Two for the Price of One

Mark 5:21-43

        Who doesn’t love a good bargain? I know I certainly do. When I see the advertisement, “Buy One, Get One Free” I just have to stop and take a second look. And if one item is 50% off, I figure that means if I buy two at 50% off each, I’ve just saved myself some money, right? – Well, only if I need two, I guess.

        Today’s gospel delivers two healing stories – two miracles of Jesus, within this one text of Mark’s. I was going to post “Two for the Price of One” as the title for my sermon today. But advertising a sermon with a  title like that on a church website might be a little counterintuitive.

        While we could all probably use a double-dose of God’s grace most days, what you probably don’t want is a 90 minute sermon.

Healing of a Bleeding Woman,
Peter Marcellinus Catacomb

        All kidding aside, our God is a gracious and generous God whose love is transforming and healing, whose grace, freely flowing through Jesus, brings us new life.

        Today’s gospel texts contain stories of that grace demonstrated in Jesus performing miraculous healing, taking power from death and giving new life and transformation to those who suffer.

        Most of us have some personal experience with healing, be it physical, emotional, spiritual, or relational. Some of us may even have stories of miraculous healing – healing that we ourselves experienced or healing that has occurred to others we know.

        Maybe there was a restoration to health that could not be explained any other way than, “miracle”; healing that took place which was out of proportion to anything that was expected, or a cure that took place where none was expected at all.

        I think that most of us probably know that there are times when healing comes with a cure, and times when a person is cured of a disease but still consumed by demons of another kind.      

        All of us could probably tell the other kind of stories as well – the stories of those who prayed, or for whom we have prayed, where there was no cure, and no apparent healing.

        We admit that the ways of God are both mysterious and challenging.

        This truth, however, often makes healing stories like those in Mark’s gospel this morning difficult for us to comprehend, and difficult for us to hear, reminding us of those other stories from our own experience as they do.

        We don’t fully understand why some people are healed or cured and others are not. There are those who laugh us to scorn for faith in the power of God to heal, especially when healing doesn’t happen the way we want it to.   

        Today we have these two-for-one healing stories in our gospel narrative. Each of these stories presents healing a little differently, each includes a miracle, each exhibits the twin forces of fear and faith which often seem to go hand in hand.

        What these stories do NOT teach us, is that if we simply have enough faith, miracles will happen, healing will automatically occur, and we will get whatever we ask.

        This gospel does not say that illness is a test of faith or that with the right kind of faith we automatically get our wish and receive a cure when we pray.

        Instead, what these stories testify to is the transformational presence and power of God, working through Jesus Christ. These stories invite us to take all the fear, sadness, grief and pain we feel in the face of our brokenness, our illness and even death itself and turn them over to God. And God, who promises to accompany us through the chaos and turmoil of our human finitude will transform our fear, giving us faith, strength, and yes, healing.

        In our text today, Jesus has once again crossed the sea, returning from the Gentile side where he has just cast out demons from a Gerosene man. The sea, figuring prominently in the gospel, reminds us of the powers of chaos and darkness, a boundary Jesus not only crosses but ultimately overcomes.

        We remember last week’s gospel story of the calming of the storm at sea which illustrated for us how Jesus brings calm to the turmoil and chaos of our world and our lives.

        As Jesus reaches the shore in today’s text, a huge crowd assembles around him and follows him, pressing him in on all sides. There is something symbolic in the way that Jesus stands between the people and the depths and chaos of the sea.

        What follows is this two-for-one story.

        First, we have Jairus – well connected, Jewish, but vulnerable to losing the daughter who is so dear to him. He may be used to getting what he wants – he is a man of power and prestige, after all. He may not really know what to think of Jesus but he’ll try anything to save his daughter. He calls out to him, revealing for all to see, his deep vulnerability and need.

        Then, we have the unnamed woman – she has lost all status and whatever money she may have had during the twelve long years of her affliction. She doesn’t have a thing going for her except for her faith.

        She is desperate too. Like Jairus, she may not know exactly who this Jesus is or how he works, but she has heard the healing and teaching stories and believes that there is something about him, some way that God is working through him. And so, she presses through the crowd.

Can you feel the bodies pressing against her from all sides? Can you see her stretch out her hand, reaching, reaching, and then finally touching just the fringe of Jesus’ clothing – the only thing she dares touch, and even that in secret.

She likely fears that if she calls out to Jesus and asks him to help her, the crowd, thinking she is out of her mind, will laugh her to scorn, will chase her away – or worse. Her bleeding has left her ritually, sexually and religiously unclean.

        Finally, there is the little girl, Jairus’ precious daughter, standing at the gate to adulthood, soon to reach what would have been an age of marriagability. On her own she has no status, no wealth, and no power, as she hovers in the threshold between life and death.

     As Jesus and the others reach her home, they are told that it is too late. She has died.

Resisting the people’s call to turn back however, Jesus proceeds to enter the home, allowing only the girl’s parents and his most trusted companions to come with him. The people in the crowd laugh. They think he is out of his mind.

     They laugh him to scorn at the suggestion that he can do anything to help her now. They laugh him to scorn at the suggestion that there is any power greater than death.

     As we move with these characters through this narrative, we see the power of God moving people from death to life, transforming fear into thanksgiving through faith, turning vulnerability to vindication through the power of Jesus’ touch.

     Jairus may not have been a believer when he first caught Jesus’ attention; hope was all he had, but the restoration of his little girl to life moved him to faith, made him a believer.

        The woman experiences immediate healing and more – she who was once nameless and without status is given a name by Jesus – “Daughter,” he calls her – and then lifts her up as the epitome of faith. “Your faith has saved you.” She is not only healed, but restored to community.

 The Raising of Jairus' Daughter
George Percy Jacomb-Hood, 1895

        And the little girl? Her role foreshadows Jesus’ own resurrection, revealing God’s power over even the darkness of death.

        Experiencing God’s power is overwhelming. It is easier to believe that the trusting, hopeful, believing ones are “out of their minds”.

        These days, fear, turmoil, chaos and death are evident every way we turn. So many people in the sphere of our lives are touched by cancer, other incurable illnesses, addiction and brokenness beyond belief. Terrorism, mass killings, systemic conflict and ills infect every corner of the earth. Perhaps you or someone close to you can identify with one of the characters in this Gospel account – desperate, vulnerable, hopeful, or feeling hopeless.

     Maybe you are the person who has it all together but then, through illness, job loss, a broken relationship, or some other storm suddenly finds himself vulnerable and desperate?

Or perhaps you’re the one who has endured so much challenge or adversity over time that, like the bleeding woman you haven’t much else to lose. Perhaps you are ready to dare to reach out, wondering if just maybe Jesus might be able to heal you.

     Maybe you find yourself the helpless one like Jairus’ daughter, utterly dependent on others to pray for you, to lift you up, to fight for you?

      Whichever you are, whoever you are, this gospel message is for you. God’s abundant love displayed on the cross will show you power that is stronger than death, and love that is stronger than any brokenness or ill.

     We believe in a God who heals, and keeps right on healing because our human nature leaves us vulnerable to illness and pain and loss. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, we can learn to trust God’s “I love you,” and to hear God’s “I know you,” claims made manifest in Jesus Christ.

     It is in community that we ourselves can begin to become God’s vehicles of compassion, comfort and healing for others. Perhaps the two-for-one good news of this gospel is that whether you have a strong faith or whether you struggle to believe, or fall somewhere in the middle, God walks alongside you as Jesus walked along the sea, holding back the chaos, and through Jesus overcoming the powers of evil and sin. This gracious and generous God is transforming doubt into hope, hope into faith, and bringing healing to all. Thanks be to God.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Mark 1:21-28

          Today, as we think about this story of demon-possession and exorcism which makes up the story in our gospel text, let us remember what Jesus has already told us, earlier in this gospel – that the reign of God has come: the kingdom of God has broken into the world and God, through Jesus, has defeated the power of evil and death.

          Most of us base our understanding of demon possession and exorcism on popular books and movies like the classic, “The Exorcist” and its sequels, or the more recent “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”. And I’ll bet that, while a lot of us have seen one or more of those movies, many of us have avoided them like the plague. They scare us, and some of us find everyday life scary enough, thank you very much.

          Whether you’ve watched those movies or read the books or not, however, you’ve probably heard some of the details, about things like spinning heads and other-worldly voices coming forth from little girls, and of course the whole green-pea-soup-spewing-forth incident.

          Perhaps you, like I, picture the driving out of evil spirits as events surrounded by unearthly winds swirling around inside closed-up rooms, and other unnatural events. But for most of us, I suspect the whole topic of demon-possession just seems fantastical, and fictional, and wholly unbelievable. And so, we find this gospel especially perplexing.

          Listen to this as a first person account about that day, courtesy of Paul S. Berge. Imagine it coming from a friend:

          “Were you at the synagogue in Capernaum today? I wasn't sure I saw you and so I will tell you as clearly as I can what happened. I can only explain that something occurred that has never, yes, never ever happened before in our hometown synagogue where our people "gather together." What took place is unlike anything our rabbis have instructed us in over the years. This was far beyond their teaching and authority.

          Shabbat worship started out like a routine, very normal gathering. We all came with the usual expectation. Now don't get me wrong, our rabbis are faithful interpreters of the Torah as they instruct us in the Word of the Lord, but their teaching does get to be routine.

          Everything was progressing as usual, the prayers, the Psalms, the reading of the Torah, when a newcomer "immediately" entered the synagogue and began teaching and instructing us, dare I say, with a new "authority" (Greek, exousia). His authority was not as our scribes. When I use the word "authority" about his teaching, you know that the word also includes the power to "exorcize" demonic spirits.

          I am still in shock as to what happened next. "Immediately" a deranged person screams out. No one in the synagogue had a clue as to what brought forth this outburst. It appears an unclean spirit had identified this rabbinic-like teacher as one who had authority to exorcize and called out to him by name:

          "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?" The voice was a shrill demonic-like scream. How did this spirit know the name of the rabbi from Nazareth? Did the voice really assume that this teacher has the authority to exorcize demonic or unclean spirits?”

          But then, “the scream continued with words of blasphemy using the name of God: "I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

          With this a hushed silence came over the entire synagogue as these words were spoken. The rabbi named Jesus from the hill country of Nazareth sensed the offense of these words, the identity of the Holy One of God. He addressed the possessed man and rebuked him with exorcizing words which likewise silenced the entire synagogue, "Be silent, and come out of him."

          What occurred next was a demonstration I have never, ever, witnessed before. The man was writhing on the floor like he was in conflict with the spirits possessing him. Then the voice of a demonic spirit cried out with the same shrill demonic-like scream. The unclean spirit came out of him and he appeared to be calm. He stood up and in his right mind looked as normal as any of us.

          Needless to say we were all overcome and amazed and kept saying to one another,

          "What is this? A new teaching -- with authority he exorcizes a demon possessed person!" We saw with our own eyes that he commanded even a host of unclean spirits and they were obedient to him. On my oath this is what took place on this Sabbath day.

          I can't explain what came over us, but it was like we gave witness to the rabbi from Nazareth as our praise to the one, holy and righteous God in our midst. We have no other experience like this to compare. We have since heard that what took place in our synagogue "immediately" spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.”

          From the beginning of the gospel of Mark, we have been hearing that the reign of God has come, and not just come, but has been inaugurated, and broken forth into the world in the person of Jesus Christ.

          We have heard witness of the boundary-breaking Son of God, the one for whom the heavens ripped open, the one who has broken the hold of those powers that would wish to separate us from God and claim us.

          This text today reminds us Jesus has entered the fray with purpose, and with power; in a word, with authority. And we are reminded that the kingdom of God has come. God’s reign has begun. Jesus has come to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom, and in this Gospel lesson he demonstrates how that Kingdom opposes and conquers the forces of evil. In Jesus Christ, God has come to break the hold of possession by any force which robs the children of God of all that God intends for them – for us.

Each day, when we read the newspaper, watch the news, listen to the stories that surround us, we can easily believe that our world is inhabited by evil. In the midst of rocket launches aimed at innocent civilians in Syria and Libya, massacres and the kidnappings in Nigeria, missile attacks in Ukraine, massive drug-cartels terrorizing citizens in Mexico, not only might we come to understand anew that evil is at work in the world, but we might feel hopeless that it might ever be overcome. Yet the Word of God reminds us, the reign of God has come. And through Jesus and the cross, God overcomes the power of evil to destroy. 

Closer to home, riots and protests in the wake of racially motivated violence, crime in our communities and the scourge of poverty and homelessness in our cities and towns bring us the realization that evil is not just a far-away problem but is universal - and is reflects inherently sinful world, in which none of us is truly guilt-free.  

The truth is that possession is not as foreign an event as we would like to think. If I am honest, it is something of which I have intimate, first-hand experience. Because, you see, I’ve experienced possession when I have reacted in anger and lashed out, hurting someone, saying things I later regret; I’ve experienced possession whenever I’ve been driven by envy or greed or used resources in ways that deny others a future.

I’ve experienced possession when I’ve made promises I have no intention and little chance of keeping, because I wanted to look good, or desired praise, or glory, or wanted to gain an edge over someone else. I’ve experienced possession when I’ve looked the other way while someone has suffered discrimination and worse, because of their race, age, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. I’ve experienced possession when I have confessed my faith in God yet made choices that are ungodly. When I’ve gossiped, been impatient, or behaved in ways that have torn down rather than built up another person. Still, our gospel promises that the reign of God has come, and God will overcome even the sin of my own possession, through the love of Jesus Christ.

I wonder where you might feel possessed by something that is clearly not the spirit of God blessing you to be a blessing to others. When might you have behaved in an ungodly way? When have your words of faith not matched your walk? The words of our gospel are for you even when you despair that the evil that possesses you seems too strong to deny.

Here we are, not yet out of the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, and Jesus is challenging us to see ourselves in this story. We remember that recent gospel, in which Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God has come – and then commanded us to repent, and believe in the good news.

The good news is that despite all the powers that would distract us, despite the reality that evil does sometimes possess our hearts and minds, and despite all the world events that confuse and confound us, God speaks the Divine Word into the chaos of the world, changing hearts and building community; The good news is that God has not left us to our own devices, but is still acting in this world.

The good news is that despite ourselves, and the many ways we are inconsistent in word and action, it is God’s Word that has ultimate authority in our lives and in this world. The good news is that through the Spirit, God’s Word can and does still drive the unclean spirit away each time we remember our Baptism, each time we confess and receive the forgiveness of our sins; each time we come before the Lord’s table and receive the bread and the wine – the body, broken for us, the blood outpoured.

The good news for us today is that Jesus is at work, day by day, cleansing us, forgiving us, showing us God’s mercy and grace and filling us with a new spirit through the power of God’s love, which has authority to rule our lives this day and every day. Thanks be to God!