Healings
This past Sunday, I found out that one of my friends died. She was young, only about a year older than I am. She was a diabetic and had been for most of her life. Apparently she went into a diabetic coma, a process that left her brain dead although alive with the help of life support. She remained in a coma for 9 days before she passed away.
This week I have found myself going through the very normal process of grief. One moment I am fine and going about my normal routines of life. The next moment I’m overcome by the sense of loss and find myself in a messy ball of tears. Other moments I just can’t manage to focus on much of anything and feel completely numb. As frustrating as that is, I know it’s a normal thing. At least it’s as “normal” as grief can ever be. Grief is a messy and unpredictable process.
So it is, in the midst of this process, that I find myself reading the text for this week. This week we read from Mark’s gospel the story of two healings by Jesus. First, there’s the woman who has been hemorrhaging for 12 years. Jesus is on the way to the house of Jairus, a Jewish leader whose daughter is sick. A large crowd is following Jesus to Jairus’ house and one of the people in the crowd is the woman with the hemorrhage. She reaches out, touches Jesus’ robe and is immediately healed. Jesus stops to talk with her during which time we find out that Jairus’ daughter has died. But Jesus remains undeterred and continues on to Jairus’ house. Once there Jesus proceeds to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead.
The reading today is two interwoven stories of the incredible healing and restoration that Jesus is able to accomplish. As much as I know the story of these two women have brought comfort to countless people over the ages, I didn’t find comfort in them this week. As I read them over and over again, I just felt a deep sense of pain and loss. And like most people in grief, I found myself with a lot more questions than answers. I wondered why it is that Jesus saved this woman who had been bleeding so long but let my friend die. I wondered why it is that Jesus would raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead but wouldn’t wake my friend from the coma she was in. Jesus even says to the skeptical mourners at Jairus’ house that the girl is just asleep. If Jesus could wake her from the sleep of death, then surely he could wake my friend from the deep sleep of a coma.
But he didn’t. He didn’t wake her. He could have. But he didn’t. Jesus, who has power over the wind and the sea, who has power over 12 years of bleeding, who has power over even life and death, surely he has power over the body’s ability to produce insulin. He could have healed her from her diabetic condition, but he didn’t. So I find myself asking all the why questions. Why her? Why now? Why like this?
But I know I’m not the only one grieving this day. Maybe it’s just that when you’re grieving you notice death more. But it certainly seems like there have been a lot of deaths this week. Among the famous people who died this week were Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. There were also several members of Calvary who had extended family members die this week. I’m not the only one grieving this day so I know I’m not alone in asking these questions. Many other people who have experienced the death of a loved one, or the death of a relationship, or the death of a dream, ask many of the same questions. For every story we hear of a miraculous healing, we hear another story of a faithful person who wasn’t healed.
So between my grief and the passage that is assigned for this week, I find myself wondering, why are some people healed and others are not? It’s a question that has plagued me this week. It’s a question that drove me to scour this passage for any hint of an answer. It’s a question that drove me to read countless number of commentaries, and to spend hours discussing this passage with friends and colleagues. And after all that, it’s a question that I still don’t have an answer for.
I imagine it’s a question that we won’t ever have an answer for. At least not an entirely satisfactory answer anyway. But as much as I want an answer to that question, I know it’s not a question that this passage seeks to answer. That’s not what this passage attempts to address.
This passage doesn’t tell us why some people are healed and why others are not. But it does tell us that some ARE healed. It does tell us that we worship a God who has the power to heal, who has power over even life and death. But more than just tell us of the power of Jesus, this passage tells us of the immense care and compassion Jesus has for all of God’s children, including those who are sick and dying.
From the very beginning of the passage we can see the concern Jesus has for those who are sick. Jairus pleaded with Jesus to come heal his daughter and the gospel of marks says, “so Jesus went with him.” So Jesus went with him. No questions, no discourse about faith and healing. Jesus stops what he’s doing and just goes. He could have healed her from a distance but instead he takes the time to go with Jairus.
And yet according to the value system of society at the time, Jairus’ daughter was nothing. For starters she’s a girl. She’s her father’s property, considered to have the same status and value as cattle. Not to mention that Jairus is part of the Jewish leadership and very probably a part of the same system that has been persecuting Jesus and trying to find a way to trap him.
Yet Jesus doesn’t see it that way. He doesn’t tell Jairus he’s too busy to heal her. He doesn’t tell Jairus that his daughter is sick because the Jewish leadership, of which Jairus is a part, has rejected Jesus. He doesn’t ask Jairus who he thinks Jesus is. Nor does he tell Jairus that his daughter isn’t important enough, that maybe if she were a son Jesus would go. Jesus doesn’t say anything at all, he just stops what he’s doing and goes with Jairus.
As Jesus is making his way to Jairus’ house, a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years comes up behind Jesus and touches his cloak. She is immediately healed and Jesus knows immediately that it’s happened. So Jesus once again stops what he’s doing and takes the time to speak with the woman. This woman, we’re told, has been bleeding for 12 years. That means she’s considered to be ritually unclean and anything she touches would become unclean as well. It was taboo for a woman to touch any man she was unrelated to but it would have been even more scandalous for her, a person who is unclean, to touch Jesus and thereby make him unclean as well.
But Jesus doesn’t reprimand her. Instead his response is gentle and compassionate. He calls her daughter. Daughter! As someone who has been unclean for 12 years, she’s probably been socially isolated for those 12 years. People would have been afraid to get to close to her or to touch anything that she had touched for fear of becoming unclean themselves. And now Jesus calls her daughter, affirming her worth and value as a child of God. In doing so Jesus restores her not only to physical health but also to her relationships within the community.
While Jesus is still speaking with the woman, some messengers from Jairus’ house arrive. They tell Jairus that his daughter has died and not to bother Jesus anymore. It’s at this point in the story that I can most identify with Jairus. Because most of us know through personal experience that sometimes healing doesn’t happen until after death. Sometimes the person that we love and care about does die, despite our prayers and our pleading. It’s at that point that I find myself thinking, “What’s done is done. Why bother the teacher any more?”
But Jesus whispers to Jairus and to me, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead. He didn’t wake my friend from the coma she was in, but I trust that he raised her to life with God after death. And I know that Jesus cares for all of us just as much as he cared for these two women.
This day I grieve the death of my friend. I feel the pain and loss that accompanies that. But I find comfort in the words of Jesus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Just believe that Jesus loves and cares for my friend even more than I do. Just believe that Jesus absolutely wants healing and restoration for her. Just believe that Jesus knows the pain and loss that I feel. Just believe that her healing came after her death, but it did come. Just believe.
If you are grieving this day, I pray you will find comfort in Jesus’ words. They don’t take away all the pain or make your grief any less intense. But I pray that you can just believe that Jesus loves and cares for your loved one even more than you do. Just believe that Jesus knows the pain and hurt that you feel. Just believe that Jesus knows the condition of those that you care for, of those that are sick and in need of healing. Just believe that Jesus sees each one of them, and cares for them. Just believe that Jesus intends to heal and restore them, whether in this life or in life with God after death.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray for someone. We absolutely should pray for those who are sick and in need of healing. We should pray with the same persistence the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years showed in her search for a cure. We should lift up in prayer all those that are in need of healing and believe that Jesus wants healing and restoration for them. Sometimes healing happens in this life. Sometimes that healing happens after death. In the end we are to trust and to just believe that Jesus will heal them in one way or another.
Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe.”
Amen.
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