Pentecost 5St Mark 5:21-43
1 July 2012
What do you do when you are treated unfairly? Sulk? Feel sorry for
yourself? Get even, perhaps? Maybe complain to some higher power?
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Now lets make the question a bit harder. What do you do when God
seems to treat you unfairly? What recourse is there when God seems to
stand against you? When God seems to have become your enemy?
That’s the situation we find in our gospel reading this morning.
Two stories, and in both God seems to be acting unfairly. God seems to
be acting as an enemy.
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First of all, lest we think this question of God’s acting
unfairly to be of only academic interest and not a part of real life,
notice how our text is constructed. The story of the woman with the
issue of blood is imbedded within the other story – the one
concerning the death of Jairus’ daughter. It’s as if the second
story tumbles into the first. Like a second telephone that rings as
soon as you’ve answered the first one. You’re in the middle of
one thing, and something new intrudes. Your attention is diverted,
disrupted. You jump from one thing to another. So it appears to be
with Jesus. Just as He begins to deal with Jairus, here’s this
woman coming up behind Him. And us? Just when we’re eyeball-deep in
the muck of one problem, another climbs in beside it. Our cup may not
be overflowing, but our plate seems filled to the gunwales.
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But that’s how life is, isn’t it? The events of life never
seem nicely ordered and arranged. Never like the movements of a
symphony where one part ends before the next takes over. No overlap
there. No ragged beginnings or messy endings. Rather, the problems
of life seem to flop in upon each other, pile up against each other,
jostle each other for attention.
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Look what we have in today. We find here the consequences of sin
written in large, human letters. To Adam and Eve, as they eyed the
tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God said, “In the day that
you eat of it you shall surely die.” They ate, and the daughter of
Jairus died. In the Garden – in response to sin – God told Eve,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing.” The curse was
spoken to Eve, and the unnamed woman in our text suffered for 12 years
from a discharge of blood. So, what do you do when God seems to be
treating you unfairly? Seems to be against you?
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It has been said that God’s Law speaks in terms of what “should
be” but its purpose is not to accomplish the “should be.” Its
purpose is to reveal the what is, but should not be. If God’s Law
were only about what “should be” it would be content to say to us,
“Now don’t be an idolater.” And we, for our part, could respond
in kind, “Okay, I won’t.” And then, having responded to God’s
Law in an appropriately pious manner we could happily be on our way,
convinced we’ve been obedient. But when the Law says instead: “You
are an idolater. Stop it!” – then we are brought up short. Then
we must pay attention. Then our mouth dries up and words fail us. In
the face of such law talk we either repent, or we run away. Either
our knees buckle in repentance, or our heart is hardened. And
especially is this the case when the evidence of our idolatry piles up
around us.
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And what is that evidence? The very thing we mentioned in our
earlier question. We think we are being treated unfairly by God. The
consequences of sin begin to show up and we cry “foul.” Do you
think God created man and woman so they could get cancer? Or
Alzheimer’s? Or gout? Or heart disease? Of course not. God
warned Adam and Eve that disobedience – sin – would lead to death,
and we die every day.
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So, what do you do when God seems unfair? You run to Him! Odd as
it sounds, you run to the One who appears to be the source of your
problem. And not just some of you. All of you. No indecisive milling
about. Just run – run to God. There is no other place to go.
Would you instead look inside yourself for help? There’s nothing in
there except sin and death. You know that. The evidence shows up all
the time. Are there friends who can solve your problems – heal your
soul? No. They’re just like you. Up to their eyeballs in their
own mortality and not all that interested in yours. No, as strange as
it sounds, you run to God. Your sin has caused the problem, and the
One who declares you to be a sinner is the only One who can save you
from that sin – the only one who can redeem you.
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But now something else must be said. Don’t be fooled by Satan a
second time. You’ve already bought the lie that sin is no big deal.
Don’t for a moment now begin to think of yourself as undeserving of
God’s attention – unworthy of His care. He claimed you at the
baptismal font, and He will not let you go. His promise stands. He
intends to be your God. Remember how St Paul describes us? “. .
.consider your calling, brothers, not many of you were wise according
to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble
birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” Satan is
forever trying to drive wedges between you and God. But look what we
find in our text. Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, had a very
public problem and He came to Jesus in a very public way. On the
other hand, the woman’s problem was largely private – known to
very few. She sought to come privately – anonymously. Both could
have thought themselves unfairly treated by God. Both could have
shook their fist at God in anger. Both could have sulked and turned
away from God. Or, both could have thought themselves forsaken by God
– unworthy and unwanted by God. They could have thought any of
these things. But instead, both ran to God for help.
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To the woman Jesus says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well;
go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” To the father Jesus
says, “Do not fear, only believe.” From where we stand, sin is a
fearsome destroyer. We see its toll all round. But Jesus says, “Do
not fear.” Do not fear because Jesus is the victor over sin. Over
death. Over hell. He has subdued and conquered them all. Our text
says that when the woman touched Jesus’ garment, “He perceived in
himself that power had gone out from Him.” He who is the life of the
world absorbs not only the sin, but also sin’s consequences. He
strangles death, and leaves Satan crushed. His power is
all-sufficient, all-availing – and it “goes out” from Him –
for you and to you.
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So, what do you do when it seems that God is treating you unfairly?
You run to Him. You run to Him for relief. You run to Him for
forgiveness, for life, for salvation. You run to Him, just as you have
done again this morning.
Amen
+Consummatun est, in omne tempus+
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