COME AND LAY YOUR HAND

By Dr. Eric C. Stumpf, Senior Pastor

St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church – Munster, IN

Mark 5:21-43 + Pentecost 4 (B) +

June 27 & 28, 2009

                  Those of you who were here last week might remember that we looked at the Gospel lesson from Mark 4, Jesus stilling the storm.  Mark continued with what happened next.  Jesus and the disciples land safely from their storm tossed ride on the sea of Galilee.  Jesus healed a man who was possessed.  Jesus then returns to Capernaum.  Mark tells us a large crowd was there to greet him.  This brings us to today’s Gospel lesson which is not for everyone.

                How can I say that this Gospel lesson is not for everyone?  Well, the lesson is not for those who think they will live forever and never have to face death.  This lesson is not for people who don’t grieve over the loss of loved ones.  Nor is this lesson for people who have it so good they never have problems, setbacks, fears, or discouragement.  For those who fit in that category, you may leave and save yourself 15 minutes.

                I see most of you are still here.  You might think everyone has felt hopeless and helpless at times.  But there are people who think they are masters of their fates, captains of their souls.  They think if you are a positive thinker you will conquer everything.  They believe “If you can imagine it, you can be it.”  This sermon is not for them.

                This sermon is for those who have felt hopeless and helpless.  Not all the time, nor do we blindly go through life without a plan, an idea, an effort to do our best.  We just know we are not all-powerful, all-knowing, and the sun does not rise and set on us.

Jairus

                Let me introduce you to such a person.  His name was Jairus.  In a few words we know something about him.  Successful, respected, a leader in the community, probably middle-aged, and a family man.  He had a daughter, age 12.  She was at that age that she knew she had daddy wrapped around her finger.  Jairus knew that too, and like most fathers, probably didn’t mind it much.  She was his joy.  In a year or two, as was the custom, she would marry.  Then if all went well grandchildren would come into the picture and brighten his life.  At least, that was the plan.  Jairus could look at the years ahead and plan for joyful times, bouncing a grandchild on his knee, and be content in his service to God in his synagogue.

                When I planned our vacation recently to Wales, I studied what was worth seeing in the areas we would travel, and planned a route from the different points.  I used Mapquest to map the route and mileage and time it would take so we could fit everything in.  I realize that’s a bit extreme, but I also realize that not everything is going to go according to plan.  Life often delivers unexpected detours and road construction.  It was into the well ordered life of Jairus an unnamed illness crept into his life and attacked the apple of his eye, his little girl.  It wasn’t planned, all the positive thinking couldn’t have prevented it.

                The little girl probably had her normal run of childhood illnesses.  When she got sick the parents probably thought this will soon pass and the happy little girl would be again running with her playmates.  But the symptoms didn’t disappear.  Doctors were summoned, probably the same who could not help the older woman in the Gospel lesson, good at shaking their heads and looking concerned, but no real help.  They too were helpless in the face of the little girl’s illness.

                Did Jairus think, if only Jesus were here?  But good news, he was back.  Jairus probably struggled with the decision to send someone to fetch Jesus or leave his dear daughter’s side.  It was best to handle this important request himself.  The exchange is simple in Mark.  Jairus tells Jesus he needs help, Jesus goes with him without a moment’s delay.  But then a woman gets involved when they go through the crowd and Jesus spends precious time with her.  Jairus turns to see his good friends with down cast eyes coming and quietly telling him is daughter is dead. 

                It’s just four little words, “Your daughter is dead,” but words that would change the life of any father.  No more smiles, laughter, hugs, wedding plans, or children from her to be born.  “Your daughter is dead,” seemed so final.

                Psychologist William Marston did a study of 3000 people and asked them what do you have to live for?  He was shocked when he discovered that 94 percent of them said they were enduring the present for the future.  Something next week, next year, will be better.  Well, for Jairus there was no next week or next year. 

                Jairus was hopeless and helpless.  Possibly your misery and time of hopelessness and helplessness came, when your dream, vision, or hope died. 

Can God Help?

                You might hesitate to ask God for help.  First, it might be because you think you are beyond God’s help.  A children’s hospital had a teacher on the staff to help children with long term hospitalization to keep up with their studies while away from school.  Mrs. Barnes was summoned to help a boy who was badly burned.  The nurses on the floor told her that they boy had given up and they thought he might die.  Mrs. Barnes went to the boy and the first thing she said was, “I’m the hospital teacher, Mrs. Barnes.  Your school wants me to help you with your studies, nouns and verbs, so you don’t fall behind.”  The next day the nurse asked what she had said to the boy?  He suddenly took a turn for the better, he’s fighting.  The boy eventually shared his thoughts.  When Mrs. Barnes said what she said, he thought the school would not have sent a teacher to help him if they thought he was dying. 

                If you feel helpless and hopeless know, God does not.  Know that God sacrificed his only Son for sinners who can be rescued from hopeless situations and feelings of helplessness.  Who did Jesus help?  Not the proud and self-assured, but Jairus who lost a daughter, a man possessed by a demon, the sick, the leper, the outcast woman with an issue of blood. 

                Second, you might hesitate to ask God for help because you feel too small for God to care.  You think since everyone else has forgotten you or turned their back against you, God will do the same.  A pastor visited a woman in the hospital fighting an infection brought on by AIDS.  She had been a faithful wife, unfortunately her husband wasn’t.  She contracted it from him, but her reputation was unfairly ruined, her friends forsook her.  When the pastor came, she said, “I’m lost.  My life is ruined and so are the lives of those around me.  There is no hope.”  The pastor saw on the bedside table a picture of a young girl.  “And who is this?” asked the pastor.  For the first time the woman smiled, “That’s my daughter, she is the only beautiful thing I have.”  The pastor asked her, if her daughter was in trouble, would she still love her?  “Pastor!” came the shocked reply, “of course I would love her, she’s my daughter.”  The pastor softly said to her, “God has a picture of you on his table.”  When no one else cares, God cares.  He gave his best, his only Son, and in him, no matter what the world throws at us, we are in his hands.

                Jesus told Jairus “Don’t be afraid.  Just believe.”  He brushed past the professional mourners and the laughter of those who thought Jesus didn’t know anything and said, “Little girl get up.”  And she did. 

                In whatever bad situation you find yourself, do not doubt, but believe in the one that raises the dead and gives life in the face of death.  You may say, “Oh, Jesus won’t raise my loved ones,” I say to you, “Yes, he will.”  Jairus had a short time to wait.  Yours may be a little longer, but Jesus will raise up the dead.  He has conquered death, he can conquer for you.  Amen.

SDG