Sermon: Trinity V (B) – Sunday 30th June 2024 – St Mary Magdalene, Outwood
The life-giving power of God – breaks into, and works through the ordinary events and detail of our every day lives.
I’ll repeat that…
The life-giving power of God – breaks into, and works through the ordinary events and detail of our every day lives.
Now, bear all that in mind, and have a great week.
Amen.
Sorry – I couldn’t resist it…. [smile]
Sometimes when preparing words to share, I get the idea that, in all honesty, what else can I say about this?
I prefer to preach on the Gospel. The Jesus narratives, with story and parable, are sometimes self-explanatory, but usually they are not. You will probably have heard all of these stories before, many times, and will have reflected on them, perhaps retelling them in your own words. God willing!
Yes, I read commentaries and reflections on scripture, and I place this alongside, and within, the world we know and inhabit. As all of scripture is about the divine and the human – God in our lives – then it’s no surprise that scripture can be viewed and interpreted in many ways. We know this.
So what else can I add… what other perspectives could we share… do we know all there is to know about these people, in this story… with Jesus?
Mark writes with movement and pace – Let’s just step back into the drama, for a moment…
There is a crowd….
Here comes a man, looking like he has the world on his shoulders…
We know his name.
He falls at the feet of a holy man, of some repute, though he could be seen as a trouble maker…
What does it take for Jairus – of some respect in this small community – to ‘try anything’ for the sake of his poorly child….
Who wouldn’t…….?
And then, the frustration when Jesus prevaricates, in the crowd, with some ‘untouchable’ woman….!
Why cant we know her name? Who is she?
Well, once, having resources, perhaps she believed that her ailment of many years could be ‘fixed’ – healed by the hands of many physicians… at the cost of her money, energy and hopes.
How much more can she bear…? This sounds so real, doest it?
How much does fear plays its part in her daily life – outcast, unknown…. Pain, discomfort, fear of further rejection and embarrassment … the shame of menstrual taboos? The only ‘shame’ is that such attitudes are still very much alive today.
Maybe she has no idea what is sweeping the crowd along…. This holy man… maybe she has heard what has happened elsewhere…. Maybe…. Surely…. Possibly….. it’s worth a try….?
She is ‘unclean’ – ritually and socially…. Bleeding indicating a lack of purity…. And how many of the crowd would understand…. Maybe more than she knew, but silently…. We dont talk about such things!
And now, trust – reach out… touch – not the man… but his clothes…?
And the crowd…. Maybe some know Jairus….
They are keen to see what happens next…. What magic trick this healer might perform…..
But for the moment… what is happening?
Hard, uncaring, distracted eyes – bearing down on this unwanted interruption to the procession… this woman of no substance…. What is she doing….?
Jesus doesn’t know her name either…
He knows what has happened, and he wants to see…. To be fully present… with this person who sought out and literally ‘stole’ His power….!
She is revealed, humbled… clearly her faith has made this moment, unbound her from fear, and revealed her true self…. to the Christ that sees, and hears and knows…
She is healed.
This all takes time…
Do the crowd feel any less animosity to this woman now?
Are they still desperate to see what happens next at the home of Jairus?
And this father, his anxiety, and eagerness to get going … and then… the message no parent ever wants to hear – she is gone.
Do not fear… keep on believing…
God doesn’t choose this woman over that little girl…..
The one you know and love instead of the one who is unknown and unseen….
God’s love just isn’t that small.
There is enough for all of us.
Good News!
A little girl raised from ‘death’ – youthful, and about to begin her life of bleeding – a beloved daughter to a distraught mother and father.
God be praised!
What about us….what about now…..
Who, if anyone, might we identify with in today’s Gospel…?
The crowd….Jairus….. the unnamed woman…. The little girl?
Maybe none of them – perhaps it’s just a story.
I wonder if you have ever seen The Miracle Maker. It’s a stop-motion animation on the life of Jesus, from the turn of the century? I had it on VHS… then DVD… and now, it can be found on YouTube – look it up, if you can, and if you do, look out for the donkeys…!
YouTube even has short excerpts… such as – The Raising of Jairus’s Daughter… ! Hurrah!
It is a simple and well told story with drama, emotion and joy, as the risen little girl – who has a name – skips through the town, elated at being alive!
I recall this story from childhood…. Along with others associated with names… Naboth had a vineyard, Joseph had a coat, Jairus had a daughter, and so on.
Names are remembered. Names are important. Yet so are all the people whose names are not known to us…whether in scripture, or in our own lives.
The writer of Mark’s Gospel gives the reader a lot to work with, including some quite pertinent questions:
Why are the original Aramaic words, spoken by Jesus – “Talitha koum” – included here, when all those present would probably have spoken Aramaic and Greek….what’s special about them, are they magic words?
No. Mark shows that God is working through Jesus, that God’s power breaks through in the ordinary…. “Little girl, get up” is all that it takes, and the darkness passes. “Give her something to eat” He says acknowledging the real world of human need.
And why does He tell them to keep it quiet though…. WHY?
There are only a few examples of Jesus raising others from death….
God’s power is always at work in Jesus. Yet time is short….
Jesus cannot cure or resurrect everyone….
He seeks to build the kingdom of God …
A revolutionary liberation mission…
If Herod or the High Priests and scribes hear about this local chap doing these things… without official authority, then they would stop it.
Fear always seeks to diminish and prevent the hope that others might carry.
Mark builds a story in which Jesus is trying to fight the forces of darkness – with faith, and healing, and transformation…. a mission that we are called to continue.
So much of what we know, and understand about suffering is personal – my pain, my loved ones and their suffering – perhaps even my friends and neighbours….and their struggles…
All that we see on our news outlets… the devastation and pain and darkness that always seems to prevail – those people are often nameless….to us.
How can we include them – make them known?
To bring the marginalised and “othered” around us into the light, into our prayers?
Yes, God knows us all – yet God needs us to show Gods love to the world – to break through.
On the Sunday before a General Election, I am sure I could be forgiven for at least making some connections with the Gospel and with our choices at the ballot box.
The possibilities of equality are revealed in todays Gospel:
The unnamed woman suffering with bleeding for so long, has lived for this moment… with hope….
And the little girl, who could become a greater joy to her family, if only she could live….!
And Jairus – a man with a name….. a home, a status, and staff…. What difference would any of that make if his little girl should be taken away now…?
Death makes no distinctions….
Neither does life, actually…
Significantly, neither does God…..
Yet, we do.
We make distinctions in our choices all of the time – between good and bad – known or unknown – success and failure – untouchable or loveable – popular or has-been…. In or out.
As God is incarnational in this world, in our lives, in Christ…. Then our faith, our lives spent building a Kingdom and trying to live the values of Discipleship…? This too – we too – are the Christ in the ordinary, every day lives of everyone around us.
God breaks through into our lives…
We can always make a difference.
In the crowd, draw in the outcast…
Sitting with the pain of a loved one, have the hope that God’s love will prevail…
When all seems lost, remember that Jesus asks us to ‘keep believing’.
And no, it isn’t easy.
I don’t know what you hope for next week, or what you would ask the MP on your doorstep, if they should call.
As a Christian community, we can act not just for ourselves, but for those whose names we do not know.
Perhaps the next government will serve those without a voice, with solutions that do not cause division.
However you approach this time of national choice, however you talk about it with others, whatever you might think of the people and the policies, I pray…
That we can fight fear with faith and with love….
That we will surround it all with prayer, and imagine how different the world would be if we obeyed that one commandment: to love our neighbor as ourselves.
I pray that we take that to the ballot box on Thursday.
Amen.
Image: The Miracle Maker (1999), Icon Film Distribution