Saving Faith
Epiphany 4B – NL 2
January 28, 2024
Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN
Mark 5.21-43
In March 1980, Mt. St. Helens in Washington state erupted in what was arguably the worst volcanic disaster in North America. A column of ash rose 12 miles in the air and spread for 10 straight hours. One of my aunts who lived in Washington state sent me a coffee cup made from the ash. It’s very light. At least 57 people were killed and hundreds of square miles were reduced to rubble. The resulting mudslides reached as far as the Columbia River, about 50 miles away from the volcano. The total devastation caused an estimated $1 billion damage, about $3.2 billion 2022 dollars.
Two characters in our reading, an unnamed woman and a prominent father, face life-changing death and devastation. Today is the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, the shorter green season that explores who Jesus is, literally bringing us “aha” moments. So far, Jesus has been revealed as God’s beloved Son, healer, and teacher. Last week Pr. Drew told us that Jesus is the one who goes where others refuse to go as we saw in his encounter with the man possessed by demons. Today, Jesus is shown to go even further, where others can’t go: into the realm of death.
Mark has crafted a wonderful “sandwich” story, a story within a story that is called an inclusio. This format serves to heighten the tension prevalent in the story. Jesus is now back on Jewish soil, surrounded by crowds, approached by a Jewish religious leader. Jairus falls at Jesus’ feet and desperately begs Jesus to heal his daughter. His actions highlight the seriousness of her illness. Jesus agrees, the crowd follows, but then he is interrupted by another desperate person. This one is an unnamed woman, suffering for 12 years with a flow of blood. Not only has she been bankrupt from paying doctors, they’ve actually made her worse.
The woman tries to be inconspicuous, but to no avail. Jesus calls her out, doing so to use the opportunity to praise her faith. He then tells her to go in peace, that her faith has made her well. Meanwhile, a contingent comes from Jairus’ house informing them that his daughter is dead. Jesus shrugs off the crowd, takes a few disciples with him, and tells Jairus to fear not but believe. Ignoring the jeers of the mourners, Jesus resuscitates the girl to everyone’s amazement.
The woman with the flow of blood was desperate because as someone ritually unclean she was dead in the eyes of the community. She could not be around anyone because her presence would make them unclean. Nor could she worship in Jairus’ synagogue for the same reason. In other words, she was also dead to God. Jairus’ daughter, of course, was dead. Really dead (“sleeping” is a euphemism Jesus uses to indicate that death is not beyond him). But she’s dead in another sense. She has been cut off as she entered maturity, short of becoming a woman, marrying and having children. She’s dead to any future she might have had. Yet, Jesus enters into their deaths, the woman and the father on behalf of the girl, and invites them into a trusting relationship, one that results in salvation and peace, also known as shalom.
In the “Heaven” Bible study this past Wednesday, Pr. Drew led an excellent discussion about Hell. You can’t talk about heaven without talking about hell. Pr. Drew pointed out what we confess in the Apostles’ Creed, that after Jesus “was crucified, died and was buried,” he “descended to Hell.” Aside from not knowing what Jesus did there (some say he preached the gospel!?), we agreed that the larger meaning is there is no place outside of God’s presence and love, not even death. The Apostle Paul in chapter 8 of his letter to the church at Rome declares that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus, not even that great separator, death.
What is often missed in the Mt. St. Helens story is the rapid recovery of the area. True, the gaping crater remains, and the landscape altered irrevocably. But as Rabbi Ed Friedman notes, within weeks everything that appeared on the third day of creation appeared at Mt. St. Helens. (That is no reason to ignore the effects of climate change because, as Friedman notes, the planet will do us in before we do it in.) The bottom line is that there is nowhere God in Christ Jesus can’t go, including death, and bring about life. That doesn’t mean that all will be healed or resuscitated, because new life may look different.
As Our Savior’s Lutheran Church recovers from the experiences of last year, we have “Saving Faith,” trusting that God is present in, with, and through all that happens to us. God in Jesus goes anywhere and everywhere to bring life out of death. Thanks be to God! Amen.
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