Sermon Index
July 1, 2012
|
Gospel Lesson Mark 5:21-43 21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, gMy little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.h 24 So Jesus went with him. 24b A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, gIf I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.h 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, gWho touched my clothes?h 31 gYou see the people crowding against you,h his disciples answered, gand yet you can ask, eWho touched me?fh 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, gDaughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.h 35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. gYour daughter is dead,h they said. gWhy bother the teacher anymore?h 36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, gDonft be afraid; just believe.h 37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, gWhy all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.h 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the childfs father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, gTalitha koum!h (which means, gLittle girl, I say to you, get up!h). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. |
One of the strongest of human emotions is hope. Hope and faith go hand in hand together. If you add love to hope and faith, you have the full, abiding power of the Holy Spirit. Hope is one of the big themes of todayfs Gospel reading.
First here is the hope of the father. His twelve year old daughter was very sick and dying. I am sure he tried many things to help his daughter. He first had hope that the town doctor and medicine could help. But he had lost hope in that. He prayed and hoped that God would heal his daughter. Now he was looking to Jesus and hoped that in Jesus God would answer his prayer. His daughter was dying. I am sure he agonized between staying at the bedside of his precious daughter or going to Jesus for help. His love and hope for the child was so great that he went to Jesus. He pleaded, gMy little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.h So Jesus went with him and headed towards Jairusf house.
Jesus had to go from the lakeside to the house which was perhaps on the other side of town. And so Jesus, the twelve disciples, and a crowd of curiosity seekers headed there. Perhaps the streets of the town were narrow and crowded and so people bumped into others as they were going along. Here we meet another person who had placed her faith and hope in Jesus. This woman had been sick for 12 years, ever since Jairusf daughter had been born. She tells that she had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. Like the father of the little girl, she too had given up hope on the doctors. There was no more hope of getting well.
Then Jesus came to town. She saw how he had agreed to go and heal the little girl and so she was given new hope and courage. She thought, gIf I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.h This was her chance! She was too shy to ask Jesus in public to heal her, so she melted into the crowd and came up behind Jesus in the crowed and touched his cloak. Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. Of course Jesus knew that power had gone out from him. Jesus wanted the woman to come forward so that she could confess her hope and faith. Jesus said to her, 34 gDaughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.h
She told her whole story. She had had twelve long years of pain and suffering, and it took a long time to tell her story. It took so long to tell that in the meantime, Jairusf daughter died. Some men came from the house of Jairus, gYour daughter is dead,h they said. gWhy bother the teacher anymore?h They had lost hope, they had given up. Jesus did not want the father to lose hope. He said, gDonft be afraid; just believe.h Wasting no more time, he took only the father and three disciples and hurried to the home. The neighbors had given up hope and had already started the funeral. There was no hope, they laughed at Jesus. They knew she was really dead, not just sleeping. 41 He took the child by the hand and said to her, gTalitha koum!h (which means, gLittle girl, I say to you, get up!h). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and walked around, and being now a healthy adolescence, she was hungry and started eating. This is even more proof of her full recovery.
Hope is a powerful thing. Because of hope and faith, both Jairus and the woman were enabled to seek help in Jesus.
Hope is a powerful thing for us, too! Therefore we do not give up. Hope overcomes depression, stress, sadness, hate, poverty, fear, anger, revenge, and sin. It overcomes my sin and the sin of others against me. This hope is born from love. God loves us. Others love us. We love God. We love others. That is the love that produces hope and faith. Because we love others, we cannot give up on them. It is the hope that is based on the cross and resurrection of Jesus. On the cross Jesus seemed to have lost hope for a moment. He said, gMy God, my God, why have you forgotten me.h And yet it was with faith and hope that he died saying, gFather, into your hands I commend my spirit.h It was the faith and hope in the sure promises of God. If he can die and rise again then so can we. If he can die to forgive us and rise to give eternal life, then we have hope.
Prayer and worship are signs of our hope, which at the same time strengthen our hope, too.
Amen.
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church