Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, June 29, 2009
Lessons designated by the Common Lectionary include: 2 Sam. 1:1, 17-27, Psalm 130, 2 Corinthians 8: 7-15 and Mark 5: 21-43.
Miracles and healing challenge us in our Gospel lection for this Sunday; the first being the miraculous healing of the woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for many years while the second, even more dramatic, is the raising of Jairus’s little daughter who had just died. There are similarities between these two encounters of Jesus. For one thing, both Jairus and the woman are not passive but take the initiative. For another, a close reading of the story indicates that both were also told by the “experts” that their cures were not possible. Yet despite all of this, both come to Jesus in faith with the expectation of the miraculous healings that occurred.
It is possible that such miracle stories can base our faith on very shaky ground. For example, a few years ago in Florida, a woman, whose child was recovering from an organ transplant operation, got on the radio and said some rather inappropriate things,… at least to my mind they sounded inappropriate. She said that because of her faith, she knew God would come through for her, that her prayers would be answered, that the hospital would find the necessary organ for her daughter. “It was a miracle,” she said, “that this organ was found just in the nick of time.”
Meanwhile back in Texas, a grieving mother and father tried to cope with the tragic death of their daughter, the innocent victim of a drunk driver. In an effort to resurrect some meaning out of this terrible experience, they offered one of their daughter’s organs so that someone else might live. This “someone else” was, of course, the daughter of that woman in Florida.
If this is what we mean by “miracle,” then I have to say, “No, I don’t believe in miracles.” Of course, there is a miracle in this story; several in fact. But the miracle wasn’t in God reaching down out of heaven, suspending the natural laws of nature, causing a young girl to be killed by an intoxicated driver so that some other young girl, by virtue of her mother’s prayer, might live. No, the miracle was in the goodness of that father and mother who, in spite of their grief, or maybe because of their grief, wanted to do something for someone else. The miracle is that they weren’t selfish and bitter and cruel at the time of their daughter’s death.
The healing miracle is in the wonder of God’s creation, the human body, which despite its vulnerability and limitations has incredible, one might say “miraculous” powers of healing and regeneration. The miracle is in the human mind and in the developments of medical science, all the research, all the technology, all the imagination, all the God-given, God-created, God-inspired ingenuity that’s present in such a procedure as an organ transplant.
The Greek and Hebrew words for “miracle” don’t mean magic or something supernatural, so much as it does something wonderful, something powerful, a sign or a symbol of God’s presence. And by that definition, anything that excites us to wonder and move us to action, anything or anyone that reminds us that God is with us, is a miracle!
One very positive meaning that comes out of our lection from Mark is that Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage took the initiative. They weren’t passive but had an expectancy that showed itself in action. The woman fought through the crowd to get close to Jesus and reached out her hand. Jairus took the initiative, the first step in coming to Jesus for help. Biblical faith is always pro-active in its most profound expressions with a high degree of expectancy.
The implications of this can be dramatic and miracle-inducing! For example, if we have faith that God values human life through non-violence and the responsible use of guns, we’ll move ourselves to responsible action in opposing the irresponsibility of the NRA in every way possible. If we have faith that God desires decent health care for all of the citizens of our nation we’ll work to support legislation that makes it possible. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”
Remember, it was active faith and expectancy of healing that caused Jesus to praise Jairus and the woman with a hemorrhage. It is such faith that can give us the determination to more than “hang in” but rather to be among those who in spite of the odds participate in building God’s kingdom.
Ralph Ahlberg
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