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Christ Wants Us To Be Well

Mark 5.21-24, 35-42

When I was stuttering badly, my mother took me to a colour therapist.

Twice each week, I sat for forty minutes connected up with wires

to Coats needlework cottons.

My mother was not in any way an alternative medicine person.

My mother was always concerned –What will people think?

It was courageous of her to take me to a colour therapist!

Why did she do it?

How did she do it?

She loved me dearly.

She desperately wanted me to be able to communicate.

She was so concerned for me, she didn’t worry about what people might think.

Of course I am thinking about Jairus, the Ruler of the Synagogue.

Mark tells us,

‘He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and begged him earnestly,

“My little daughter is very ill. Please come and place your hands on her, so that she will get well and live.”’

Jairus was an important man in the town.

He went to a wandering teacher.

He risked ridicule.

Why did he do it?

How did he do it?

He loved his daughter dearly.

He desperately wanted her to be well.

When we have love like that,

we will crash through barriers of respectability;

we won’t worry  about what people might think!

When we have love like that, wonderful things happen.

You and I have that kind of love.

The world needs our kind of love.

Now before Jesus got to the little girl, messengers came from Jairus’ house,

‘Your daughter has died. Why bother the Teacher any longer?’

It’s a curious message.

‘Your daughter has died.’

This is awful news!

But in the same breath,

‘Why bother the Teacher?’

There is no grieving for the little girl.

‘Why bother the Teacher’?

They wouldn’t regard Jesus as important!

They wouldn’t worry about ‘bothering the Teacher’!

It seems they wanted to stop Jesus coming to their house.

It would be too embarrassing.

What will the neighbours think?

How did Jesus respond?

‘Don’t be afraid. Only believe.’

‘Don’t be afraid.’

That great phrase of the Gospels.

We hear it first from the angel Gabriel.

‘Don’t be afraid, Mary.’

Then again and again.

We can live fearfully.

We can assume the worst.

We can think everything’s against us.

Or we can live confidently.

We can believe the best.

Jesus said,

‘Don’t be afraid. Only believe.’

Norman is interested, Jesus straightaway set off for Jairus’ house to his daughter.

Elements of the story:

At the time of Jesus, children were not valued as children.

Children were important only because they would grow and work

Jesus said,

‘Let the children come to me, for to such belongs the kingdom of God,

and he took them in his arms and blessed them.’

It was revolutionary!

Now Jesus is giving himself to a young girl.

So today, we people of faith love the children.

At Jairus’ house there was confusion, loud crying and wailing.

The scholars tell us the loud crying and wailing was a ritual for such occasions.

Then there are people who wallow in sadness.

They want to know all the details of our pain.

Can you hear people saying, ‘And she was only twelve’?

Jesus took only Peter, James and John with him.

He didn’t want to add to the drama.

Jesus said to them,

‘Why all this confusion? Why are you crying?

The child is not dead -she is only sleeping!’

How did people react to that?

Mark tells us, ‘They laughed at him.’

They laughed at him!

Wouldn’t you have thought they might have been filled with wonder?

Wouldn’t you have thought they might have been hopeful, even glad?

These are people who dwell in bad news.

These are people who feed off other people’s pain.

Jesus put them all out of the house.

He took the child’s parents and his disciples into the room where the child was lying.

Feel the quietness.

Sense the love.

Jesus took her by the hand and said, “Talitha koum”

-Little girl, I tell you to get up.

Mark tells us ‘She got up at once and started walking around. When this happened they were amazed. But Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone. He said, “Give her something to eat.”’

What actually happened? We don’t know.

The little girl may not have died.

Until recent times, it was not straightforward determining that someone had died.

The Wake, having a party around a body, made sure the person wouldn’t wake up!

At the heart of the story is Jesus saying,

‘Don’t be afraid. Only believe.’

These words are also for you and for me.

We don’t live in fear.

We don’t dwell in pain.

We believe the best.

We dwell in love.

I know a woman who is not coming out of her house at present.

She’s afraid of catching the swine flu.

You and I are here.

We don’t live in fear.

We assume we will be okay.

And should we get the flu, we know we will handle it.

On Friday evening I was in Dunedin attending the Knox College Fellows Dinner.

I met a man who had been a student with me. He said,

‘I remember your stuttering.

We all wondered how you could possibly handle the ministry.’

-Somehow deep in my heart, I was not afraid.

Somehow deep in my heart, I beieved I would do it.

And with some quiet help and love,

I am as you see and hear.

‘Don’t be afraid. Only believe.’

Thanks be to God.

A Response

A thought or a story of your own - click here to email  stgiles@xtra.co.nz