Desperate, Vulnerable Faith

Have you ever been desperate?

One evening Ian and I were looking after two girls for our friends. We were at their place and it was time for the girls to go to bed. And one disappeared…

She would have been about 7 years old.

We looked everywhere.

I was imagining having to tell our friends that their eldest daughter had disappeared into thin air.

I was getting desperate.

Ian said she was hiding.

Me, I was about to ring the police!

Ian was right, she was hiding …

Some of you will have convict ancestors, many of them were desperate, for food or warm clothing, they stole and ended up on the other side of the world.

In our Bible reading today we hear of two people who were desperate.

Jairus, one of the religious leaders, is desperate, and scared. His 12-year-old daughter is ill, very ill, and he is desperate for Jesus to come.

And the woman who has been bleeding for 12 years is desperate, she has spent all she had looking for a cure.

There is so much we could talk about in this reading.

A little background to this reading:

The girl is 12 years old and the woman has been bleeding for 12 years – is there a link?

The girl has lived for 12 years, she has a father who has status in the community, a man to look out for her and to seek help for her. Jairus is a synagogue leader, and is named, something that rarely happens in Mark’s gospel.

The woman has been bleeding for 12 years, as such she should be in isolation. Bleeding means she is ritually unclean, or impure. She has spent all her money and has been exploited.[i] Leviticus 15: 25 – 30, basically says when a woman is bleeding, she is unclean, on the eight day after bleeding ceases, she makes an offering and is no longer unclean. While she is unclean anything she touches or sits on is unclean. A person who touches her or is touched by her, must wash but remains unclean for the rest of the day.

She is poor and segregated.

And she has no man to seek her healing.

Something important to note is that being unclean does not means you are sinful.

Sin leads to being unclean, but not everything that makes you unclean is sinful. [ii]

In this passage we hear of two people in desperate need, one has a chronic illness, one is in crisis and close to death, they are different ages, different social standings….

Two very different women, yet united in their need…and in their restoration to life, health, and community.[iii]

This story reminds us of the way life is full of nuance and texture. When we are unwell, there is often emotional, psychological, economic and social dimensions to an illness as well as the physical aspects of the illness.

Think of the people with coronavirus at present, they are physically unwell, but the emotional aspect of will I survive, have I infected anyone else, and then the forced isolation to prevent infection spreading. The family of the person who is unwell often also suffers emotionally, socially psychologically and financially.

Jesus is aware of the whole person, not only the illness.

This story also invites us to think about vulnerability[iv]. Who and when do we risk being totally ourselves? Both Jairus and the woman were vulnerable with Jesus. The woman tried to sneak a touch of Jesus’ robe, she was desperate, she knew Jesus could heal her, but she did not want a fuss. I mean she should not have been out in public with all those people around. Then when Jesus addresses her, she tells him everything.

Jairus was desperate and did not care who knew his daughter was gravely ill. But he was a Jewish leader, would asking Jesus for help give legitimacy to this person who was saying he was God, blasphemy in the eyes of many.

Gospel Reflection

(based on Mark 5:21-43)

They risked it all to come to him:

Jairus,
risked his pride,
kneeling to a carpenter,
begging for his daughter’s life,

The woman with the blood risked
shame and disgrace
heaped upon her
by the crowd.

O Christ,
we are just like Jairus.
And we bleed like the woman.
We want to touch you
with the faith
you give
us.

Heal us.

— written by Anne Osdieck, and posted on The Sunday Website of St. Louis University.  http://liturgy.slu.edu/

Are we willing to be vulnerable with Jesus, to tell him everything?

This story also has me wondering, what do we do when we are desperate?

Desperate for health or family or touch or food or a job or a reason for living

How do we respond to chronic illness, or an accident that leaves us with limitations?

My guess is that we respond in a range of ways, including:

fear

worry

anger

shame

seeking out the best resources

denial

hiding

wishing it will go away

wondering what comes next

asking who I tell

how can I hide this illness, situation …?

can I afford this

and on and on the list goes.

What happens when we are desperate?

And how do we relate to people who are desperate?

Jesus called the woman Daughter and said your faith has made you well. Nothing is said about the faith of the girl.

Jesus, as we have seen from the beginning of the story, doesn’t just proclaim God’s rule and activity, he embodies it… He has come to do battle with all that would rob the children of God of the life and goodness God intends, and that includes death.[v]

But we know people still die, children die, life is not the hopeful, grace filled, peaceable kingdom we see described in the Gospels. Not everyone gets healed or comes back to life.

This story tells how Jesus overcomes the power of death and points to a new relationship where our uncleanliness does not lead to him becoming unclean.

Jesus has power that is not based on status or wealth or armies.

Jesus uses the power he has to bring renewal in desperate situations to vulnerable people.

How do we embody the way of Jesus;

        responding to vulnerability
        being with the desperate

        living with faith that is stronger than fear.

       

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[i] Myers, Ched; Binding the Strong Man, p291

[ii] Luther Seminary Love to tell the story podcast

[iii]  http://www.davidlose.net/2012/06/mark-5-35-43/

[iv] https://www.davidlose.net/2018/06/pentecost-6-b-on-vulnerability-need-and-hope/

[v] https://www.davidlose.net/2018/06/pentecost-6-b-on-vulnerability-need-and-hope/