Pentecost 5 L13 B

• Bishop Eaton’s Public Statement
• Story from Anti Racism Training
  • two people shoulder to shoulder
  • woman was laughed at, and assaulted
  • we didn’t want her story to be true; but it was

Today’s Gospel lessons brings together two stories about two people who are very different.

One is a man named Jairus. Jairus is a leader of the synagogue. Presumably well educated and fairly wealthy. We don’t know about Jairus from before this story, so we can’t be sure, but I think it would be a safe bet to assume that as a leader of a local synagogue… he would have been pretty skeptical of Jesus. He likely shared the feelings of many religious leaders at the time: “I’ve got this religion thing figured out…I don’t need whatever the prophet Jesus is talking about.” Except… Jairus’ daughter becomes deathly ill. Jairus is at his wit’s end. Like many parents could attest to, he’d do anything for his child…even, apparently, swallowing his pride and asking for the help of Jesus. After all, his daughter is so sick, she is nearing the point of death.

As Jesus goes along his way to meet Jairus’s daughter…we encounter a different character. We meet a woman whose main public identity is that she has been sick — hemorrhaging blood, or having ‘a flow of blood’ — for twelve years. Unlike Jairus, she is not wealthy, in fact, she’s spent all her resources on her health care, and it hasn’t even worked. We are not told of any family members, and we can presume that her condition has isolated her from the community. A woman like her would have been an outcast in that time. Maybe she still would.

Within one walk across town, Jesus has encountered someone among the most privileged and someone among the least privileged in the community.

These two are in very different positions in society. But both of them are in great need.

The woman with the flow of blood needs healing, both for her physical condition, and to restore her social life which has been cut off because of her hemorrhaging. She’s already been to see doctors —- but probably not the kind you’re thinking of. The doctors she would have tried would be better described as wannabe miracle workers. Each claiming to have some kind of power, but a limited supply, so for a price, they could share it with you. She probably supposes Jesus is also this kind of miracle worker, but without money to pay him, she tries her last resort: she reaches out to receive a little of his power by touching the cloak of Jesus as he walks by.

While this is going on, Jairus’s daugher’s condition has gone from bad to worse. In fact, just as Jesus encounters the woman with the flow of blood, some people come from Jairus’ home to explain that the daughter has already died. Even as Jesus enters and tells them that the daughter is not dead, but sleeping… the power that death has over them is so strong that they actually laugh at Jesus. But really, they’re just being realistic.

Both Jairus and the woman with the flow of blood find themselves without any other options. One at the margins of her society, and one with all the power to lead the synagogue, but powerless in the face of his daughter’s illness.

As different as these characters are, they are exactly alike in this regard: they both fall down at the feet of Jesus. They both recognize their need for a loving, forgiving God. They both ignore the others who would place barriers between them and the Kingdom of God and they put their faith in Jesus.

And Jesus shows them just how close the Kingdom of God really is.

The woman is healed the instant that she touches even the cloak of Jesus, and when she is discovered and singled out for her action, Jesus does not accuse her of theft, or demand payment. Instead, he says it was her faith that healed her.

And even as others laugh with scorn, Jesus calls out the daughter who rises from her deathbed. Faith is stronger even than death.

And in Jesus Christ, two people from across the spectrum are united in the grace they receive.

Faith connects the powerless with the powerful. Faith connects the sinner with forgiveness. Faith connects the dead with life. Faith connects us.

Don’t we do that here? We come before a table set before us by a God that loves us, even in our brokenness. We approach the wine and the bread with open hands that say “I am not worthy to receive you Lord, but say the word, and I shall be healed.” And when we do, we may find ourselves shoulder to shoulder with someone that is very different from us. Someone that annoys us. Or someone that is disconnected from us because of economic class, or age, or skin color. But shoulder to shoulder we approach the throne of grace united by faith in Jesus Christ.

And, it’s not just at the Communion table that we enact this kind of faith.

• Shoulder to Shoulder Confession at Anti Racism Training

They connected not because they shared the same culture, not because they instantly understood each other — they connected because they could both admit that they each were only standing in that room shoulder to shoulder because of the Grace of God. Their faith in Jesus Christ healed them. Their reliance on God, their faith in Jesus Christ made them well.

Our faith in Jesus Christ heals us, too. It places us shoulder to shoulder with people of all cultures, races, economic levels. Our faith acknowledges that we only stand in one another’s company by the Grace of God.

It’s when you fall down, trembling before God that you know the truth.

Not the strength of your arms, not the security of your finances, not even your best intentions makes you well. But when you find yourself having fallen down at the feet of Jesus — your faith makes you well. Go in peace, and be healed.