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1. Mark has us on the road again. Jesus and the boys have come back over the Sea of Galilee after a brief trip to the other side.
a. Last week Jesus calmed the sea – this week he claims authority over life itself.
b. This story of the healing of Jairus’ daughter has it roots in Hebrew scripture and one of the Elijah stories.
c. But I think Mark fully intends for us to read these two stories together.
i. Remember back in high school when you wrote your first paper for English class. The instructions that I remember most vividly are “Compare and Contrast the whatever.” Compare and contrast. It is a great tool for getting to the heart of the matter in a manner that is accessible to the readers of your paper.
ii. In today’s gospel that is what Mark sets up for us. He does it by using two similar but also dissimilar stories of healing.
iii. Contrasts
1. Jairus
a. Leader of the Synagogue – a powerful man
b. Approaches Jesus directly and asks for help for his daughter who is critically ill
2. Woman.
a. Powerless, approaches in stealth mode
b. Touches Jesus’ cloak and is heal
iv. Comparisons in the story
1. Both ill are women
2. Both are ritually unclean
3. Both are healed by a touch
a. The one who touches Jesus cloak and the other is touched by Jesus
d. It is intentional that these two stories are read together
i. Jarius approaches Jesus and accords him the authority that he could have claimed for himself. His authority derives from his position of power, but his faith in Jesus is what moves him to action
ii. Jesus responds and goes with Jarius
iii. A woman comes up and Jesus senses her presence and her touch. Instead of moving on and disregarding her which is what she probably expected and maybe desired, Jesus stops and turns to her before going on to Jairus’ house and to his daughter.
1. There is a story, a midrash on how Shabbat got to be that goes something like this
a. There was this king and queen who wanted to have a child and God blessed them with a young girl, a princess. She was intelligent and beautiful and had all of the blessings that God could give.
b. When she was grown a great banquet was held in her honor. But on the way to the banquet a needy person came up to her
c. The princess stopped and cared for the person was immediately taken up to heaven
d. All the people left behind were weeping and wailing that she was gone so god sent her back as Princess Shabbat. The gift of interrupting the cycle of paying attention to the powerful and wealthy parts of life and instead stopping to build relationship with your family, your friends and with god.
i. We see in Jesus today this same story. Jesus does not act in the ways of the world, Jesus turns our values upside down and stops to pay attention to what and who is least in our world and he reaches out and touches her and in doing that he begins to build a relationship with her.
e. Archbishop Desmond Tutu tells us about an African understanding of how we are interconnected.
“One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”
iv. This Gospel begs us to look at our date books, look at our check registers, look at our prayer list, look at how and who we prioritize in our lives and to stop and pay attention to Shabbat, to relationship, to rest. To ask ourselves the questions…
1. Who did I stop for this week. Who did I listen to this week. Who did I affirm as a blessed child of God.
v. To whom did I reach out – who did I touch.
vi. Way beyond our physical healing is a very basic truth. The ways of this world fracture us and rob us of our vitality, our joy, and our hope. God calls us to a place where we are attentive to the suffering of others and to stop our relentless pursuit of those things that would separate us. Real relationship, Ubuntu, leads us to a place of intimacy and acceptance with each other and that place of intimacy, that touch we give to each other in acknowledging our interdependence makes us whole, makes us healed in the depths of our spirit, and gives us peace. Amen