Pastoral Letter 71

Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,

Grace and peace to you all.

After a well-attended combined face to face service with Lane Cove Uniting on the occasion of the Uniting Church’s 44^th Anniversary, sadly we are back to wearing mandatory masks and no singing, due to new outbreak of Covid in NSW. We were grateful that since the end of February we had relatively better times without any major outbreaks. Now we have major restrictions, but we hope and pray that these restrictions will ease soon.

At the moment we are still holding our programs as planed with the restrictions. If things change, we will let you know, but most probably we will not have Morning Tea this Sunday after the service.

Because we are not allowed to sing, this Sunday our hymns will be played on the screen for us to enjoy and sing from our hearts. If you are not planning to come to the Worship Service, please join us following the Order of Service that you have received, light a candle, worship, sing the hymns, as you can at home, and pray with us.

If you need any kind of support or hear about a development with any member of the congregation, please let me know, and continue to pray for our services, programs, and activities.

Krikor

MESSAGE

It’s All About Faith!

Mark 5:21-43

It is miracle time!

The section Mark 4:35-5:43 reports on four miracles that show Jesus’ authority.

1. Authority over nature – the winds and waves obey Him.

2. Authority over demons – a man who has not only one demon, but a legion of demons, is delivered.

3. Authority over life – a sick woman is healed.

3. Authority over death – a dead girl brought to life.

All four miracles are connected to the travels of the group around the lake, known as the Sea of Galilee.

We find Jesus and the Twelve together in a boat departing from the west side of the lake, when Jesus calms the storm. The first miracle happens while they are on the lake itself. Then we see a lonely, tormented man, who was possessed with evil. Here Mark focuses on Jesus’ authority over the evil, demonic forces.

Today’s two miracles are sandwiched together into one story that occurred on the west side of the lake.

Mark puts two stories into one before our eyes and brings the circumstances of two different people into one theme. Mark presented his two stories in layers:

The miracle of raising Jairus’ daughter starting in verses 21-24 is the first layer.

The healing of the bleeding woman in verses 24-34 is the middle layer.

And then he resumed the story of Jairus’ daughter again in verses 35-43.

The stories are placed together purposefully by Mark so that we see His divine authority and power on the two women who are recipients of Jesus’ compassion and to let all who are with Him to see that He will not let disease and death have their way. As we read Mark 5:21-43, our attention is drawn towards a father whose daughter was dying, and of a woman who had been suffering with a continual bleeding for twelve years, making her unclean according to the Law of Moses (Leviticus 15:19-33). Her condition left her cut off from society until she was cured.

A synagogue ruler, named Jairus, was a layman who was in charge of keeping the day-to-day routines of the synagogue. He would have been a prominent member of the community. His situation was desperate because his twelve-year-old daughter was dying. It is interesting to see Jairus, who was a man of such dignity, fall at Jesus’ feet asking His presence in his home. His words are coloured with emotional intensity: “Please come and put your hands on her, so that she will be healed and live” (Mark 5:23b). His hope for his child was nearly extinguished as he reported that his little girl was near the point of death (vs. 23a). We learn from the beginning of verse 24 that Jesus broke away from His public teaching to go with this father. Jesus demonstrated a remarkable sensitivity to this man’s anguish despite His busy teaching schedule. This man’s hopes leaped forth to life when Jesus agreed to see the little girl. He was excited at the prospects of Jesus coming to visit his daughter, yet he also hoped they were not too late.

Soon Jairus’ story quickly moved to a woman, who was weak and miserable. Her family, if she had any, had given up all hope of her healing. She quietly mingled in with the crowd who desired to see Jesus in town. She had probably heard of His ability to perform wondrous healings and deliverances from evil spirits. She knew she could not face Him in her present condition, but she developed a plan based on desperation and hope. She figured that if she could only touch the hem of his garment, she believed that her act of faith would be seen by Jesus, and He would heal her out of sympathy. So, she went further into the crowd, bending down, waiting for the opportunity. She saw Jesus arriving, bended down and touched His garment and immediately felt supernatural power flowing into her body healing her. But Jesus stopped and asked who touched Him as He felt power flowing from Him. He saw the woman, who told Him all that had happened.

Jesus responded to her referring as “daughter“, a term of love. She was considered to be a child of God because she approached with humility and faith. “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in Peace and be freed from your suffering”. Therefore, she was healed and delivered for the remainder of her life, reunited with friends and family who will have spread the news of what Jesus did for this precious soul. Jesus was victorious over disease and had all the power to perform this miracle.

Just before the conversation between Jesus and Jairus resumed, another man approached, probably a servant or member of the synagogue and gave them the horrible news that Jairus’ little girl had just died, and there is no need for the Teacher to come. It was time to make preparations for the funeral and time for sorrow and morning.

But Jesus had a different plan. He gave Jairus a word of comfort and assurance, which he desperately needed at that moment; to not fear anything and to believe that good will come out of this situation, and it will be Jesus Himself who will supply the good. He headed to Jairus’ house with His disciples and with two words brought the little girl back to life: “Talitha koum!”. She sat up at that moment to the parent’s surprise and overwhelming joy. Jesus then told her parents to bring her something to eat, a sign that all is well and that she has full function in her body. She was brought to life.

Three interesting points.

A. In these two stories we see that both women are restored by a touch from Jesus. In both accounts, Jesus touched the women who were unclean. If you had contact with these women, you would have to go through certain ceremonial procedures before having contact with others. Because of her bleeding, the older woman should have never been in the crowd as she contaminated the people with her ritual uncleanness (Leviticus 15:19-33). Similarly, we are surprised to see Jesus touch the corpse of Jairus’ daughter because she too was unclean. Yet, in both cases, Jesus’ touch made the unclean, clean.

B. We see a big contrast between two men as well. The man in front of Jesus is the opposite of the man Jesus had just left on the other side of the lake. The man on the opposite side of the lake was lonely and an outcast. While this man was influential and honourable leader in the community. Few cared about the demon-possessed man who lived or died, but everyone carefully observed opinions of the behaviour of the synagogue ruler. People didn’t care if the demon possessed man lived or died. But in the case of Jairus, who was a respected community leader, people had the desire to witness a miracle and a dying young girl to be cured and live.

C. We also see a big contrast between Jairus and the sick woman. While Jairus is a respected member of the community, the woman who had bled for twelve years was just the opposite. Everyone would have known his name, yet few knew the woman’s identity. She was socially and religiously isolated from ordinary relationships, and she was poor. Jairus was rich and his plea for her daughter’s help was open to all to hear. While the woman’s desire for health was private and that’s why she planned to approach silently and without anyone noticing. Yet, all involved were desperate.

1. Jesus gives more than what we imagine

The woman only wanted to touch and go, hoping that she will be healed, and her life will be changed. But she received more than what she came for. Instead of only receiving a bodily healing, this woman left being made into a lifelong disciple of Jesus. She received a lot more than she bargained for because she came having faith. Jesus said to her: “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go on peace”.

When we come to Jesus, He will get from us far more than what we had originally planned to give, but He will give to us far more than we thought.

2. His grace reverses the values

We should notice a sensitive issue in this story. Jesus gives His undivided attention to a poor, sick and ceremonially unclean woman, while a man of high social and religious standing, a leader of the community, waits. He treats this woman as if there is no other person in the world but her. She has no social standing. In time of need, the socially standing person is told to wait while the undeserved receives an undeserved amount of attention. Jesus inverts the social standard and the norm of the day. Jesus does not come to people by virtue of their status and inverts our thinking. He turns the accepted standard upside down and reverses the social values through His love and grace.

3. His timing is different than ours

Can you imagine what was going through the father’s mind when he was told that his daughter died? As Jesus interacted with the woman, can you imagine how this father’s mind was racing? He was shocked with desperation as Jesus turned His attention to the unclean woman. No doubt the father was impatient, because Jesus’ choice to stop and talk to the woman makes no sense.

We pray asking for help and support and desperately wait for an answer. But God’s and Jesus’ patience in contrast to our impatience confuses us today as it did then. It seems that Jesus is taking His time, while our needs go unmet.

4. His grace never operates on our sense of time

Jesus’ sense of timing always amazes us. We have the sense that this is the right time to receive what we have asked for. It seems that His blessing never comes when we want it. His grace never operates according to our timing. The Scriptures teach us that His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways.

In this story Jesus had a point in delaying. He delayed for at least two reasons:

a. His delay transformed the life of a desperate and sick woman and made her a disciple and a follower.

b. His delay was to increase the faith of the father to higher level. When Jairus first talked to Jesus, the child was sick and then she died. But Jesus said to the man: “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36).

When we think Jesus is delaying in our time of need, let us remember that He delays to increase our faith and display His love for us. Because of Jesus’ delay, Jairus saw his daughter raised from the dead.

Jesus gave to the sick woman and Jairus more than what they had asked for. And all this happened because of their faith in Him and His power to heal and give life. He provides new life, new hope and new possibilities, all we need to do is to have faith in Him.

This same Jesus who provided new lives for these two women is the same Jesus who provides new life for us as well. All we need to do is to go to Him with our prayers and requests in faith, trusting that He will provide our needs. He waits for us with the love and compassion to save us and be with us in our challenges.

Amen!