Mark 5:21-43
Physical
illnesses can be one of the most devastating and emotionally draining
situations we humans face. When we get hit with the diagnosis, our hearts sink,
our breath is taken away and we often ask, “Why?” At those moments we realize
that the illusion of power and control we have so comfortably created for
ourselves has just burst like a child’s bubble mix bubble. We create this
bubble to keep ourselves from living in the untenable and very uncomfortable
position of faith. Or at least we think faith is the alternative, trusting in
something we can’t see, like jumping of the cliff into the unknown hoping there
is a branch that we can catch.
But
this is not faith!
Our
text gives us two accounts of people who were desperate for a cure. They
wanted, no, they felt they needed a divine intervention. One was for a relative
with an apparently sudden illness, and the other for themselves from a chronic,
debilitating condition.
What
ties these two together is faith. They had both heard about Jesus, and His
ability to heal miraculously. You see faith is not jumping off the cliff into
an unknown emptiness. That is stupidity. Faith is stepping into the arms of
someone who has proven themselves to you over time. Faith is the young daughter
jumping into the arms of the loving father who has shown he is strong and safe,
even though the pool water is scary. Faith is stepping into the known.
The
man named Jairus had everything to lose by coming to Jesus. He was part of the
religious hierarchy, the very structure that was plotting to kill Jesus. This
group of men had begun indicating that anyone who supported Jesus would be
kicked out of their “circle of trust” as Robert De Niro’s character in Meet the
Fockers says. And yet he risks this excommunication because his daughter is
about to die. Wouldn’t you risk it if you child was about to die?
The woman comes because she has exhausted al l
her resources in the process of seeking a cure. He condition would have
isolated her from friends and family. Unexplained bleeding was not something
that is even accepted today. Back then there was even less tolerance and
understanding. She would have worn a label. “That woman” would have been part
of the whispers. There were probably open comments and pointed fingers during
those many years of suffering.
Both
Jairus and this woman come to Jesus for physical healing because they had heard
about His power to heal. They were not walking up to a random person and asking
them to heal. They were coming to Jesus, the one who has healed so many. Jesus
was like the Mayo Clinic on steroids. Jesus had a reputation for helping even
the worst, impossible cases. They had hope that He could do something when no
one else could. Their hope was based on the fact that Jesus had helped so many
others.