The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. George Pejakovich, Assistant to the Dean
Grace Cathedral
06/28/09

Mark 5:21-43

THE POOR WOMAN WAS DESPERATE, AND DESPERATION OFTEN PROMPTS PEOPLE TO DESPERATE ACTION. SHE HAD BEEN SICK FOR TWELVE YEARS WITH AN UNTREATABLE BLEEDING. THE CONTINUAL SLOW LOSS OF BLOOD LEFT HER CONSTANTLY EXHAUSTED AND WEAK. THE DOCTORS HAD POKED AND PRODDED HER WITH THEIR LIMITED UNDERSTANDING OF THE HUMAN BODY AND THE HEALING ART, AND, UNDER THEIR NOT SO TENDER CARE, SHE GREW WORSE INSTEAD OF BETTER. SHE HAD SPENT ALL HER MEAGER SAVINGS ON THE DOCTORS, SO NOW SHE WAS BOTH SICK AND BROKE. TO ADD TO HER MISERY, SINCE SHE WAS BLEEDING, SHE WAS CONSIDERED UNCLEAN, AND COULD NOT ENTER THE RITUAL BATH TO PURIFY HERSELF FOR WORSHIP. BECAUSE SHE WAS UNCLEAN, NO ONE WOULD TOUCH HER OR HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HER, SO SHE WAS SICK, WEAK, POOR AND LONELY. HER LIFE WAS A LIVING DEATH, WITHOUT HOPE EXCEPT FOR THE HOPE THAT SOMEDAY SHE JUST MIGHT NOT WAKE UP TO SUFFER ANY MORE. WHEN JESUS CAME TO HER TOWN, SHE DECIDED ON A DESPERATE ACT. SHE COULD NOT SPEAK TO HIM, BECAUSE SHE WAS A WOMAN AND UNCLEAN, BUT, IF SHE COULD WORK HER WAY THROUGH THE CROWD, AND JUST TOUCH THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT, SHE KNEW, IN HER HEART, THAT SHE WOULD BE MADE WELL. COVERED FROM HEAD TO TOE SO NO ONE WOULD RECOGNIZE HER, SHE SLIPPED THOUGH THE CROWD, BUT, BEFORE SHE COULD ACT, THE RICH MAN, JAIRUS, THREW HIMSELF AT THE FEET OF JESUS AND BEGGED HIM TO COME TO HIS HOUSE AND HEAL HIS DAUGHTER.

JAIRUS WAS ALSO DESPERATE. HIS WEALTH AND POSITION IN THE COMMUNITY, HIS PROMINENCE IN THE LIFE OF THE SYNAGOGUE, DID NOTHING TO KEEP HIM AND HIS FAMILY IMMUNE FROM ILLNESS AND DEATH. DESPERATE TO SAVE HIS BELOVED DAUGHTER, JAIRUS CAST ASIDE HIS DIGNITY AND FELL FACE DOWN ON THE GROUND IN FRONT OF JESUS, AND, GRASPING THE FEET OF JESUS, HE REPEATEDLY BEGGED HIM TO COME AND SAVE HIS DAUGHTER. WHEN JESUS AGREED TO FOLLOW JAIRUS HOME, THEY WALK THOUGH THE CROWD AND PASSED IN FRONT OF THE BLEEDING WOMAN. SEIZING HER ONE CHANCE, SHE STRETCHED OUT HER HAND THROUGH THE CROWD AND TOUCHED JESUS. DESPERATION PROMPTS US TO DESPERATE ACTS.

I SPEND MOST OF MY WEEK MINISTERING TO THE TERMINALLY ILL, AND THEIR FAMILIES, SO I UNDERSTAND JUST HOW DESPERATE PEOPLE CAN BECOME WHEN FACED WITH THE REALITY OF INCURABLE ILLNESS AND IMMENENT DEATH. THE ACTIONS OF JAIRUS AND THE NAMELESS WOMAN ARE NOT SO VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED FROM SOME PEOPLE WHEN THE DOCTORS HAVE SAID THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO BE DONE AND NO HOPE OF A CURE. I HAVE SEEN EVEN GREATER DESPERATION. I HAVE ALSO BEEN BLESSED BY BEING WITH OTHERS WHO, WHEN FACED WITH THE EXACT SAME PRONOUNCEMENT THAT NOTHING CAN BE DONE, YET LIVE EACH MOMENT OF LIFE LEFT TO THEM IN HOPE AND PEACE, AND WHOSE FAMILIES CAN FACE THE IMPENDING LOSS OF THEIR LOVED ONE WITH A PEACE THAT GOES BEYOND THE LIMITATIONS OF THE MEDICAL ART AND SURPASSES HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. THEY HAVE FALLEN AT THE FEET OF JESUS; THEY HAVE TOUCHED THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT, AND HAVE TAKEN ALL THEIR FEARS AND DESPERATION AND WRAPPED THEM IN THEIR FAITH IN JESUS. THEIR HOPE, THEIR TRUST, THEIR SALVATION IS IN JESUS, AND THEY CAN FACE ANYTHING THAT COMES, EVEN ILLNESS AND DEATH, BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT IN JESUS IS LIFE AND PEACE.

WHEN JESUS FELT THE TOUCH OF THE WOMAN, AND KNEW THAT SHE HAD BEEN HEALED, HE STOPPED AND ASKED, “WHO TOUCHED MY CLOTHES?” THE CROWED STOPPED SWIRLING AROUND HIM, THE DISCIPLES THOUGHT THE QUESTION ABSURD, AND JAIRUS HOPPED FROM FOOT TO FOOT IN ANXIETY TO GET JESUS MOVING AGAIN. IN FEAR AND TREMBLING THE WOMAN THREW HERSELF AT THE FEET OF JESUS AND TOLD HIM WHAT SHE HAD DONE. IN RESPONSE TO HER DESPERATE ACT OF FAITH, JESUS SAID, “DAUGHTER, YOUR FAITH HAS MADE YOU WELL; GO IN PEACE AND BE HEALED OF YOUR DISEASE.” AS JESUS WAS CONFIRMING THE FAITH OF THE WOMAN, SOME PEOPLE CAME FROM JAIRUS’ HOUSE TO TELL HIM HIS DAUGHTER HAD DIED, SO THERE WAS NO POINT IN BOTHERING THE RABBI. THERE WAS NOTHING MORE TO BE DONE. ALL HOPE WAS GONE.

HE WHO BID THE WAVES BE STILL AND COMMANDED THE WINDS TO CEASE TOOK PETER AND JAMES AND JOHN AND WENT TO JAIRUS’ HOUSE. WHEN HE SAW THE MOURNERS, HE TOLD THEM, “SHE IS NOT DEAD, ONLY SLEEPING.” WITH THE LAUGHTER OF THE CROWD RINGING IN HIS EARS, JESUS WENT INTO THE HOME OF JAIRUS AND TOOK THE DEAD GIRL BY THE HAND AND SAID, “LITTLE GIRL, GET UP!” THE LITTLE GIRL GOT UP FROM HER DEATHBED AND BEGAN TO WALK AROUND, AND JESUS TOLD THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD TO GET HER SOMETHING TO EAT. WITH JESUS THERE IS NEVER NOTHING MORE TO BE DONE, AND IN JESUS THERE IS NEVER A TIME WITHOUT HOPE. IN HIM AND IN HIM ALONE, THERE IS LIFE AND HOPE AND PEACE.

THIS LAST THURSDAY WE HAD A CELEBRATION IN THIS HOLY SPACE TO LAY TO REST CLINTON BARTLEY. HE WAS NOT A RICH AND PROMINENT MAN LIKE JAIRUS, NOR WAS HE AN UNKNOWN LIKE THE NAMELESS WOMAN IN THE GOSPEL ACCOUNT. HE WAS AN OUTWARDLY SIMPLE MAN, WHO HAD SOME COMPLEX DEPTH TO HIS SPIRIT. HE LOVED COUNRTY MUSIC, BUT I DISCOVERED AFTER HIS DEATH THAT HE ALSO LOVED OPERA. CLINTON LOVED HIS WIFE, HE LOVED HIS FAMILY, BUT MOST OF ALL, HE LOVED JESUS. HE WAS A MAN WHO HAD CAST HIMSELF AT THE FEET OF JESUS, AND WHO PLACED ALL HIS TRUST IN THE ONE WHO GAVE HIM LIFE AND HOPE AND PEACE. HIS SUDDEN DEATH CHANGED NOTHING FOR CLINTON. WHEN THE DOCTORS STOPPED CPR BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING MORE TO BE DONE, THERE WAS, AND IS, STILL MORE FOR CLINTON. WHEN THE LAST BEAT OF HIS HEART FADED INTO SILENCE, THE NEXT SOUND HE HEARD WAS THE VOICE OF HIS LORD SAYING, “CLINTON, GET UP!” FOR CLINTON, DEATH WAS NOT THE END, AND THE FAILURE OF HIS HEART WAS NOT THE END OF HOPE AND LIFE, IT WAS MERELY THE BEGINNING TO LIFE EVERLASTING WITH THE LORD AND SAVIOR HE LOVED AND SERVED ON HIS EARTHLY JOURNEY.

SO IT IS AND WILL BE FOR ALL WHO CAST THEIR SELVES AT THE FEET OF JESUS, WHO IN DESPERATION REACH OUT TO TOUCH THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT, FOR ONCE WE ARE AT THE FEET OF JESUS ALL DESPERATION IS GONE FOR EVER. THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE WILL BE PHYSICALLY HEALED OF ALL DISEASE AND ILLNESS, NOR CAN WE EXPECT DEATH TO BE KEPT A BAY. IT DOES MEAN, HOWEVER, THAT WE ARE NEVER WITHOUT HOPE, NEVER ABANDONED TO LIVE IN FEAR AND DESPERATION. WE ARE NEVER AGAIN IN THAT PLACE WHERE THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO BE DONE, BECAUSE IN JESUS THERE IS ALWAYS MORE. IN LIFE, IN HEALTH, IN SICKNESS, AND EVEN AT AND THROUGH THE GATE OF DEATH, HE IS THERE WITH US, FEEDING US WITH HIS WORD, COMFORTING AND STRENGTHENING US WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND GIVING TO US, NOW AND FOR ALL ETERNITY, LIFE AND HOPE AND PEACE.

AMEN