January 24, 2016: Jairus’ Daughter Healed

Mark 5:21-43

²¹ Jesus crossed the lake again, and on the other side a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. ²² Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, came forward. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet ²³ and pleaded with him, “My daughter is about to die. Please, come and place your hands on her so that she can be healed and live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.
A swarm of people were following Jesus, crowding in on him. ²⁵ A woman was there who had been bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered a lot under the care of many doctors, and had spent everything she had without getting any better. In fact, she had gotten worse. ²⁷ Because she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes. ²⁸ She was thinking, If I can just touch his clothes, I’ll be healed. ²⁹ Her bleeding stopped immediately, and she sensed in her body that her illness had been healed.
³⁰ At that very moment, Jesus recognized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
³¹ His disciples said to him, “Don’t you see the crowd pressing against you? Yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” ³² But Jesus looked around carefully to see who had done it.
³³ The woman, full of fear and trembling, came forward. Knowing what had happened to her, she fell down in front of Jesus and told him the whole truth. ³⁴ He responded, “Daughter, your faith has healed you; go in peace, healed from your disease.”
³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking with her, messengers came from the synagogue leader’s house, saying to Jairus, “Your daughter has died. Why bother the teacher any longer?”
³⁶ But Jesus overheard their report and said to the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid; just keep trusting.” ³⁷ He didn’t allow anyone to follow him except Peter, James, and John, James’ brother. ³⁸ They came to the synagogue leader’s house, and he saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹ He went in and said to them, “What’s all this commotion and crying about? The child isn’t dead. She’s only sleeping.” ⁴⁰ They laughed at him, but he threw them all out. Then, taking the child’s parents and his disciples with him, he went to the room where the child was. ⁴¹ Taking her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Young woman, get up.” ⁴² Suddenly the young woman got up and began to walk around. She was 12 years old. They were shocked! ⁴³ He gave them strict orders that no one should know what had happened. Then he told them to give her something to eat.

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Introduction:

One of my favorite parts of this in this entire story might appear to be an afterthought. After raising up the young girl with the words “talitha cum,” Jesus tells the gobsmacked people around her to give her something to eat. It warms my heart to think of Jesus, who has just done something truly astonishing, making sure she received something to put on her stomach.  It was not easy to be a woman in the ancient world (which is something of an understatement) and being a very young woman would have been even harder. And yet Jesus cares for her and helps her.

Jesus also shows some of this everyday tenderness when he calls the recently healed woman, “daughter.” Working backwards from there, it is remarkable that the synagogue leader named Jairus runs to Jesus and falls at his feet. Did Jairus support Jesus’ ministry before or did he disapprove of Jesus’ methods of healing on the Sabbath? The story doesn’t tell us, but it is significant that this leader and important man falls at the feet of Jesus: just the sort of thing a dignified man WOULDN’T do. Except his child is ill. 

There is a great deal of humanity and vulnerability in this story: Jairus, the bleeding woman, and the young woman are all vulnerable and in need of help. And Jesus is there for that very purpose.

It comforts and inspires me that the “Word of God” that was with God in the beginning and through whom everything came into being also makes sure that twelve year old girls get something to eat. If you ask me, this is one way in which “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light” (see John 1:1-5 for all of these references).

The Technical Stuff:

These two stories are rich and exciting with plenty of interesting details.  Mark gives us the backstory of the woman who is suffering from hemorrhages: telling us that she had suffered much under many doctors. When Matthew tells this same story, he leaves these details out (see Matthew 9:18-26). Matthew also omits Jesus’ question concerning who had touched him (in faith). In Matthew’s version, Jesus immediately looks at her, rather than asking his disciples. Luke’s account of this incident is much closer to Mark’s.  It is important to remember that, while the Gospels have many similarities, you can also spot many differences, no matter how slight.

Mark has a habit of “sandwiching” two stories together and these two are perfect examples.  While either story could stand on its own, both are enhanced by the connection.  There are many parallels and connections between the daughter of the synagogue leader and the woman with hemorrhages: neither are given a name, the woman has been suffering twelve years and the daughter is twelve years old, both would make Jesus ritually impure by physical contact (see Leviticus 15:25-30 for the woman and Numbers 19:11 for the girl) and both (obviously) are female.

Both of these figures will receive new life.  Ultimately, these two incidents are about the ways that Jesus breaks down boundaries in order to bring new life, life that abides in this light of the kingdom of God.

What Does This Say to Us?

Does Jesus heal people today? This can be a tricky subject. The immediate and obvious answer is “Yes!” but the follow up is more complicated. If Jesus does heal people today, why are SOME people healed and OTHERS not? I imagine the same question faced the early church as well. If the woman’s faith had made her well, does that mean that people who don’t get better don’t have enough faith? I don’t believe that this is the case.  In fact, this entire line of questioning is only useful for showing us that some things are a mystery.  Not everyone in Jesus’ day was healed either and if healing were his ultimate goal, Jesus would not have traveled to Jerusalem and the cross. If healing were his ultimate goal, it would have been much more productive for him to set up shop in Galilee and heal people for decades to come.

Instead, healing is only a part of his goal (albeit and important part).  Jesus came to proclaim “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” (Mark 1:15) His healings and exorcisms are signs of the coming kingdom, signs that are meant to create faith in those who hear of them. I like to think of them as a foretaste, or “appetizer” of the kingdom when it is hear completely.  Why doesn’t Jesus heal everyone (then or now), I don’t know. But ultimately that’s not a helpful question.  Instead, may we all turn our eyes to where Jesus is at work here and now.

The church is the body of Christ today. My denomination, the ELCA, states over and over again: “God’s work. Our Hands.” There are people who are looking for healing and community today who reach out to Jesus by reaching out to the church.  They will appear at the most random moments, when the church least expects it. It could be someone reaching out for healing (like the woman), or someone who has come on behalf of another (like the synagogue leader), or it could be someone who can’t even reach out the church because of circumstances (like the girl), but whatever the case, God IS there for them. How do we know? God’s Son Jesus sent the church do help them. The church, in all of its glorious messiness, is here to help.

January 17, 2016: Parables in Mark

Mark 4:1-34

Jesus began to teach beside the lake again. Such a large crowd gathered that he climbed into a boat there on the lake. He sat in the boat while the whole crowd was nearby on the shore. ² He said many things to them in parables. While teaching them, he said, ³ “Listen to this! A farmer went out to scatter seed. ⁴  As he was scattering seed, some fell on the path; and the birds came and ate it. ⁵  Other seed fell on rocky ground where the soil was shallow. They sprouted immediately because the soil wasn’t deep. ⁶  When the sun came up, it scorched the plants; and they dried up because they had no roots. ⁷  Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorny plants grew and choked the seeds, and they produced nothing. ⁸  Other seed fell into good soil and bore fruit. Upon growing and increasing, the seed produced in one case a yield of thirty to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of one hundred to one.” ⁹ He said, “Whoever has ears to listen should pay attention!”

¹⁰ When they were alone, the people around Jesus, along with the Twelve, asked him about the parables. ¹¹ He said to them, “The secret of God’s kingdom has been given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables. ¹² This is so that they can look and see but have no insight, and they can hear but not understand. Otherwise, they might turn their lives around and be forgiven.

¹³ “Don’t you understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴  The farmer scatters the word. ¹⁵  This is the meaning of the seed that fell on the path: When the word is scattered and people hear it, right away Satan comes and steals the word that was planted in them. ¹⁶  Here’s the meaning of the seed that fell on rocky ground: When people hear the word, they immediately receive it joyfully. ¹⁷  Because they have no roots, they last for only a little while. When they experience distress or abuse because of the word, they immediately fall away. ¹⁸  Others are like the seed scattered among the thorny plants. These are the ones who have heard the word; ¹⁹  but the worries of this life, the false appeal of wealth, and the desire for more things break in and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. ²⁰  The seed scattered on good soil are those who hear the word and embrace it. They bear fruit, in one case a yield of thirty to one, in another case sixty to one, and in another case one hundred to one.”

²¹ Jesus said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp in order to put it under a basket or a bed? Shouldn’t it be placed on a lampstand? ²²  Everything hidden will be revealed, and everything secret will come out into the open. ²³  Whoever has ears to listen should pay attention!”

²⁴ He said to them, “Listen carefully! God will evaluate you with the same standard you use to evaluate others. Indeed, you will receive even more. ²⁵  Those who have will receive more, but as for those who don’t have, even what they don’t have will be taken away from them.”

²⁶ Then Jesus said, “This is what God’s kingdom is like. It’s as though someone scatters seed on the ground, ²⁷ then sleeps and wakes night and day. The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn’t know how. ²⁸  The earth produces crops all by itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full head of grain. ²⁹  Whenever the crop is ready, the farmer goes out to cut the grain because it’s harvest time.”

³⁰ He continued, “What’s a good image for God’s kingdom? What parable can I use to explain it? ³¹  Consider a mustard seed. When scattered on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; ³²  but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade.”

³³ With many such parables he continued to give them the word, as much as they were able to hear. ³⁴ He spoke to them only in parables, then explained everything to his disciples when he was alone with them.

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Introduction:

How do you describe the indescribable? How do you get a point across that will be extremely hard to grasp, let alone completely understand? I run into this issue quite often these days as I attempt to explain how the world works to my two daughters (ages five and two). My girls are extremely intelligent for their age (they’re beautiful and funny and graceful too, but that’s not the point of this blogpost).

But even with all of their intelligence, there are certain things that it’s hard for them to “get.” When she was much younger, my oldest daughter loved looking for “big yellow buses” (i.e. school buses) when the family was out driving. On a particular day, such a bus drove right past us while we were stopped at a red light. She pointed at it and said, “Make it stop!” She thought that we (her parents) had the power to do this. Her reasoning made sense when you consider that her parents controlled almost everything else in her life. It took quite a bit of explaining to convince her that this was not the way the world worked.

In today’s lesson, Jesus is teaching the crowds about the kingdom of God (sometimes called the ‘reign of God’). The kingdom is not a location, it’s a reality. It’s what it looks like when God’s will is done, and God’s way is followed. Hard to describe? Hard to grasp? You bet!

The Technical Stuff:

Let’s face it: parables are tricky things.  Jesus’ parables are “teaching stories” that use examples from everyday life that contain a “twist” that often turn these commonplace illustrations upside down, causing serious thought for those who hear them. Audiences who hear these parables, both then and now, probably begin the story by nodding along in agreement, but by the end are scratching their heads while in deep thought. This alone will make things difficult.

In addition, the “twists” in parables can be hard for us to recognize because after two thousand years there are many cultural differences between our contexts. When Jesus describes a man a man sowing seeds on the ground in our story today, his audience would recognize if his description was normal. Our knowledge of Jesus’ ancient Jewish context is hazy, however, so the twist can go unnoticed or misunderstood.

Using the first parable in our lesson today as an example, there are a variety of ways to look at the “sower” in Jesus’ story. Is he a good farmer or a bad one? Was it common practice for farmers to throw seeds everywhere in First Century Galilee, or is this farmer doing something that Jesus’ audience would immediately see as strange? You can find many scholars who support the first possibility and others who support the second.  Parables are best approached with open minds and the best response to a parable is an active conversation.

Add to this, the fact that in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is telling parables that are purposefully confusing and hard to understand (4:11-12). The secrets of the parables were given to Jesus’ followers. Why? Some believe that Jesus’ ministry was so explosively revolutionary that if the truth came out too soon, Jesus would be stopped too soon. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus wishes to keep his Messiahship a secret for as long as possible, so that it will be exclusively associated with his death on the cross.

Now that we’ve talked about the nature of these tricky stories, let’s see what these particular stories are about.  Pastor Karl Jacobson, writing for the Working Preacher Website, makes a very good point in saying that these parables, which speak of the kingdom of God, are directly connected with the proclamation that began Jesus’ ministry: “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” (Mark 1:15) (Read more HERE.)

As Jesus uses these stories to describe the coming kingdom of God, some important characteristics begin to emerge. I find Mark Allan Powell’s writing on this to be very helpful indeed:

                  

“What, then, does Jesus mean when he announces, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom (reign) of God has come near’ (1:15)? In the theological context of Mark’s Gospel, this means that the time has finally come for God’s will to be accomplished. What God wants to happen is about to take place; indeed, it is already beginning to happen. This is the basic premise of Jesus’ teaching in Mark’s Gospel, and it is fleshed out in more detail as the narrative continues. We learn that this nearness of God’s reign is a secret, not known to all (4:11). We hear that it is only the beginning of something that will eventually become very big (4:30-32). What is going to happen will transpire in a way that is mysterious (4:26-29) but powerful (9:1).” 

                             Mark Allan Powell, The Fortress Introduction to the Gospels pg. 51.

What Does This Say to Us?

Jesus teaching certainly involved “secrecy” (see Mark 4:11 in our text), but he also said that “Everything hidden will be revealed, and everything secret will come out into the open.”  Revelation has come through the church’s proclamation of the good news of Jesus.  We pray to have ears that hear and that we will also pay attention.

It’s one thing to proclaim, “I’m a follower of Jesus!” or “I want God to reign in my life!” Those are excellent things to say and to hope for. But what do they look like? What is this experience like? Jesus’ parables can help us to get a glimpse of the nature of God’s kingdom now. The hidden nature of his mission and the secrecy of Jesus’ message have been overcome by his death and resurrection. Someday all will be crystal clear. As Paul writes, "Now we see a reflection in a mirror, then we will see face to face. Now I know partially, but then I will know completely in the same way that I am completely known." (1 Corinthians 13:12-13)

Ultimately, living a kingdom life is not about figuring it out and showing God how good a job we can do. In the end it’s about surrendering to God and saying, through our words and actions, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” As Martin Luther says in the Small Catechism, “In fact, God’s kingdom comes on its own without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may also come to us.” If the kingdom were a train, we’re asking God to help us on board something small that will become very big; something mysterious that will become very powerful.

Then again, parables are tricky things and you might have taken different meanings from these “teaching stories.” I imagine Jesus is very happy see his followers sitting down to many faithful discussions on these ancient stories, wrestling with what they say to our lives today. May the faithful and lively conversation continue until he comes again.