She had been sick for a very long time, forever
it seemed. But in real time it was Twelve years. Twelve years
worth of suffering. Days and weeks and months spent looking for
a cure. There was certainly time to try every remedy, and she
had been here and there looking for relief. The search hadn't
been without cost, she had spent all that she had. Still she was
no better.
So when she heard that Jesus was coming to town, she decided to
make a bold move . She'd heard about him, of course. The last
time he was on this side of the sea "He had cured many,"
says Mark. She knew there would be crowds. She knew that the law
compelled her to stay away for she was unclean. But now it was
her turn to be made well. She wouldn't need a lot of attention.
With care her presence could be unobtrusive. Nobody would know.
If she could just touch the hem of his garment, that would be
enough. She would be well.
As Mark tells it, that is exactly what happened.
Almost--two things went wrong with her plan.
First, no sooner did she touch his clothes than Jesus spun around and said, "Who touched me?" He stood there, looking for her, scanning the crowd. He looked at every face: some of them eager, some curious, some confused. He kept looking until he saw her. And then she could be anonymous no more.
She kneeled before him and told him what she
had done. He said, "Daughter, faith has made you well. Go
in peace. Be healed of your disease." It was a big moment.
There she was sick, desperate and anonymous. Jesus healed her,
blessed her and called her "daughter".
What we notice is that Jesus took the time to do all of this.
He took the time to bring her back into the community that had
rejected her. He took the time to treat her as a human being,
to give her dignity.
It's important that we notice that Jesus took the time to speak with her, because the next thing we must notice is that because he took time for the woman, he ran out of time for somebody else. He was late.
That's the second thing that went wrong. While Jesus was busy healing the woman who had been sick for twelve years, a sick twelve year old girl died. Jairus had begged, "Please heal my daughter". Jesus had intended to make the young girl well by a touch and a word but he was interrupted.
It must have been an embarrassing moment. Imagine how that pushy woman must have felt. The word of death came, says Mark, "while Jesus was still speaking to her." She stood there, healed and whole. Refreshed for the first time in years. Yet because of her demand death came to someone else. She had been sick for twelve years; if she had just waited another fifteen minutes, Jesus would have healed the girl first. Her timing was all wrong.
Not only that, it must have put Jesus in an uncomfortable position. Picture the girl's father. Jairus had gotten Jesus to agree to come to his house and help. He was patient as Jesus stops along the way. He is encouraged and hopeful as he sees Jesus' power in action. But then the message, "Jairus don't trouble the teacher any further. Your daughter is dead." In the face of such news what could Jesus say? "I got held up" hardly seems adequate.
Of course we know from the rest of the story, Jesus eventually went to the house and raised the little girl from the dead. But that merely suspends the problem; it doesn't solve it. Because we know that for every person who ever gets healed of a disease, someone else will die. For every person who can push through the crowd to claim the power of Christ, somebody else stands close at hand , having just lost a son or daughter.
All the gospels agree, Jesus was a healer. He restored life in the face of death. Luke says , "People came to be hear him and be healed of their diseases and all in the crowd were trying to touch him for power came out of him and he healed all of them. 9Lk 6:18-19) Matthew says, "Jesus cured every disease an every sickness among the people...They brought to him all the sick , those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics, and he cured them" (Mtt. 4:23-24)
By contrast, Mark adds a note of restraint. Mark says, "They brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. The whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick." Note the difference. Jesus cured many, not all. Many got well around him but not everybody.
The Gospel of Mark knows what you and I know:
Sooner or later, one way or another, all of us become sick. The
warranty runs out on our movable parts. A stain appears on the
X-ray. The blood count is bad. Or a hemorrhage begins and lasts
twelve years. That's how it is in a world like this. Sometimes
the human body develops a problem that can't be fixed, just like
the daughter of Jairus. Other times somebody stops the clock prematurely.
That's what happened to Jesus. The writer of Mark starts with
what we know--this is a world of sickness and death. Sooner or
later every life runs out of time.
But Mark knows something else. Jesus came preaching "The
time is fulfilled; God's kingdom is near." And every sick
person he touched became well, one person at a time. And every
hopeless person who trusted his word found peace, one person at
a time. And why was that, because in Jesus Christ the eternal
realm of God has intersected our world of timelines and lifespans.
In Jesus Christ the God beyond time has intruded upon our business
as usual. That is, even though Jesus did not heal everyone, the
day will come when he will. Even though he ran out of time, he
will never run out of time. He was born and raised to redeem our
days with the powerful touch of God's eternity. And that's the
good news that makes all the difference.
So back to the story The messengers said, "Jairus your daughter is dead don't trouble the teacher any more." Jesus said "Jairus, do not fear, only believe."
At the house, there was a great commotion with people weeping and wailing loudly. Jesus said, Why do you make a great commotion? The child is not dead but sleeping." They laughed at him, because he didn't seem to know what kind of world this is.
Yet Jesus has the last laugh. He took the child by the hand and said, "Get up!" Immediately she got up alive and well and began to walk.
In one of Flannery O Connor's short stories, there is a character who speaks a great line. He says, "Jesus was the only one that ever raised the dead and he shouldn't have done it. He has thrown everything off balance." Indeed he has. A sick woman pushed through the crowd to touch the garment of Jesus . We could expect him to rebuke her and say, "Get out of my way." Or he could have ignored her because he was busy. Instead Jesus interrupted his work to do his work.
When the interruption caused Jairus to hear the sad news that his daughter was dead, we might have thought, "Well that's that." At best, we would expect the tardy Jesus to apologize. Or maybe we could ask him to lead the funeral service.
But Jesus has never led a funeral. Instead he presides over a resurrection. Thanks to Jesus, everything has been thrown off balance. The world as we know it is becoming "the kingdom of our Lord."
In the meantime, whenever any one of us gets healed of a disease, we see a brief sign of God's kingdom breaking through. Whenever we are saved from the jaws of death, it is a blessed disruption of the world as we know it. It is a glimpse of God's new creation, already present.
We cannot be naïve. We know what kind of world this can be. There are occasions when life cannot be saved or sustained. There are moments when it looks like Jesus our Savior has run out of time.
But we also know that Jesus Christ will never really run out of time. For the Lord is risen. He is stronger than every power that can damage, hurt or destroy. And he will not cease his labor, until one by one, he takes each of us by the hand and raises us from the dead.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, lover of all, trail
wide the hem of your garment. Bring healing, bring peace. Amen
(from the Iona community.)