From Fear to Faith
Pentecost 5, Proper 7
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Life is a story, and within that story are many stories, and often within those stories are embedded further stories. Today’s Gospel has a story within a story, within the great story of Jesus, and there are many stories layered within these stories.
Jesus has come back across Galilee to its western shore, probably Capernaum. Jairus, whose name means literally “he will awaken” is a leader of the synagogue. He approaches Jesus and falls at his feet. This moment passes very quickly as written, but we should take a moment to soak it in.
Capernaum was a small village of a thousand, maybe 1500 people. Unlike Lake Wales, which has umpteen churches, there was just one synagogue. Jairus is a leader of that synagogue. Everyone knew him, or at least knew who he was. When Mark wrote his Gospel, people in that area still knew him or remembered him and this incident.
Jairus is in the depths of despair and panic because his little girl is dying, literally “having her end time.” We find out the girl is 12, just on the cusp of becoming a woman. Her whole life, with all its potential, is ahead of her. He has seen and heard enough to turn to fall at Jesus’s feet, begging for help, in front of a big crowd.
In the crowd is the woman with the hemorrhage for 12 years, or essentially the lifetime of the dying girl. Her condition has not only caused her great physical trouble, it has rendered her broke. Further, we do not hear about a husband so it appears it has prevented her from getting married, which creates a lot of problems and dangers for women in their culture. It has also rendered her perpetually ritually unclean, which would isolate her from whatever family and friends she might have had.
She, too, approaches Jesus out of desperation. But she doesn’t cry out to him or fall at his feet. No, she sneaks up on him in the crowd just to touch his cloak.
What do these incidents teach us about Jesus and the Kingdom of God?
First, let’s note what they have in common. Each is a profound demonstration that faith is the currency of relationship with Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Faith overcomes fear. Jairus is afraid his daughter will die. Jairus demonstrates his faith by falling at Jesus’s feet. The woman is afraid of a life consigned to loneliness and begging. She demonstrates faith by pursuing Jesus. I’m not sure we can sneak up on Jesus but that sounds like a lot of fun, maybe even a movement.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m sneaking up on Jesus!”
Faith is described in Hebrews as “the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.” That does not mean faith is relying on something you cannot prove. Jairus and the woman are convinced Jesus can help them because they have seen and/or heard about what he has done and is doing.
This is no different from putting yourself under the care of a good doctor. We take assurance in the doctor’s diplomas and licenses and certifications which we hope indicate they can help us. We gain conviction from conversations that they know our circumstance and care about us. We take the prescription or consent to the surgery.
Our faith is built on the testimony to Jesus in the Old and New Testaments, as understood through the interpretation and the lived experience of the Church over time and in the present. This isn’t new. Look again at the passage from Lamentations.
“When I remember this, I have hope: by God’s kindness, we are not destroyed, for God’s mercies are never-ending and are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:21)
For each of these women, Jesus brings new life. The daughter is raised as easily as from a nap. She’s up and around, able to eat which illustrates that her whole life is back on track. All of her potential has been restored.
Likewise, the woman’s condition is immediately gone. All of her potential has been restored. She can get back to normal life, perhaps marry, perhaps have children, gather with family and friends. I don’t know what her condition was like exactly, but I do know something about chronic disease and how isolating it is.
The Kingdom of God overcomes death. It overcomes this girl’s “end time” and it will overcome “the end times.” The Kingdom of God overcomes all manner of infirmities.
And we can learn from the ways they are different. Jairus is a person of standing in the community, which implies also a person of means. He lays all of that, all of himself at Jesus’s feet, demonstrating total humility.
The woman has no standing. She is a ritually unclean outcast. She has exhausted everything she had seeking earthly help. She has no prospects. Out of her humility she has pluck. She takes initiative. She has nothing more to lose, so why not “sneak up on Jesus” and snag a chance at healing?
What if we were in that crowd? What would we learn? It doesn’t matter who you are, male or female, rich or poor, of good standing or of no standing, clean or unclean. It doesn’t matter how you approach him, front and center or hidden in a throng of people. It doesn’t matter if you approach him for someone else or for yourself. Just approach him in sincere faith.
As his body, we are called to be alert and available to those whom need him, whether they come to us as people in need of him despite being in good financial shape or they come in desperation. They may be looking for something but not know what it is. They may be sneaking up on Jesus by sneaking up on you! And he is what we must share with them as best we can.
Although we do see physical healings in this life, we don’t see them as often as we’d like. Our faith calls us to the long view.
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)
Pursue him. He is with you and holds the gift of life for you. Be available for him as he will deliver the gift of life through you.
AMEN!