Do not Fear, Only Believe
The Gospel of Mark likes sandwiches – the literary kind – like the healing
stories in today’s Gospel. Mark interrupts the story about Jairus seeking
healing for his daughter in order to tell the story about the bleeding woman –
before returning to the story of Jairus’ daughter. In putting the stories
together in this way, the one story helps interpret the other.
This past week, in reading these “sandwiched” stories, I was touched by the
story of Jairus, the father who went to extreme measures in seeking health
and healing for his little girl. In those days, it was common for children to die
of disease due to the lack of medicine and vaccines. Furthermore, she was a
girl – who were traditionally less valued than boys in that culture. But clearly,
Jairus loved his little girl.
He sounds absolutely beside himself as he falls at Jesus’ feet – not something
that synagogue leaders normally would do – and begs over and over for Jesus
to “lay hands on her so that she may be made well, and live.” Like the
bleeding woman’s touch, Jairus’ words are both a profession of faith and an
act of desperation from a person who was willing to do anything for the gift
of healing.
If you have ever sat with a mother or a father when their child is deathly
sick– or been that mother or father or as one who cared for the child – you
know that that there may be nothing worse than to have to face the death of
your child. It doesn’t even matter how old the child is – they are still your
child, the one you have tried to protect and to raise and to shelter from every
storm.
Jairus may have been standing on the beach, waiting – for when Jesus’ boat
came in, Jairus lost no time in placing himself in front of Jesus’ feet -
blocking his way. He was on a mission - must have been relieved when Jesus
agreed to come to his home to heal his daughter.
But just as they were headed toward’s Jairus’ home, Jesus stopped – because,
he said, someone touched him -and Jairus had to wait again. We don’t hear
from Jairus – but even the disciples were incredulous. Of course, someone –
lots of someones touched him. They were surrounded by people. But Jesus
wouldn’t budge until he found out who touched him. For he knew that
healing power had left his body. He was right – a woman – a nobody – an
unclean woman – came forward to confess. And she told the WHOLE
story… while Jairus waited.
Again, we don’t know how Jairus was feeling as he was waiting for Jesus.
After his first words, he doesn’t speak again and we don’t return to Jairus’
story until after Jesus proclaims the bleeding woman as his daughter – and
effectively reinstates her into the community – inviting the community to
receive her into their midst with peace, with shalom, which means that she
was to be welcomed. She belonged again. And she– this formerly bleeding
woman –had been waiting a long time – 12 years of waiting – which maybe
not coincidentally - is the same as the age of Jairus’ daughter.
Waiting. Sometimes waiting is pure agony. I remember waiting for word
from Mary and Arch, the parents of my college roommate Sharon.
Apparently, before she attempted to ride an unbroken horse, Sharon had
reasoned with a friend, “what’s the worst that could happen? I might get
bucked off – that’s happened before - no big deal!” But this time, it was a big
deal. When she was bucked off, her head hit a bolt in the stable right at her
temple. Her body was perfectly fine – except for that one bruise. She went
into a coma. When we heard the news, we waited and we prayed and then we
got anxious and wished there was something, anything that we could do.
What do you do when you wait? Do you fidget and worry and wonder what
will happen and imagine the worst? Do you try to keep “busy” and think of
anything other than the thing you are waiting for? And of course, you pray.
You pray and pray and wish for the right words to make healing happen.
While he was waiting, I would guess that Jairus had been praying – praying
for his daughter but maybe also praying for Jesus to hurry up so that they
would not be too late. But Jesus was not going to be hurried. And he was not
going to hurry this new daughter of his – Jesus wanted to hear the whole truth
– and to restore her to the community.
But there is a cost to waiting. While they are witing, messengers arrive to tell
Jairus that his daughter has died – so don’t bother the rabbi anymore. It’s hard
to imagine how devastated he must have felt -- as if he had the winning
lottery ticket and, on his way to redeem it, it blew out of his hand and
someone else won the jackpot.
Jairus doesn’t speak after his first lines but Jesus knows his heart. Jesus says
to him, “Do not fear, only believe.” I was struck that Jesus did not tell him
not to be angry or frustrated or grief-stricken -- I think I would be all of
those. But Jesus told him, “do not fear.”
At least in the Gospel of Mark, fear seems to be the opposite of faith. When
the hemorrhaging woman, confident in her belief that just touching the robe
of Jesus would be enough to heal her, does so – despite the taboo of an
“unclean” person touching another, Jesus commends her for her faith.
And this is not the only time Jesus contrasts fear and faith. When Jesus calms
the raging water on the Sea of Galilee, he says to his disciples, “Why are you
afraid? Have you still no faith? Again, after walking on the water, he tells the
disciples not to be afraid. Later, the disciples are afraid when they hear Jesus
talk about his death and resurrection. The religious leaders are afraid of what
Jesus will do. And finally, when they see the empty tomb, the women are
afraid and run away. In each of these cases, fear is the opposite of believing
in Jesus, of having and keeping faith with Jesus. Jesus also tells Jairus, “Do
not fear, only believe.”
Fear is a very basic, elemental raw emotion located right on our brain stem
that tells us to respond one of three ways: fight, flight or freeze. This is a
good response if you are encountering a lion in the early years of civilization
when you had to decide instantly your course of action. Can you fight it? Can
you outrun it? Or is your best bet to freeze in place and try to blend in with
the tree or grass or whatever is nearby? Quick gut reactions from fear may
have saved the species. But because fear is reactive and a gut reaction, it
doesn’t give the option of being open to new possibilities.
On the other hand, faith opens us up to possibilities that we had never
imagined before. As Brene Brown once said, “Faith is a place of mystery,
where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength
to let go of our fear of uncertainty.” 1
Jesus is inviting Jairus – and later the disciples - to do just that: “Do not fear
only believe.” This kind of faith requires trust – trust in God, trust in Jesus
despite the what things may seem and despite what your gut may be telling
you. Jairus must have resisted the temptation to fight or run away or freeze
because he took Jesus to his house, endured the mocking laughter of the
people, and brought Jesus to his daughter’s room- even though the
messengers and everyone at his house said it was too late. But it was not too
late for Jesus. Instead, Jairus’ waiting – patiently or not - and embracing faith
and not fear paid off. Jesus lifted up his daughter into new life.
Both Jairus’ daughter and the woman Jesus claimed as “daughter” were
healed and restored to life. But not every person is healed, not every story
has this kind of “happy ending.” And it is not for lack of waiting and
watching, hoping and praying.
My friend Sharon, after spending several weeks in and out of consciousness,
developed a blood clot and died. I was devastated. She was far too young and
too full of promise to die. I was pretty angry with God. On top of that, – I had
some survivor’s guilt. I came out of a head injury – why shouldn’t she? Were
not my prayers for her as powerful as the prayers others had prayed for me?
Why was I healed - and she was not?
This question unsettled me… until I visited Sharon’s mother Mary. I knew
that Mary grieved the loss of her daughter Sharon deeply. And yet, she
seemed very much at peace. So, I asked her how she had managed to come to
peace with Sharon’s death. Mary smiled and said, “It became clear to her
father and me that Sharon would never be able to fully recover. She would
never be able to live outside of a care center and her creativity and her
intellect were deeply damaged. We were willing to live with that. We were
making plans to sell the home that we built in Missouri and move back to
Minneapolis to care for her. Sharon didn’t understand everything – but she
understood that she was not herself – and she was miserable. She did not
want that life. I miss her deeply, and yet, for her sake, I am glad that God
took her home.”
Mary was able to embrace Psalm 30 which says, “Weeping may linger for the
night, but joy comes with the morning.” The promise of resurrection life for
Sharon was what helped Mary through the long night of grief.
It was then that I learned – again – that healing and wholeness are not always
what we think that they should be. God’s ways are not our ways for God sees
beyond our selfish desires. I wanted Sharon to be healed – because I wanted
my friend back. But Jesus knew her heart and He cares for the whole person
as we are – not as we wish to be.
Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, Jesus cares for you and those that you
love too. So when you come to a time in which you are forced to wait, may
you watch and wait with hope and faith, trusting in God. As Jesus said to
Jairus, so Jesus says to you and to me, “Do not fear. Only believe.” For God
is faithful. Amen.
Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran + June 30, 2024+ Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane
1 Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection