What would it be like to not be well for twelve years? Some of you have some experience with this, some of you know those who have chronic illness and have good days and bad days. Some of you are there yourselves. What would it be like to be a woman in Jesus’ time and bleed for twelve years, without relief. She’d spent any money she had on physicians and she continued to grow worse. I imagine a body exhausted, listless, unable to really get up and do much of anything; and certainly unable to go far from home. What would that be like when you are a woman who has to take care of a household, as well as caring for children and most likely for your parents. Would everyone leave you? What would they do with you?
And added to
the misery of exhaustion and the inability to really do anything, she is
unclean. In order to preserve the holiness of God’s people, Jews in Palestine
avoided contact with lepers, menstruating women, corpses, and Gentiles, among
others. Such contact defiled a person for a period lasting from one to seven
days, until purification, ritual washing, and enduring a waiting period. So on
top of her exhaustion, she was prohibited from participation in festivals,
certain meals, and Temple functions.
What was she
doing there? She should not have been there. At the end of her hope, she must
have sensed something about this man Jesus. Jesus was by the sea and a crowd of
people had gathered around him. One of the leaders of the synagogue came to him
and asked him to come and see his daughter who was near death. So Jesus went
with him. This crowd followed him and pressed in on him. I’ve been in a crowd
like that, these days I don’t much like crowds. Hot, sticky, people, craning
their necks, looking for the rock star or the sports star, trying to get a glimpse
of the hero. But she had nothing left to loose. All she had was a flicker, a
glimmer, of hope. She was at the end of her rope, at the end of her life, at
the end of his cloak. She touched it.
You know when
your car battery is dead, and you jump it from another car, and it roars back
into life? Or when lightning strikes right near you and you feel a jolt of
energy? Or when you can’t get out of bed because you’ve got the worst sinus
infection of your life, and you finally get the antibiotics you need and you
feel like you could jump up and dance? She felt his power surge through her
giving her new life. Jesus felt it too. It was as if they were the only two
people alive in that crowd. Connected by an umbilical cord of life and power.
Jesus moved on to Jairus’ house, and pronounced life for the little girl.
“Little girl, get up!”
Jesus’ life
and power is connected to us too, what about that jolt of faith?
Sometimes,
when I am reading the newspaper, listening to the news, even talking with
people, I hear hopelessness, faithlessness, despair, in our community, our
country. I hear people wondering what is next? Where or what is the next way
people are disrespected, mistreated, and distrusted? What is the next means of
exclusion, violence, hatred? Why are we having so much trouble making space in
our communities, our lives, our country, for people who are unlike us?
I think it may
be because of the blood. This woman’s blood flowed out of her, through no fault
of her own, making her unacceptable in the neighborhood in which she lived,
and, they believed, unacceptable to God, yes, to God. These rules were to keep
God’s people holy, and to keep God holy as well.
But Jesus
changed those rules. Jesus said, the commandments now are, love God, love your
neighbor, period, no exceptions. And yet we keep doing it. We keep people away,
we put distance between us, we inflict animosity, because they are not like us.
It is as if we need to keep ourselves unaffected, clean even, and it is as if
we need to keep God in our box of holiness.
But we needn’t
worry about God; God can take care of Godself, much better than we can. God is
found in all sorts of objectionable places, places where hungry people live,
places where homeless people live, places where boundaries are erected and
walls are built. And yet, we see God in those places, in the faces of men,
women, and children who are loved by God. We see God in those places, in the
faces of the helpers, those who go running toward trouble, those who go running
toward violence and sadness. We see God in the faces of those whose color,
language, and culture is unlike our own.
You see, we
are the Jesus movement. In Jesus’ life, and in Jesus’ journey to the cross, and
in Jesus’ love on the cross, Jesus crossed boundaries. Jesus heals any who need
healing, regardless of their status, regardless of who they are, regardless of
who they even believe in. And on that cross, Jesus healed the one who hung next
to him, who uttered the words, “remember me, when you come into your kingdom”,
and who does the same for us, regardless of our status.
Jesus’ life
and power is connected to us too, what about that jolt of faith? We are the
Jesus movement. We are connected to love, we are connected to healing, we are connected
to dignity by that same umbilical cord of life and power. We follow the one who
makes people free, the one who unbinds, the one who heals. We follow Jesus who
crosses boundaries, who redraws boundaries, who overcomes obstacles in the
service of the kingdom of God. We are the Jesus movement, and we are followers
who cross boundaries to proclaim the good news to the ends of the earth, and
the mission is urgent, because the end of history, according to Mark, will come
soon. I’m not so sure that Mark is wrong in his timing.
The good news
is right here. Jesus crossed boundaries in his life to bring new life, to heal
people, to make people whole. Jesus continues to cross boundaries to bring new
life, to heal, to empower, through you, and me.
Just like that
woman of so long ago, Jesus’ life and power is connected to us too, what about
that jolt of faith? The good news is right here. Do you feel it? Can you feel
it? “Little girl, get up!” Jesus says the same thing to us. Get up, be a part
of the Jesus Movement. Stand up, be counted as one who is connected to Jesus;
whose blood courses through our veins, whose body is broken for us. Stand up,
be counted as one who is connected to Jesus. Stand up, be counted as one who
loves God, loves others, and shows it.
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