Sermon - Tarrytown United Methodist Church

Faith

Helen Almanza
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

June 28, 2008

Text: Mark 5:21-43

Is faith an important part of your life? As long as I can remember, my faith has been a central part of my life. I believe in God with all of my heart. Faith is my hope in God. I know God’s ’s promises will come true. We will have justice for everyone, not just for a few. Everyone will have enough to eat and hunger will exist no more. All will have shelter and clothing to protect them. We will all live in peace, not only with each other but also throughout the world. Love will be what makes the difference for everyone. I really believe that to be true. My faith in God tells me so.

The Scripture today is about faith, faith and healing. It begins when Jesus returns from the country of the Geresenes, the gentiles. He was asked to leave that country. He commanded unclean spirits out of a demon filled man, the Geresene Demoniac. Not only that, but Jesus gave the spirits permission to enter a herd of 2000 swine and the herd rushed off a cliff and perished in the sea which I suppose did not make him a very popular with their gentile owners. He was asked to leave. So Jesus and his disciples crossed the sea to come back home.

When Jesus arrives, Jairus, the head of the synagogue, rushes up to Jesus and throws himself at his feet, begging him to lay hands upon his daughter who is dying. I think it was probably a shocking sight for the people to see. It is not exactly what you would expect from that the head of the synagogue. The last time the synagogue had anything to do with Jesus was when he healed a man with the withered hand. He was thrown out and the Pharisees began to plot with the Herodians to destroy him (Mark 3:1-6).

Nevertheless, this wealthy, influential man who is head of the synagogue is at Jesus’ feet begging him to heal his daughter. Without question, Jesus goes to heal the girl with the crowd following him.

A destitute woman who in the past 12 years has spent all she has trying to cure an illness that causes her to hemorrhage pushes her way through the crowd toward Jesus. She is considered ritually unclean and she takes a big chance moving through the crowd. If she touches anyone, there will be grave consequences.

She has faith, however, that if she can just touch Jesus’ clothes, she will be healed and so it is worth the chance. Sure enough, as soon as she touches his cloak, she feels healed of her disease. Jesus immediately knows someone has touched him. He has felt power going out of him and he wants to know who touched him. The disciples laugh. How is it possible to know who has specifically touched him when the crowd is pressing all around? The woman falls at the feet of Jesus, and Jesus tells her that her faith has made her well.

In the meantime, people coming from the house of Jarius tell him that his daughter is dead. There is no reason for Jesus to go on. But Jesus tells Jarius not to fear, only believe. Despite the warning, Jesus and Jarius continue on their way. But even before they get there, they can hear the weeping and wailing as the people mourn the girl’s death. When Jesus reassures the people that the girl is just sleeping, once again, they just laugh at him. She is not sleeping, she is dead. Jesus confidently enters the house, lays hands upon the dead girl and tells her to get up. She immediately gets up and begins walking around and Jesus tells them to give her something to eat. She is raised from the dead.

Two very different kinds of people have been miraculously healed. One is a child of privilege and the other is a poor, socially outcast woman who is ritually impure. They are more different than alike. The one thing common to both miracles is faith. And it is faith in both cases that is expressed despite considerable obstacles. The woman persists despite the danger of her touching others in the crowd. Jairus, the leader of the synagogue persists despite the pressure that he must feel from the public, falling at Jesus’ feet and then not listening when they tell him she is dead. People laugh, but Jairus persists.

There is an intense belief in both that Jesus has the power of God within him and can use it to heal. The prophets have told them so and their history has stories about it.

Deuteronomy 32:39 “… I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal and no one can deliver out of my hand”
Isaiah 35:4-6,” … he will come to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped….”
Hosea 11:3, ” …they did not realize it was I who healed them”
Mal4:2, ”…But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”

Yes, God has healing power and God uses it through others.
Two stories

I Kings 17: 17-24 when Elijah begs for the life of the widow’s son who has died and God gives life back to the son
Elisha in 2 Kings 4:32-37 when he prays for the life of the Shunammite’s son and the boy is returned from the dead.

The healing in this story is a demonstration of God’s divine power in Jesus. Jesus does not possess a magic force that accounts for his ability to heal. Instead, the healing reflects the presence of God’s saving power.

Mark tells us that faith is the source of the healing. . Jesus even tells the woman that it is her faith that has healed her. It is as if faith is the channel though which God’s saving power flows. This point is emphasized even more in the next chapter of Mark (6: 1-6a) when it is suggested that Jesus cannot work miracles among those who do not have faith.

That raises some questions for me. Is Mark telling us that faith is belief? It comes back around to me. If faith heals, if faith is the channel through which God saving power flows then why hasn’t my faith, your faith in the promises of God changed things in this world. I strongly believe and have faith., and I think you do too.

Is Mark telling us that faith is more than just belief? Is he saying that faith isn’t faith until some action is taken? In both of the incidents in the story, persistent action was taken.

Faith is the channel through which God’s saving power flows

I think back on other stories in the Bible about faith. Does faith require more than just belief?

Abraham believed in God’s promise but could it be that he did not have faith until he took his first step on his journey to Canaan?
Noah believed God that the world would be destroyed. But what if he hadn’t taken action on the belief? Would we still say he had faith if he hadn’t begun to build the ark?
Peter’s walks on water but the miracle is not how far he got without sinking. The real miracle is when Peter lifts his leg over the side of the boat and steps out into the deep unknown with complete faith. Would we say that he had faith if he hadn’t taken that step?

Does faith automatically mean that belief must be acted upon in order for it to be really faith?

If that is true, that may put me in an awkward position. I said at the beginning of this sermon that I have faith in God and thereby God’s promises. You can’t have faith in God if you don’t believe God’s promises! Do I act upon all those things that I say I have faith in or do I just believe and not really have faith? What about you? Do you act on your beliefs? Do you really have faith?

Promises: Do I believe them? Do I have faith?

God promises that there will be peace upon the earth and among all humankind. I have faith in God’s promises. So where is my faith?
Am I am peace with my neighbors?
Or am I still angry about those garbage cans that continue to block my driveway? I am not talking to her again!
How dare he tell me that I can’t do what I want with my property! I am going to demolish this home and build a more suitable one and I am not going to listen to him. I thought he was my friend, but if he goes to the commission to argue against it, that will be the end of that friendship!
He can’t build an apartment next to me. This is my home and I will not stand for it.
Have you noticed how standoffish that couple is? I’ve done everything I can to be friends with them. Now, they have the nerve to ask me to turn off my back porch light because it shines in their eyes at night. That will be the day! They have spoken to me only because they want something. That isn’t neighborly. I’m not turning out the light.

Does any of this sound familiar? If I have faith in God and thereby God’s promise of peace, what am I doing, what action am I taking for it to really be faith? How can I possibly have faith in God that we will have world peace if I can’ t even live in peace with my neighbors. Doesn’t my faith in God require that I take action? If we really have faith in God, I think the Scripture is telling us we have to do more than just believe. We have to act upon the belief in order to have faith.

Faith is the channel through which God’s saving power flows.

Shelter and clothing for the poor? Justice for all people? No one shall go hungry? If I have faith in God, what exactly is it that I have been doing about these promises of God? If I have faith, do I take chances like the hemorrhaging woman? Do I go with my Sunday School class when it is our turn to prepare the meals for the homeless? Do I have persistence like Jairus? If the woman hadn’t pushed through the crowd despite the danger, she would not have been healed. If Jairus had not persisted, his daughter would not be raised from the dead. Faith requires action to be faith. Both Jairus and the woman acted on their belief. If they had just believed without taking action, would the healing have happened?

I said that I have faith in God, that my life is centered on my faith in God. Does that mean that I am expecting God to do some magical trick to make his promises come true? Who does God have to do God’s work but you and me? I have faith. I must act on it or it isn’t faith. God’s Kingdom comes to us through Jesus as Jesus turns our fears into faith. But the faith requires our action.

Faith is the channel through which God’s healing power flows.