sermon excerpts: Jairus' Hope

Everywhere in the scriptures today there is loss: Jairus was about to lose his daughter; the haemorrhaging woman had nothing left to lose, no money, no dignity. In desperation we seek healing. ....

I relate very well to Jairus, the poor father. I can only imagine the desperation, urgency and impatience he must have felt. Then, this strange woman, annoyingly and frustratingly, gets in the way. She touches his coat and steals some of his power! Then he stops to talk to her! In the meantime, his daughter dies.

I’m going to pause for a second with Jairus and try to put myself in the woman’s shoes. She endured the twelve years of agony, of doctors not knowing what is wrong with her, but taking her money anyway. According to the purity laws and rituals of the time, this woman, because of her bleeding, was unclean. That meant limited contact and association with others, her friends and family. After 12 years, things would have been strained to the point where they couldn’t be there for her anymore.

For all this time, the haemorrhaging woman has been waiting for human contact. She could not have a child. I’m sure she was just as upset with Jairus for making such a big fuss – at least he had a child. He had 12 years of life with his daughter. She’s spent the last 12 years on her own.

Word gets to her about Jesus, and she is not sure what to think of him, but comes with the primitive understanding that even the clothing of a healer contains some element of power. We are spiritual creatures with energies and unseen interactions with others. I know when I get drained of energy and effort, but I can’t pinpoint the precise moment when that happens. Jesus knew himself so well that was able to detect such a loss, even considering the immeasurable reserve of spiritual energy and power he had.

From Lindy Black's webpage: “As sincere as her desire for anonymity was, her idea was wrong. There is no such thing as coming privately into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is the kingdom of right relationships. Jesus knew that the commodity of healing was only part of what she needed. She also needed a relationship with God and a relationship with the community of faith. He would not let her walk away with only a part of the gospel.”

In for a penny, in for a pound – the woman could not anonymously receive help. Jesus requires that she tell of her story, that she participates in, and contributes to, the community that was assembled.

We live in fear that there isn’t going to be enough left over. That somehow we have to be first in line for everything, including God’s grace, that we have to bud into line and push and shove and sometimes sneak that which we think we need. Part of the motivation for Jairus and the bleeding woman to seek Jesus healing was to access that power before it ran out.

We don’t understand abundance; we think there’s got to be a limit, a point where no more can be given. If you look at the world around us, you can understand how we live in fear of the eventual end of a resource. We’re seeing the effects of our diminishing reserves of oil and hyrdro. Freshwater is another issue that will prove the same point.

But somehow, as life and goodness and love, will find a way to keep on expressing itself in the bleakest of catastrophes. The passage today reminds me of Elisha raising the dead son of the widow to life again (in 2 Kings 4), of Jesus reviving Lazarus (in John 11). Over and over again, the Bible points us to a life more abundant and persistent than what we can imagine.

Instead of living in fear of loss, let us go forth with the hope of gaining something. That our actions and outreach be for the building up of God’s kingdom, of contributing to the causes of justice, peace and hope, instead of being moved to action out of loss, despair and desperation. We are called to be people of abundance, having been granted the infinite grace of God and unending hope in Christ.