Journey's Weekly Homilies

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 
June 29, 2003
Homily by Robin

Wisdom 1:13-15 and 2:23-24
2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15
Mark 5:21-43 

Three Gospels tell the two stories we have just heard:  Matthew, Mark and Luke.  When three gospels tell the same story we can be sure that something momentous happened—we can be sure that the Gospel authors felt that there were important lessons to be taught.  In this story Jesus turned his social world upside-down.  Let’s go back in time and see how Jesus did that.

Let us begin by imagining the crowd that was with Jesus.  “A large crowd gathered around Him…”  “A large crowd followed Him…”   The word “crowd” is used four times in the story, but a more accurate translation might be “many poor.”   Imagine that we are part of this crowd—curious, wondering aloud about this teacher Jesus, mostly dressed in poor quality clothing, mostly barefoot, mostly illiterate, and very possibly homeless.  These poor people would almost certainly be without privilege or social position in their own country that was occupied by Roman armies.  These Roman rulers colluded with the Jewish priests and landowners to oppress the Jewish peasants—and these poor people who flocked after Jesus had little faith that they would experience change to their social world during their lifetime. 

Now in our imagination we see the “president of the synagogue” approaching Jesus and “begging him earnestly” to come and heal his desperately ill daughter.  In contrast to the crowd, Jairus is a man of wealth and social position—he holds a position of authority in both his family and his social group.  Yet here comes Jairus—on behalf of his daughter—to humbly beg this wandering itinerant teacher Jesus, who is not affiliated with any temple or synagogue or authorized healing authority, to come and “lay your hands” on his daughter that she might be healed.  Symbolically the social order is turned upside down when Jairus “falls at his (Jesus’) feet” in the midst of this crowd of poor people and begs for assistance.

Now Jesus did not discriminate against the wealthy, but he is very attuned, very responsive to the needs of the poor who have gathered around him.  As Jesus begins to walk with Jairus, a woman who has suffered a hemorrhage for 12 years presses through the crowd to approach Jesus.  Let’s imagine this:  In Jewish culture a bleeding woman is unclean and cannot remain with her family during the time of her bleeding.  If any of you have read “The Red Tent,” you will remember that when a woman bleeds, she withdraws into private women’s space until she is no longer “unclean” and then she is ritually cleansed before rejoining her family.  Now let us imagine that this woman has been bleeding for 12 years.  She has been a social outcast for that entire time.   Clearly she has no male protectors to solicit on her behalf, as did the daughter of Jairus whose father was willing to beg Jesus for her healing.  This unnamed woman, who has spent all her money on ineffectual treatments, simply wants to touch the garment of Jesus.  Imagine how desperate she must feel—impoverished, with no male protectors, living the past 12 years as a social outcast.  In order to approach Jesus, this woman must overcome her social training that tells her that:

·          she must remain hidden from sight while bleeding;

·          it is improper for a woman to speak directly to a man especially a holy man;

·          she is unworthy simply because she was born a woman in a male-dominated society.

This brave woman relies only on her faith for strength and courage.  Her behavior challenges the social attitudes of her time and she is rewarded when Jesus heals her and names her “my daughter,” thus claiming her as his family and restoring her to an honorable place in society.  Again, Jesus has symbolically turned the existing social order upside down by healing and claiming as “my daughter” an unnamed poor sick woman without family or resources.  He has also taken as his higher priority the needs of a poor marginalized woman—remember that Jesus stopped to talk with her, and claim her as family—instead of first tending to the needs of the wealthy social leader Jairus. 

Imagine our country if only President Bush and the Congress could hear the cries of the poor, and attend to the needs of our marginalized poor and sick so compassionately and so completely.  Now that would turn our social order upside down! 

But that’s not the end of this story.  Jesus has stopped to attend to the needs of this outcast woman, and now messengers come to tell Jairus that his daughter has died.  They encourage Jairus to come home directly, without Jesus.  “Why put the Master to any further trouble?”  Perhaps these messengers are fearful of what punitive actions the authorities might take if Jesus visits the home of the president of the synagogue.  Certainly the messengers have no faith that Jesus can do any good.  But Jesus tells Jairus, “Only have faith.”  Not money or power or position.  “Only have faith.”  Jesus suggests that all that is needed for healing is faith.  But faith is not what Jesus finds when he arrives at Jairus’ home.  No, there is a commotion, “weeping and wailing.”  When Jesus suggests that the child is only sleeping, he is ridiculed.  Does ridicule stop Jesus?  No, he “turns them out” and taking the parents and three disciples, he tells the child “to get up,” which she does.  The humble faith of Jairus is rewarded when his daughter is healed and is returned to his family.  Jesus suggests that wealthy families also need healing—social position and privilege and family cannot make life whole. 

So what lessons does this story teach for today?  There are many:  Healing is possible when you risk everything and challenge the status quo.  To be a follower of Jesus means challenging an existing social order that oppresses the poor, the sick and the outcast.  Jesus can heal those who, with faith and courage, question an unjust social order.  The marginalized have priority in the eyes of Jesus, who he claims as his family.  Jesus will attend to all who show faith.  Jesus welcomes the poor, the outcast and also those of privilege.  Jesus does not discriminate. 

“Only have faith.”  If we listen with a discerning ear to the nightly news we know that social change is happening and justice is coming.  Just as one example, this past week we heard in the news about the release of 12 black men in Texas who were wrongly convicted of very serious drug charges based only on the word of one white sheriff’s deputy, who is now charged with perjury.  The world of Southern race relations and everything that phrase implies has been turned upside down.  I lived in that Southern world for many years as I know some of you have also, and I cheered when I heard the story.  And two weeks ago on June 15 some of us marched in the Pride Parade to support the marginalized community of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.  This marching probably seems like a small gesture but it is enormous for those of us who remember when police raids routinely terrorized gatherings of gay people and lesbians—our very existence was illegal.  This week Canada declared that two people of the same sex have the civil right to marry.  This is earth-shattering change—unimaginable 50 years ago.

“Only have faith.”  Today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians reminds us “…that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their want, so that their abundance may supply your want, that there may be equality.”  Jesus tells us to have faith and Paul urges the early Christian communities to remember that equality can be theirs through sharing God’s abundance.  This is the path to justice.  Faith—that we can achieve equality through sharing God’s gifts of abundance.  We can challenge the status quo and work for social justice.  We can welcome the outcast.  The journey of 10,000 miles begins with a single step and we can take that step today.  As a community of faithful believers in God’s justice, we can step forward and embody these lessons of equality and faith.