{"id":5346,"date":"2021-06-22T18:49:15","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=5346"},"modified":"2021-06-22T18:52:14","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:52:14","slug":"sermon-on-mark-521-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/sermon-on-mark-521-43\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon on Mark 5:21-43"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost | (Proper 8, Ordinary 13) 27\/06\/2021) | <\/strong>Sermon on Mark 5:21-43 | by Paul Bieber | <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mark 5:21-43<\/strong> Revised Standard Version<\/p>\n

21 <\/sup>And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him; and he was beside the sea. 22 <\/sup>Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, 23 <\/sup>and besought him, saying, \u201cMy little daughter is at the point of death.  Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.\u201d 24 <\/sup>And he went with him.<\/p>\n

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 <\/sup>And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 <\/sup>and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 <\/sup>She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 <\/sup>For she said, \u201cIf I touch even his garments, I shall be made well.\u201d 29 <\/sup>And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 <\/sup>And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, \u201cWho touched my garments?\u201d 31 <\/sup>And his disciples said to him, \u201cYou see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, \u2018Who touched me?\u2019\u201d 32 <\/sup>And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 <\/sup>But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 <\/sup>And he said to her, \u201cDaughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

35 <\/sup>While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler\u2019s house some who said, \u201cYour daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?\u201d 36 <\/sup>But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, \u201cDo not fear, only believe.\u201d 37 <\/sup>And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 <\/sup>When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 <\/sup>And when he had entered, he said to them, \u201cWhy do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.\u201d 40 <\/sup>And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside, and took the child\u2019s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 <\/sup>Taking her by the hand he said to her, \u201cTalitha cumi\u201d; which means, \u201cLittle girl, I say to you, arise.\u201d 42 <\/sup>And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 <\/sup>And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

also<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lamentations 3:22-33<\/strong><\/p>\n

Psalm 30<\/strong><\/p>\n

II Corinthians 8:7-15<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Two Daughters: Saving Faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grace, peace, and much joy to you, people of God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Jesus first came into Galilee offering his new teaching with authority, he taught and did his first mighty works in synagogues. Of course, since that beginning the religious authorities have begun to oppose him. One of the reasons for this was that he didn\u2019t seem to respect the Old Testament laws about uncleanness, about ritual impurity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Old Testament was doing social distancing before it was cool. We think first of lepers, keeping their distance, calling out \u201cunclean, unclean.\u201d But touching a dead body, human or animal, brought the requirement of distancing until you could sanitize and offer sacrifice. And the flow of blood\u2014because in the Old Testament blood is<\/em> life\u2014made women unclean during menstruation, so long as the flow of blood continued. Today our Gospel gives us a miracle within a miracle, and in both of them the Old Testament purity code is challenged by God\u2019s steadfast love in Jesus, and by saving faith.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jairus is a powerful and respectable religious leader, an archisynag\u014dgos<\/em>\u2014the president of his congregation. And he believes that Jesus can help his very sick daughter\u2014if he arrives in time. In the presence of the crowd he kneels before Jesus, laying his respectability aside, and asks that Jesus come and lay hands on his daughter that she may be saved (s\u014dth\u0113<\/em>) and live\u2014now, please; she is at the point of death.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 attention to the woman who makes her way to him through the crowd means that he will not be in time to save Jairus\u2019 daughter. On the way to Jairus\u2019 house, Jesus suddenly wheels around in the crowd and asks who touched him. Ridiculous\u2014as his disciples point out, representing common sense: the crowd is pressing around him on all sides. But Jesus knows that another kind of touch, a touching coupled with faith, has occurred. And one other person knows it. A woman who has been unclean because of a flow of blood for twelve years. Only the wealthy consulted physicians in Jesus\u2019 day, and she has seen many, so she must have once been a woman of means and some status. If she had been married, she would have been blamed for the childlessness that her condition would have caused, and been \u201cdismissed,\u201d divorced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now she is weak, physically ill, impoverished, without status, and, of course, unclean. She is ritually impure and has to keep her distance from everyone. Impurity was regarded as highly contagious: she may not move through this crowd, where everyone\u2019s touching each other. And she absolutely may not touch even the garment of the one whom even the demons have already identified as the Holy One of God, Jesus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But, like Jairus, she has heard of Jesus. Faith comes from hearing, and she believes that Jesus can help her. She\u2019s as desperate about her own condition as Jairus is about that of his daughter, and, like him, she kneels before Jesus, and tells him how the faith that grew in her when the word about Jesus was implanted overcame her fear, and how his power did heal her and she knew it at once. Jesus calls her \u201cDaughter\u201d and tells her more than \u201cyour faith has made you well.\u201d He says, \u201cyour faith has saved<\/em> you\u201d (s\u00e9s\u014dk\u00e9n<\/em>); go in peace and health and wholeness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But what about the other daughter, Jairus\u2019 daughter? The report from Jairus\u2019 house confirms Jairus\u2019 fear: this interruption of Jesus\u2019s itinerary has cost Jairus\u2019 daughter her life. But faith can drive out fear: it did so for the woman with a flow of blood. And when Jesus hears the suggestion that his visit to Jairus\u2019 house will be fruitless, he responds with the command that could be the epigraph of St. Mark\u2019s Gospel: \u201cDo not fear, only believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At Jairus\u2019 house, the mourners represent common sense, laughing at Jesus\u2019 statement that the child\u2019s death is but a slumber. Death is real, and dead people stay dead. Jesus goes into the room. Doubtless he is aware that if he touches this corpse he will have to socially distance until he has sanitized his entire body and all his clothes, and will have to offer a sacrifice and wait until sundown before the distancing can end. Even so, he takes her by the hand and says \u201cTalitha cumi<\/em>,\u201d which literally means, \u201clittle lamb<\/em>, arise.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jesus healed one daughter and raised another. Yet many people still get sick and all must die. Has nothing changed because Christ came? Christ, St. Paul says, was rich and became poor, that we might become rich. This is not an early example of the prosperity gospel, it is statement of the fr\u00f6hliche wechsel<\/em>, the joyous exchange of Christ\u2019s descent into death so that he might take our dead hands and raise us to overflowing life. Christ\u2019s coming does change things. But when?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like Jairus, we worry that the Lord\u2019s delay in answering our prayers will end in catastrophe. But like the woman, we have heard about Jesus, and we recognize the life and work and teachings of Jesus as the saving power of God active in the world. Faith is the response to hearing, and so is Jesus\u2019 power released. Like the miracle within a miracle of today\u2019s Gospel, ours is a story of salvation by faith. The woman whose faith overcame her fear is a model for all those who want to enter into a relationship with Jesus and earn from him the affectionate address, \u201cdaughter,\u201d or \u201cson.\u201d That move from fear to faith is possible for every one of us, though we may require the \u201cgift of desperation\u201d to see it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And the other daughter, Jairus\u2019 daughter? Death is a more formidable enemy than illness. But for those who trust Jesus, death is only a sleep from which he can and will awaken us. The words for \u201carise\u201d and \u201cgot up\u201d in this story are resurrection words. Faith in Jesus means fruitful growth in our lives now, and an awaking from sleep in the likeness of Jesus when God, in his steadfast love, raises us from death.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The story of the miracle within a miracle shows us that respectable congregation president or person with no status or money, male or female, powerful or weak, all can be part of the fruitful growth of the kingdom when faith comes through hearing the word. Do not fear, only believe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rev. Dr. Paul Bieber<\/p>\n

San Diego, California, USA<\/p>\n

E-Mail: paul.bieber@sbcglobal.net<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost | (Proper 8, Ordinary 13) 27\/06\/2021) | Sermon on Mark 5:21-43 | by Paul Bieber |  Mark 5:21-43 Revised Standard Version 21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him; and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,157,108,110,760,3,224,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-5346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-markus","category-beitragende","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-05-chapter-05-markus","category-nt","category-paul-bieber","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5346"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5349,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5346\/revisions\/5349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5346"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=5346"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=5346"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=5346"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=5346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}