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Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Pentecost 6 7/16/06 Text: Mark5:21 through 43 Title: Touch

Date: Pentecost 6
Date: 7/16/06
Title:Touch
Text: Mark 5:21 through 43

Heavenly Father, creator and sustainer of all things, we humbly come before you this morning acknowledging our complete inability to truly love others, much less you. We thank you for your gift of Jesus Christ who through his death and resurrection has saved us from your wrath, which we all deserve.
We ask you now at this time to calm our minds so that we may not only hear, but believe and put into practice the words you had written down for us in your Holy Scriptures. Mold us, and shape us into the vessels you want us to be, for you are the potter and we are the clay. Speak O’ Lord for your servants are listening. Amen
Our Gospel reading for this morning starts out with Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue coming to Jesus in desperation. He interrupts Jesus to tell him his daughter is dying and he needs him to touch her, so she would be healed.
Jesus instantly stopped what he was doing and went with him. As they went, it is not part of our reading for today, he is touched, actually just his cloak is touched, by a woman that was considered unclean by Jewish religious law. She was considered unclean because she had been suffering for twelve years with what appears to be continues menstrual bleeding.
This woman was desperate. No doctor could help her and she was broke, flat out broke. She had to do something, and she had heard that Jesus had healed people, so she got close enough to him to touch his cloak. Because she was considered unclean this was a terrible thing for her to do.
She knows she is going against the religious rules, for we are told that after she was discovered she fell at Jesus’ feet, trembling with fear. She was in trouble and she knew it. But then the unexpected happens as Jesus’ tells her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Jesus did not not chew her out, or push her away which he had every right to do, but with words said in love, Jesus moved her from being unclean and having no worth, to being clean and fully restored as a daughter into Jewish society, a huge social jump.
Just imagine the reaction of the disciples and crowds that were crowding around Jesus that day. I am sure they were not only shocked by her behavior, but by Jesus’ behavior too, for what had just taken place had turned the Jewish religious laws upside down.
Getting back to our Gospel reading for today we see that Jairus is told that his daughter has died. Jairus must have felt that all was lost. Maybe he thought that if Jesus had not stopped to talk to the woman, if the crowds had not been so big, if Jesus had just walked a little faster, his daughter might be alive. But she wasn’t and he was frightened. We know that he was frightened, for we hear Jesus tell him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Simple words, yet so hard to follow, aren’t they?
We are not told why Jesus told Jairus not to be afraid but we are told that Jesus did in fact raise his daughter from the dead. He simply took her by the hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.”
With those words she came back to life and got up. Can you imagine the joy her parents must have felt when they saw their daughter come back to life. There is no doubt there was a great celebration that night, for she who was dead was now alive.
There are many lessons to be learned from both of these incidents, lessons that can be applied to our lives today, and prepare us for the future, but time restraints will keep us from learning them all, so I will concentrate on just a couple of them today.
I first want to talk about how Jesus dealt with all the interruptions he faced each day. In our Gospel reading we see Jesus being interrupted when Jairus pleads with him to heal his daughter.
Then there is the woman who touched Jesus’ robe. She interrupted him as he was going to Jairus’ daughter.
Jesus’ life had to have been full of interruptions. He was a popular man at this time, so I am sure that he was constantly being interrupted as he traveled through the countryside and towns of Judea.
I can just hear the crowds now as they interrupted him, “Jesus, heal me.” “Jesus, talk to me.” “Jesus, I have a question.” “Jesus, please come to my house for dinner.” “Jesus, stop your disciples.” “Jesus, I need you now.” “Jesus, my brother has died.” “Jesus, I am hungry.” “Jesus, when are you going to overthrow the Romans?” “Jesus, can my sons sit on your right and left side when you establish your kingdom?” It was enough to drive anyone crazy.
But not Jesus, for I believe Jesus thrived on interruptions. That is when he was able to help people. In fact, I would say he is the God of interruptions, for in his death he came into our lives interrupting them, thus breaking the devil’s hold on us.
That is good news indeed, and because of that we too should not look on interruptions as pains in the you now what, but opportunities to show the love of God to those that need us. Sure, most of the time interruptions will not be convenient, that is why they are called interruptions, but it is in those times that you can truly show the love of God to those who are interrupting you.
You show the love of God by how you respond to their interruption, by not using cross words, ignoring them, or pushing them away, but by drawing them close so that they see you care about their problem, even if you can’t help them at the time. I am sure that Jesus could not help everyone that interrupted him, but I guarantee you he was never cross with anyone. He knew that those were the times when the love of God could show through him, just as it can show through us.
You say you don’t feel very loving when you are interrupted. Well all I can say is that how you act in those times shows how mature your faith is, for the more spiritually mature you are the more you see people through the eyes of God and not your own sinful eyes. Interruptions are the way of life now, but they don’t have to be bad, for they are a wonderful way to witness to people, to touch them where they are, just as Jesus did.
This brings me to the second lesson we can learn from our Gospel text for this morning, the power of touch, both with the spoken word and the physical touch. I do not know if you noticed, when we read the Gospel earlier, but both of Jesus’ healings came through the power of touch and the spoken word. In the woman with the bleeding disorder it was her touch done in faith that healed her because it allowed the healing power of Jesus to flow from him to her.
Jiarus’ daughter was healed when Jesus touched her as he took her hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” and she did get up, restored to full health. Jesus’ touch, both physical and through his words calms fearful hearts, encourage the weak, and drives out Satan.
Jesus’ touch is still active today. He calms us with his words, restores our strength and gives us his blessing all through touch, both the spoken word and actual touch as he touches us with water and his word in our baptism, and through the bread and wine and his word in the Lord’s supper. He also touches as we touch each other, such as when we give the peace to each other at the beginning of the service.
I know some are not comfortable with giving the peace, but I think the reason they are uncomfortable is that they don’t understand the meaning of what is being done.
I found a wonderful poem about giving the peace called "Touch in Church" It was written by Ann Weems in her book, Reaching for Rainbows, 1980, Westminster Press. It shows us the power of giving the peace.
What is all this touching in church? It used to be a person could come to church and sit in the pew and not be bothered by all this friendliness and certainly not by touching. I used to come to church and leave untouched.
Now I have to be nervous about what's expected of me. I have to worry about responding to the person sitting next to me. Oh, I wish it could be the way it used to be; I could just ask the person next to me: How are you? And the person could answer: Oh, just fine, And we'd both go home strangers who have known each other for twenty years. But now the minister asks us to look at each other. I'm worried about that hurt look I saw in that woman's eyes. Now I'm concerned, because when the minister asks us to pass the peace, The man next to me held my hand so tightly I wondered if he had been touched in years. Now I'm upset because the lady next to me cried and then apologized And said it was because I was so kind and that she needed A friend right now. Now I have to get involved. Now I have to suffer when this community suffers. Now I have to be more than a person coming to observe a service. That man last week told me I'd never know how much I'd touched his life. All I did was smile and tell him I understood what it was to be lonely. Lord, I'm not big enough to touch and be touched! The stretching scares me. What if I disappoint somebody? What if I'm too pushy? What if I cling too much?
What if somebody ignores me? "Pass the peace." "The peace of God be with you." “And with you." And mean it. Lord, I can't resist meaning it!
I'm touched by it, I'm enveloped by it! I find I do care about that person next to me! I find I am involved! And I'm scared. O Lord, be here beside me. You touch me, Lord, so that I can touch and be touched! So that I can care and be cared for! So that I can share my life with all those others that belong to you! All this touching in church -- Lord, it's changing me!

Touch is a powerful thing, for it demonstrates Jesus’ touch, when he touched us in our Baptism, and continues to touch us through His Supper and Word. Amen.

At this time please turn to those near you and announce the peace of God to them as you say, “Peace be with you.”