Scripture Text: Mark 5:21-43 (Proper 8B)

²¹When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. ²²Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet ²³and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” ²⁴So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. ²⁵Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. ²⁶She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” ²⁹Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. ³⁰Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” ³¹And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” ³²He looked all around to see who had done it. ³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. ³⁴He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” ³⁵While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” ³⁶But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” ³⁷He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. ³⁸When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” ⁴⁰And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” ⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. ⁴³He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

We’re getting used to Jesus and the disciples crossing that lake.  The reason is that at this point this lake WAS the center of their lives.  Many were fishermen.  All used it to get to places.  So, they go back across the lake and it is there that the writer of Mark’s Gospel sets the stage for two healing stories sort of nestled against each other.  We’re familiar with these healing stories.  But they make us wonder aloud, don’t they?  Does that still happen?  Did it really happen the way we think? Why doesn’t that happen to us? Or are we reading something into these stories that aren’t there?  We often hear these healing stories couched as a testament to individual faith, as a depiction of healing that comes because of the level of faith that a person holds.  Really?  So, what does that say about those who are NOT healed in the way we think they should be?  What does that say about their faith?  What does it say about our faith?

The truth is that healing is not based on a lottery or some sort of magic talisman.  Maybe we’ve not understood it completely.  I mean, look at these stories.  Why these particular people?  They could not be more different.  One was rich and one was poor; one was young and one was, by first century standards, old; and one was a part of the class that ran the society, that enjoyed power and prestige and all the benefits that that might bring in our world and the other—well, the other had to forcefully push her away into the crowd from the forgotten fringes of those who were not valued and who were not considered part of acceptable society.

But it doesn’t say that they were “fixed”.  It doesn’t say that things were put back into place as they were before.  It actually doesn’t even imply that they were cured.  God doesn’t fix things; God transforms them.  But I don’t think that transformation happens because of our faith in God.  In fact, I think it’s a little misleading and, in some cases, downright dangerous to hang all our hopes on some sort of fairy-tale-type ending that we have created in our minds.  That’s not faith and it’s not usually very healing.  Healing happens because of God’s faith in us, God’s faith in what we can be and what this world can become, God’s faith that we can trust that miracles can happen (and do every day!), and that even we can be healed.  (Not “fixed”, not put back the way we were, but healed.)  Even we can be made whole—maybe not in a moment, maybe not in a month, maybe not in a decade.  Have faith that God will make you whole.  Now THAT’S transformative!

So, another story…you know the one:  A young girl named Dorothy is at home minding her own Kansas business when an unforeseen tornado whisks her away to the other side of life.  Now things wouldn’t have been so bad, except that in this dreamy nightmare, her house has inadvertently landed on a witch and the witch’s sister is extremely displeased.  So, Dorothy, with directions from a good witch, makes her way down the yellow-brick road to see the Wizard of Oz.  If only she can get to the Wizard, she will find her way home.  If only she can make it there, everything will be fixed.  And along the way, with the wicked witch hot on her tail, she meets this motley cast of characters, all of whom are bemoaning their lot in life, thinking, “if only…”.  The Scarecrow contends that if he only had a brain, he could think, he could confer, he could consult, he could be.  And, for the Tin Man, if only he had a heart, he would love, he would be human.  And the Lion…he could reclaim his identity if only he had courage.  And Dorothy?  Well, we all know…if only she could just get home.

So, did you ever think of this as a healing story?  At the risk of destroying your childhood memories, the story did not end like most fairy tales do. So, do you remember what happened with the Wizard of Oz?  The Scarecrow found his brain when his mind was opened.  The Tin Man found his heart once he filled it with compassion and love for others because that is how you become human.  And the Cowardly Lion finally gains the courage and the power that he most craved, but with it comes the responsibility to live and speak for justice and mercy for every single one of God’s children.  And then there’s Dorothy…we remember that at that point, the curtain was torn away and the Wizard of Oz was unveiled.  And there he was…one of us…nothing glamorous, just an ordinary (and extremely short) human.  But it didn’t matter.  Because the healing and the recreation was already there before, already a part of the journey.  And as long as Dorothy believed that there was something somewhere over the rainbow, she knew she would make it home.  And the way home—the way to healing, and renewal, and recreation–is already deep within you (although, admittedly, it helps if you have the most incredible red shoes known to us!).  God saw to that long ago.  It’s called grace…simply grace.  But, as Frederick Buechner said, “there’s only one catch…the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it.  And maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”        

Healing does indeed happen.  Transformation happens.  I think it happens a lot more often than we think.  I think we sometimes miss it because we’re looking for what was, what will never be again, and we miss that we’re already on the road to healing.  The United Methodist Book of Worship says this about healing: 

“God does not promise that we shall all be spared suffering but does promise to be with us in our suffering.  Trusting that promise, we are enabled to recognize God’s sustaining presence in pain, sickness, injury, and estrangement.  Likewise, God does not promise that we will be cured of all illnesses; and we all must face the inevitability of death… The greatest healing of all is the reunion or reconciliation of a human being with God.”

So, part of living a life of faith is to trust that God holds a vision for something more, something beyond what we have now or had before.  Healing is not fixing or putting things back the way they were before; healing is bringing wholeness and oneness with God into someone’s life; healing is making God’s vision for us come to be; and, sometimes, it is trusting in the unknown and that which doesn’t make sense at all.  Albert Einstein once said that “there are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle or you can live as if everything is a miracle.”  Miracles and healing are all around us; but they don’t necessarily look like what we’ve imagined and definitely not what we’ve necessarily planned.  So, we need to open ourselves to God transforming us and, yes, we have been given the mind, the heart, and the courage to do just that.  God has put enough faith in us to walk toward healing, toward wholeness, toward who God envisions we can be.  We just enough faith to put one foot in front of the other and keep walking.

You who believe, and you who sometimes believe and sometimes don’t believe much of anything, and you who would give almost anything to believe if only you could…. ‘Get up,’ he says, all of you–all of you!” Jesus gives life not only to the dead, but to those of us who are “only partly alive…who much of the time live with our lives closed to the wild beauty and the miracle of things, including the wild beauty and miracle of every day we live and even of ourselves.” That, [he says], is the power at the heart of this story and all of our stories: “the power of new life, new hope, new being. (Frederich Buechner)

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

“Help Me To Heal”

If I reach out my hand
Will you hold me
Will you help me to stand if I fall
If I can’t say my name
Will you know me
Oh will I still be me
If I lose it at all

[Chorus:]

Help me to heal
Help me to feel
All I know is what I see
So won’t you help me to believe
Help me to heal
If I’m not all I was
Will you love me
I’m afraid if I change you might go
As I face the unknown
Are you with me
Cause you know I can’t do this alone

[Chorus]

I know I’ll find the strength to fight
If I can trust I’m gonna be alright
So walk me through my darkest fears tonight

[Chorus]

Writer: Kris Kristofferson
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.