Sermon on Mark 5:21-43

Sermon on Mark 5:21-43
Given 10 November 2019 at Studley Parish Centre – Centrepoint

I am always thrilled about this time of year, because Autumn is my favourite season. Or, rather, as Americans logically call it, Fall. After all, it is the time of year when the leaves fall off the trees, and the Earth begins its preparation to fall into a winter hibernation. One aspect about this time of year that we don’t often mention though is the hope behind the dreariness of the naked trees. There is always hope, because every year we know that the fall of the leaves is not the end for the trees. As the seasons change, we are aware that the long sleep is simply part of a cycle, which always comes back to rebirth. After the fall of the Autumn, and the still of the Winter, there is restoration in the Spring.

In chapter 6 of the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus is telling us not to worry, he uses the illustrations of the birds in the sky and the flowers in the fields. He explains that if our loving Creator God is so concerned for the well-being of these things, then of course God will take care of us too. In the same way that God cares for the created world, God will care for us and in the same way God restores the world, God will also restore us.

The video we watched based on Mark 5:21-43, shows us the restorative power of Jesus. Not only does Jesus restore health to the unnamed woman, he also restores life to Jairus’ daughter. As with any story from the Bible, there are levels to this one. On the surface, it is simply a story of healing, but on deeper inspection, it is also a social commentary on who Jesus deems worthy of healing. Spoiler alert – all are worthy in the eyes of God.

I don’t like saying the unnamed woman, so I’m going to call her Annie. Annie, who had been bleeding for twelve years, had spent all the money she had on doctors who couldn’t heal her. From this, we can infer that Annie is poor. Additionally, due to the context of that time, there is a good chance she was unmarried, as her continual bleeding would by law cause her to be unclean and anyone she touched to be unclean as well. Basically, Annie was on the fringe of her society as she was a poor, unmarried woman. But when Jesus discovered he had inadvertently healed her, he didn’t rebuke Annie. Instead, Jesus called her ‘daughter’ recognizing her as a child of God. For Jesus, even someone who would be considered an outsider is worthy of God’s magnificent, healing love. Then, after healing Annie, Jesus continued to cross gender boundaries by bringing Jairus’ daughter back to life. Gender and class are no hindrance for Jesus, and neither is sickness, or even death. This is the power of a God that can and does heal, repair, and restore, who loves everyone equally regardless of differences or societal standards of etiquette.

This power is shown through the many miracles of Jesus, but we also see healing in the name of Christ by Peter and Paul in the book of Acts. Furthermore, James 5:14 tells us “Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” So it’s not only Peter or Paul, that can bring the restoring power of God in the name of Christ. Every single one of us is called as Christians and followers of Christ, to bring about radical restoration in the name of Jesus.

This past week in one of my lecture rooms, there were two questions written on the white board that couldn’t be erased. Though some would say it was down to someone using the incorrect marker, I viewed these questions as a nudge from God. The questions were: What will stay with you? And what will you do next?

From what I have said today, I hope the answer to the first question is the knowledge that in the name of Christ we too can heal, repair, and restore. I want your takeaway to be that there is power in the name of Jesus that we as Christians can utilise to bring about restoration in our life and the lives of others. I believe this leads naturally on to the second question of what your next steps will be, the answer of which is summarised perfectly in the mission for our Arden Marches group of churches: Bringing God’s love to a hurting world.

As we prepare to go gather around the cenotaph and remember the hurt, the brokenness, the destruction caused by war, let us find comfort in the ability of God’s power in us to heal, in Christ’s love in us that repairs, and in the capacity of the Holy Spirit in us to bring all things in and of creation to restoration. Amen.