Good morning!
To help set the stage for today’s message we are going to start with some questions for reflection:
1. Who in your life, either past or present, is someone who always seemed or seems to have time for you?
2. Do you have somebody in mind? Can you picture a moment you shared together? A conversation, a holiday meal, or a certain memory from an important occasion?
3. Did you know in that moment that you were a belovedperson who was totally worth their time?
In our gospel text for today Jesus takes time to hear Jairus’ plea. Jesus takes time to go to the prominent synagogue leader’s house to see his daughter. On his way there he is stopped by a holy interruption with the hemorrhaging woman.
She intercepts Jesus in his travels. She has spent 12 years and a great deal of money trying everything to obtain a cure. She cannot be engaged in her community until she is deemed clean again. Jesus takes time to listen to her. Initially Jesus was planning to preach to the crowds again, before these two holy interruptions occurred. But he does not say no to them. Taking time may be part of the healing itself.
Do you think Jesus has time for you? When do you take time to be with Jesus? Is Jesus’ time for everybody else or you too?
It must have taken courage for Jairus and the outcast woman to seek Jesus’ help even if they felt they had nowhere else to go. It takes vulnerability and a certain amount of risk to ask for healing.
Close your eyes for a second and say to yourself two or three times, “Jesus has time for me. Jesus has time for me.”
The gospel writer Mark makes an important point in this passage:
That Jesus’ compassion meets human suffering regardless of status. This is why he had time for them that day when he had started out planning to do something else.
The past few days I have been waking up kind of early. Every morning starting about 5:30 I hear a cardinal outside my bedroom window. I have started to call this bird, with its song, Sunny.
Sunrise does not start until after 6a.m. However, Sunny is singing while it is still dark because Sunny knows what is coming. He sings because the darkness is ending, and the morning light is arriving. A new day is dawning which is a good reason to sing.
I wonder if Jairus’s faith in Jesus is why the darkness recedes and yields to the light. It is his faith that helps bring his daughter back. His request of Jesus which leads to her resurrection is his song and his prayer. They all experienced it, moving from darkness to the light of a new day for her.
The hemorrhaging woman had 12 years to prepare her prayer, her song and her meeting with Jesus. To meet him she must press through the crowd. She is surrounded by people. She touches the hem of his garment and after every other attempt has failed in her life, she experiences healing.
In fact, scripture tells us that she “knew” in her body. And Jesus felt it too. Jesus knew in his body. The energy exchange must have surprised them they experienced simultaneously.
I am reminded of a passage from Becca Erhlich’s book Christian Minimalism, where she speaks about her own healing process with Jesus. She said, “And as I continue to figure out how to best spend my finite energy on what matters, I am aware of God’s movement in my life. The fact that I even have a diagnosis is a miracle in itself. And as I continue to try different medicines to find the right combination for my body, I know that God will strengthen me, help me, and uphold me.” That can apply to several of us!
She continues: “I am realistic enough to know that God may not decide to completely heal me, but I continue to hope that God will work through medications and lifestyle changes so that I can manage my chronic illness better. And my hope is that God will continue to guide me.” (p. 70)
She is talking about experiencing the power of Jesus. We have the power of Jesus available to us as well. We may be in the crowd and surrounded by people and Jesus may seem just out of sight and beyond our reach. That is when we remember these stories of healing. And like the woman we not only feel something, but we also know, in our core, that Jesus is near, that Jesus is here with us, and that healing is coming – like the sunrise over the darkness.
We are not an annoyance to Christ. He wants us to be restored physically and mentally so that we can participate in community with others. Christ heals us physically, mentally, and socially.
This way the larger community benefits too. We are blessed by every person’s unique gifts and calling.
Perhaps you have heard the story of The Lonely Ember.
A priest pays a surprise visit to a parishioner’s home. The man he is visiting has been bitter and removed himself from church activities. Then he stops going to church altogether. He loses touch with others in the congregation. So, the priest knocks on his
door and the man upon opening the door looks briefly into his pastor’s eyes before he motions for him to come inside. Without saying a word to each other they sit down in front of a beautiful fire and stare into the dancing flames. The only sound is the popping of wood as they remain speechless.
After quite a few minutes of this shared silence, the priest stands and leans over taking the fire tongs beside the fireplace and removes one of the burning pieces of wood and sets it aside. It burns for a couple of minutes and then – smolders out.
The man looks at the priest as he sits down. They watch the fire for awhile longer. The priest stands again, this time to leave, but before leaving he picks up the tongs and carefully returns that dark piece of wood to the fire. It begins to glow and starts to catch fire again.
– The priest took time to pay the man a visit.
– Jesus took time to respond to Jairus’ plea to heal his daughter.
– Jesus heals the woman afflicted for 12 years after taking time to listen to her needs. She is restored to wholeness in her body but also to her relationship with the larger community.
Outside these walls and in our community, there are folks who are looking for a way to belong to the body of Christ. Some need healing and some are isolated like that lonely ember away from the fire.
There are many ways to include others in the life of Calvary Episcopal Church. We will also have a new opportunity to be the body of Christ to them and to all who cannot always physically be present for Sunday morning services via livestreaming.
Ex. Livestreaming is the set of tongs that help the separated pieces of wood find the fire again. There are households of mission fields and a mission field of households out there. There are plenty of lonely embers. They have their reasons, but they are separated.
Jesus the great healer has gathered us today to re-member the fire of Christ. This is not necessarily always comfortable. It means we make time to be here. It means accepting that the fire of Christ might be a refiners’ fire that burns wawa the dross in our lives. We might need to accept letting go of that dross and the things that are not needed for the kingdom of God. But eventually Jesus the consummate goldsmith and silversmith, wants to see his reflection in us like you can in pure silver or gold. He has brought us together to share in the sacraments, including Holy Communion, so that we reflect Christ wherever we go.
To be mindful of God’s handiwork in the world and to fully be present for others means we are willing to take the time necessary to get the gospel message of God’s healing love to them. Eventually they will begin to show up and even invite others because of the fire of Christ burning inside their hearts too.
Thanks be to God. Amen.