From the Daily Lectionary for Monday in the Third Week after the Epiphany
Mark 5:21-43
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “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.” So he went with him.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 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, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Then 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. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
This is one of the Nine… the nine resurrection appearances in Mark. There is, however, no resurrection appearance of Jesus bringing the Gospel to a triumphant close, as do the writers of Matthew, Luke, and John. Instead Mark bids us look into the life and ministry of Jesus to encounter resurrection, not as some miraculous impossibility, but a present reality which informs the manner in which we live.
Jesus tells Jairus’ daughter to “get up;” here again, the root word for resurrection, which is literally translated… “to stand with dignity.” Resurrection, then, in Mark’s theology, is being raised into well-being and dignity. Both of these realities are depicted in this passage from Mark’s Gospel. The woman with the “issue of blood” would have been considered unclean in the eyes of Jewish law. Her healing represents being brought out of shame back into her community from which she was shunned; and then lest we miss the point, Jairus’ daughter is brought back to life from death… “little girl, stand up!”
As the church we are Christ’s body bearing resurrection life to the world. Wherever there is shame, we bring dignity; wherever there are disease and infirmity, we bring healing; wherever there is injustice, we bring justice and equity. All of this for the sake of community which is not well and whole until all are well and whole.
So in our own day and age, for the church to say, “Black Lives Matter,” we bear witness to resurrection life. We say to our Black brothers and sisters who have been held down in indignity for some four hundred years… “Stand up! You matter!” To consider resurrection only as a once upon a time supernatural act of God, is to miss the profound reality of resurrection’s mystery: raising the least of our world into the light of their true humanity.
We of privilege can’t know the pain experienced by the indignity of bigotry and racism; but we can be in solidarity. That is our vocation; that is our privilege… and there is nothing more noble, nothing more powerful or profound, than to say to one of God’s beloved who suffers: “Stand up!”
A Prayer in Easter Week (BCP p. 223)
O God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
