"An Eternal Hope" based on Mark 5:21-43
The
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost -
Pastor
Troy Slater - Our
You might recall from your catechism
days that we often say that Jesus was anointed for a threefold office. That is that Jesus is our prophet, priest,
and king. He is King in that as Lord He
rules over His church and even over all the world; He is our priest - that is, He is our advocate having shed His blood for us and
now intercedes for us before the very throne of His Father; and He is our prophet
- as God Himself, in the flesh, He is one who speaks for God; every word out of
his mouth in fact is God's Word. And so
yes, Jesus is our prophet, priest and king.
Today in our Gospel reading we see
Jesus acting primarily in His prophetic office.
I suppose the popular notion of a prophet is that they foretell the
future. And while it is true that some
of the Lord's Old Testament prophets did foretell the future, it really was only
a small part of their calling as a prophet.
Typically the words of the prophet were more "now" focused;
calling people to repent of their sins today and then proclaiming God's present word of forgiveness to those who
repent. Of course most people tended to ignore
the prophets and their message, which is why the Old Testament prophets were
often frustrated. They had God's word of
salvation but no one wanted to hear it.
But still the prophets spoke God's Word to the people.
But the Old Testament prophets didn't
just speak. At times they even performed miracles. Some healed leprosy. Others even brought people back from the dead. Some miracles seemed sort of trivial like
making an iron axe head float on water.
But yet even these miracles served their prophetic office as they showed
that their words were true. In effect
what the miracles did was say, "Listen up!
I am from God otherwise I couldn't do these miracles. This isn't my word that I speak to you, this
is God's Word so listen up." And
that is very much true in the prophetic ministry of Jesus as well - the words
He speaks is God's Word - and the miracles, they back it up. The miracles highlight the fact that Jesus is
who He says He is. And that is why I say that it is this "prophetic"
role that we see Jesus fulfilling in our Gospel reading for today. His miracles, of which we have two of them in
our reading, they were a sign that His teachings were true; they were a sign
that His Words were to be believed and accepted as the very words of God. ...
Now, the first miracle that we see
Jesus performing in our Gospel reading for today deals with a woman who was the
victim of a real "catch-22." She had been dealing with a
bleeding disorder for twelve years. And in Jewish law - Leviticus fifteen
in fact - this bleeding disorder meant that she was ceremonially unclean. And so she was required to keep her distance
from people. She should certainly not be in any crowds of people. But, that's where Jesus is - in a crowd -
apparently on the way to Jairus' house to help out his sick daughter. She's
heard about Jesus; she knows that He is her hope; she knows that He is her
chance to be whole and clean again. But
yet, He was in that crowd, and she was forbidden to enter such a crowd.
Desperate though, knowing Jesus was
her hope, she decided to go - unnoticed was her plan. She hoped that she would be able to infiltrate
the crowd, touch Jesus and then escape without being noticed. "If I touch even His garments, I will
be made well." She knew she was
risking a great deal as she quietly made her way through the crowd in order to
touch Jesus - exposing all of them to her uncleanness. But again, He was her hope.
And at first her plan seemed to
work. She made her way to Jesus, touched His garment. She felt the
healing within and she knew that the bleeding had been stopped. And she
was about to make her escape, but then Jesus stopped and turned and said, "Who touched my garments?" …
She froze. …
Of course given the size and nature
of the crowd, the disciples didn't quite know what to make of such a
question. "Jesus, you see the crowd
pressing around you and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'" People were jostling each other all over the
place. But the woman knew who Jesus meant. As Jesus continued to
wait, the woman had no choice but to confess. Perhaps she felt as though
she had stolen the miracle. This woman knew she was unworthy to be in the
presence of Jesus, and so she confessed.
She "came in fear and
trembling and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth." …
How soothing it must have been for
her to hear Jesus' voice as He said to her, "Daughter,
your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your disease." …
"Daughter - go in peace."
Jesus didn't scold her or punish her or crush her hopes. Instead He included her in His family and gave
her His peace and an eternal hope. After twelve years of pain and
suffering and shame, she was now truly free both of her affliction and of her
guilt. Only now was her healing complete as Jesus spoke His word of peace to
her. …
Like that woman, we all have secrets,
don't we? We have all done shameful things and thought shameful
thoughts. We all struggle with things that we hope will remain private
forever - mistaken judgments, bad lifestyle choices, medical and psychological
addictions, evil thoughts, evil desires, and so on. We all hope that some
things never see the light of day. There are things that we are afraid to
admit even in our prayers. We may think
we can keep our secrets hidden - even from God. We may think it is in our
best interest to bury our secrets forever. But the only problem is that
that can't happen. With God there are no secrets. He knows
everything. He knows things we hide - even from ourselves.
But thankfully, Jesus doesn't use His
knowledge against us, does He? He loves us and wants to cure us of our
guilt. He wants to heal our spirits. He wants to give us His peace
and an eternal hope.
After all, that is the reason He was
on this earth in the first place. Jesus "came not to condemn the world, but to save the world." He came not to destroy but to forgive. He came not to strike but to heal. He came to save us from our secret - and not
so secret - sins. He exposed Himself to our unclean thoughts, feelings,
and desires - taking them upon Himself - and in return He has given us not just
His cleanliness - but His holiness. "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin
for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." When Jesus took our sins to the cross, He
died for all of them - even for those that are secret - even for those that are
buried deep and forgotten.
Jesus already knows our secrets and
has paid for them. We can now join that woman at His feet and tell Him
the whole truth. And we too can now hear those healing words as He says
to us, "Son - Daughter, your faith
has made you well. Go in peace, and be
healed of your disease." We can be truly free of our guilt and certain
in the knowledge of our salvation. …
Now, while Jesus was dealing with
this woman, someone was getting anxious about getting going again. The
Bible records no words from Jairus during the exchange between Jesus and the
woman, but I know if I were there, I would be thinking, "All right
already. She's been bleeding for twelve years. What harm can there
be in another day or two? My daughter is near death. Let's
go!" .. But then, just as they got under way again, messengers came from Jairus'
house with the news that his daughter had died. What hope Jairus might
have had about Jesus healing His daughter, it was now gone. …
But Jesus had another miracle to do
that day, didn't He? First He gave
Jairus words of a renewed hope; words of comfort, "Do not fear, only believe." He assured a
grief-stricken Jairus that there was still hope. He gave Jairus the strength to carry on.
And so on to Jairus' house they
went. As Jesus entered Jairus' home He
said to the mourners, "Why are you
making a commotion and weeping? This
child is not dead but sleeping." But our reading tells us that "they laughed at Him." They laughed at the Lord of Life. They laughed at the one who had the power to
destroy the destroyer. Where the world
saw death, the Savior saw someone He could awaken more easily than a parent can
awaken a child. Where the world saw no
hope, Jesus was there to give all hope. …
And so He went in to the girl and
took her hand. With a few words, He not only brought her to life, but He
brought her back to perfect health. " 'Little girl I say to you, arise!'
and immediately the girl got up and began walking .. and He told them to
give her something to eat."
Yes Jesus is the resurrection and the
life; He is the one who came to destroy death and the grave. He is the Lord of all; the Hope of the world;
the Word of God in the flesh. His
miracles tell us that. This miracle
tells us that. This miracle illustrates
for us on a small scale the great resurrection that awaits all of us on the Last
Day. "With a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God" all
the dead will rise from their graves. Those who believe in Jesus Christ
will rise to eternal life. Those who do not will rise to eternal
judgment.
Of course there is a great difference
between the resurrection of Jairus' daughter and our resurrection on the Last Day.
Jairus' daughter was restored to a state consistent with her age of
twelve. She continued to grow old and eventually died again. But on
the Last Day, we will rise never to die again. We know this because the
one who grasped the hand of a dead daughter and restored her to life had his
own hand nailed to a cross. And then, with
the nail marks still there, He rose from the dead himself. He stepped out of His grave, crushing the
head of Satan, breaking the bondage that death had on us. On the last day He will now take our hand and
raise us as well - not to return to this life, but to a life without end.
As the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to say, "This
perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on
immortality. Then the saying that is
written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' " Yes Jesus gives eternal life; He gives an
eternal hope. …
The Last Day is coming. The
resurrection shall come. Jesus promises
and as the Son of God - as THE prophet of God - His miracles attest to the
truth of His promises. He will come
again and on that day all of our sins - even our secret sins - will be gone -
forgotten - forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is a day that we can
look forward to with all hope, for Christ will call us forth and we shall be
united with Him forever. Amen.