Restoration and Rebirth
In the season of Pentecost, we hear teaching stories demonstrating Jesus' divinity and prophecies. These stories also point us to hope and salvation and ultimately allow us to focus on the Kingdom of God, where all God's children are one.
The verses preceding this gospel tell us that Jesus had just set a man free from a legion of demons in Gerasenes. The people in Gerasenes drove him away because they feared his powers. He crossed to Capernaum to a crowd waiting to see more miracles and wonders. And they did!
We may come to the limits of what we can endure as humans in our lifetimes. It's called "finding yourself at the end of your rope." Such is the story of the two people in the gospel – they were in a state of hopelessness and despair. It's undeniable that Jairus was at the end of his rope. He went to Jesus as his last resort, and you can hear his desperate words: 'My little girl is at the point of death. Come and heal her so she may live.'
As a parent, I can tell you that this urgent cry came from his guts. It's one of those times when your spirit is on fire, and you focus on one thing - survival; your only hope is a miracle, and you evoke the spirit using scriptures, hymns, and psalms and pray in desperation, like the psalmist, 'Out of the depth of my heart [from the bottom of my heart] I call to you, O Lord! Hear my voice, and consider my pleas for mercy.'
Well, whatever Jairus said, God heard him. But God has his ways—God is about to do something miraculous, so the scene changes. God hears another desperate prayer as they are about to leave to see his daughter. It is a prayer from a silent cry from a woman in the crowd with a bleeding ailment. No one hears it but God.
The bleeding woman makes a deliberate and conscious effort to pass through the thick of the crowd, believing that a touch of Jesus' garment alone can heal her. So, in faith, she touches the garment and is instantly healed.
This woman is also at the end of her rope, and like Jairus, she cannot let this moment pass her by. "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." That's more than courage - that is "Faith" – faith is tapping into grace - God's unmerited favor. With faith and courage, she confesses her actions to Jesus.
The story is like a dramatic movie because the scene changes again. Messengers bring news that Jairus' little girl's hope of life is lost, and the focus goes back to Jairus because he panics; his hope is Jesus' healing hands on his daughter. The lesson learned here is that fear invites unbelief and creates a distance between us and God if we turn away from the One in whom we hope.
All these stories remind us that God's presence and grace abound in times of despair. We learn that Jesus is divine and his authority is beyond sickness and death.
The two stories are unfortunate medical situations that we hear every so often. 'Sorry – there's nothing else we can do.' We don't know how long the 12-year-old girl was sick, but we know that for 12 years, the woman was hemorrhaging. She faced death and isolation from society. She was so unimportant in the world's eyes that the scribes didn't bother recording her name. Being cured meant she had a chance to live, and she was clean from the stigma as "the woman with the issue of blood." Jesus restored her shame and dignity and even called her "daughter." "Wholeness" to both two daughters meant acceptance as a medically fit and welcome human beings in their communities.
So often, our cultures and opinions drive us to shun beloved children of God and unjustly treat them as "outcasts." We call them names that make them feel less human. In UAE, persons with disabilities are called "people with determination." How empowering!
Until we understand God's ways, until all God's children are loved equally, and until the whole human family is welcome in our communities and at the Lord's table, we who are Christ's body on earth fall short of the Kingdom of God.
My friends, let us pray for those who are not like us, for God's grace to see the world as God sees it, and for courage to put fear behind us so we act rightly. May the Lord bless us with new mercies daily, grace, hope, and courage to face every trial. May we acknowledge God's presence - even when we are at the end of our rope.