strong faith. She’s bold. She goes, she fights through the crowds and gets to Jesus.
Jairus, is at the point of despair. What we could call “weak faith” and what’s amazing is that Jesus doesn’t say: You need more faith Jairus, get stronger faith. Instead, he speaks faith to Jairus:
Do not fear, only believe
Or as one preacher put it: No fear…faith.
Then Jesus sends everyone out of the house except for Jairus and his family, and he says to Jairus’ daughter with life-giving authority:
Talitha cumi, which means “little girl, I say to you, arise!”
And you know what happened next? Immediately. (Mark’s favorite word.) She arose. And everyone was overcome with amazement. Jesus spoke faith into Jairus, when he was despairing.
And then Jesus honored the faith that he had given him as a gift. Faith is a gift. By healing his daughter.
What’s the takeaway for us today? With these two stories about faith in the midst of fear. Faith in the midst of situations that only God can fix?
Jesus comes to us still speaking faith into us today.
We have a thousand different voices in our lives that we hear every day both inside of us, and outside of us, trying to tell us who we are, trying to tell us what’s most important. Voices that feed into fear, anxiety, shame. And Jesus, in the same way he overhears the conversation between Jairus and his friends Jesus overhears those same conversations that happen within us and around us[1]
And he comes to us and he speaks faith into us, inviting us to trust him.
Jesus says to you and me today:
– Do not fear, only believe
No fear, faith…
[1] The idea for emphasizing Jesus overhearing Jairus’ associates and connecting it to the voices we hear in our life today came from an article by Larry Parsley Hopelessly Devoted: Mark Chapter Five Verses Twenty-One to Forty-Three – Mockingbird (mbird.com)
Sermon preached by the Rev. Deacon David M. Svihel
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
The sixth Sunday after Pentecost
June 27, 2021