Where Do You Go When There’s Nowhere Else to Go?
Proper 8 B
28 June 2015
Redeemer / St. Mark 5:21-43
Where do you go when there’s no where else to go? That’s the synagogue ruler who prays for his daughter to Jesus. “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.”” (Mark 5:23, ESV)
Where do you go when there’s nowhere else to go? That’s the woman with the flow of blood for twelve years who sneaks up behind Jesus. Every expert in the Centracare health system had seen her. They maxed out her insurance and emptied her savings with the promise of one more test, one more treatment and at the end of it all she was no better but rather grew worse.” (Mark 5:26, ESV)
Jesus came so that you would always have Someone to see and help and save you – not as a last resort, but as a continual and eternal resort of salvation.
Jairus, the Ruler of the Synagogue, comes to Jesus on behalf of his dear little girl. Jairus reminds me a little bit of Naaman in the Old Testament – Naaman was a commander in the Syrian army, a great and powerful man, high ranking in the government, and then we are told, “but Naaman had leprosy.” Jairus, ruler of the Synaogue, respected in town and temple, but his daughter was breathing her last. It doesn’t matter your station in life. Death and disease are no respecters of your influence or wealth or reputation.
Why is that? Why doesn’t death respect anyone – the rich man, the little girl, the finest person you know? God’s Word tells us – the wages of sin is death. Jesus didn’t come to save us from death. He came to die for our sins. He came to save us from our sins. That word “save” appears three times in the text, but unfortunately it isn’t translated that way. When Jairus prays to Jesus he says, “Come and lay hands on my daughter, so that she may be saved.” When the woman is sneaking up behind Jesus she said to herself, “If only I touch him I will be saved.” And finally Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you.”
That word “saved” can mean healing, but it always has the idea of not only rescuing someone from trouble, but also locating a person in safety. I haven’t seen the new Jurassic World movie, but I’m guessing it involves a hero and heroine who are never safe. They escape one situation and then jump into another, until perhaps the end when all the dinasaurs are back in their cages or something. If all Jesus did for that woman was heal her from her flow of blood – that wouldn’t have been saving her. She would still be in her sin and would still face death and judgment. If all Jesus did was raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead she really woudn’t be safe – she stilled would face death and her sins and damnation.
Sometimes when we go to Jesus in our prayers or enter His presence in the Divine Service we forget the real enemy we are facing. We come with sickness and death like Jairus and the woman. We come with stress and worry about work and money and family. We come with fear about how our life together as God’s Holy people might suffer because of a Supreme Court decision. And we often come knowing there is nothing we can do. When that happens we have met the enemy, but we might not realize the enemy is finally us. Our own sin lies behind our powerlessness. When every physician at Centracare fails us, when our money and prestige cannot put an end to our end, when there is no resource, strength, or remedy, God is teaching us what He taught Jairus and the woman. The woman believed Jesus would save her – for her that may have meant stopping the flow of blood, but Jesus was going to give her much more. All Jairus could think of was his dying daughter, but Jesus was going to give her a greater resurrection, the resurrection of those who believe in Jesus for salvation from sin.
Our enemy is greater than we can imagine – it is our own sin (and we cannot stop it or do away with it.) But our Savior is greater than our sin. His death is more than enough to atone for our sin. His blood is more than enough to cleanse us. His righteousness is more than enough to cover us. Our sin is great, but our Jesus is greater – no matter where you are or what you are facing – Jesus has come and He is greater than your sin, death, and trouble.
Jairus must have been greatly relieved when Jesus began to follow him home. But immediately the crowd pressed in on them, but then that woman snuck in behind Jesus and received salvation from Him – both body and soul made well. Then Jesus stopped to talk to her. As a father, I’m guessing Jairus was reaching the boiling point. He had left his daughter’s bedside to seek out Jesus and now they were stuck in traffic and Jesus was talking to that woman.
And then Jairus was given the worst news possible, perhaps in the worst way possible. Someone comes from Jairus’ house and informs him publicly, “Hey Jairus, your daughter is dead. No need to bother with this teacher anymore.” It seems that whoever came from Jairus’ house didn’t think too much of Jesus or of Jairus going to Jesus. Remember Jairus was a ruler, a leader, in the Jewish Synagogue. He had fallen at Jesus’ feet and the Jews weren’t really fond of Jesus. Now, perhaps, this enemy of Jesus had come to rub all this in Jairus’ face – “She’s dead Jairus. Jesus is of no use to you now.”
But don’t tell Jesus what He can or cannot do – He’s God after all, but more important He is God for Jairus, God for the bleeding woman, God for Jairus’ daughter. Jesus said to Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe.” Where do you go when there’s no where else to go? Go with Jesus. Have faith that Jesus is with you.
The folks at Jairus’ house didn’t want Jesus. Because there was no Benson Funeral home in town, the funeral service had already started. The Jews of Biblical times hired professional mourners – flute players, weepers and wailers. Jesus came to a house of chaos – this is what people do when they have no answer to death. There’s an interesting word in the text that occurs only one time in the entire Bible – it is translated “wailing loudly” the Greek word is a-la-la-zontes and one Greek professor said it should be translated, “everyone was in la-la land.” They were besides themselves, speaking, but not saying anything, wailing, but without purpose. Funerals today are becoming more and more like this house in the text – a lot of noise about the person, but nothing that serves a purpose in the face of death. It’s chaos.
And like the stormy sea in last weeks’ Gospel reading – Jesus calms the chaos. He kicks everybody out of the house. They didn’t want Jesus there – they laughed at Him when He said the girl was sleeping, meaning He was about to wake her. Here’s another stern warning – if you don’t want Jesus He will leave you alone. If you want to stand on your own two feet before the God He will let you. They laughed at Him and He kicked them out of the house – if you don’t want part of the resurrection then you will be outside.
Inside are the girls mother and father, and three witnesses – Peter, James, and John. According to God’s Word every truth needs to be confirmed by two or three witnesses. I love how Luther describes what happens then, “For the Lord Christ, raising someone from the dead is not only possible, but a light and easy task, hardly more than rousing a sleeping individual by thumping his bed and saying, ‘Hey, get up!’ So Christ does here. As a matter of fact, it is easier for Christ to awaken someone from death then for us to arouse someone from sleep.”
Did Jesus heal every sick woman? Did He interrupt every funeral? No. These miracles were signs that He is God and not merely God, but God for you, God to save. These miracles point to the cross. There on the cross God dies for every sinner and every means you. He saves you by taking away your sin, the root cause of all your troubles and fears. He saves you and by saving you you are safe – even in disease, even in death, even in that situation where you have no place to go – because forgiven of sins you have life, you have the resurrection, you have the promise of a blessed reunion with the child who died before you or the parent you dearly miss. Where do you go when there’s no place to go? Go to Jesus. He is God. He is Lord over sin and death and sickness and suffering, but most importantly He is Lord and God for Jairus, for the bleeding woman, for the little girl, and for you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
27 June 2015