"Daughters Delivered from Death and Disease" (Sermon on Mark 5:21-43)

Last month was Mothers’ Day. Last week was Fathers’ Day. Today, then, must be Daughters’ Day, because today we will see not one but two “Daughters Delivered from Death and Disease.”

One of the two is known as Jairus’s daughter, and she is the one delivered from death. The other one is not called a daughter--oh, wait, she is, actually (more on that later)--and she is the one delivered from disease. Two daughters: one, a woman suffering from disease for twelve years; the other, the girl raised from death, is twelve years of age. Their stories are told in three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, each gospel writer bringing in this or that detail that the others may not include. And the two stories are always interwoven: We always go from the request for the dying daughter, and then, on the way, we meet the woman with the flow of blood, and finally, at the house, we witness the raising of the dead girl.

And the key to it all, and the key for us today, is the one who accomplishes this healing from disease and this raising from death, and that, of course, is Jesus. We look to him in faith, as the people in our text do, for Jesus will do for us what he did for them.

Our text opens with the request for the dying girl. Jairus comes, and he tells Jesus the extreme crisis that has hit his family: “My little daughter is at the point of death.” As the father of a thirteen-year-old daughter, I cannot imagine anything more gut-wrenching than knowing that your little girl is dying. It’s not supposed to go like that. Parents are not supposed to see their children dying, especially at the age of twelve. But even at any age, we hate to see our loved ones die. Death comes as a cold, silent intruder, stealing our friends and loved ones--even our twelve-year-old daughters--from us. Jairus, what agony you must have been going through!

But notice, Jairus also comes to Jesus with expectation, with hope! He believes Jesus can do something about this dreadful situation! “My little daughter is at the point of death,” he says; but then he adds, “Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” This is faith speaking! Jairus had heard the reports of Jesus’ mighty works of healing and restoration, his great compassion and mercy, the hands whose touch could do so much. And we’re told that Jairus is the leader of a synagogue. So he must have known the Scriptures, the prophecies of a deliverer to come, the heaven-sent Messiah who would bring blessing to God’s people and reverse the curse of death. Jairus looks to Jesus to do for him what God had promised.

Off they go to Jairus’s house. But before they get there, there is another daughter who needs the Master’s help: the woman with the flow of blood. “Female troubles,” apparently. Twelve years she had suffered from this problem. And here’s something all of us with health problems may be able to identify with: It says she “had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.” Except there is one physician she hadn’t consulted yet, the Great Physician of both body and soul, namely, Jesus. His health care truly is free, no hidden taxes, and when Dr. Jesus treats you, you really do get better.

But there’s this big crowd thronging around Jesus; he’s hard to get to. The woman presses in. Her faith is persistent. That’s the way it is with faith: It presses in to get to Jesus. This woman, too, had heard the reports about Jesus, his power and his mercy. Faith grabs hold of these promises. “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” So that’s what she does; she touches his garment. “And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.” Jesus seeks her out, to reassure her and to let her know how this happened: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

“Your faith has made you well.” Your faith has healed you, saved you, made you whole. Not because it is “your faith,” as though you had done something great. On the contrary, there was nothing this woman could do about her problem. Faith comes to Jesus empty-handed, when we’ve run out of things we can do, and we realize only God can help us. So, “your faith has made you well,” because it is faith in Jesus. Faith has value, faith saves, simply because it is faith in Christ. Faith is only as good as its object, that in which the faith is put. And so to say, “Your faith has made you well,” is the same as saying, “Christ has made you well.” It’s not about you; it’s about Jesus.

Jesus is the Great Physician of body and soul. When he heals the body, it is also with the aim of healing the soul, of lifting the sights of the one healed to the greater healing, the ultimate healing that comes with the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus heals the soul, with the word of forgiveness, with that forgiveness comes the undoing of the damage that sin wrought in God’s good creation, including our bodies, now subject to disease and death. It works both ways. Jesus is interested in complete wholeness of both body and soul. That is why he came, to restore that perfect wholeness. That is what this healing of the woman’s disease is pointing to, the restoration of creation that Christ will accomplish by his death on the cross.

You see, the woman’s flow of blood is healed, ultimately, by virtue of Christ’s flow of blood! His holy, precious blood, shed on the cross, flowing from his hands and feet, flowing from his pierced side--this is what heals this poor woman, and this is what will heal you and me. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can cleanse our souls and heal our bodies. By Christ’s completed work on the cross, your sins have been forgiven, all of them, and that is the guarantee that you will receive healing for all of your diseases, in the perfect wholeness of the age to come. “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

Notice, Jesus calls her “daughter.” I said there were two daughters in this story. Jesus calls this woman “daughter,” in order to draw her close, to address her with a term of affection and relationship and great dignity. For she is a daughter of Israel, a child of the covenant God made with his people. She had received the promises of the kingdom, the promise of blessing that belongs to God’s children.

So it is for you. You were brought into God’s people, the church, through your baptism. You stand in line for the inheritance promised to God’s children, the forgiveness and wholeness, the healing and peace won for us by Christ on the cross. We are sons and daughters of the kingdom, and Christ would have us know who we are by faith in him.

Now the story moves on. Or, should I say, the story stops dead in its tracks. For a messenger comes from Jairus’s house, telling them that the daughter is now dead. In other words, “Don’t bother, Jesus, there’s nothing you can do now.” But this is the kind of challenge that is right up Jesus’ alley. Disease cannot stop him, and neither can death. “Do not fear; only believe,” he tells Jairus. On to Jairus’s house!

When they get there, the scene is not peaceful. Much commotion, weeping and wailing. The household is in mourning and grief, understandably so. But Jesus says something, which, at first hearing, sounds rather ridiculous, almost offensive: “Why are you making a commotion and weeping?” he says. “The child is not dead but sleeping.” No wonder they laughed at him; it makes no sense. But Jesus does have a point that he is making. The author of life is right here, present, ready to give life once again to this child who has died. In that sense, then, she is not dead but only sleeping. Because sleep is something you get up from. Sleep is not a permanent condition. And this girl is about to wake up.

Jesus will wake her. He takes her by the hand and says, in Aramaic, “Talitha cumi,” “Little girl, arise.” Jesus speaks life to her dead body, and she comes alive! He wakes up the sleeping! The girl gets up, just like Jesus says.

So it will be for you and me “in that great gettin’-up mornin’.” When Christ returns, he will call us from the graves in which our bodies rest. “Talitha cumi,” he will say; “Little girl, arise.” And he will say, “Edna, cumi,” “Edna, arise.” “Millie, cumi,” “Millie, arise.” So it will go, all in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And you and I and all our loved ones who have fallen asleep in the Lord will awaken and arise, now with whole and glorified bodies, no longer subject to disease or death. And we will live with Christ forever in his everlasting kingdom.

That is what Jesus is showing us here in this story of the two daughters, the woman healed of disease and the little girl raised from death. He’s showing us that by his death and resurrection he has defeated death and delivered us from disease and all the other consequences of our sins. He is showing us that he is indeed the Great Physician of both body and soul. Yes, Jesus is telling us today, “Do not fear; only believe.” Trust in me, Jesus is saying, for only this faith will save you.

Sons and daughters of the kingdom--that is, all those who trust in Christ for their wholeness and salvation--you are the ones who will be delivered from death and disease. Son, daughter, your faith has saved you and will make you well, for it is faith in Christ your Savior. Go in peace.

Mark 5:21-43 (ESV)

And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, “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.” And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’“ And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But 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. Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

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