Sermon; Proper 8B; Mark 5:21-43

Today we have two stories of healing. One of a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages (or “a flow of blood” in some translations) for twelve years. Another of a 12-year old girl who dies. These two stories are always told together, and within this passage you have some rather obvious comparisons and contrasts.

In comparison, there are the two adults, Jairus and the bleeding woman, who seem to be at the end of their respective ropes and will do anything for healing. You have a 12-year old girl close to death and a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years, who also might be close to death. You have two ritually unclean females – one from her flow of blood, and one from her death.

In contrast you also have a girl and a woman. You have a man asking for help and a woman taking power from Jesus on her own volition. The woman's healing is done publicly, while the girl's healing is done in private. After the woman is healed, no one is commanded to remain silent, yet those who witnessed the raising of the little girl are ordered to not tell anyone about the miracle.

And here I was really hoping for a gospel lesson I could tie into the J2A Oregon trip that begins tomorrow. I also looked at the Old Testament lesson, but songs of dead kings don't really lend themselves to youth mission trips. So it was back to the gospel.

At the most basic level, before we look at any of the similarities or differences, before we even get God or Jesus involved, at the most basic level, today's one passage is two stories. Today's passage contains one story of a family in need of healing, and one story of a woman in need of healing. As we look closer at these two stories, other things begin to appear.

Yes, this is a story of a 12-year old girl and a woman with a 12-year chronic disease. This is a story of two ritually unclean females. This is a story of Jesus compassionately interacting with females. This is the story of two very desperate people. But all of that aside – besides the healing, besides the humility, besides Mark's desire to show Jesus having power over the spiritual world (driving out demons), over the physical world (calming the seas), and over the human condition – this is a story interrupted.

Notice that these simply aren't two stories that happen to always be paired together; these are two stories that are paired together because it is a story interrupted. A man comes to Jesus asking him to heal his daughter who is close to death, and Jesus willingly goes with him to heal her. Unlike the Lazarus story over in John, Jesus doesn't dilly dally. Mark doesn't say it, but I can almost hear him say, “Jesus immediately went with him.” On his way he is interrupted by a woman with her own issues whom he heals. But because of this interruption, because of this delay, Jesus is late in arriving at the home of Jairus. It is during the delay when the girl dies. Even so, Jesus eventually got to where he was originally going and performed the miracle he had planned on performing, that of healing the little girl.

In 2017 my wife volunteered to lead the J2A program here at Saint John's. She became familiar with the program at the church we attended while in seminary. She fell in love with it and the kids who participated, and she was hoping to bring that experience here.

J2A is a 2-year program designed to help teens make the Journey to Adulthood. It includes an urban excursion (which took them to NYC) and a longer expedition with a mission aspect at the end of the program. For this group, it's the trip to Oregon that begins tomorrow AT EARLIER THAN O-DARK THIRTY.

Anyway . . .

Along the way there were some bumps which led us to extend the program by a year so we could work out some of those kinks. It was during that extended year when the kids decided to make the Oregon trip. To raise funds they planned car washes, dances, and other fund raisers. After holding one dance and planning another, the COVID pandemic hit. J2A meetings were moved to online, and the trip was canceled.

Eventually the trip was rescheduled for 2021 and the Flamingo Flocking became a COVID-safe fundraiser. This two-year program that had been extended to three, now was a four-year endeavor. Even with all that has happened, with the bumps and bruises, with a global pandemic, with the ability to only gather virtually, with all of that, the group eventually got to where they were going.

Like Mark's story of Jesus healing the girl and the woman is a story interrupted, the story of this J2A group is a story interrupted. In both of these, the gospel and J2A, what was originally planned for was interrupted by something out of their control but that interruption was just that – an interruption, not a permanent detour.

In today's gospel we see Jesus has the power to heal a person of a physical malady. In this gospel story we see Jesus has power over death. In the wider scope of Mark's gospel we also see Jesus has power over the physical world by the calming of the sea, as well as having power over the spiritual world by his casting out demons. But it seems to me that the most important part of this passage for us today is the recognition of the story interrupted.

Jairus' daughter's healing was interrupted by the woman with the chronic medical issue, yet Jesus eventually got to where he needed to be. The J2A Oregon trip was interrupted by the COVID pandemic, yet they will eventually get to where they need to be.

As we read this story, the healings and power of Jesus are nice and they help inform us of who the Son of God is, but it may be more important for us to remember that in our life and in in our own walks with God, our various stories will be interrupted. Things will happen that delay us from getting to our desired destination. Things will happen that might take us off track.

We can choose to let the interruptions send us on a permanent detour and define who we are and will become, or we can choose to see interruptions for what they are: interruptions that help tell our story without becoming THE story. For Jesus, the woman who touched his robes while he was on the way to Jairus' house was an interruption in his story that further showed who he was. For the J2A group, the pandemic was an interruption in their story that showed who they are: resilient young adults determined to overcome obstacles.

And this just might be the point of these two intertwined stories today: that if we hold fast to who we are and what we believe, we will eventually get to where we need to be.

Amen.