In Jesus Holy Name June 27, 2021
Text: Mark 5:28, 41 Pentecost V Redeemer
“The Touch of Jesus”
(read the text)
Each Sunday in our journey through the Gospel of Mark, we know that Mark is asking his readers to answer these questions: Who is Jesus? Does Jesus possess the power of God….or does he work miracles by the power of the devil?
In Mark 4 Jesus speaks to the storm and “it runs out of breath”. The disciples, who have witnessed hundreds if not thousands of miracles, themselves are forced to ask: “Who is this (man)(Matthew)? Even the wind and waves obey him?” So, they, like all who encounter Jesus must make a decision: “is God in our boat?”
Mark is challenging the reader’s mind. Do you need more proof? Here is what happened next…. Mark 5:21
“…. Jesus and the disciples crossed back over the lake to the Jewish side….” Another large crowd gathers. This time a synagogue ruler…Jairus
(chair-ruhs) came pleading for his daughter’s life. The other is a woman; out of respect for her health issues, the Bible does not record her name. But her illness makes her an outcast from community.
On the one hand, the family of Jairus (chair-ruhs) represented the "upper crust" of society. Jairus was the ruler of the synagogue. He was a man of substance, rich and powerful and religiously prominent. In the synagogue, he called the shots. He decided who would preach, what scripture would be read, and what hymns would be sung. He represented the Elite of Society, especially the religious world, but this day Jairus was troubled. His 12-year-old daughter was dying.
On the other hand, the hemorrhaging woman in the crowd was a social outcast. Everything in her life was forbidden. She could not cook for her family. She could not hold her children. She was considered unclean as one who was under the judgment of God and therefore not allowed to set foot in the synagogue. She had been impoverished by the doctors who could not cure her. Jesus was her last hope, her only hope. “If only I touch His clothes I will be healed.” She said.
We know that Jesus and His disciples had been going from town to town. He had been preaching the gospel and healing people. Large crowds were coming out. It was well known. People were clamoring to see Jesus and hear Him. One day this man named Jairus came looking for Jesus. You can hear the plea in the voice of Jairus’ wife: “Go find the Rabbi! Hurry!”
Falling down at the feet of Jesus, he begged Jesus to come to his house because his only daughter (who was about 12 years of age) was gravely ill and dying. Jesus agreed to go with him. There is no talk of insurance policies; no scheduling of an appointment. Marks simply states: “Jesus went with him.”
The distance is short. The crowd was close, slowing their progress. How impatient the father must have been. The clock was ticking, every moment was important. As they went, people began to press in around Jesus. The New English Bible puts it dramatically: "He could hardly breathe for the press of the crowds." The people were so excited to be near the master that they were pushing and shoving and crowding in close to Him.
Suddenly a hand reaches out and touches the tassel on the robe of Jesus. He stops, looks around and asked: “Who touched me?” What a foolish question, his disciples thought.
Jesus was not going to be put off. He wanted to know. So he waited. Finally a woman confesses what she has done. For twelve years this woman had been excommunicated from the Temple and from the synagogue, form every religious place of assembly, divorced from her husband, shut out from her family, ostracized by society.
She had endured incurable illness, social isolation, constant pain, financial poverty and personal humiliation. It is hard to imagine a more pitiful situation. In the words of one writer, she had been among the “living dead” for twelve long years. She just touched the tassel on His clothing…Her touch of Jesus brought instant healing. He knew.
Twice in this story Jesus is touched and touches someone ritually and
ceremonially unclean. Not only is Jesus not contaminated, the ones who had been contaminated to begin with are made holy and whole. Jesus has crossed the boundaries that had once defined the Jewish community, rules of pious associations, ritual purity, Sabbath rules are broken or the sake of God’s love.
That’s why Jesus said six days are made for man, one shall work on those days, but the 7th, the Sabbath, is made for God. Give Him glory on that day! “I am the Lord of the Sabbath,” He said. (Mark 2:28)
The crowd had stopped…. Jairus had waited. I don’t know if he saw the men coming… but their words were cold: “Your daughter is dead, don’t trouble the teacher, don’t trouble this miracle worker anymore…..” What they meant: “We know that this prophet Jesus can heal people… but no one can raise someone from the dead. Dead is dead. Jesus ignored the men. In effect Jesus said…”wait and see….then you can decide whether or not I possess God’s authority….not only to forgive sins….but to raise the dead!
These miracles are “lightning-flashes” illuminating that fact that Jesus does possess the “power of God.” These signs and miracles which God works through Jesus are like knockings at the gate of one’s heart. You must make a decision about Jesus and the reign, the rule of God. All of the contemporaries of Jesus, whether disciples, brothers or sisters, Pharisees or religious and political leaders, they all believed that Jesus worked miracles. They just explained his deeds in different ways…. Acts of God… or of Satan.
Several times in my life and ministry I have stood with parents when their child died. I remember the parents. My first funeral in my precious parish, was a teenage boy, the only son, accidently shot. He died. Each parent would have been glad to die in the place of their son. But there was no option for substitution. Anyone of us who have been close to a mourning family knows our words are inadequate. There are so many things we mortals know we should not say, cannot say, when death comes calling.
But none of us dare speak the words which Mark records in the 41st verse of chapter 5. Two words: “Talitha cumi.” “Talitha cumi”. “Little girl, get up”. The touch of Jesus brings the little girl back to life.
In a small village news travels fast. Jesus does not agree with the words of the men. Who said…”it’s too late, don’t come.” The house was filled with relatives, friends; everyone was crying. Jesus said….”the little girl is sleeping.” If anyone would say that at one of funerals were I was an officiant…they would be escorted out. Jesus, the parents and a few disciples went to the side of the girl who still lay upon her deathbed.
Jesus broke the silence. He reached down and took her hand. He touched her. He spoke. “Little girl get up.” And she did. At the command of Jesus, death was forced to release its grasp upon this girl. When Jesus spoke, she began to breath and her heart began to beat. Jesus came to do what the Son of God alone can do.
The Gospel of Mark is asking every one of his readers…..everyone in the village of Capernaum….you and me…. “Who do you say Jesus is?” Is Jesus who He says He is? Does Jesus possess the authority of God on earth?
He has caste out demons. He has healed every disease. He has calmed a stormy sea. He has forgiven sins… demonstrating the power of his words by telling a paralytic to “get up, take you mat and go home.” He has raised people from the dead. These are things only God can do?
So, the question remains for the disciples, the man in the street, for you, for me: “Did the Power of the living God flow through Jesus”, culminating in the resurrection of Jesus himself?
When Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, in the grave for four days… Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live (again) and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” Then Jesus asks Martha a simple question. “Do you believe this?”
I’m not saying that there are no more tears nor sadness and emptiness. What I am saying is that because of Jesus, pain, loss, death and the grave no longer have the final word. “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I love this story because it reminds us that our soul never dies. The author to the book of Hebrews writes: “Since we have flesh and blood, (God) chose to come to earth and share our humanity.” His name was Jesus. “so that by his death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)
The cross, the empty grave of Jesus changes everything.
The early Christians in the city of Thessalonica were worried about their loved ones, their family members who had died while they awaited the return of Jesus. Paul writes. My friends, my fellow Christians…”I do not want you to grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.” That’s why Jesus said the little girl is “sleeping”. He just brought her back to life and to the family early.
