4th Sunday after Pentecost
July 2, 2006
Vicar Michael Monterastelli
Text: Mark 5:21-43 (Lamentations 3:22-33,
2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-15)
Beloved believers in Christ,
The Son of God is a real man who lovingly prepares us to receive all that He gives. As Jesus healed two daughters, He taught a woman and a father about the power of His Word and His gift of faith. The daughter of Jairus was at the point of death. At the urgent request of Jairus, Jesus went with him.
But on the way, a faithful woman touched Jesus’ garments and was healed. He could have kept moving toward the house of Jairus. The lady was healed. As far as she could tell, the job was done. But Jairus’ daughter had not been made ready for Jesus, yet. There was still time to do a little teaching.
The life of the woman (in the form of blood) had been draining from her body for 12-years. No amount of money had been able to purchase the kind of medical service that could save her life as it flowed from her body. For 12-years she had suffered much under many physicians.
According to the Law of Moses, she was unclean. We might expect her to be too afraid and too ashamed to ask anyone for help. But she wasn’t, not completely, anyway. Somehow she had heard the reports about Jesus and His acts of mercy.
For some reason, the crowd did not prevent her from pressing her way through them to approach Jesus from behind. If Moses could safely view only the backside of God, then this unclean woman could only approach God in the flesh from behind. She knew, “if I touch even His garments, I will be made well.”
Her suffering served to help her become a theologian better than any priest. Jesus was born in the flesh to come and cleanse our unclean flesh. Her suffering helped her hear what the Spirit of God was saying through the words of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. “My help comes from the Lord!” so sang the Psalmist today (Psalm 121:2a).
Could Jesus be the help who comes from the Lord? In Jesus, she was made to recognize the presence of God walking among unclean, sinful people. The help and mercy of God had come to her. But how did Jesus, the presence of God in the flesh, touch unclean people and heal them without being defiled Himself? Well, He didn’t. Oh, He touched people alright, but (listen to this) their defilement became His as His cleanness became theirs. That’s why He was born. That’s why He was baptized by John. That’s why the help from the Lord comes in the body and blood of Jesus.
No law was ever made to keep anyone away from Jesus. But every law prepares us to come into His presence. As she pushed her way through the crowd, she knew that Jesus could make her clean and that the law of cleanness would be fulfilled by Him. She came up behind Jesus, touched His garment, and she was immediately saved. And knowing in His body that power had gone out from Him, Jesus asked the crowd, “Who touched my garments?”
Here Jesus wisely shows us the humility of faith. He asked the woman to confess what she had done; not as a confession of sin, but as a confession of faith. And as she trembled with fear, now cleansed and kneeling, not behind, but before the face of God in the flesh, she did what each one of us will have to do one day. She faced God and told the whole truth.
Jesus did not respond with, “Way to touch my cloak, heal yourself, and confess the truth, lady! Good job!” Instead He told her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.”
(now listen carefully to this)
The flow of blood from the woman was stopped. Her life was spared for several reasons. First and foremost is the power which flows from Jesus. But His power flowed to her and saved her specifically because she was caused to believe Jesus had that power and would use it to heal her. And the reason causing her to believe all this, was that she had heard the reports about Jesus. Someone actually told her about Jesus. What a loving thing to do.
Because of His power and her God-given faith in Jesus, she was saved. As Jesus stopped her flow of blood, the time drew near when His blood would begin flowing and never stop. His body, the vessel containing His precious blood, was torn open.
His precious blood burst forth from the fountain of His love. Every last drop of His life spilled out. By the words of Jesus, His blood now flows into the cup of His new testament. His blood has been shed for you for the forgiveness of sin. At Holy Communion, you are made to hear and see Jesus doing His work. As His blood flows over the lip of the chalice, between your parted lips, and down your throat, hearts broken by the bitter truth of the Law are healed. You are saved.
You are forgiven.
In today’s Gospel reading, both this woman and Jairus desired to see and hear Jesus do His work of physical healing. But Jesus directed their attention to the greater gift of faith.
Among the crowd of people, Jesus pointed to the woman’s faith as the gift that saved her. But among Peter, James, John, Jairus and his wife, Jesus merely spoke His command to the little girl and she rose up as though she had only been sleeping. What caused the 12-year old girl’s spirit to return to her earthly life was not her faith. For a dead body has no ability to believe, no capacity for good of any kind. What caused her to live again were the power-filled words of Jesus. For His spoken words are spirit and life (John 6:63).
But where was faith in this passage? We have to look at Jairus for that. The faith Jairus had in Jesus brought Jesus to his little girl, so Jesus could touch her, save her, and make her live. She was unable to raise herself to get help. She needed an advocate who would bring Jesus to her. And that’s just what God provided in her loving father.
Faith is that gift from God through which His power of salvation comes to us. Faith in Jesus is an integral part of our salvation. Without it, we are lost in eternal death. With it, death has lost its sting.
While Jesus spent time with the woman, the life of the second daughter, the daughter of Jairus, was at the point of death. As ruler of the synagogue, Jairus had called on and done everything He knew how to do. No amount of earthly sacrifice had been able to heal his little girl, until he found Jesus. But Jesus was delayed in coming.
Those who had come from the house of Jairus told him, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” As far as they were concerned, death was the end. And Jesus couldn’t do anything for his little girl anymore. But before their words turned him away, Jesus gave Jairus these words of comfort, “Do not fear, only believe.”
His daughter was now ready for Jesus. For if Jesus came not for the healthy but for the sick and unclean, then above all, He came for the dead. For as our Lord God made Adam from the dead dust of the earth, so He remakes the fallen sons of Adam and the fallen daughters of Eve — He remakes them, He remakes you only if you are dead as dust.
And so you are. For though your heart may be as healthy as an Olympic athlete, it is that heart, your heart and mine, that daily spews forth the sickness of evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, drunkenness, lies, and slanders. For though you keep up a good appearance to people in this congregation, your co-workers, your friends, and maybe even your family, inside you, inside me, is jealousy, greed, malice, and every form of evil. And even if you are able to avoid gross, outward sins, even if you keep your darkest fantasies hidden away in your mind, they cannot be hidden from the eyes of the Almighty Judge.
You are not nearly as good as you think you are, or as you like people to think. Indeed, you are worse than you are capable of knowing. For like all men, you lack perfect fear, love, and trust in God above all things. For that reason, you only love those who love you back, but those who oppose you, curse you, or hate you — them you ignore (at best) or hate (at worst). And in so doing, you prove yourself, no better than the Pharisees or scribes. When things don’t go your way, when someone steps on your toes, when you think you deserve something that is given to someone else, then your self-love produces thoughts that, if reflected on a screen, would make even the foulest men hide their faces in shame. These things are true and you know them to be true. And if you did not, you would deceive yourself and the truth would not be in you.
Repent. For if you know them to be true, and confess them to be true, blessed are you, for you have joined the ranks of Jairus’ daughter—one whom our Lord will raise. For to know that your heart is a cesspool of self-loving platitudes and to say Amen to this painful truth, is to stretch out on that bed beside that 12-year-old little girl and die with her. Blessed are you who die with the daughter of Jairus. Blessed are you who don’t live with the lie but die with the truth—the truth that in yourself you are as dead as dust.
Blessed are you who die with the truth, for it is the Truth Himself who has come to set you free from death, free from your sin, to heal your body and soul, and to raise you up to newness of life. For as Jesus took the daughter of Jairus by the hand and said to her, “Talitha kumi, Little girl, I say to you, arise,” so He says to you, “Ego te absolvo, O sinner, I absolve you, I forgive you, I say to you arise. I love you. You are mine. Come off the bed of death, the bed of sin, and live again.
The worst of your sins, your darkest of desires, your pettiness and self-love and greed, lust, and drunkenness — they are no more. They are gone. They are destroyed. I have taken them into My flesh and when My flesh was crucified, they were crucified with Me. They are no more, they have become nothing, that I might make you to be everything in Me.
Blessed are you, O sinner, for Jesus is the Friend of sinners; blessed are you who are dead in transgressions, for Jesus is your Resurrection; blessed are you who are sick, for Jesus is your Healing.
He did not come down from heaven to reform you, to teach you how to win the favor of His Father, or to show you some secret way of salvation. He came down from heaven to die a hellish death out of love for you. He came down from heaven to take on your nature—to have flesh and bones, skin and hair, to cry tears and sweat blood—and as a man to do for you what you could not do, in fact, what you did not want to do, for yourself. He came to keep the laws you have shattered, and to have His obedience applied to you. He came to have a clean heart, a pure conscience, a perfect faith and love, and to place all of these good gifts on you and in you. He came to become all sins of all sinners on that bloody tree. He became your lust that you might become His love. He became your greed that you might become His charity. He became your ugliness that you might become His beauty. He became all your evil that He might make you to be all His good. And in this blessed exchange, He makes you to be the sons and the daughters of God. He is merciful, not counting your sins against you, but grabbing those sins and injecting them into His flesh, that in His flesh He might destroy them once and for all.
Like Jairus’ daughter, you have died and risen by the hand of Christ. And now and forever you stand alive, clean, and forgiven in His presence. That is His promise, a promise to which He is forever faithful. AMEN
The Peace of God, who passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. AMEN
[several paragraphs about Jairus’ daughter have been included from a sermon on Mark 5:21-24, 35-43 and can be found in a collection of sermons published by Emmanuel Press in Christ Crucified: Lutheran Sermons by Chad L. Bird © 2005, used with permission]
Vicar Michael Monterastelli
Text: Mark 5:21-43 (Lamentations 3:22-33,
2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-15)
Beloved believers in Christ,
The Son of God is a real man who lovingly prepares us to receive all that He gives. As Jesus healed two daughters, He taught a woman and a father about the power of His Word and His gift of faith. The daughter of Jairus was at the point of death. At the urgent request of Jairus, Jesus went with him.
But on the way, a faithful woman touched Jesus’ garments and was healed. He could have kept moving toward the house of Jairus. The lady was healed. As far as she could tell, the job was done. But Jairus’ daughter had not been made ready for Jesus, yet. There was still time to do a little teaching.
The life of the woman (in the form of blood) had been draining from her body for 12-years. No amount of money had been able to purchase the kind of medical service that could save her life as it flowed from her body. For 12-years she had suffered much under many physicians.
According to the Law of Moses, she was unclean. We might expect her to be too afraid and too ashamed to ask anyone for help. But she wasn’t, not completely, anyway. Somehow she had heard the reports about Jesus and His acts of mercy.
For some reason, the crowd did not prevent her from pressing her way through them to approach Jesus from behind. If Moses could safely view only the backside of God, then this unclean woman could only approach God in the flesh from behind. She knew, “if I touch even His garments, I will be made well.”
Her suffering served to help her become a theologian better than any priest. Jesus was born in the flesh to come and cleanse our unclean flesh. Her suffering helped her hear what the Spirit of God was saying through the words of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. “My help comes from the Lord!” so sang the Psalmist today (Psalm 121:2a).
Could Jesus be the help who comes from the Lord? In Jesus, she was made to recognize the presence of God walking among unclean, sinful people. The help and mercy of God had come to her. But how did Jesus, the presence of God in the flesh, touch unclean people and heal them without being defiled Himself? Well, He didn’t. Oh, He touched people alright, but (listen to this) their defilement became His as His cleanness became theirs. That’s why He was born. That’s why He was baptized by John. That’s why the help from the Lord comes in the body and blood of Jesus.
No law was ever made to keep anyone away from Jesus. But every law prepares us to come into His presence. As she pushed her way through the crowd, she knew that Jesus could make her clean and that the law of cleanness would be fulfilled by Him. She came up behind Jesus, touched His garment, and she was immediately saved. And knowing in His body that power had gone out from Him, Jesus asked the crowd, “Who touched my garments?”
Here Jesus wisely shows us the humility of faith. He asked the woman to confess what she had done; not as a confession of sin, but as a confession of faith. And as she trembled with fear, now cleansed and kneeling, not behind, but before the face of God in the flesh, she did what each one of us will have to do one day. She faced God and told the whole truth.
Jesus did not respond with, “Way to touch my cloak, heal yourself, and confess the truth, lady! Good job!” Instead He told her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.”
(now listen carefully to this)
The flow of blood from the woman was stopped. Her life was spared for several reasons. First and foremost is the power which flows from Jesus. But His power flowed to her and saved her specifically because she was caused to believe Jesus had that power and would use it to heal her. And the reason causing her to believe all this, was that she had heard the reports about Jesus. Someone actually told her about Jesus. What a loving thing to do.
Because of His power and her God-given faith in Jesus, she was saved. As Jesus stopped her flow of blood, the time drew near when His blood would begin flowing and never stop. His body, the vessel containing His precious blood, was torn open.
His precious blood burst forth from the fountain of His love. Every last drop of His life spilled out. By the words of Jesus, His blood now flows into the cup of His new testament. His blood has been shed for you for the forgiveness of sin. At Holy Communion, you are made to hear and see Jesus doing His work. As His blood flows over the lip of the chalice, between your parted lips, and down your throat, hearts broken by the bitter truth of the Law are healed. You are saved.
You are forgiven.
In today’s Gospel reading, both this woman and Jairus desired to see and hear Jesus do His work of physical healing. But Jesus directed their attention to the greater gift of faith.
Among the crowd of people, Jesus pointed to the woman’s faith as the gift that saved her. But among Peter, James, John, Jairus and his wife, Jesus merely spoke His command to the little girl and she rose up as though she had only been sleeping. What caused the 12-year old girl’s spirit to return to her earthly life was not her faith. For a dead body has no ability to believe, no capacity for good of any kind. What caused her to live again were the power-filled words of Jesus. For His spoken words are spirit and life (John 6:63).
But where was faith in this passage? We have to look at Jairus for that. The faith Jairus had in Jesus brought Jesus to his little girl, so Jesus could touch her, save her, and make her live. She was unable to raise herself to get help. She needed an advocate who would bring Jesus to her. And that’s just what God provided in her loving father.
Faith is that gift from God through which His power of salvation comes to us. Faith in Jesus is an integral part of our salvation. Without it, we are lost in eternal death. With it, death has lost its sting.
While Jesus spent time with the woman, the life of the second daughter, the daughter of Jairus, was at the point of death. As ruler of the synagogue, Jairus had called on and done everything He knew how to do. No amount of earthly sacrifice had been able to heal his little girl, until he found Jesus. But Jesus was delayed in coming.
Those who had come from the house of Jairus told him, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” As far as they were concerned, death was the end. And Jesus couldn’t do anything for his little girl anymore. But before their words turned him away, Jesus gave Jairus these words of comfort, “Do not fear, only believe.”
His daughter was now ready for Jesus. For if Jesus came not for the healthy but for the sick and unclean, then above all, He came for the dead. For as our Lord God made Adam from the dead dust of the earth, so He remakes the fallen sons of Adam and the fallen daughters of Eve — He remakes them, He remakes you only if you are dead as dust.
And so you are. For though your heart may be as healthy as an Olympic athlete, it is that heart, your heart and mine, that daily spews forth the sickness of evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, drunkenness, lies, and slanders. For though you keep up a good appearance to people in this congregation, your co-workers, your friends, and maybe even your family, inside you, inside me, is jealousy, greed, malice, and every form of evil. And even if you are able to avoid gross, outward sins, even if you keep your darkest fantasies hidden away in your mind, they cannot be hidden from the eyes of the Almighty Judge.
You are not nearly as good as you think you are, or as you like people to think. Indeed, you are worse than you are capable of knowing. For like all men, you lack perfect fear, love, and trust in God above all things. For that reason, you only love those who love you back, but those who oppose you, curse you, or hate you — them you ignore (at best) or hate (at worst). And in so doing, you prove yourself, no better than the Pharisees or scribes. When things don’t go your way, when someone steps on your toes, when you think you deserve something that is given to someone else, then your self-love produces thoughts that, if reflected on a screen, would make even the foulest men hide their faces in shame. These things are true and you know them to be true. And if you did not, you would deceive yourself and the truth would not be in you.
Repent. For if you know them to be true, and confess them to be true, blessed are you, for you have joined the ranks of Jairus’ daughter—one whom our Lord will raise. For to know that your heart is a cesspool of self-loving platitudes and to say Amen to this painful truth, is to stretch out on that bed beside that 12-year-old little girl and die with her. Blessed are you who die with the daughter of Jairus. Blessed are you who don’t live with the lie but die with the truth—the truth that in yourself you are as dead as dust.
Blessed are you who die with the truth, for it is the Truth Himself who has come to set you free from death, free from your sin, to heal your body and soul, and to raise you up to newness of life. For as Jesus took the daughter of Jairus by the hand and said to her, “Talitha kumi, Little girl, I say to you, arise,” so He says to you, “Ego te absolvo, O sinner, I absolve you, I forgive you, I say to you arise. I love you. You are mine. Come off the bed of death, the bed of sin, and live again.
The worst of your sins, your darkest of desires, your pettiness and self-love and greed, lust, and drunkenness — they are no more. They are gone. They are destroyed. I have taken them into My flesh and when My flesh was crucified, they were crucified with Me. They are no more, they have become nothing, that I might make you to be everything in Me.
Blessed are you, O sinner, for Jesus is the Friend of sinners; blessed are you who are dead in transgressions, for Jesus is your Resurrection; blessed are you who are sick, for Jesus is your Healing.
He did not come down from heaven to reform you, to teach you how to win the favor of His Father, or to show you some secret way of salvation. He came down from heaven to die a hellish death out of love for you. He came down from heaven to take on your nature—to have flesh and bones, skin and hair, to cry tears and sweat blood—and as a man to do for you what you could not do, in fact, what you did not want to do, for yourself. He came to keep the laws you have shattered, and to have His obedience applied to you. He came to have a clean heart, a pure conscience, a perfect faith and love, and to place all of these good gifts on you and in you. He came to become all sins of all sinners on that bloody tree. He became your lust that you might become His love. He became your greed that you might become His charity. He became your ugliness that you might become His beauty. He became all your evil that He might make you to be all His good. And in this blessed exchange, He makes you to be the sons and the daughters of God. He is merciful, not counting your sins against you, but grabbing those sins and injecting them into His flesh, that in His flesh He might destroy them once and for all.
Like Jairus’ daughter, you have died and risen by the hand of Christ. And now and forever you stand alive, clean, and forgiven in His presence. That is His promise, a promise to which He is forever faithful. AMEN
The Peace of God, who passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. AMEN
[several paragraphs about Jairus’ daughter have been included from a sermon on Mark 5:21-24, 35-43 and can be found in a collection of sermons published by Emmanuel Press in Christ Crucified: Lutheran Sermons by Chad L. Bird © 2005, used with permission]
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
7/05/2006
