Third Sunday after the Epiphany, January 24, 2016
Narrative Lectionary, Psalm 131, Mark 5: 21-43
Hope International Mission
By Young Kim
Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, God of healer and God of restorer.
Today’s Gospel reading is pretty well-known to us, and probably it was, too, back in those days when the Gospel was written, since this story appears in three different Gospels which are Matthew, Mark and Luke. So today, I would like you to imagine the scenes and picture them in detail to look closer into this famous story, hopefully, with a new perspective.
Let us go right into the text to see what was happening. Can you imagine Jesus being surrounded by a huge crowd who were asking questions, begging for healing, or simply following out of curiosity? While Jesus was in the crowd, there was one guy who had the privilege of granting Jesus’ attention. It was Jairus. He was a ruler of synagogue and he came and fell at Jesus’ feet and pleaded him to heal his dying daughter. In today’s sense, Jairus can be interpreted as a pastor who leads and administers a congregation. He must have tried all sorts of things to cure his sick daughter. Unfortunately, she was only getting worse and worse, and now, she was about to die. As a leader of synagogue, he might have had a fairly good reputation among the people and he might have been uplifted by the people as faithful and holy. In the Gospel, we often look at the religious leaders, who are stubborn and arrogant thinking that they are the most faithful and holy ones among the Jews. So we see that they often argued with Jesus to test him and pull him down from his fame. But Jairus was different. Unlike other religious leaders, Jairus came to Jesus and knelt down at his feet and begged him continuously to heal his daughter. His desperate and humble attitude must have stood out that it captured Jesus’ attention while so many of the crowd was also trying to catch his attention.
Then there was another person who caught Jesus’ attention while Jesus was heading to Jairus’ house where his daughter was lying sick. This time, it was slightly different from Jairus. This woman was suffering from a chronic disease of bleeding for twelve years. Just like Jairus, she must have visited numbers of physicians and tried out all sorts of remedies to cure her disease. But she, too, was getting worse and worse, and now, she must have been exhausted and she probably wanted to give up after losing all her money and even her husband who left her. However, unlike Jairus, she did not beg or kneel in front of Jesus to ask him for healing. She did not want to stand out, since her disease was condemned as unclean to the Jews. She was not allowed to touch anybody, since she will also make them unclean. But she was desperate. She wanted to put her last hope to Jesus. So she carefully reached out for the cloak of Jesus, believing that just by touching his clothes, she will be healed. And as soon as she did, Jesus turned around and asked for the one who touched him.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus stopped and looked for the one who touched him? He could have continued on with his journey to Jairus’ house and the woman could have happily returned home without being noticed by anybody. But why, why did Jesus lift her up in such situation? Jesus might have wanted to confirm the fact that she had been healed. Furthermore, perhaps Jesus wanted to let her know that it was her faith that allowed her to be healed. And we should not forget that Jesus called her as “daughter”. It reveals to us that the relationship between Jesus and the woman has been formed, and what mattered more to Jesus was the relationship than her disease. Also, it is interesting that Jesus was on his way to see Jairus’ daughter, and he calls this woman his daughter. This must have shown the disciples and Jairus that this woman might be an unknown person who is blocking their busy schedule, but that for Jesus, she was his valued daughter as much as Jairus valued his daughter.
I tried to be in Jairus’ shoes and imagine how he might have felt when someone was making Jesus linger at such imminent situation for him. How about when he heard the news that his daughter was dead? I almost teared up just by imagining one of my family members’ death. I don’t think that I will be able to maintain a calm posture like Jairus did in front of Jesus after hearing his daughter’s death. I am sure he had a great turbulence inside his heart, and knowing this, Jesus comforts him by saying, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe.” I see this as another personal relationship being formed. Jesus wanted to create a trusting relationship with him. He told Jairus to “believe”, and when he did believe, Jesus brought up Jairus’ daughter back to life as he believed. What a life-changing it is for the whole family of Jairus!
Now, let’s find out what God wants us to learn from this story. There are three different types of people in this story: First is the one who brought her own sick body to Jesus, and second is the one who brought himself to Jesus on behalf of his sick daughter, and third is the crowd. The one who brought her own sick body to Jesus must have dragged herself to come to see Jesus. She must have hated crowded places, but she dived into it just to meet Jesus. Can you see how desperate she must have been? Then how about us? How much do we recognize our bleeding and bruised soul that can only be healed by Jesus? How much do we realize that we need Jesus? How much effort do we put in to have our souls recovered and healed? We look at this woman with pity, but we may be more severely injured or even near death in the eyes of Jesus. Also, we may think that we are like the suffering woman who was complimented by Jesus for her faith. But have you ever thought that we might actually be one of the crowd? We may be standing inside the crowd looking at how much this woman was bleeding. Or we might be the ones who tried to avoid touching her or who already had a stone in their hand ready to throw at her for touching a clean Rabbi with her unclean hand. We could be one of the crowds who experienced and witnessed all the miracles but did not have any personal relationship formed with Jesus. Or we may be the ones who were there just out of curiosity. Let’s not forget the one who came and knelt in front of Jesus on behalf of his daughter. Are we thinking that we are like him? If so, then we should question ourselves whether we come to Jesus to desperately ask for the healing of the souls around us. And that could include the church and this worship. Are we trying whatever we could do for the revival of the worship? Remember that Jairus begged and begged and begged Jesus to come to his house to save his daughter. Are we doing that? Are we desperately begging and begging and begging Jesus to come to this place, to the place of worship? Because we all know that the purpose of this place and this worship gathering is Jesus. And because we know that without his presence, this place is meaningless. Do the words in the praise songs speak for your heart and touch your soul? Do the words in the sermon last throughout the week to live closer to Jesus? Do you care for those who sit around you now and try to warm their heart with your love?
I would like you to look closer into your inner thoughts and minds and ask yourself why we came to this place at this very night. For what are we here for? Is coming to worship a priority and an awaited pleasant time for you even in your busiest life? Or is it just another commitment you have to do on your list for Sunday?
If each and every one of you are excited and full of joy inside of you, this worship will become an exciting and meaningful moment. Each one of you are the ones who can make this worship a very special one every week where God rejoices and willingly comes to receive our worship. The one or two small and big steps that we take to actively move the church and the people and ourselves will eventually revive the dead worship place. It will capture Jesus’ attention among the thousands of worships that are being performed in so many places just like Jairus & the woman captured Jesus’ attention in the midst of a big crowd.
The size of congregation or budget or the multiple varieties of nice programs are not what matters in God’s eyes. What matters is the desperateness, the pure love and joyfulness towards God.
Jesus is asking us, “Why is it so difficult for you to come to me?” Come. Come to Jesus. Jesus is not worried about your worries. Jesus is worried about you. Jesus is waiting to build deep and intimate relationship with you. Come to Jesus and kneel down before him for the healing of your broken soul.
Narrative Lectionary, Psalm 131, Mark 5: 21-43
Hope International Mission
By Young Kim
Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, God of healer and God of restorer.
Today’s Gospel reading is pretty well-known to us, and probably it was, too, back in those days when the Gospel was written, since this story appears in three different Gospels which are Matthew, Mark and Luke. So today, I would like you to imagine the scenes and picture them in detail to look closer into this famous story, hopefully, with a new perspective.
Let us go right into the text to see what was happening. Can you imagine Jesus being surrounded by a huge crowd who were asking questions, begging for healing, or simply following out of curiosity? While Jesus was in the crowd, there was one guy who had the privilege of granting Jesus’ attention. It was Jairus. He was a ruler of synagogue and he came and fell at Jesus’ feet and pleaded him to heal his dying daughter. In today’s sense, Jairus can be interpreted as a pastor who leads and administers a congregation. He must have tried all sorts of things to cure his sick daughter. Unfortunately, she was only getting worse and worse, and now, she was about to die. As a leader of synagogue, he might have had a fairly good reputation among the people and he might have been uplifted by the people as faithful and holy. In the Gospel, we often look at the religious leaders, who are stubborn and arrogant thinking that they are the most faithful and holy ones among the Jews. So we see that they often argued with Jesus to test him and pull him down from his fame. But Jairus was different. Unlike other religious leaders, Jairus came to Jesus and knelt down at his feet and begged him continuously to heal his daughter. His desperate and humble attitude must have stood out that it captured Jesus’ attention while so many of the crowd was also trying to catch his attention.
Then there was another person who caught Jesus’ attention while Jesus was heading to Jairus’ house where his daughter was lying sick. This time, it was slightly different from Jairus. This woman was suffering from a chronic disease of bleeding for twelve years. Just like Jairus, she must have visited numbers of physicians and tried out all sorts of remedies to cure her disease. But she, too, was getting worse and worse, and now, she must have been exhausted and she probably wanted to give up after losing all her money and even her husband who left her. However, unlike Jairus, she did not beg or kneel in front of Jesus to ask him for healing. She did not want to stand out, since her disease was condemned as unclean to the Jews. She was not allowed to touch anybody, since she will also make them unclean. But she was desperate. She wanted to put her last hope to Jesus. So she carefully reached out for the cloak of Jesus, believing that just by touching his clothes, she will be healed. And as soon as she did, Jesus turned around and asked for the one who touched him.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus stopped and looked for the one who touched him? He could have continued on with his journey to Jairus’ house and the woman could have happily returned home without being noticed by anybody. But why, why did Jesus lift her up in such situation? Jesus might have wanted to confirm the fact that she had been healed. Furthermore, perhaps Jesus wanted to let her know that it was her faith that allowed her to be healed. And we should not forget that Jesus called her as “daughter”. It reveals to us that the relationship between Jesus and the woman has been formed, and what mattered more to Jesus was the relationship than her disease. Also, it is interesting that Jesus was on his way to see Jairus’ daughter, and he calls this woman his daughter. This must have shown the disciples and Jairus that this woman might be an unknown person who is blocking their busy schedule, but that for Jesus, she was his valued daughter as much as Jairus valued his daughter.
I tried to be in Jairus’ shoes and imagine how he might have felt when someone was making Jesus linger at such imminent situation for him. How about when he heard the news that his daughter was dead? I almost teared up just by imagining one of my family members’ death. I don’t think that I will be able to maintain a calm posture like Jairus did in front of Jesus after hearing his daughter’s death. I am sure he had a great turbulence inside his heart, and knowing this, Jesus comforts him by saying, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe.” I see this as another personal relationship being formed. Jesus wanted to create a trusting relationship with him. He told Jairus to “believe”, and when he did believe, Jesus brought up Jairus’ daughter back to life as he believed. What a life-changing it is for the whole family of Jairus!
Now, let’s find out what God wants us to learn from this story. There are three different types of people in this story: First is the one who brought her own sick body to Jesus, and second is the one who brought himself to Jesus on behalf of his sick daughter, and third is the crowd. The one who brought her own sick body to Jesus must have dragged herself to come to see Jesus. She must have hated crowded places, but she dived into it just to meet Jesus. Can you see how desperate she must have been? Then how about us? How much do we recognize our bleeding and bruised soul that can only be healed by Jesus? How much do we realize that we need Jesus? How much effort do we put in to have our souls recovered and healed? We look at this woman with pity, but we may be more severely injured or even near death in the eyes of Jesus. Also, we may think that we are like the suffering woman who was complimented by Jesus for her faith. But have you ever thought that we might actually be one of the crowd? We may be standing inside the crowd looking at how much this woman was bleeding. Or we might be the ones who tried to avoid touching her or who already had a stone in their hand ready to throw at her for touching a clean Rabbi with her unclean hand. We could be one of the crowds who experienced and witnessed all the miracles but did not have any personal relationship formed with Jesus. Or we may be the ones who were there just out of curiosity. Let’s not forget the one who came and knelt in front of Jesus on behalf of his daughter. Are we thinking that we are like him? If so, then we should question ourselves whether we come to Jesus to desperately ask for the healing of the souls around us. And that could include the church and this worship. Are we trying whatever we could do for the revival of the worship? Remember that Jairus begged and begged and begged Jesus to come to his house to save his daughter. Are we doing that? Are we desperately begging and begging and begging Jesus to come to this place, to the place of worship? Because we all know that the purpose of this place and this worship gathering is Jesus. And because we know that without his presence, this place is meaningless. Do the words in the praise songs speak for your heart and touch your soul? Do the words in the sermon last throughout the week to live closer to Jesus? Do you care for those who sit around you now and try to warm their heart with your love?
I would like you to look closer into your inner thoughts and minds and ask yourself why we came to this place at this very night. For what are we here for? Is coming to worship a priority and an awaited pleasant time for you even in your busiest life? Or is it just another commitment you have to do on your list for Sunday?
If each and every one of you are excited and full of joy inside of you, this worship will become an exciting and meaningful moment. Each one of you are the ones who can make this worship a very special one every week where God rejoices and willingly comes to receive our worship. The one or two small and big steps that we take to actively move the church and the people and ourselves will eventually revive the dead worship place. It will capture Jesus’ attention among the thousands of worships that are being performed in so many places just like Jairus & the woman captured Jesus’ attention in the midst of a big crowd.
The size of congregation or budget or the multiple varieties of nice programs are not what matters in God’s eyes. What matters is the desperateness, the pure love and joyfulness towards God.
Jesus is asking us, “Why is it so difficult for you to come to me?” Come. Come to Jesus. Jesus is not worried about your worries. Jesus is worried about you. Jesus is waiting to build deep and intimate relationship with you. Come to Jesus and kneel down before him for the healing of your broken soul.