Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24 Lamentations 3:21-33 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5:21-43

Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Probably the most outstanding highlight of last year’s trip to Israel occurred during our visit to Magdala, the town of Mary Magdalene.  In Magdala is the Church of Duc In Altum, an incredibly stunning edifice on the shores of the sea near Tiberius.  The Latin name Duc In Altum is taken from the phrase “launch into the deep” from St. Luke’s account of Jesus instructing his disciples to put out into the deep water and cast their nets.  The wings of the enormous domed entry of the Duc In Altum open into smaller chapels; in one of the smaller chapels, there is an enormous and awesome life-size mosaic that depicts the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the account of which we read in this morning’s Gospel lesson.  

Because we were the only daughter-parent team in our group, we were asked by the priest there to come forward and “participate” in the mosaic.  Roland and I stood touching our daughter as she placed her hand into Jesus’ hand alongside the hand of Jairus’ daughter as Jesus took that hand and raised her.  Standing there, we felt first the frantic fear of Jairus and his wife as they helplessly stood at their dying daughter’s bedside.  But that fear subsided; a sense of calm came upon us as we felt the powerful impact of God’s healing grace assuaging the fears and despair of Jairus and his wife, restoring their daughter to earthly life.  The experience still is indescribable.  

Today, we read Mark’s account of the raising from the dead of Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter as the account bookends the account of the healing of the woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years.  These are two unlikely candidates for models of faithfulness: First, Jairus, an official among the Jewish leadership – a member of the group known for being the most skeptical, perhaps even the most threatened, by Jesus’ actions and nuanced interpretation of Jewish traditions; and, second, a powerless middle-aged woman outside the inner circle of tradition, beyond the usefulness of child-bearing years, most unclean due to her uncontrollable issue of blood. 

Yet, both characters exhibit immense faith, Jairus very publicly pleading for Jesus’ help and this pagan woman who sought only to touch the hem of Jesus’ clothes in faith that she would be healed.  Despite the crush of the crowd, the faith of this unnamed woman overcame her physical weakness and the jeers of those who witnessed her feat; her desperation and faith driving her forward toward the tiniest fragment of anything that connected her touch to Jesus.  Surely, without Jesus’ power of healing, she would die.

Of death, Solomon, known for his wisdom, writes in our lesson from the Apocrypha: 

God did not make death,
And he does not delight in the death of the living….

…through the devil’s envy death entered the world.
Death entered the world, but our all-powerful and merciful God was not to be deterred; through God’s grace, Jesus Christ entered the world.  Jesus walks in the midst of the devil’s envy; Jesus walks in the midst of our earthly suffering and death.

To have been touched by a woman hemorrhaging blood, society would have rendered Jesus immeasurably unclean and unacceptable for worship and physical contact with others.  To continue his journey to the house of Jairus, knowing he would be encountering, even touching, one who (in the eyes of the public) was dead, would further his state of uncleanness.  Yet, Jesus does not hesitate to take upon himself the uncleanness – our uncleanness – our uncleanness that the Devil exploits relentlessly to bring about our hopelessness and despair – the death of our faith.

As he did in response to the touch on the hem of his clothing, as he did in response to Jairus’ faith, Jesus gave of his healing power to restore life; Jesus has overcome death and restores us to life.

There are times when we, too, are crushed by the crowd, feeling trampled in our efforts to reach – to touch the mere hem of Jesus’ clothes; there are times we are frantic with fear, but Jesus is forever reaching toward us, taking us by the hand, commanding us to rise, restoring us to life, healing us by his touch.  

God does not delight in the death of the living.  God desires our healing and our restoration.  Healing might not be as swift as was that of the two females in our lesson; it might not be tangible physical healing as we define it; but our spiritual healing is guaranteed if only we place our hand in the hand of Jesus Christ our Lord, feel the impactful power of God’s healing grace assuaging our fears and despair.  Grasping on a tiny fragment of the presence of Jesus Christ, we hear the words of our Lord, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed.”