Who Touched Me?

I can clearly remember summer trips when I was a child with my family in our
old large Oldsmobile. Living in New Mexico, we would set out to see the
Grand Canyon or Yellowstone Park, both of which I loved, but the real action
was the territorial bickering of my siblings jammed inside the car for
vacation. You know the drill-after a small silence, the voice from the back
seat, "Mom, he touched me." And we were off into the arguments that
accompany all vacations with children cooped up in cars for long hours.
Personal space and territory is important to human beings, and touching one
another is as sacred now as it was for our unnamed woman in Mark. Jesus
could have just walked on, but he stopped and asked aloud, "Who touched me?"

Will you pray with me? "God, you have given us the power of touch, touch
that can hurt or touch that can heal. Teach us to make our touch healing
and uplifting rather than angry and provoking. Oh, and God, bless all those
families who will be travelling this summer and give them your healing touch
on their journey. Amen."

Our Gospel reading today is a familiar story of two women in crisis whose
lives are woven together in healing wholeness with Jesus. The first woman
is introduced by her father, a leader in the local synagogue. His name is
Jairus, which means "he who will be enlightened." Jairus has a
twelve-year-old daughter who is gravely ill, and he risks ridicule and
derision by seeking out Jesus to heal his daughter. Imagine the agony of
this man, fearing for the life of his daughter so deeply that he dares to go
against the rising anger in the synagogue's leadership toward Jesus, seeking
healing as his daughter is dying. Now Mark here shakes us up-- this is not
a male child, but female. And Jesus silently agrees to go with Jairus to
see her.

Then, as Jesus is walking to Jairus' house, a woman surreptitiously seeks
him out for healing of a hemorrhage-the Greek is very graphic, a 12 year
long "gushing of blood." She sneaks up to touch the hem of Jesus' cloak.
Jesus is focused on getting to Jairus' daughter, but suddenly he stops,
asking, "Who touched me?" Once the woman steps forward and confesses, Jesus
gently acknowledges her, blesses her, and sends her on her way.

I have felt the immediacy of these two tales woven together here at Spring
Glen Church. While closely tending to one family in grief, there have been
several times when another crisis erupted. Or, while working hard on one
project, a pastoral emergency would emerge. Here, Jesus has modeled a way
to be fully present to each situation at hand. Jesus carefully tended to
life just as it unfolded. But in this instance, we know that Jairus'
daughter dies. Jesus could have shrugged and stopped his trip, but he
continues to the home, in spite of what the people from the leader's house
say. Jesus stays in the moment, walking toward the house. I am drawn by
the details here. Jesus preaches the shortest sermon ever to Jairus, and
when he arrives at the house, Jesus sets the crowds outside (even as they
are laughing at him), gathers the mother and father of the child, and goes
in to visit the child. Jesus defied logic and pronounced the child
sleeping, raising her with a gentle hand, and then ensuring she got
something to eat.

I will ask you again today the same question I asked last Sunday, what are
the miracles here? Are these healings miraculous, or is the trust and faith
of these people the real miracle? Is this a story about healing, or stories
about trusting God to be fully present in our lives?

While we ponder the miracles here, let us look closely at Jesus' responses
in these two situations. What does Jesus say and do? To the woman who
touched his hem, Jesus says, after she overcame her fear, your trust in God
has healed you. To Jairus, Jesus preaches his short sermon of just six
words, "Do not be afraid. Trust God." Now, does this sound at all
familiar? Last week Jesus said to the disciples in the boat, "Do not be
afraid. Trust God." This week Jesus says to this woman who had bled and
Jairus, "Do not be afraid. Trust God." Why do you think Jesus repeats his
message? Why do you think Jesus repeats this message? Is Mark tying Jesus'
identity to not being afraid and trusting God? Well, let's look and see
what happened. The disciples remembered who Jesus was and were healed of
their fear. The woman who touched Jesus' hem trusted God and was
immediately healed of her fear and bleeding. Jarius' trust in God healed
him of his fear of losing his daughter. In each case, trusting the love and
care of God was the miracle that removed fear and healed people around
Jesus. The lesson for us is comes from the part of the story that we can
control in our lives. If we trust God, God will be present in our lives,
too. This is God's promise to us. Do not be afraid. Trust God.

Faith and healing are woven together here; wholeness and trust in God.
What do you think about faith and healing? On the one hand, we know that
medical science has proven some healing is psychological. People who trust
that they will be healed do, in fact heal better than those who have no hope
or trust. But our trust here is not about human behavior, but about
trusting God. Let's stop for a moment and remind ourselves of what Mark is
trying to tell us in these stories. Mark is introducing Jesus in these
early chapters, telling and showing us that Jesus' most basic identity is
his complete and utter trust in God, and therefore, Jesus speaks with God's
authority. Let me say that again: Mark shows and tells us again and again
that Jesus is so focused on trusting God that Jesus and God seem to act as
one. The people around Jesus were amazed at Jesus' trust and complete
confidence in God, and they watched unexplainable things happening around
Jesus. Jesus knew God so deeply and so faithfully that people saw God in
Jesus. And just as Jesus' identity is tied to God's identity, Jesus trust
and faith in God provided healing to those around Jesus.

But faith and healing are related through prayer. Through trust of God, I
have been healed by prayer, both inwardly and outwardly. I have also seen
prayer heal people in my life. Prayer is the connective tissue of our
relationship with God. Prayer is our presence in this very moment with God.
But prayer is not just words. It is presence, intentionality, focus and
living gratitude. Prayer is the love language spoken between us and God.
Prayer can be profound deep silence, waiting and breathing in the living God
into our lives. Prayer is whispering our love to God.

Prayer provides the essential communication link that is the foundation of
every good relationship. Because the story of Mark focuses on answering the
question of Jesus' identity and his relationship with God, I am drawn to the
one prayer that Jesus prayed that was not answered by God. Do you remember
the prayer Jesus prayed on the cross? Jesus said, "God, take this cup from
me." But the second half of Jesus' last prayer is where we learn the true
power of prayer for Jesus. Jesus said, "But God, not my will, but your
will, be done." Jesus released the need for his own desire to come true,
saying that if God's will would be done, then that would answer his deepest
desire. We can pray like Jesus did. Teach me your heart, God. Change my
desire into your desire, God. Mold my will into your will, God. Whatever I
want, transform it into your will, God. What would happen if our every
prayer fervently sought God's will like this, asking that our heart be
changed to God's desire and will? What would happen if we prayed like Jesus
did for the one prayer God did not grant to Jesus?

So, in this context, how do faith, healing and prayer interrelate? What
real miracle can we expect if our prayers ask that the very heart and desire
of God be formed within us? Is not the real miracle then our changing
hearts? If our heart is transformed into God's heart, can we not say, like
Jesus said to Jairus, "Do not be afraid. Trust God will always be with
you." Now, our holiday notwithstanding, please note that this is not
celebrating our independence, but rather, prayer and faith and healing
celebrate our relationship to God and each other; our interdependence. The
Christian way is interdependence with God and community through prayer.

So is Jesus waking us from sleep like Jairus' daughter, gently asking us to
get up, to stop being afraid and to trust God? Is Jesus waiting for us to
muster the courage and audacity to overcome our fears and reach out through
the crowd, defying the conventions of our world to dare to overcome our fear
to reach out and touch the hem of Jesus' cloak? These stories contrast the
slowness of the disciples to get Jesus' message with how quickly this
bleeding woman and a 12 year old girl's family get it. If that woman who
was weakened by twelve years of bleeding could find the strength to reach
out to Jesus, then we can also. If Jairus could defy tradition and risk the
ridicule of his synagogue to reach out to Jesus and ask for healing, then we
can, too.

So Happy Interdependence Day. Our interdependent relationship with the
living God can change our very being-our relationship with God can
miraculously heal us. Jesus taught, "Don't be afraid. Trust God." Live
your faith and trust by reaching out to touch God. Don't be afraid. Trust
God. And then Jesus will stop, turn around, and ask, "Who touched me?" And
your life will never be the same. Amen.