Gospel for June 11, 2023

A NOTE FROM CELESTE LETCHWORTH:

As most of you know, Tom went to be with the Lord in June 2018.

Since the lectionary cycles every 3 years, I am able to copy Tom’s SOAR studies from the archives and post them each week with our current year’s dates.

However — this Sunday (June 11, 2023), the lectionary for Year A’s Scripture selections are for “Proper 5” which is specified as:

the Sunday between June 5-11 (if after Trinity Sunday)

Tom started this blog in October, 2014 and we have not had a “Proper 5” situation (Sunday between June 5-11 if after Trinity Sunday) for Year A until now (2023).

So, the bad news is that I can’t find anything in the archives that Tom wrote for Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26.

But the good news is that I found his SOAR posting for Mark 5:21-43, which also covers Jesus healing the woman with the hemorrhage on his journey to raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

So —here’s the SOAR for Mark 5:21-43.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 5:21-43
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus is very busy. He is traveling around the countryside of Galilee preaching and healing.  He has crossed the Sea of Galilee in a boat with his disciples.  In the process, he had tried to catch a quick nap while in the boat when a violent storm arose and the panicked disciples cried out for his intervention.   Effortlessly he had calmed the winds. Then, on landing on the Gentile shores of the Gerasenes, Jesus had cast demons out of a man who was living desperately and wildly among the tombs, and Jesus sent the legions of demons into a herd of pigs which then drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee.

On his return by boat to the Jewish side of the lake, his busy pace resumes.  A large crowd gathers around him.  And then Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, pleads with Jesus to come and heal his critically ill daughter.

Does this intervention by Jairus suggest that Jesus has gained credibility with local Jewish authorities? Or is this the last, desperate attempt by a father to find healing for his sick daughter?  Or perhaps both?

In any event, Jesus agrees to accompany Jairus to his daughter’s side.  But Jesus’ ministry is often interrupted by other events.  The woman who has had a hemorrhage for twelve years reaches timidly for the hem of his garment.

Note the disparity — the leader of the synagogue pleads openly for Jesus to come to his daughter’s aid.  On the other hand, this woman is extremely reticent.  In part, this may reflect the attitude toward gender that existed at this time.  A man, especially in an important role in the community, could come openly and boldly and ask for help from Jesus — albeit, the text does tell us that Jairus fell at his feet, suggesting great humility.  But a woman?  And what the translation doesn’t make clear is that hemorrhage was likely a menstrual flow that didn’t stop — for twelve years!  According to Mosaic Law, such a condition made this woman ritually unclean.  For her to touch Jesus would be to defile him, according to their customs!

No wonder she was so reticent!  And yet, she overcame her hesitation.

What follows is deep sensitivity and compassion on Jesus’ part.  He is so keenly sensitive spiritually and interpersonally that he is:

  aware that power had gone forth from him.

He seeks out the person who has touched him, because there has been a connection.  How could he identify one person in that pushing, reaching crowd that had touched him?

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

Jesus makes the spiritual connection.  This is not merely an act of healing on his part, but an act of faith on hers:

“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

When Jesus heals, it is holistic — body and spirit.

Jesus then completes his mission at the home of Jairus, where family and friends are grieving and loudly lamenting.  The girl has died in Jairus’ absence.   Jesus himself now makes a statement of faith:

“Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

The response of the people there was scornful laughter, and Jesus asserts his authority:

he put them all outside.

He would not permit skeptics and scoffers to distract from his work.

He takes only the girl’s parents, and his followers, and enters the room where the little girl lies dead.  In one of the most tender moments in Scripture, the Gospel says:

He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about.

Jesus is extremely sensitive and practical:

and told them to give her something to eat.

As a curious sidebar, we note that this little girl was twelve; the woman with the hemorrhage had suffered with her condition for twelve years.

Of more importance, though, is what Jesus tells the witnesses:

He strictly ordered them that no one should know this.

This is the “Messianic Secret” that is especially prominent in the Gospel of Mark.  Jesus is not ready to be fully disclosed as Messiah.

APPLY:  

There are two key perspectives in this account of Jesus the healer.  On the one hand, we see the desperation of faith.  Those who are suffering, or watching loved ones suffer, can’t waste time and energy with doubt and theological discussions.  All they can do is reach out to Jesus for help.

Sometimes theological discussion is a luxury.  Faith begins not with questions — not that there’s anything wrong with questioning — but faith begins with crying out to God.

Second, we see in Jesus a challenging example of ministry.  We may prefer a regular routine, a predetermined schedule — but ministry doesn’t come at us in that way.  When people have needs, they may break through calendars and day-timers, and cross boundaries.

May we have the flexibility that Jesus has as we respond to the needs of others.

RESPOND: 

I confess that in 35 years of ministry, what has been most difficult for me at times is the interrupted nature of ministry.  My priorities have been upended by a personal crisis, an accident, a tragedy, an illness, a death.

Following Jesus means suspending my own agenda and my own plans and following the flexible flow of ministry.

Lord, when we are desperate to touch the hem of your garment, or for you to visit a house of death, you come to us.  May we be your agents of ministry also, and respond to real need when it arises.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"NT076B.Jesus and the Daughter of Jairus", posted by pcstratman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for August 21, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 13:10-17
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This account of a sabbath’s day in a synagogue is inserted amongst seemingly unrelated teachings and healings.  However, we also detect a subtle and steady increase in the level of tension between Jesus and the authorities.

The town in which the synagogue is located is unnamed.  But we know that Jesus is drawing closer and closer, at least psychologically, to confrontation in Jerusalem:

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).

We see the storm clouds of that coming confrontation already gathering here in Luke 13.

Jesus has already established himself early in his ministry as a healer and an exorcist — casting out demons even on the Sabbath (Luke 5:31-37).

Given his previous ministry, it comes as no surprise that a crippled woman should approach Jesus, even on the Sabbath in the synagogue.  Luke’s Gospel makes it clear that this affliction that causes her to be bent and unable to straighten up has a demonic source.

It is important to note that she doesn’t ask Jesus to heal her — he is proactive, and takes the initiative when he sees her misery:

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”  When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

If the story had ended here, we might simply have said that this was another example of Jesus’ healing power and left it at that.  But the leader of the synagogue couldn’t leave well enough alone.  This person was likely either a lay leader or a professional rabbi who was sympathetic to the concerns of the priests and the scribes who insisted on strict Sabbath observance.

What happens next illustrates the growing tension between Jesus and the priests, scribes, and Pharisees.  The leader of the synagogue is indignant toward Jesus, but he scolds the crowd, rather than Jesus for gathering to seek healing on the Sabbath day:

“There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

Obviously, he is annoyed at Jesus, but perhaps the religious authorities have begun to figure out that confronting Jesus directly doesn’t work all that well.  So this leader of the synagogue does something that Family Systems Theory calls triangling. He takes his wrath out on the crowd instead of on Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t let him get by with that.  What Jesus does is called de-triangling.  He confronts the leader, and in so doing also addresses the priests, scribes and Pharisees who might be muttering to one another. Jesus says to them:

“You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?”

Jesus isn’t necessarily denying the importance of the Sabbath as a day of worship and rest.  He himself observed the Sabbath.  However, he is criticizing the preposterous interpretation that would prevent acts of compassion.

It would be illogical and inhumane not to lead an animal to water to drink on the Sabbath day; how much more not to heal this fellow Jew (a daughter of Abraham) who had been in bondage to Satan for 18 years!

Jesus had already addressed their legalistic interpretation of the Sabbath earlier in his ministry, declaring to them that:

The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5).

And when he healed a man whose hand was withered he asked the pointed question:

I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?(Luke 6:9).

Mark’s Gospel quotes Jesus’ eloquent perspective on the proper use of the law, which is meant to benefit human beings, not enslave or oppress them:

The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).

It is clear that Jesus won this round — as he does every round:

When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

APPLY:  

We Christians need to get past the false opposition between law and grace.  The law is never described in the New Testament as an evil thing.  Legalism, which is the effort to attain salvation by one’s own obsessive-compulsive ritual righteousness instead of relying on God’s grace, is the problem.

Salvation is not a human achievement of any kind — through works, the law, or spiritual discipline. Salvation is a gift of God for the sake of Christ.

The law doesn’t save, and the law never trumps love and compassion. However, the moral law, used properly under the auspices of the law of love, can provide moral guidance to the Christian.  Jesus observed the law by resting and worshiping on the Sabbath because of his love for his Father.

But when law becomes legalism, and morality becomes moralism, then the law becomes a bludgeon instead of a tool for spiritual growth.

The obsessive-compulsive rigidity of the leader of the synagogue misses the whole point of the law of the Sabbath.  A day that is created for rest and renewal becomes instead a day of rigid rules that increase religious anxiety and guilt, and neglects those who are suffering.

Jesus reminds us that the law at its best is for the spiritual growth and benefit of human beings.  The law at its best can be an extension of his loving grace rather than a source of oppression.

RESPOND: 

This passage makes me think of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, Les Miserable.  Jean Valjean, the protagonist, has been imprisoned because he broke the law — he stole a loaf of bread for his starving family.  The law is strict and rigid concerning theft.

After he is released — 19 years later — he is offered hospitality by a kindly bishop who finds him shivering and homeless on the street.  Valjean tries to steal the bishop’s silver, but when he is arrested the bishop insists to the authorities that he had given the silverware to Valjean.  Valjean goes free, a much richer man because of the grace of the bishop.  The bishop tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God’s sake, and he should use the silver to make a better man of himself.

The major complication of the novel is the character of Inspector Javert.  As the plot develops, Valjean has become the compassionate, generous mayor of a French city, and a wealthy and just owner of a factory.  But Javert becomes suspicious — he begins to remember Valjean from years before when Javert was a prison guard, and learns that Valjean has been accused of another crime.

Javert makes it his life’s mission to obsessively hunt Valjean and arrest him.  In a moment of dramatic irony, Javert falls into the hands of revolutionaries, and Valjean contrives to spare his life.  But Javert cannot live with the conflict of his rigid devotion to the law and the merciful goodness of his intended victim, Valjean.  Because of his intense inner conflict, he finds the contradictions irreconcilable and drowns himself in the Seine River.

That is a rather elaborate illustration of the principle that there is a spiritual law of grace and love that always trumps the rigid law of legalism.

Lord, I love your law — but it is the law of love that I seek to follow.  I pray that you will give me a healthy respect and obedience to your law, but always illumined by your love and compassion.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Orthodoxy" by timchallies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for June 27, 2021

 

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 5:21-43
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus is very busy. He is traveling around the countryside of Galilee preaching and healing.  He has crossed the Sea of Galilee in a boat with his disciples.  In the process, he had tried to catch a quick nap while in the boat when a violent storm arose and the panicked disciples cried out for his intervention.   Effortlessly he had calmed the winds. Then, on landing on the Gentile shores of the Gerasenes, Jesus had cast demons out of a man who was living desperately and wildly among the tombs, and Jesus sent the legions of demons into a herd of pigs which then drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee.

On his return by boat to the Jewish side of the lake, his busy pace resumes.  A large crowd gathers around him.  And then Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, pleads with Jesus to come and heal his critically ill daughter.

Does this intervention by Jairus suggest that Jesus has gained credibility with local Jewish authorities? Or is this the last, desperate attempt by a father to find healing for his sick daughter?  Or perhaps both?

In any event, Jesus agrees to accompany Jairus to his daughter’s side.  But Jesus’ ministry is often interrupted by other events.  The woman who has had a hemorrhage for twelve years reaches timidly for the hem of his garment.

Note the disparity — the leader of the synagogue pleads openly for Jesus to come to his daughter’s aid.  On the other hand, this woman is extremely reticent.  In part, this may reflect the attitude toward gender that existed at this time.  A man, especially in an important role in the community, could come openly and boldly and ask for help from Jesus — albeit, the text does tell us that Jairus fell at his feet, suggesting great humility.  But a woman?  And what the translation doesn’t make clear is that hemorrhage was likely a menstrual flow that didn’t stop — for twelve years!  According to Mosaic Law, such a condition made this woman ritually unclean.  For her to touch Jesus would be to defile him, according to their customs!

No wonder she was so reticent!  And yet, she overcame her hesitation.

What follows is deep sensitivity and compassion on Jesus’ part.  He is so keenly sensitive spiritually and interpersonally that he is:

  aware that power had gone forth from him.

He seeks out the person who has touched him, because there has been a connection.  How could he identify one person in that pushing, reaching crowd that had touched him?

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

Jesus makes the spiritual connection.  This is not merely an act of healing on his part, but an act of faith on hers:

“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

When Jesus heals, it is holistic — body and spirit.

Jesus then completes his mission at the home of Jairus, where family and friends are grieving and loudly lamenting.  The girl has died in Jairus’ absence.   Jesus himself now makes a statement of faith:

“Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

The response of the people there was scornful laughter, and Jesus asserts his authority:

he put them all outside.

He would not permit skeptics and scoffers to distract from his work.

He takes only the girl’s parents, and his followers, and enters the room where the little girl lies dead.  In one of the most tender moments in Scripture, the Gospel says:

He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about.

Jesus is extremely sensitive and practical:

and told them to give her something to eat.

As a curious sidebar, we note that this little girl was twelve; the woman with the hemorrhage had suffered with her condition for twelve years.

Of more importance, though, is what Jesus tells the witnesses:

He strictly ordered them that no one should know this.

This is the “Messianic Secret” that is especially prominent in the Gospel of Mark.  Jesus is not ready to be fully disclosed as Messiah.

APPLY:  

There are two key perspectives in this account of Jesus the healer.  On the one hand, we see the desperation of faith.  Those who are suffering, or watching loved ones suffer, can’t waste time and energy with doubt and theological discussions.  All they can do is reach out to Jesus for help.

Sometimes theological discussion is a luxury.  Faith begins not with questions — not that there’s anything wrong with questioning — but faith begins with crying out to God.

Second, we see in Jesus a challenging example of ministry.  We may prefer a regular routine, a predetermined schedule — but ministry doesn’t come at us in that way.  When people have needs, they may break through calendars and day-timers, and cross boundaries.

May we have the flexibility that Jesus has as we respond to the needs of others.

RESPOND: 

I confess that in 35 years of ministry, what has been most difficult for me at times is the interrupted nature of ministry.  My priorities have been upended by a personal crisis, an accident, a tragedy, an illness, a death.

Following Jesus means suspending my own agenda and my own plans and following the flexible flow of ministry.

Lord, when we are desperate to touch the hem of your garment, or for you to visit a house of death, you come to us.  May we be your agents of ministry also, and respond to real need when it arises.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"NT076B.Jesus and the Daughter of Jairus", posted by pcstratman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for August 25, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 13:10-17
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This account of a sabbath’s day in a synagogue is inserted amongst seemingly unrelated teachings and healings.  However, we also detect a subtle and steady increase in the level of tension between Jesus and the authorities.

The town in which the synagogue is located is unnamed.  But we know that Jesus is drawing closer and closer, at least psychologically, to confrontation in Jerusalem:

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).

We see the storm clouds of that coming confrontation already gathering here in Luke 13.

Jesus has already established himself early in his ministry as a healer and an exorcist — casting out demons even on the Sabbath (Luke 5:31-37).

Given his previous ministry, it comes as no surprise that  a crippled woman should approach Jesus, even on the Sabbath in the synagogue.  Luke’s Gospel makes it clear that this affliction that causes her to be bent and unable to straighten up has a demonic source.

It is important to note that she doesn’t ask Jesus to heal her — he is proactive, and takes the initiative when he sees her misery:

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”  When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

If the story had ended here, we might simply have said that this was another example of Jesus’ healing power and left it at that.  But the leader of the synagogue couldn’t leave well enough alone.  This person was likely either a lay leader or a professional rabbi who was sympathetic to the concerns of the priests and the scribes who insisted on strict Sabbath observance.

What happens next illustrates the growing tension between Jesus and the priests, scribes, and Pharisees.  The leader of the synagogue is indignant toward Jesus, but he scolds the crowd, rather than Jesus for gathering to seek healing on the Sabbath day:

“There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

Obviously, he is annoyed at Jesus, but perhaps the religious authorities have begun to figure out that confronting Jesus directly doesn’t work all that well.  So this leader of the synagogue does something that Family Systems Theory calls triangling. He takes his wrath out on the crowd instead of on Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t let him get by with that.  What Jesus does is called de-triangling.  He confronts the leader, and in so doing also addresses the priests, scribes and Pharisees who might be muttering to one another. Jesus says to them:

“You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?”

Jesus isn’t necessarily denying the importance of the Sabbath as a day of worship and rest.  He himself observed the Sabbath.  However,  he is criticizing the preposterous interpretation that would prevent acts of compassion.

It would be illogical and inhumane not to lead an animal to water to drink on the Sabbath day; how much more not to heal this fellow Jew (a daughter of Abraham) who had been in bondage to Satan for 18 years!

Jesus had already addressed their legalistic interpretation of the Sabbath earlier in his ministry, declaring to them that:

The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5).

And when he healed a man whose hand was withered he asked the pointed question:

I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?(Luke 6:9).

Mark’s Gospel quotes Jesus’ eloquent perspective on the proper use of the law, which is meant to benefit human beings, not enslave or oppress them:

The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).

It is clear that Jesus won this round — as he does every round:

When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

APPLY:  

We Christians need to get past the false opposition between law and grace.  The law is never described in the New Testament as an evil thing.  Legalism, which is the effort to attain salvation by one’s own obsessive-compulsive ritual righteousness instead of relying on God’s grace, is the problem.

Salvation is not a human achievement of any kind — through works, the law, or spiritual discipline. Salvation is a gift of God for the sake of Christ.

The law doesn’t save, and the law never trumps love and compassion. However, the moral law, used properly under the auspices of the law of love, can provide moral guidance to the Christian.  Jesus observed the law by resting and worshiping on the Sabbath because of his love for his Father.

But when law becomes legalism, and morality becomes moralism, then the law becomes a bludgeon instead of a tool for spiritual growth.

The obsessive-compulsive rigidity of the leader of the synagogue misses the whole point of the law of the Sabbath.  A day that is created for rest and renewal becomes instead a day of rigid rules that increase religious anxiety and guilt, and neglects those who are suffering.

Jesus reminds us that the law at its best is for the spiritual growth and benefit of human beings.  The law at its best can be an extension of his loving grace rather than a source of oppression.

RESPOND: 

This passage makes me think of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, Les Miserable.  Jean Valjean, the protagonist, has been imprisoned because he broke the law — he stole a loaf of bread for his starving family.  The law is strict and rigid concerning theft.

After he is released — 19 years later — he is offered hospitality by a kindly bishop who finds him shivering and homeless on the street.  Valjean tries to steal the bishop’s silver, but when he is arrested the bishop insists to the authorities that he had given the silverware to Valjean.  Valjean goes free, a much richer man because of the grace of the bishop.  The bishop tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God’s sake, and he should use the silver to make a better man of himself.

The major complication of the novel is the character of Inspector Javert.  As the plot develops, Valjean has become the compassionate, generous mayor of  a French city, and a wealthy and just owner of a factory.  But Javert becomes suspicious — he begins to remember Valjean from years before when Javert was a prison guard, and learns that Valjean has been accused of another crime.

Javert makes it his life’s mission to obsessively hunt Valjean and arrest him.  In a moment of dramatic irony, Javert falls into the hands of revolutionaries, and Valjean contrives to spare his life.  But Javert cannot live with the conflict of his rigid devotion to the law and the merciful goodness of his intended victim,  Valjean.  Because of his intense inner conflict, he finds the contradictions irreconcilable  and drowns himself in the Seine River.

That is a rather elaborate illustration of the principle that there is a spiritual law of grace and love that always trumps the rigid law of legalism.

Lord, I love your law — but it is the law of love that I seek to follow.  I pray that you will give me a healthy respect and obedience to your law, but always illumined by your love and compassion.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Orthodoxy" by timchallies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for July 1, 2018

 

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 5:21-43
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus is very busy. He is traveling around the countryside of Galilee preaching and healing.  He has crossed the Sea of Galilee in a boat with his disciples.  In the process, he had tried to catch a quick nap while in the boat when a violent storm arose and the panicked disciples cried out for his intervention.   Effortlessly he had calmed the winds. Then, on landing on the Gentile shores of the Gerasenes, Jesus had cast demons out of a man who was living desperately and wildly among the tombs, and Jesus sent the legions of demons into a herd of pigs which then drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee.

On his return by boat to the Jewish side of the lake, his busy pace resumes.  A large crowd gathers around him.  And then Jairus,  a leader of the local synagogue, pleads with Jesus to come and heal his critically ill daughter.

Does this intervention by Jairus suggest that Jesus has gained credibility with local Jewish authorities? Or is this the last, desperate attempt by a father to find healing for his sick daughter?  Or perhaps both?

In any event, Jesus agrees to accompany Jairus to his daughter’s side.  But Jesus’ ministry is often interrupted by other events.  The woman who has had a hemorrhage for twelve years reaches timidly for the hem of his garment.

Note the disparity: the leader of the synagogue pleads openly for Jesus to come to his daughter’s aid.  On the other hand, this  woman is extremely reticent.  In part, this may reflect the attitude toward gender that existed at this time.  A man, especially in an important role in the community, could come openly and boldly and ask for help from Jesus — albeit, the text does tell us that Jairus fell at his feet, suggesting great humility.  But a woman?  And what the translation doesn’t make clear is that hemorrhage was likely a menstrual flow that didn’t stop — for twelve years!  According to Mosaic Law, such a condition made this woman ritually unclean.  For her to touch Jesus would be to defile him, according to their customs!

No wonder she was so reticent!  And yet, she overcame her hesitation.

What follows is deep sensitivity and compassion on Jesus’ part.  He is so keenly sensitive spiritually and interpersonally that he is:

  aware that power had gone forth from him.

He seeks out the person who has touched him, because there has been a connection.  How could he identify one person in that pushing, reaching crowd that had touched him?

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

Jesus makes the spiritual connection.  This is not merely an act of healing on his part, but an act of faith on hers:

“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

When Jesus heals, it is holistic — body and spirit.

Jesus then completes his mission at the home of Jairus, where family and friends are grieving and loudly lamenting.  The girl has died in Jairus’ absence.   Jesus himself now makes a statement of faith:

“Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

The response of the people there was scornful laughter, and Jesus asserts his authority:

he put them all outside.

He would not permit skeptics and scoffers to distract from his work.

He takes only the girl’s parents, and his followers, and enters the room where the little girl lies dead.  In one of the most tender moments in scripture, the Gospel says:

He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!”  And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about.  Jesus is extremely sensitive and practical, and told them to give her something to eat.

As a curious sidebar, we note that this little girl was twelve; the woman with the hemorrhage had suffered with her condition for twelve years.

Of more importance, though, is what Jesus tells the witnesses:

He strictly ordered them that no one should know this.

This is the “Messianic Secret” that is especially prominent in the Gospel of Mark.  Jesus is not ready to be fully disclosed as Messiah.

APPLY:  

There are two key perspectives in this account of Jesus the healer.  On the one hand, we see the desperation of faith.  Those who are suffering, or watching loved ones suffer, can’t waste time and energy with doubt and theological discussions.  All they can do is reach out to Jesus for help.

Sometimes theological discussion is a luxury.  Faith begins not with questions — not that there’s anything wrong with questioning — but faith begins with crying out to God.

Second, we see in Jesus a challenging example of ministry.  We may prefer a regular routine, a predetermined schedule — but ministry doesn’t come at us in that way.  When people have needs, they may break through calendars and day-timers, and cross boundaries.

May we have the flexibility that Jesus has as we respond to the needs of others.

RESPOND: 

I confess that in 35 years of ministry, what has been most difficult for me at times is the interrupted nature of ministry.  My priorities have been upended by a personal crisis, an accident, a tragedy, an illness, a death.

Following Jesus means suspending my own agenda and my own plans and following the flexible flow of ministry.

Lord, when we are desperate to touch the hem of your garment, or for you to visit a house of death, you come to us.  May we be your agents of ministry also, and respond to real need when it arises.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Gospel for August 21, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Luke 13:10-17

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This account of a sabbath’s day in a synagogue is inserted amongst seemingly unrelated teachings and healings.  However, we also detect a subtle and steady increase in the level of tension between Jesus and the authorities.

The town in which the synagogue is located is unnamed.  But we know that Jesus is drawing closer and closer, at least psychologically, to confrontation in Jerusalem:

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).

We see the storm clouds of that coming confrontation already gathering here in Luke 13.

Jesus has already established himself early in his ministry as a healer and an exorcist — casting out demons even on the Sabbath (Luke 5:31-37).

Given his previous ministry, it comes as no surprise that  a crippled woman should approach Jesus, even on the Sabbath in the synagogue.  Luke’s Gospel makes it clear that this affliction that causes her to be bent and unable to straighten up has a demonic source.

It is important to note that she doesn’t ask Jesus to heal her — he is proactive, and takes the initiative when he sees her misery:

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”  When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

If the story had ended here, we might simply have said that this was another example of Jesus’ healing power and left it at that.  But the leader of the synagogue couldn’t leave well enough alone.  This person was likely either a lay leader or a professional rabbi who was sympathetic to the concerns of the priests and the scribes who insisted on strict Sabbath observance.

What happens next illustrates the growing tension between Jesus and the priests, scribes, and Pharisees.  The leader of the synagogue is indignant toward Jesus, but he scolds the crowd, rather than Jesus for gathering to seek healing on the Sabbath day:

“There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

Obviously, he is annoyed at Jesus, but perhaps the religious authorities have begun to figure out that confronting Jesus directly doesn’t work all that well.  So this leader of the synagogue does something that Family Systems Theory callsl triangling. He takes his wrath out on the crowd instead of on Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t let him get by with that.  What Jesus does is called de-triangling.  He confronts the leader, and in so doing also addresses the priests, scribes and Pharisees who might be muttering to one another. Jesus says to them:

“You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?”

Jesus isn’t necessarily denying the importance of the Sabbath as a day of worship and rest.  He himself observed the Sabbath.  However,  he is criticizing the preposterous interpretation that would prevent acts of compassion.

It would be illogical and inhumane not to lead an animal to water to drink on the Sabbath day; how much more not to heal this fellow Jew (a daughter of Abraham) who had been in bondage to Satan for 18 years!

Jesus had already addressed their legalistic interpretation of the Sabbath earlier in his ministry, declaring to them that:

The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5).

And when he healed a man whose hand was withered he asked the pointed question:

I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?(Luke 6:9).

Mark’s Gospel quotes Jesus’ eloquent perspective on the proper use of the law, which is meant to benefit human beings, not enslave or oppress them:

The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).

It is clear that Jesus won this round — as he does every round:

When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

APPLY:  

We Christians need to get past the false opposition between law and grace.  The law is never described in the New Testament as an evil thing.  Legalism, which is the effort to attain salvation by one’s own obsessive-compulsive ritual righteousness instead of relying on God’s grace, is the problem.

Salvation is not a human achievement of any kind — through works, the law, or spiritual discipline. Salvation is a gift of God for the sake of Christ.

The law doesn’t save, and the law never trumps love and compassion. However, the moral law, used properly under the auspices of the law of love, can provide moral guidance to the Christian.  Jesus observed the law by resting and worshiping on the Sabbath because of his love for his Father.

But when law becomes legalism, and morality becomes moralism, then the law becomes a bludgeon instead of a tool for spiritual growth.

The obsessive-compulsive rigidity of the leader of the synagogue misses the whole point of the law of the Sabbath.  A day that is created for rest and renewal becomes instead a day of rigid rules that increase religious anxiety and guilt, and neglects those who are suffering.

Jesus reminds us that the law at its best is for the spiritual growth and benefit of human beings.  The law at its best can be an extension of his loving grace rather than a source of oppression.

RESPOND: 

This passage makes me think of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, Les Miserable.  Jean Valjean, the protagonist, has been imprisoned because he broke the law — he stole a loaf of bread for his starving family.  The law is strict and rigid concerning theft.

After he is released — 19 years later — he is offered hospitality by a kindly bishop who finds him shivering and homeless on the street.  Valjean tries to steal the bishop’s silver, but when he is arrested the bishop insists to the authorities that he had given the silverware to Valjean.  Valjean goes free, a much richer man because of the grace of the bishop.  The bishop tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God’s sake, and he should use the silver to make a better man of himself.

The major complication of the novel is the character of Inspector Javert.  As the plot develops, Valjean has become the compassionate, generous mayor of  a French city, and a wealthy and just owner of a factory.  But Javert becomes suspicious — he begins to remember Valjean from years before when Javert was a prison guard, and learns that Valjean has been accused of another crime.

Javert makes it his life’s mission to obsessively hunt Valjean and arrest him.  In a moment of dramatic irony, Javert falls into the hands of revolutionaries, and Valjean contrives to spare his life.  But Javert cannot live with the conflict of his rigid devotion to the law and the merciful goodness of his intended victim,  Valjean.  Because of his intense inner conflict, he finds the contradictions irreconcilable  and drowns himself in the Seine River.

That is a rather elaborate illustration of the principle that there is a spiritual law of grace and love that always trumps the rigid law of legalism.

Lord, I love your law — but it is the law of love that I seek to follow.  I pray that you will give me a healthy respect and obedience to your law, but always illumined by your love and compassion.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Gospel for June 28, 2015

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Mark 5:21-43

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

CLICK HERE FOR .PDF FILE TO PRINT WITHOUT PICTURES

OBSERVE:

Jesus is very busy. He is traveling around the countryside of Galilee preaching and healing.  He has crossed the Sea of Galilee in a boat with his disciples.  In the process, he had tried to catch a quick nap while in the boat when a violent storm arose and the panicked disciples cried out for his intervention.   Effortlessly he had calmed the winds. Then, on landing on the Gentile shores of the Gerasenes, Jesus had cast demons out of a man who was living desperately and wildly among the tombs, and Jesus sent the legions of demons into a herd of pigs which then drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee.

On his return by boat to the Jewish side of the lake, his busy pace resumes.  A large crowd gathers around him.  And then Jairus,  a leader of the local synagogue, pleads with Jesus to come and heal his critically ill daughter.

Does this intervention by Jairus suggest that Jesus has gained credibility with local Jewish authorities? Or is this the last, desperate attempt by a father to find healing for his sick daughter?  Or perhaps both?

In any event, Jesus agrees to accompany Jairus to his daughter’s side.  But Jesus’ ministry is often interrupted by other events.  The woman who has had a hemorrhage for twelve years reaches timidly for the hem of his garment.

Note the disparity: the leader of the synagogue pleads openly for Jesus to come to his daughter’s aid.  On the other hand, this  woman is extremely reticent.  In part, this may reflect the attitude toward gender that existed at this time.  A man, especially in an important role in the community, could come openly and boldly and ask for help from Jesus — albeit, the text does tell us that Jairus fell at his feet, suggesting great humility.  But a woman?  And what the translation doesn’t make clear is that hemorrhage was likely a menstrual flow that didn’t stop — for twelve years!  According to Mosaic Law, such a condition made this woman ritually unclean.  For her to touch Jesus would be to defile him, according to their customs!

No wonder she was so reticent!  And yet, she overcame her hesitation.

What follows is deep sensitivity and compassion on Jesus’ part.  He is so keenly sensitive spiritually and interpersonally that he is  aware that power had gone forth from him.   He seeks out the person who has touched him, because there has been a connection.  How could he identify one person in that pushing, reaching crowd that had touched him?

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

Jesus makes the spiritual connection.  This is not merely an act of healing on his part, but an act of faith on hers:  “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”  When Jesus heals, it is holistic — body and spirit.

Jesus then completes his mission at the home of Jairus, where family and friends are grieving and loudly lamenting.  The girl has died in Jairus’ absence.   Jesus himself now makes a statement of faith: “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” The response of the people there was scornful laughter, and Jesus asserts his authority: he put them all outside.  He would not permit skeptics and scoffers to distract from his work.

He takes only the girl’s parents, and his followers, and enters the room where the little girl lies dead.  In one of the most tender moments in scripture, the Gospel says He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!”  And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about.  Jesus is extremely sensitive and practical, and told them to give her something to eat.

As a curious sidebar, we note that this little girl was twelve; the woman with the hemorrhage had suffered with her condition for twelve years.

Of more importance, though, is what Jesus tells the witnesses: He strictly ordered them that no one should know this.  This is the “Messianic Secret” that is especially prominent in the Gospel of Mark.  Jesus is not ready to be fully disclosed as Messiah.

APPLY:  

There are two key perspectives in this account of Jesus the healer.  On the one hand, we see the desperation of faith.  Those who are suffering, or watching loved ones suffer, can’t waste time and energy with doubt and theological discussions.  All they can do is reach out to Jesus for help.

Sometimes theological discussion is a luxury.  Faith begins not with questions — not that there’s anything wrong with questioning — but faith begins with crying out to God.

Second, we see in Jesus a challenging example of ministry.  We may prefer a regular routine, a predetermined schedule — but ministry doesn’t come at us in that way.  When people have needs, they may break through calendars and day-timers, and cross boundaries.

May we have the flexibility that Jesus has as we respond to the needs of others.

RESPOND: 

I confess that in 35 years of ministry, what has been most difficult for me at times is the interrupted nature of ministry.  My priorities have been upended by a personal crisis, an accident, a tragedy, an illness, a death.

Following Jesus means suspending my own agenda and my own plans and following the flexible flow of ministry.

Lord, when we are desperate to touch the hem of your garment, or for you to visit a house of death, you come to us.  May we be your agents of ministry also, and respond to real need when it arises.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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