Being Made Well and Whole: A Daughter Restored (Mark 5:21-43)
Note:
the liturgy connected to this sermon’s day is found here.
The congregational, intercessory prayer I used later in the service picked themes within the text and sermon and can be found here.
Introduction
What do the following have in common?
· Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond”
· Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs”
· Quentin Tarantino’s film, “Pulp Fiction,” and
They all were 2,000 years behind Mark!
Pink Floyd’s album is dedicated to a former bandmate who suffered a mental health decline due to heavy substance abuse disorder. The album has themes of isolation, nostalgia, human frailty, and the passage of time. They divided the song Shine On You Crazy Diamond into 9 parts and split the song almost in half. This portion opens the album, and this portion of the song closes the album, and in between are other songs that pick up similar themes found in those 9 parts. It’s a sandwich.
Arcade Fire starts and ends its album with the title track, The Suburbs, with various songs that explore the same theme of growing up in the suburbs, change, resilience, isolation, and nostalgia and then ending with one of the better ending lines of an album in a very long time. “If I could have it back, all the time I wasted. I’d only waste it again. I’d love to waste it again.” The album is a sandwich. Mark did that first, but he wasn’t credited on their album of the year.
The film Pulp Fiction starts and ends in a diner with different scenes in the middle, creating a sandwich-like effect. Mark does that method 5 times in this gospel. He wasn’t mentioned in the Academy Awards acceptance speech for Best Original Screenplay.
Mark is a genius storyteller. Five times in his gospel he tells a story. The story is interrupted by another story which is told in its entirety and then Mark returns to the first story and finishes telling it
The middle story has themes that interpret the first story. Both stories interpret one another.
Mark is doing something audacious. He is describing the radical love of God for all people no matter who they are or where they are in their life or faith AND he is giving us a picture of what true faith is.
By placing the story of the woman in the center, he is saying that God treats people like Jesus treats this woman. She is an outcast, has no status, and is on the edge of society, yet he loves and treats her with tenderness, just like Jairus does for his little girl. The woman is a child of the Most High God and is deeply loved.
He treats her and loves her like Jairus treats his daughter. When he finds out that she touched him, he says, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.”
Isn’t this amazing?!
Story 1, Part 1: Jairus’ Daughter is Very Ill
This happened around Capernaum, a fishing village of a few thousand people. Jairus was the administrator of the local synagogue, and he would have known everyone. He took care of them from cradle to grave. He secured the religious scrolls, cleaned the premises, and settled disputes between people. He was respected, smart, and connected to his colleagues around Galilee.
He would have known the details of what we have recorded in Mark chapter 1, that Jesus performed a miracle in a synagogue nearby and then went across the Sea of Galilee to other towns. Would he ever be back?
Jairus knew that Jesus could do something special. His friend and colleague had shared a firsthand account with him. A man, his own congregant, who had a withered hand was present. He asked the man to stretch out his hand, and that man had never been able to stretch out his hand, but as he listened to Jesus, he was able. “Jairus, I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Jairus likely thought if Jesus can heal a withered hand he can heal my withering daughter.
Jairus needed Jesus to do something special because his 12-year-old daughter was dying. Just as she was about to cross the threshold into womanhood, she is at the doorway to the afterlife. Professional mourners, who express the combined grief of the community, gathered outside. He doesn’t want to give up, but he knows she is dying. Jairus has been to many bedsides like this one.
The night had been long and the morning disappointing, but the news had come that Jesus was returning. It was amazing. You never knew when you would ever see someone like that again, but now he is returning!
It had to be hard to leave his daughter and wife that morning knowing that she might die. Yet, he leaves to seek out Jesus. He first hears then sees the crowds and then he is in the crowd and because he is the synagogue administrator, he is introduced to Jesus. “Jesus, this is Jairus. He’s an important part of our lives. He leads our synagogue and maybe he will have you speak there later. You two should talk.”
Jairus sees Jesus and falls to his feet and begs, “My daughter is dying. Put your hands on her, so she will live.” Jesus says, “I would love to do that.”
Story 2: The Woman, God’s Daughter is Restored
At this point in the story, we think, Jairus and his daughter are the focal point. What’s going to happen? Time is of the essence. But now, there’s an interruption. The woman enters the story.
Like Jairus, she too had heard about Jesus. Jairus’ daughter was 12-years-old, and for 12 years she has been having a hemorrhaging issue. The first month would have been curious, the second month concerning, and the third month an emergency of life-altering proportions. Perhaps she opened up to her sister, cousin, or friend and asked, “Has this ever happened to you?”
“Sweetie, you should see my doctor. She’s great.” And the doctor is great, but the problem persists. And you know how medical solutions go sometimes; it takes months to get better and it’s expensive as you rule out this solution or that one. “Just give it some time,” is okay if you have money, which she has run out of.
We don’t know what her exact medical condition is, but we know the consequences. She can’t have children, which is complicated on many levels.
Because this involves blood, there are rules meant to keep everyone healthy and safe. She is listed as ceremonially unclean. It prevents her from going to the Temple in Jerusalem, enjoying the festivals, or going to the synagogue. Anyone or anything she touches becomes unclean. If she were to touch Jairus on Wednesday, he would not be able to be at the synagogue that weekend.
She has not been to the synagogue since Jairus’ daughter was born.
She also heard Jesus was returning and decided to join the crowd. It’s risky, but she is clever. If Jesus touched people, they are healed. So perhaps if I touch him, I will be healed. If I touch him, though, he is ceremonially unclean. I’ve got to do it discreetly. No one can notice.
She gets close, reaches out, and touches him. He stops dead in his tracks and says, “Who touched me?”
“Oh, no, I broke the Messiah!
The disciples retort to Jesus, “What? There’s a lot of people here. Everyone touched you.”
Jesus replied, “No, this is different. Power went from me.”
Our imaginations wonder. Did electricity pop out of the hem of his clothes like static electricity? What does this mean? Why did Jesus stop?
John Calvin wrote about this passage, “Jesus could tell, could intuit, that the person who touched him needed more than physical healing.”
She needed to be made whole, not just made well.
Verse 33: “Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet (just like Jairus) and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.”
What is the first word Jesus says to her? It’s in verse 34. “Daughter.”
To put this in context. For over a decade she has lived with a difficult issue and she’s had to talk about it every month with religious and societal gatekeepers. I wonder how long it’s been since someone with authority has spoken to her with positives. “Daughter.”
“Daughter, your faith has changed your life. It’s a new day. You get to start over. You are made well.”
Jairus, we should keep going.
Story 1, Part 2: Jairus’ Daughter is Restored
Jesus and Jairus continue and arrive at his residence. Someone meets them and the look on their face says it all. They are not in time.
The woman with the hemorrhage felt like she was overlooked as everyone else’s life went on as normal, and I imagine Jairus felt that way. If Jesus had not been distracted by other people, he could have saved his daughter. Is it too late?
Jesus says something audacious, “She’s not dead. She’s only sleeping.”
The house is quiet. The wooden floors creak. Jairus can’t believe it’s happening to him. It’s usually him who is doing these kinds of visits. He opens the door to her room. The teddy bears and plushies are everywhere.
Jesus sits on the side of the bed. He gets near her. He’s so gentle. “Talitha cumi.” It’s Aramaic, his language. “Hey, little girl, Sweetie. It’s time to wake up. Hi, you can do it. It’s time to open your eyes. Sweetie, little one, hi. Open them up. There you are. Hi. Good morning. It’s nice to see you, daughter. Your dad and mom are right here. It’s a new day for you. Your life is starting over. Look what faith can do. Would you like some breakfast?”
The following Saturday when it is time to worship at the synagogue, another miracle happens. Jairus unlocks the doors, readies the space, and prepares the scroll for the readings that morning, and there before him are members of the community, his daughter, and after a 12-year absence, the woman who touched Jesus.
Finding Ourselves in the Text
Common Needs
Jairus and the woman are opposites in a lot of ways. He has status, privilege, inclusion, opportunity, and community. She doesn’t meet society’s expectations, carries a stigma, and experiences isolation. Yet, they are both deeply human and desperate for God’s grace.
This text is profound. You can have all the success you dreamed of – dream job, dream family, and check every box, and yet be brought low by life’s circumstances. You need God.
You can be flat on your back, hurt, broken, and devastated by life and God will be there for you.
We all are different in many ways, but one thing we have in common is our profound need of God’s grace in our lives.
True Faith
Have you ever wondered what faith is?
When Jairus talked to his colleagues about what Jesus was doing on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, 8 miles away, that’s one thing. Look at what Jesus can do for those people over there.
When Jairus came to the point where it was his daughter who was dying, he realized his own need for Jesus Christ: “Oh, Jesus is for me.”
When the woman heard what Jesus had done for others and thought, “Jesus did that for them and I have a need too, so that means he could do that for me. Wait, I need Jesus too. And she stepped forward and touched him, that is true faith.”
Faith is not an amount. Faith is when you act on a realization. (repeat)
Communal Restoration
Jairus’ daughter was isolated in private due to her illness. The woman was isolated in public due to her illness. When they are healed, they are brought into the community together.
Salvation involves every part of our lives. Yes, Jesus healed people and he also made people whole. He restored her relationships and gave her back to her community and her faith community.
Conclusion
As we wrap up this wrap, or this sandwich, we see that these stories are not just historical accounts but living testimonies of God’s grace, power, and love.
In both stories, Jesus does more than just heal physical ailments. He restores lives, redefines relationships, and reclaims individuals for the community. He meets each person in their deepest need, regardless of their social status, or where they are in their life or faith. He sees them, hears them, and responds with compassion and power.
The woman who had suffered for twelve long years was restored in body, spirit, and community. She went from being an outcast to being called “Daughter” by Jesus. Her faith, though desperate and perhaps fearful, was enough, because faith is about acting on what you know and trusting what you know to be true about God at the moment.
Jairus, a man of status and respect, found himself on his knees, pleading for Jesus to raise his daughter. He discovered that Jesus’ power to heal and restore knows no bounds. His daughter, once at the brink of death, was tenderly brought back to life by the one who is the Word of Life.
Jairus and the woman experienced a radical shift from fear and despair to hope and restoration. This is the gospel and the subversive and life-changing nature of the kingdom of God. No matter our circumstances, no matter how deep our pain, Jesus is ready to meet us. God is ready to make us whole.
Please hear me, we are reminded that it’s not about believing it can be true for others. We need to recognize our own needs and then reach out and receive what God is ready and willing to give us. Dare we be so creative?
Today Christ says to you, “Hey, I’m here with you. Today can be a new day. Your eyes can be open. Look what faith can do.”
This good news is bread from heaven. It is a feast that feeds and delivers us. Let us taste and see that the Lord is good.
