Two Daughters: Sermon on Mark 5:21-43

Good Evening.

Tonight I’m going to be a picking up a story from the book of Mark chapter five. It’s a double story actually, a story within a story and really well known. It’s about two woman, or a woman and a girl, but two who are referred to as ‘daughters’.

So if you’ll turn there with me in your Bibles. Mark chapter 5, and we’ll be reading from verse 21:

²¹ When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. ²² Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and ²³ pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so she will be healed and live.” ²⁴ So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

³⁰ At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹ “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³² But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³ Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the truth. ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

³⁷ He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. ³⁸ When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹ He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”⁴⁰ But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). ⁴² Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³ He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.”

May God bless to us the reading of His Holy Word, now and forever.

Let us pray: Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be pleasing and acceptable to you and bring you glory. Spirit we invite you to speak to our hearts this evening

Amen.

Mark in writing this story uses a sandwiching technique, it’s really two stories in one, and they can be used to understand each other. So I’m going to look at understanding a little more about who these two ladies were, what they had in common and what was different, and then pick up some lessons we can take away with us.

The first similarity we see here is that this is a story of desperation. Two desperate people – a Father and an older lady. And both bring their desperation to Jesus. But here is where the difference sets in.

Jarius is a well-respected Synagogue leader. He as a man is entitled to speak with Jesus and implore him to come help. We can hear the desperation in his voice as he falls before Jesus. It could be very detrimental for his career for people to know he had gone to Jesus to ask for help – but he has reached the point where he will try ANYTHING to save his little girl.

The unnamed woman however has no status, no rights, and if anything comes from the margins of society. We are told that she has impoverished herself in search of medical treatment. And while she had spent all her money on treatment, none had helped – she had only become worse – many commentators actually reckon that physicians actually preyed on people like this, oppressing them further by promising cures, taking their money, and not helping at all. Due to the nature of her condition she cannot participate in normal life. She was unclean. She wouldn’t have been able to have children. She has no man to come implore for her, none who could help. And so where Jarius comes publicly, she sneaks up from behind, using the crowd as a cover, and in desperation musters up enough faith to believe that a simple touch of Jesus clothing would be enough.

In a moment of such beauty though, Jesus turns immediately and looks for her. Just as she knew that her bleeding had stopped, He knew that healing had been granted. That someone had needed His power and it had flowed out of him in response to her faith. And so he stops. In the middle of a dire emergency, in the middle of a Father’s desperation for help – he stops and he looks for her. She finds the courage to come before him, falls down as did Jarius and tells her story.

Jesus responds saying: “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Daughter. She belongs. Not only is she healed from her condition but Jesus takes it a step further and welcomes her to the family – daughter. You had no one to speak for you, you have no man to care for you. But God is your Father, he welcomes and accepts you, he accepts your faith – you can go and be free from suffering and have peace.

Meanwhile, other men run up and inform Jarius that his daughter has died. It’s over. Don’t bother Jesus any more. Come be with the family – come mourn and grieve.

Jesus, finishing his conversation with the older woman, simply turns to Jarius and says – “Don’t be afraid. Just believe”… Jarius – you see the faith this woman had? Have the same kind of faith. Jarius – it may seem hopeless – but don’t give up, don’t give into fear… Faith Jarius, just believe.

As they arrive at the house, Jesus addresses the weeping and wailing crowd, but when he tells them she is only asleep he is laughed at. So he has the house emptied and takes just the parents and his three closest disciples, and taking the little girl’s hand, raises her to life again.

Two desperate people find that on meeting Jesus hope and life is restored, whether the healing was gained by reaching out in faith, Or Jesus reaching out and taking a hand – the encounter with Jesus has miraculous consequences.

But I’m going to stop here and look at two other groups of people in the story who almost missed what was going on and what was going to happen.

Firstly we have the disciples. Mark describes to us a scene where the crowd is jostling together, it’s a tight squeeze… I’m not sure if you’ve ever been in that kind of a situation, maybe leaving a cricket match or standing in a queue where people keep joining in at the back even where there is no space… for those of you who were here last week you will remember the video Theo showed with Zacchaeus, where he desperately tries to get a glimpse of Jesus but is simply shoved away by the crowds, and so climbs a tree. This is the kind of crowd that is around – and anyone who had heard Jarius’s request would be pushing to see a miracle occur.

And it is in this hustle and bustle and jostle, that Jesus stops and asks – Who touched me?? In fact he even takes it a step further and says – Who touched my clothes?

In verse 31 we see the disciples’ response:

³¹ “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ 

 You can surely understand how ridiculous that question sounds – and the disciples must have been incredulous, almost laughing, saying – Jesus, are you serious? What do you mean – “Who touched me?”

But Jesus knows. He knows what has happened. But he gives this woman an opportunity here for even a greater healing. Not only has her flow of blood been stopped, but she is then commended for her faith and sent away in peace – restored, whole and accepted.

Jesus was so in touch with the Spirit’s movements that in the midst of busy and bustle, in the midst of a crises – He is aware that the Spirit was at work, and that there was a miracle in progress.

And so my first thought for tonight is – how many miracles are we missing out on because of the crush of the crowd? How much of the Spirit’s work do we ignore because we’re too busy or in crises management mode? How much more might we see of God if we allowed ourselves to become in tune with what and where and how he is moving and align ourselves with that?

The second group I want to look at are the group at Jarius house when they arrive. The wailers and mourners. It is possible as was customary at the time that these were paid professionals to come and weep for the child. And the stakes here are high – we are no longer dealing with a serious illness. This child is dead. It is beyond help. It’s over.

And again we can understand when Jesus offers an alternative – she is not dead, only sleeping – that the crowds laugh and scoff. Clearly this man is out of his mind. I think today people would do more than laugh and scoff – but would perhaps even be angry… how dare you give these parents false hope?

And so they laugh at the impossibility of what he is suggesting, in the same way that Sarah laughed at the idea of being able to have a child. Facts are facts. The girl is dead. I’m over 90 I can’t have a child. Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days… he’ll be decomposing by now… Jesus was flogged and crucified… the disciples watched him die. These are the facts.

And yet we serve a God for whom all things are possible. I wonder sometimes if we aren’t too much like the crowd… we battle to believe that it’s possible for God to really do anything contrary to the facts. And so again we miss the miraculous because we have laughed off the possibility of God really changing anything.

We miss the miraculous because our lives are full of things crowding into them that we don’t feel the touch of the Spirit. And we miss the miraculous because we believe we know better, and instead of asking, trusting and allowing God to work in any way he chooses, we believe that a situation is too far gone, too dead, too much….. you fill in the blank…. For God to truly work.

The last reason I believe we miss what God is doing is because we believe we know how and who he should do it for. Peter Wood writes a blog, and in his blog he describes this entire story in this way:

"It’s a narrative of two healings.
A dying little girl, the daughter of synagogue leader Jairus, and the no-name, hopeless nobody woman who has been that way for twelve years.
It is also a narrative of the man of power. The healing rabbi from Nazareth.
Could it be a narrative about who is most deserving of his attention?

Given the views of sickness and suffering as outcomes of God’s judgement and prejudice for the righteous in Jesus’ day, it may well have been.

If it is, then there is no contest as to who is more deserving.
Jairus’ daughter wins.

She has her whole life ahead of her and anyway she is from the correct family with the correct connections. At twelve years of age she is ready to begin being fertile and menstrual.

The woman in the crowd is a hopeless case. Already judged by the futility of her expended resources and the duration of the disease that renders her permanently unclean, she is a waste of the master’s time and his limited power. Her life is finished.

In fact, the very guerilla tactic she employs by sneaking up on him under cover of the crowd to be healed, is in itself grounds for her disqualification.

With all the drama of a novel rushing to its climax, Mark inserts the older hopeless woman into the story of Jesus’ mission to heal the just girl. The old bleeding woman is an interruption and an energy thief to boot!

Yet, as the story unfolds both are healed. The young and the old, the hopeful and the hopeless.
There is enough time, power, compassion, and grace to go round so that no one needs be written off.

I wonder when our selective, cozy, judgemental congregations will learn that?

We just cannot determine who Jesus should prioritize for his attention.

At times of great disaster medical personnel are trained to practice triage. To decide who is most in need of medical attention and care.  The injured are tagged with tape.  Green for not serious. Yellow for serious. Red for critical. Black for terminal.

If Mark’s edit of the gospel tells us anything it is this…

It’s time to pack away your tape and labels. There is no need for triage in the kingdom of God."

God has no favourites. He isn’t going to work in this one’s life and not in that one. We are no more deserving of his attention that anyone outside the walls of this building. We are also no less deserving – the beautiful truth of grace is that there is enough love and compassion, healing and peace to go around.

There is enough for me, for you and for those you love.

Two daughters. From completely opposite sides of the spectrum, wealthy and poor, old and young, with status and without, within a community and marginalised, approaching Jesus publicly or privately…

And yet God knew them both. God had time for them both. God healed them both.

Let’s go into our weeks and not miss out on what God may be wanting to do in our lives. Let’s find moments in amidst the crazy to be aware of the Spirit moving, Let’s choose to “not be afraid and only believe” even when situations in our lives, in our families or in our country may seem beyond God’s help. And let’s believe that this grace and peace and healing and inclusion is available to everyone we meet, and available for you and for me.

Let us pray.