Out of the Depths

Composing a sermon, at this this time in our earth’s history, is a real challenge! With the nightmare revelation of unmarked graves of children in the grounds of Kamloops and Brandon and now Marieval, Saskatchewan Residential Schools, with so many Covid deaths affecting so many communities around the world, with global warning threatening the very future of our planet, I really struggled to find a meaningful focus for today’s reflection.  So . . . I went to the scriptures proscribed for today in the Lectionary – and, as is often the case, I found my focus. 

Actually, the first scripture for today – that Psalm read and sung by Barb, felt very appropriate to me:  “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord” indeed!  As we begin to emerge from this fifteen month siege of isolation and lockdowns, we take stock of our physical and spiritual wounds and look at moving forward, into an uncertain, but hopeful future. 

The second scripture reading for today, which Wayne read for us, gives us two wildly different examples of people in Biblical times crying from out of the depths – and having their prayers answered and their physical and spiritual wounds healed.  It all begins with Mark telling us that Jesus is on the way to the home of Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders. Now, let’s pause for a moment. In an awful lot of places in the Bible, synagogue leaders were pretty suspicious – even contemptuous – of Jesus and his teachings. They were always trying to trip him up, discredit him, get him into hot water with the Roman authorities. Now, Jairus is one of those leaders.  He would have been a respected authority figure with a family, obviously. He’s also a man, which would  have been even more significant back then than it is now.   Economically, he certainly would have been relatively well off – when we get to his house later on, there are lots of people about, obviously caring for and about him and his family. Here, though, right here, standing in front of this itinerant preacher trudging along in the middle a crowd – here, all that power, respect, authority are irrelevant.  Here, he’s just a father. His daughter is deathly ill, and he’s desperate.  He falls at Jesus’ feet and pleads with Jesus to come and heal her. Jesus agrees and is on the way to Jairus’ house when the second story interrupts him.

 Now, we see the unnamed woman who had been suffering for twelve long years from hemorrhaging – going to multiple doctors and spending all her money, to no avail.  Socially, this woman would have been considered to be “impure” - as would any woman who had their period; certainly, people in the crowd wouldn’t have wanted to be in close physical contact with her. Economically, she would have been poor – she “spent all she had” on doctors, desperately trying to get well. Spiritually, however, she believes that all she has to do is touch Jesus’ clothing and she will be healed. She doesn’t have to get him to touch her, which she knows would be considered “scandalous” in that day; she doesn’t even have to get his attention. She just has to sneak up close enough to him to touch his cloak.  She’s right, too, because as soon as she succeeds in touching his robe, she is healed! Jesus doesn’t let her get away with that, though – he turns around and when he locates the woman (who is terrified at being found out – she did sort of steal a healing from this guy, after all), he just says to her “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” 

Now let’s get back to the other story: Jesus hasn’t made it to Jairus’ house yet, and people come to tell Jairus that his daughter has died – no need to “bother the teacher” anymore. We’re not told how Jairus reacts   – we’re just told that Jesus overhears this and says “Don’t be afraid; just believe”. Jesus shoos the crowd away, takes three disciples, and walks the rest of the way to Jairus’ house, where he boots out all weeping and wailing people, grabs the child’s parents and his three disciples, goes into the house, and tells the little girl to “Get up”. She is instantly brought back to life and healed – and he tells her parents to get her something to eat – get back to normal life.   He also gives “strict orders”  to not tell anybody about this.  Of course, if that had been today, it would have been too late – somebody would already have taken a video on their cell phone and uploaded it to Youtube . . .  

 It’s really interesting to compare these two stories and to see exactly what point the gospel writer, Mark, was trying to make by putting these stories together:  on the one hand, we have Jairus – male, religious authority figure, well to do, unnamed daughter who dies and is brought back to life by Jesus – and Jesus wants to keep this event hush hush (even back then, one imagines that the healing of such an important person’s daughter would have had a prominent spot on the evening news);  on the other hand, we have an unnamed woman, impure, poor, suffering from a twelve year affliction, healed by touching Jesus’ clothing in a super public place with crowds watching – no possibility of hiding that event (back then, of course, even mentioning the woman’s affliction would probably have been grounds for firing the reporter – so no real danger of publicity there). 

This comparison can surely lead to only one conclusion: Jesus is ready, willing and able to heal the body, mind, and spirit of anybody – regardless of their station in life, their religious affiliation, their economic status, their popularity, their perceived flaws – doesn't matter.  The common ingredient in both these stories is faith!  Jesus says “Don’t be afraid; just believe”. He says “Your faith has healed you.”   Notice, too, that Jesus doesn’t want or expect publicity here – he certainly doesn’t want people’s attention focused on his ability to physically heal, as if he’s some sort of magical miracle worker; he wants them to focus on losing their fear and having faith in God. 

I really think that, symbolically speaking, these two stories could have been written directly to us, at this point in history. Today, we are metaphorically standing at a crossroads.  On one side lies “the way things used to be”:  apathy, focus on social and financial security, preserving our way of life, looking after number one; on the other side lies “the way things could be”: a chance for a fresh start, focus on social justice, equity for all, environmental stability, reconciliation with the descendants of the people who first tended this land.  We have to decide:  be fearful and recover what we had fifteen months ago – or “don’t be afraid, just believe” and move forward. 

I’d like to read again a verse of the Introit hymn sung so beautifully by Alan and Paul:   

There is a time that we must rise

There is a time that we must stand

There is a time that we must come together

For blessed are our lives

Blessed our love

And blessed the promise gathered now.

  Listen, a little later, to the words of the closing hymn: 

 From every house of worship,

In every faith and tongue,

A song must rise once again.

From the villages and cities  

A new song must be sung,

A song must rise for the spirit to descend.  

The unnamed woman and the synagogue leader each had faith – faith that their lives could be healed and that they could move forward; they were ready to sing a new song.  What does singing a new song, moving forward into the post-covid future look like for you?  for us? For the United Church? For the globe? 

Last week, Keltie made a number of suggestions, which are well worth reviewing! If you’d like to take another look at her words, go to the Comox United Church website. From the menu at the top of the page, go to the far right and click on Sermons – then scroll down to Keltie’s sermon from June 20th.  Or in the interest of educating yourself on current issues and Comox United’s action plans, go to “Ministries” and click on our Social Justice page or our SAGE (Sustainability Action Group for the Environment) page. Or check out the News page and look at the articles,  soundtracks, and videos taken from the K’omoks First Nations’ websites.

There’s quite a bit going on, quite a few reasons for hope, quite a number of actions we can take  – there are new songs being sung here in Comox and across Canada – and around the world, actually.  That Psalm we listened to earlier in this service – along with “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord”, the psalmist also says “With the Lord is unfailing love and full redemption”.

In the passage from Mark, Jesus tells us that with faith, we can be healed ; don’t be afraid; just believe. The Creator of the universe has miracles to perform; we just have to open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts.    

I’d like to close this reflection with a prayer from Father Richard Rohr’s Meditations:

Loving God, you fill all things with a fullness and hope that we can never comprehend. Thank you for leading us into a time where more of reality is being unveiled for us all to see. We pray that you will take away our natural temptation for cynicism, denial, fear and despair. Help us have the courage to awaken to greater truth, greater humility, and greater care for one another. May we place our hope in what matters and what lasts, trusting in your eternal presence and love. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our suffering world -  in all the holy names of God. Amen.