4B Pentecost Lamentations 3:22-33 & Mark 5:21-43 June 28, 2009
As far as prophets go, during his lifetime, Jeremiah didn’t get a lot of respect and yet now he is looked up as one of the major prophets of the Old Testament.
For 40 years Jeremiah proclaimed God’s will to the people, he was a voice pleading for his people to repent and to remain faithful, but no one bothered to listen to him. Having come on the scene 100 years after the highly respected prophet Isaiah, during the religious reforms begun by King Josiah of Judah, Jeremiah criticized the shallowness of the reforms. And just as he warned, the reforms had no lasting effect. Later he preached against idol worship but some of the people retorted that things were actually better when they worshiped idols. They cursed Jeremiah, threatened to kill him and threw him into a dungeon to die.
Even when he was eventfully released, Jeremiah would not be silenced. Conventional wisdom would suggest keeping a low profile, but Jeremiah, not much of a prescriber of conventional wisdom, spoke up and advised the government against making an alliance with Egypt, but they went right ahead with it.
He wrote a book of his prophecies; King Johiakim cut it up and burned it.
He warned that Jerusalem would fall to the enemy and he was thrown into prison again, this time accused of being a traitor.
Whatever Jeremiah preached, the false prophets were quick to contradict his words and would preach what the people wanted to hear.
Oddly, after the fall of Judah, folks were suddenly interested in what he had to say, so he warmed the not to move to Egypt. But what did they do? They packed up and headed toward Egypt and to make matters worse, they forced Jeremiah to go with them.
The truth is, none of this came as a great surprise to Jeremiah because God had told him that folks would fight against him. Fortunately God also promised to bless Jeremiah with the strength necessary to carry out this calling. And call upon it Jeremiah did.
Interestingly, a part of Jeremiah’s commission was also “to build and to plant.” And throughout the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations there are glimpses of better things to come. Not only did Jeremiah promise a return of the Jews from exile in 70 years. But he also foresaw in the future a “day of the Lord” when all evil would be overcome. At that time God would establish a new convent with is people, based on the forgiveness of their sin. A time when everyone would know and obey God, a time when they would enter into a new covenant and faithfully follow God’s law, for it would be written upon their hearts.
So, despite of the lack of respect Jeremiah often encountered, as well as the constant setbacks and perceived failures, our reading from the Book of Lamentations reminds us that there is often more going on than what meets the eye. And in this case it is the message of hope that runs through our reading and the entire book of Lamentations.
As you read Lamentations it becomes apparent that Jeremiah and his people are in one of the most hopeless situations you could ever imagine and yet he preaches that there is hope in God. He proclaims that we should never give up because the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Or, as our hymn stated; “there is no shadow of turning with thee; thou changest not, they compassions they fail not; as thou has been, thou forever wilt be.”
This message of hope is not limited to Jeremiah’s experience as we see in our Gospel reading this morning as well.
If you recall, we have not one, but two healing stories provided in this reading. The first involves Jarius, the leader of the local synagogue, a man who is desperate because his 12-year-old daughter was dying. His desperation was heightened by the fact that there was nothing he could do to help her, even though he was a person of power and influence in the community. In desperation he throws himself at Jesus’ feet and shamelessly begs Christ to come and heal his daughter. He is absolutely out of options. Jesus is his last and only option.
According to Mark, Jesus agrees to come, but on the way another desperate person reaches out to him, hoping against hope that he will heal her. This time it is a nameless woman who has been suffering with a flow of blood for 12 years. Twelve years of going to doctors and spending all of her money and not getting better, in fact she was getting worse. But this wasn’t just an illness. According to Jewish law this flow of blood made her unclean. Anyone she touched would be made ritually unclean. Therefore she was cutoff from family and friends. She couldn’t take part in any ritual actions of worship. She couldn’t even lead weekly Sabbath prayers for her family. She was unable to bear children. Even if she was married, her husband had every right to divorce her according to Jewish law. Without a husband or her father to take care of her, this woman would be forced into life on the streets unless some kind family member or friend would take pity on her. The bottom line was, she was an outcast and was to be ostracized from the Temple the community. In her desperation she says to herself, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”
Our reading tells us that Jesus feels the power flow out from him and he asks the disciples who touched him. The disciples were confused by such a question in light of all the people who were crowded around him. But the unnamed woman knows what he meant for she felt his healing power, so she comes forward in fear and trembling anticipating the worst and tells the truth about her life. And rather than scold or chastise, Jesus has compassion on her. He says to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease.” In that first word, “Daughter”, the woman’s social standing in this town was restored. Finally, after 12 years, she would be restored to wholeness and the words, “go in peace” never sounded sweeter.
And what about Jarius? This whole time he has been standing there…waiting. Can you imagine what is going through his mind? His daughter is dying, time is of the essence and here Jesus is asking about who touched him. He might even have been feeling somewhat uncharitable in light of the circumstance and may have muttered about wasting time on this worthless outcast of a woman.
Well, to make matters worse, the word comes his daughter has died. All hope is gone. Those who bring the news and those who are standing around suggest that there is no longer any need to bother the Teacher as there is nothing he can do now. But Jesus says to Jarius; “Do not fear, only believe.”
In those sparse words, Jesus preaches his shortest sermon of his career. “Do not fear,” he says to the grief-besotted man, “only believe.” “Do not fear, only believe.” I’m going to suggest that this sermon was not just for Jarius’ benefit, and not just for the early church Mark addresses, but for “all who suffer from the human condition, who are up against things they cannot control.” In other words, this is a message each one of needs to hear. It is also a tough message to heed, as there are so many things in this world of ours to frighten us, to cause us to fear, withdraw from and withhold. The economy is still struggling, folks are still without work and others live in fear of losing work; a host of pandemics threaten our health and the health of our loved ones; wars continue to rage and terrorists continue to threaten; North Korea is once again doing some saber rattling…those things and others can scare the life out of you if you let them. But Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.” Jeremiah says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases…great is your faithfulness.”
At the home of Jarius, Jesus enters with Jarius and his wife and stands over the child. Unlike last week’s story of Jesus calming the storm, a scene filled with noise, chaos and turbulence, here the scene is subdued, the kind of quiet that surrounds the sorrow of a dead child, yet Jesus is once again calm and confidant. Instead of raising a hand to command the sea to calm down, he reaches down to take the hand of the little girl and invites her to rise up and live. And she does. She gets up and her life is restored.
A morning that began with hopelessness—ends with hope overflowing.
A morning that begins with two women who by religious and cultural laws were considered unclean: a mature woman who has been hemorrhaging for twelve years and a twelve year old girl who has died—both would have been considered ritually unclean—ends with Jesus breaking through the taboos and boundaries and giving renewed dignity and new life.
A morning that began with two daughters of Abraham facing a hopeless future—ends with words of restoration and peace as well as the reminder, “do not fear, only believe.”
Today we have come together to hear Jesus’ words of healing to each of us.
Today as we sing the hymn, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” we do so with the faith that even before we are able to raise our hands, Jesus is reaching out to us and saying, “Do not fear, only believe” and he is inviting us to get up and live the abundant life that only God can provide.
I can’t begin to assume that I know all the situations you are facing in your life right now, but I can assume that we all have something that threatens us or scares us or gives us reason to be anxious.
We might not have the multitude of problems that faced Jeremiah, but we can learn from him. We can listen to his faith in God’s faithfulness. We can place our hope in the same Lord who has promised that his steadfast love will never cease.
We may not be suffering from an illness like the woman Jesus healed. We may not be social outcasts. But we can still reach out to Jesus and ask that he offer us his healing touch for that which is causing us pain.
We may not be facing the death of a loved one, like Jarius was. We may not be facing our own death, but we will one day. And on that day we can hear Jesus say to us, “Do not fear, only believe.” For God has demonstrated that he has power even over death and he has promised to raise us to new life.
So, whatever is causing you to die a thousand deaths, to fear the future, to separate you from those you love—give those fears to the Lord. Let his life-giving words comfort you and give you hope—For, as Jeremiah is able to say with confidence, “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Amen.
Pastor Stephen Blenkush
Zion Lutheran Church
Milaca, MN
www.ZionMilaca.org
(Sermon Archive)
