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Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – June 30, 2024
Mark 5:21-43
The following sermon is delivered in character by two persons portraying Jairus and the woman.
Jairus: My name is Jairus.
Woman: My name is….not mentioned! I’m anonymous, I guess. Call me “Jane Doe.”
Jairus: I’m a leader in the synagogue. I practically live here. If there’s a service or a study going on, nine times out of ten I am here.
Woman: Because of my…condition, I’m considered ritually unclean. I’m banned from worship. I haven’t set foot in a synagogue for twelve years.
Jairus: I am so thankful for my beautiful family, for my wife and kids, for this community of faith. I’m surrounded by people who love and support me.
Woman: Because of my ailment, I am unable to bear children. Good luck trying to find a husband with a condition like mine. I have been made to live apart, in isolation. Sometimes I think the loneliness is more terrible than the bleeding.
Jairus: What? Well, yes. I have a few coins to my name, if you must know.
Woman: Nothing. Nada. Everything I ever had has been spent. Doctors. Consultations. Treatments and tonics. Instead of making me better, it has just made me broke.
[Brief pause…]
Jairus: On that day I had never felt so…
Woman: …desperate. I felt so…
Jairus:…helpless. My little girl, my precious daughter was sick – so sick. Nobody seemed to be able to help her. I had heard about this man, this rabbi. He had just come into town by boat, and there was quite the clamoring when he arrived. His name was…
Woman: …Jesus. I had heard that he had cast out demons, that he had cleansed a leper, that he had…
Jairus: …healed the sick. There were stories about him healing a paralytic, healing a man with a withered hand. My daughter was fading fast. Things weren’t looking good. She was only twelve.
Woman: Twelve years I’ve lived with this condition. Twelve years of non-stop bleeding. Twelve years of chronic weakness. Twelve years of isolation. Then, there was Jesus…
Jairus & Woman together: What little hope I had left, I put in him.
[Brief pause…]
Jairus: When I finally saw him, I kind of…
Woman: lost it.
Jairus: …I fell to my knees and started begging – a big no-no for a respectable leader of the synagogue.
Woman: I recklessly pushed my way through the crowd – a big no-no in my condition. I reached out and touched his garment – another big no-no. But what were they going to do? Banish me? Been there, done that. I somehow believed that simply touching him would be all it took to make me well.
Jairus: We were delayed by some woman who grabbed Jesus’ robe. Some friends met us before we got to the house and told me it was too late. They told me not to bother the teacher any more. They said that she was already…dead. My head started spinning. I felt like I was going to be sick. Jesus said to me, “Do not fear, only believe.” He led the way now. Before long I could hear the wailing coming from my house. When we got there Jesus asked why they were making such a commotion. “She is only sleeping,” he told them. He took my wife and I into our daughter’s room. He took my precious girl by the hand and said “Talitha cum.” “Talitha” is an Aramaic term of endearment! This is what I called her when she was a baby. It means “little lamb.” “Little lamb,” he said to my sweet child, “it is time to get up!”
Woman: Daughter. He called me daughter! He addressed me as a daughter of Israel, a daughter of God. “Daughter,” he said, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Woman & Jairus together: Such kind words, such tenderness in his voice.
Woman: The bleeding had stopped. At last, I was well again. Jesus not only gave me back my health, he gave me back my life! I could return to my family! I could return to worship at the synagogue! I could be part of the community again! I had fallen at his feet filled with fear and trembling, but as I stood beside him now I was filled with peace as a daughter of God.
Jairus: My daughter was well. My wife and I felt that we’d not only received our daughter back, but our own lives as well. We were restored as a family.
[Brief pause…]
Woman: I didn’t see Jesus again, but I heard what happened to him. I heard that he was crucified. It was startling to hear that this man who had brought healing to so many ended up being broken on a cross.
Jairus: Jesus told us to not say anything about what he had done for our daughter. I guess we didn’t do such a good job at that, seeing as how our story ended up in three different books about Jesus! I didn’t understand at first why we were to keep quiet, but I think I know now. You see, Jesus didn’t heal everyone. There were plenty of people in my own synagogue who were sick and didn’t get better. There were times when throngs of sick people came to Jesus and he slipped away from them to spend time alone in prayer. I think he told us to keep quiet because he didn’t want people to get the wrong idea. He hadn’t come merely to heal the sick. He hadn’t come merely to prolong life for a few people. He had bigger things in mind, a bigger purpose.
Woman: Jesus died on that cross – but some are saying he didn’t stay dead. Some are saying he rose from the dead. His disciples have been saying that they have seen him. They’ve been telling everyone that sin and death have been conquered once and for all. They are saying that all the outcasts, all the unclean, are now sons and daughters of God because of what he has done for the world through his death and resurrection.
Jairus: Through his death and resurrection he has brought a deeper kind of healing and hope to all of humankind. Through his death and resurrection he has cured death itself, giving us all the promise of eternal life.
Woman: [Addressing congregation] What Jesus has done for me, he has done for you too. He makes you whole. He gives you new life. He calls you his daughter, his son.
Jairus: He calls you his little lamb, his precious child.
Woman: Whether you’re sick…
Jairus: …or well,
Woman: whether you’re a woman,
Jairus: or a man,
Woman: whether you’re poor,
Jairus: or financially secure,
Woman: whether you’re lonely,
Jairus: or well-connected –
Woman: life has a way of bringing us all to our knees at one time or another. But Jesus brings healing and hope to us all.
[Brief pause…]
Jairus: Do not fear, only believe.
Woman & Jairus together: Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church