Mark 5: 21-43

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST | JUNE 27. 2021 | A Sermon based on Mark 5: 21-43 (RCL B) |  by David Zersen |

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.⁷She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,⁸for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” He looked all around to see who had done it.³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.”⁷He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.¹He 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 (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

WE ARE THAT LITTLE GIRL

Hospital and emergency room programming have provided some of the most popular television series over the years. I suspect that we relate because there is dramatic tension in life and death situations and because we personally know a friend or relative who may have experienced some of the trauma depicted. Many years ago, Marcus Welby, Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare captured audience interest. In more recent years, House and Grey’s Anatomy were popular. Within the last year or so The Good Doctor and New Amsterdam have attempted to create a focus unlike the medical dramas of past decades. Increasingly the medical language used is so “over the top” that audiences no longer worry about understanding the vocabulary. It is what it is! In a recent episode of The Good Doctor, a man’s wife had come out of a ten year coma and the husband simply knew that this would be the beginning of a positive future for both of them. However, the autistic doctor, Shaun Murphy, played by Freddie Highmore, explains in extremely technical terms that a fluid accidentally entered the wife’s brain for a short period giving her a reprieve that would last 24 hours, but then  she would return to a comatose state. The husband who had suffered as a caregiver for a decade rejected this technical and limiting prognosis and insisted that what happened was a miracle and the wife was now permanently cured.

Some of that drama relates to the action in today’s Gospel lesson. Last Sunday we had two parables about growing seeds and this Sunday we have two miraculous healings. Jesus is surrounded by crowds in both situations, is involved with two ritually unclean females and interestingly the number twelve appears in each incident: the young girl is twelve year’s old, and the woman has suffered from a menstrual haemorrhage for twelve years. These are unique situations, but so are most of the incidents remembered for us by the evangelists. It’s almost as if they are trying to capture our interest by using troubling attention getters, much as journalists today regularly do.

The first issue that strikes us is that both females were according to Jewish law “untouchable”. According to Leviticus 15 and 19, if one touched a menstruating woman or a dead person, that person would be ritually unclean for seven days. Then one would have to participate in purification rituals to return to normal. Given the involvement Jesus had with crowds of people many of whom might have had had sores and wounds that emitted blood, he would have had to be undergoing purification rituals non-stop. The reason why Jesus ignored the ritual laws, however, had little to do with his concern for avoiding getting caught up in rules and much more to do with  his compassion for people. Mark makes this clear in the next chapter when he tells us (6:34) that the ambling and at times desperate crowds were like sheep without a shepherd.

The second issue that intrigues us is that many changes in the medical world have taken place that raise questions about the use of the term “miracle”. The dictionary now understands miracle as an event that comes to us from outside our realm of human experience. It is, as the husband in The Good Doctor episode understood, a visitation from the realm beyond us and one simply cannot use “highfaluting” language to explain it. We need, however, to understand something of the first century world of Jesus to make sense of this. In the Greek world as well as in the Jewish one, miracles were common. One could seek them from the Greek god Asclepius or with prayers that allowed for purification or healing. It’s in some ways similar to approaches employed by people today who have a disease for which they can’t find a cure so they try everything from medical marijuana to clinics across the border in Mexico. All of us cling to life, so why wouldn’t we try anything that works? In the world of Jesus, many had tried a variety of cures from “outside the box” and Jesus was perhaps the last hope for some. I’m currently reading through the Gospel according to Mark in Greek with friends. One in our group, a physician, had to smile at the reference in our text to the many doctor’s from whom the woman with the haemorrhage had sought a cure. Sometimes a diagnosis may not offer much help.

Like many today who believe that God’s healing power can alter maladies in their lives, Jesus knew that his loving touch could help a troubled person surrender himself/herself to an intervention for which doctors might be able to find their own words. However, there are changes in us that cannot be explained with medical terminology that may not be useful for everyone. For some of us, all we will need to do is thank God for allowing us to experience a new direction or correction in our body or mind. For some that will be unexplainable. For others it may be a miracle.

The third interesting issue in this lesson is the exposure that we are given to the original language of Jesus. My great teacher, Joachim Jeremias, referred to these speech patterns as the ipsissima vox jesu, Latin for “the exact words of Jesus”. There are rare places in the Gospels where the author remembers comments that employ the precise words that Jesus used. The Gospels were written in Greek, and they translated Jesus’ words from his native tongue, Aramaic. However, for some reason, in about five cases the evangelists remembered the actual Aramaic words that Jesus used. One example is “Ephatha,” an Aramaic charge to the blind man, “be opened.” (Mk. 7:34) In today’s text, the author remembers the original Aramaic charge to the twelve-year-old girl, “Talitha, cum,” or, in English, “little girl, stand up” Jeremias questioned why the evangelist chose to remember the original voice of Jesus in these cases, rather than translating them into Greek. His contention was that not only did the Aramaic original take us close to the historic Jesus, but it also helped us appreciate the simple, confident and certain tone in Jesus’ voice and practice as he brought a person into God’s healing presence.

This leads to the fourth interesting issue, that this very simple word Jesus addressed to those seeking healing was in sharp contrast to approaches used in the ancient world. Jesus said Ephatha or Talitha cum. He didn’t create a big disturbance or get involved in all kinds of techniques that were used in the ancient world. I well remember a scene in the film, Zorba, in which a woman who had been Anthony Quinn’s lover is dying in her home and all the villagers gather around the house, screeching and weeping and wailing. It was a cultural ritual that showed how desperate and sorrowful one was and how much he/she desired to participate emotionally in the essence of the experience. Such an emotional release is wonderfully portrayed in a 1995 South African novel by Zakes Mda entitled Ways of Dying. Toloki, the protagonist, takes on the job of a professional mourner who creates experiences that prove that healing and dying are meant to be powerful emotional moments, much like what was happening in today’s text. Jesus says to the mourners, “Why are you making such a commotion and weeping and waiting!?” Of course, we can add, as the author of First Thessalonians reminds us (4:13), that this is what people do when they have no hope and have lost all understanding of who’s ultimately in charge of health and sickness, life and death. Jesus takes the people in our text to the heart of the matter by placing asking them to place their faith in God. There are no examples in his ministry where he performs dramatic rituals, “slaying people in the spirit” like the TV faith healers. His own form of faith healing used simple words like “Be opened” and “Stand up”. When God willed a change in one’s circumstance, Dr. Murphy might call it an emission that resulted in a reversal of the atrophy in the posterior cortex. Others might just say it was unexpected or it was a miracle.

What can such reflections on our text mean for us today? Many who live with and around us are troubled by life’s experiences, by its uncertainty and confusion. For example, many who would not listen to the voices of medical practitioners in the current pandemic insisted that they were being misled by recommended or required vaccinations. Others who witnessed police actions quelling riots on government buildings or stores in cities around the U.S. felt that we might become a police state. News reports of demonstrations and riots encouraged angry reactions on the part of viewers who might otherwise not have been involved. People allowed themselves to be stretched to their psychological and spiritual limit. At times, some were unclear whether the whole country had lost its way or whether just they were more overwhelmed than they wanted to be. Some seemed to be partly dead– and partly alive, living in a place between real and surreal circumstances.

Of course, those are political manifestations of current experiences, but they are real. At the same time, all of us have challenges resulting from physical, psychological or spiritual maladies. Like many in the crowds surrounding Jesus, we long for optimism in the midst of despair, certainty in the face of chaos, faith when surrounded by doubt and healing for wounds that go deep. Today we are confronted with Jesus who reaches out to us with a simple touch in bread and wine and a simple word that assures us. Suddenly we know who we are. We are that little girl! We are the little girl in the story! We are the one to whom Jesus says today: “Stand up!” Let your faith support you. God is calling you. He wants you whole. He wants you to have the full stature that belongs to a son or daughter of God.  Do not fear; only believe.

Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.

The Rev. David Zersen, D.Min., Ed.D., FRHistS

President Emeritus, Concordia University Texas

djzersen@gmail.com