Sermon: Peace, Be Still – Preached 6/21/09

Preaching this weekend

Here’s the gospel Text:

Mark 5:21-43

 ²¹When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea.

Jesus and his disciples had made a trip to gentile territory where he cast many demons out of a guy and into some pigs.  The pigs ran into the lake an drowned.   Jesus was asked to leave.  So he has now returned. 

²²Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet ²³and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”

This is a very moving picture.  Jarius is a leader of the synagogue.  Synagogue leaders on the whole aren’t fans of Jesus.  And yet this man is willing to humble himself and beg Jesus.  In a culture that treats honor in the same way we treat money, this is  a very, very big deal.  Also keep in mind that this was a time when something like 60% of children die before reaching their teenage years.   Children weren’t idealized like they are in our culture.  They were property, and girls were much valuable than boys. 

²⁴So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. ²⁵Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. ²⁶She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” ²⁹Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

Here’s another very moving picture.  This unnamed woman has been bleeding for 12 years.  This means she has been ritually unclean for 12 years.  For 12 years it was taboo for anybody to touch her.  She spent all she had on physicians.  Everything was tried.  Nothing worked.  Although there was no physical evidence that Jesus could cure her, she saw something in him.  She knew.

³⁰Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” ³¹And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” ³²He looked all around to see who had done it. ³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. ³⁴He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Lots of people were touching Jesus.  That’s why the disciples were confused by his question.  But Jesus wasn’t talking about normal touching.  There’s touching and then there’s touching.  He was touched with holy intent and holy expectation.   Everybody wanted a piece of Jesus and they touched him with worldly intent.  But this touch was different.

The woman, being ritually unclean, broke taboo in touching Jesus.  But I don’t think that was the source of her fear.  I think it was more awe in the presence of the holy.

Imagine you are Jarius in this moment.  His daughter is dying.  Jesus was on his way.  And now, not only has he stopped his progress toward the daughter, Jesus has been touched by an unclean woman.  If he were to follow the rules of the Synagogue, he could not allow Jesus into his home.

 ³⁵While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” ³⁶But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” ³⁷He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. ³⁸When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

Jesus sees a deeper reality.  Despite eyewitness accounts of death, Jesus sees, and calls forth life.  In a Bible study this week, Canon Lynell Walker suggested that this is what we need to do if we are going to “be Jesus” in the world.   Where the world sees death, we need to see, and call forth, life.

⁴⁰And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” ⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. ⁴³He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

I love the last line.  I wish Mark would have given us one more sentence.  Something like, “and they made her a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.”

Sacramento Safe Ground

I went to a kickoff event for the Sacramento Safe Ground campaign. This initiative grew out of the turmoil created when the City shut down “tent city” and is being led in large part by people who are homeless as well as formerly homeless partnering with Loaves & Fishes and Francis House. Here are some of the facts:

1. It is literally illegal to be homeless. It is illegal to use or store camping gear (including sleeping bags or rolls) on public property and it is illegal to ues such gear on private property for more than one night. Add to that the lack of available restroom facilities in the city as well as accessible sources for water. One woman last night said the hardest part of being homeless was the fact that whenever she got settled in someplace to sleep, she would be constantly anxious that a police officer would tell her she had to get up and go away.

2. County shelter space is being shut down.

3. There is available public land. By partnering with non-profit organizations, it is possible to provide water, dumpsters, restrooms and simple shelters for about $2 per day per person. It costs the county about $50 per day to house somebody in a shelter.

Safe Ground is working to change the camping laws as well as acquire land and the funds to provide a safe, legal place for homeless people to live. This is seen as a first, very important step in a three step strategy. The next two steps are for Safe Haven (shelter) and Safe Housing.

There is a rally and march on Wednesday, July 1 at 10am at Loaves and Fishes.

You can see more at http://safegroundsac.org/index.php

Sacramento Gay Pride 2009

Andrea and I marched in the Gay Pride Parade last weekend.  It was a beautiful day and the parade and festival were lovely.  I have two observations, and some photos.

1.  The “faith group” was the largest group in the parade.   And among the people of faith, the Christians were predominant.  This has been true for at least the last two parades (the only ones I’ve seen in Sacramento.)  I am hoping that this witness helps LGBT folks realize they have lots of allies in churches.

2.  There were very, very few protesters.  That struck me as very significant.  Yes, the anti-gay folks won the recent marriage battle, but it strikes as very hopeful that marriage seems to be the only real battle left.  I don’t want to minimize the importance of marriage equality, but the fact that people aren’t arguing with any real traction against domestic partnerships or even same-sex relationships in general (“homosexuality is sin”) is, in my mind, huge.