After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.
But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”
So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (NRSVUE)
“Christ is risen!”
“Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!”
“The Lord suffered for the sake of him who suffered, and was bound for the sake of him who was imprisoned, and was judged for the sake of the condemned, and was buried for the sake of the buried. So come, all families of human beings who are defiled by sins, and receive remission of sins.
“For I am your remission, I am the Passover of salvation. I am the Lamb sacrificed for your sake. I am your ransom. I am your life. I am your Resurrection. I am your light. I am your salvation. I am your King. I lead you toward the heights of heaven. I will show you the eternal Father. I will raise you up with my right hand.” Melito, Bishop of Sardis (died c.190 C.E.)
So, why not today, of all days on the calendar? Why not experience miracles on this Day of Resurrection in which new life abounds? Why not sense the power of Christ’s Resurrection coursing through your spiritual veins? For this is the day of new beginnings, leaving old grudges and bitterness behind. This is the day of deliverance from all things which hinder us from knowing God and seeing the Savior.
O God, of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things are made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
From there Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
Jesus said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” And when she went home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.
Then Jesus returned from the region of Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” (New Revised Standard Version)
Two stories. Two suffering people, because of their infirmities. A mother and a community suffering along with them, not knowing how to help them.
Lo and behold, Jesus, of all people, was the last person they expected to hear was in the area. He a Jew. They Gentiles. Yet, what if….
Maybe there is a ray of hope. After all, where there is emptiness, there is potential. And Jesus is the expert on that!
Christ had the rare ability to give the necessary gift of envisioning potential in another’s life, of seeing how the empty space could be filled with life and joy. Indeed, with Jesus there is possibility.
It is important to not only look at what is there, but also on what is not there. Because that’s where we find the quality, opportunity, and potential in another, and in ourselves.
The daughter in the narrative was vexed and incapacitated by an unclean spirit, a demon. The man in the story was deaf and mute, unable to hear and speak, lacking capacity for effective interaction in a society which relied so heavily on the ears and the mouth.
We may imagine their emptiness, feeling bereft of ever experiencing abundant life in their respective circumstances. However, they had those around them who cared, and interceded on their behalf.
Just realizing that Jesus was amongst them seemed to inspire a spark of possibility. Their thinking began to move in a slightly different direction with Christ in the neighborhood.
500 years before Christ’s encounters with these folks, the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu crafted this poem:
A wheel may have thirty spokes,
but its usefulness lies in the empty hub.
A jar is formed from clay,
but its usefulness lies in the empty center.
A room is made from four walls,
but its usefulness lies in the space between.
Matter is necessary to give form,
but the value of reality lies in its immateriality.
Everything that lives has a physical body,
but the value of a life is measured by the soul.
The immaterial is the real substance. The material is only the form we see around it. It isn’t the material which effects the immaterial; it is the immaterial which has the power to transform the material.
Yet, change is never easy, even the necessary changes we long to see realized. It was not easy for any Gentile living in a Jewish world, and vice versa. Both Jews and Gentiles find out how hard things really can be.
Exorcising the Canaanite Woman’s Daughter, by Peter Gorban, 1990
The word got around that Jesus was in town. Nobody knew where he was. But desperate people discover ways to find the people they believe can help. The mother of the daughter with an unclean spirit found where Jesus was staying.
Furthermore, desperate persons are resilient; they rarely give up. The woman was used to tension in the room. She was unfazed by the Jew and Gentile disparity. I happen to think that the response of Jesus was probably expected by the woman. It certainly didn’t discourage her.
The woman asked for help. Jesus rebuffed her. Perhaps this seems incongruent with your understanding of Christ. It may even shock you. It was anything but Midwest nice.
One of the realities, it seems to me, that we need to understand and grapple with, is that Jesus was a real bona fide human being. He was born, grew up, had to learn things and become mature, in every sense of the word.
Christ also needed to develop and live into his own ministry. He had to learn how to establish personal boundaries, apply wisdom to particular situations, and deal with being hungry and tired with a world of human need around him.
I believe that is what we see in this interaction with the woman. And it in no way diminishes Christ’s divinity. We need to be able to hold all of Jesus – both his divinity and his humanity – at the same time, all the time.
Undeterred, the woman bent the words of Jesus to her advantage. That’s what desperate people do. So, Christ, recognizing true desperation and the faith behind her persistence, then immediately exercised his divinity by expelling the unclean spirit from the daughter and bringing her to full capacity.
I’m glad the Gospel writer Mark recorded the narrative as he did. I see a Messiah who deeply desires to do his Father’s will, and has to struggle with how to accomplish it.
I see Jesus in the story as actively growing in his understanding and ability, learning to break into the world with grace and truth; yet at the same time, not conforming to the world’s status quo.
Methinks that not much of this had anything to do with Christ’s sense of ethnicity and gender, but with everyone else’s understanding of the terms. Jesus, along with all of us who desire to follow the ways of God, must struggle with how to bring God’s kingdom values to people.
Jesus, to his credit, is a quick study. Being oriented to love, mercy, and obedience will do that for you. The woman was an outside voice. Christ was willing to listen and banter with her. He was not threatened when she spoke her truth to his power.
I will suggest to you that perhaps the reason for Christ’s willingness and ability to have effective ministry with the woman and her daughter (as well as everyone else) is that he had his own sacred emptiness.
Whenever we are full of ourselves, full of all our thoughts of how things ought to go, and full of all our settled beliefs, then there is no room to see and listen to another person.
Jesus was empty so that the woman could add to him with her own story and struggle. And when that happened, a miracle occurred.
The same sort of sacred emptiness happened with the deaf and mute man who was healed of his infirmity. Jesus was able to receive and be filled with the people who brought the man to him.
They begged Christ to help the man. Jesus saw them and heard them, because he was not so full of himself. And if anyone ever had a right to be full and tell others what to do, it is Jesus.
But he didn’t. In his empty humility, he had room for others. Since Christ emptied himself, he could empty others of all the stuff that gets in the way of living a peaceful life. (Philippians 2:5-8)
That is precisely why I am here. Because Jesus had room for me. Christ has a very large inner space, big enough to accommodate an untold amount of people. He has room for you, too. He sees you, and is able to listen to you.
So, go ahead; speak your own truth to Christ’s power.
When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.
“What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.
A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” (New International Version)
Please, stick with me here, on what I see as the logic which undergirds this story:
God has authority over everything. God is powerful. Therefore, God can do the miraculous.
Humans have limited authority over some things. Humanity is sometimes strong, yet often weak. Therefore, humans must look outside themselves for a miracle.
God created people. Humans reflect the divine image and likeness of God. Therefore, God and humanity are inextricably linked.
God has miraculous power. Humans can have confidence (faith and hope) in God’s power. Therefore, miracles can happen when God’s power meets human confidence in that power.
God is personal. Humans are personal. Therefore, humans can know God.
God listens to human prayers. Humans have the ability to pray to God. Therefore, God’s power and human faith in that power are very much connected to each other.
Since God is authoritative, powerful, and personal, then God’s choice and ability to effect miracles is not an impersonal force which can be used and manipulated by humans, but rather is a gift to be prayed for and received with gratitude to God.
This then, is why Jesus seems exasperated with the experience of a botched exorcism, because:
The father and the crowd have a profound lack of faith in God’s authority and power to personally effect the miraculous.
The disciples have a disappointing lack of prayer in their own ministry.
The father of the son with the bad spirit was understandably desperate. And, on top it, disappointed with the disciples’ inability to do anything about the situation. The issue, however, is never about God’s ability – which is where the father went in talking to Jesus.
“If you are able” expresses little confidence in Christ.
Jesus emphatically replied that everything can be done for the one who believes. To which the father, still desperate, but then adding a healthy dose of honesty, confessed: “I believe; help my unbelief!”
That was all Jesus needed. The father’s humble and honest confession opened the soul’s door to receive the gift of faith. And the boy was rid of the bad spirit.
Furthermore, the father was also rid of his own bad spirit. The man was not demonized, like his son, nevertheless he possessed a spirit of ill confidence. The encounter with Jesus changed him, as well. It wasn’t just one person who walked away healed; both a father and a son were healed.
As often happened, the disciples left the scene with Jesus scratching their heads. They couldn’t figure out their own inability and failure to help the desperate father and his demonized son.
The bad spirit was indeed a stubborn one, and quite hard to deal with. Jesus told his disciples that one like this can only come out for those who nurture the spiritual habit of prayer.
Essentially, Jesus was saying that the vital connection between God and humans is dependent upon God. People don’t give orders to God, or act as the keepers and manipulators of divine power, like the ancient magicians did with their gods.
Rather, humans pray and ask for what they need, based upon the quality of their connection with God. This isn’t about the level of faith; it’s about whether there is any connection.
I can have lots of faith that my desk lamp will illuminate if I tell it to, but it won’t light unless I plug it in and turn it on. And if I do that, and the lamp will not turn on, then I know there is a problem with the connection – and not with my level of faith in making the lamp light up.
Everything in life must be maintained well, and taken care of. If it isn’t, it will eventually stop working, and may even fall into complete disrepair.
Faith and prayer are not simply tools which we wield with our own authority and autonomy. They must be developed and used with care for where they’ve come from.
Our prayers are opportunities for us to establish and maintain our vital connection with God via faith. Then, whenever we are in dire straits, the confidence is there, because of our connection with the Lord; nothing is hindering the power from flowing and lighting up the situation.
At its heart, Christianity is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. And that relational connection has been brought about God, not me; and the means to maintain the relationship is from God, not me. Yet, we get to enjoy this beautiful access.
So, take advantage of it.
O Lord, our blessed Companion in life and death, your love is steadfast and never ends. Our wondering and weeping may linger in the night, but you give joy in the morning. Touch us with your healing grace so that, restored to wholeness, we may live our calling as your faithful resurrected people. Amen.
Jesus heals the daughter of Jairus, by Hyatt Moore
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him, and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue, named Jairus, came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and pleaded with 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 a flow of blood 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 cloak, I will be made well.” Immediately her flow of blood 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 cloak?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” He looked all around 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 synagogue leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the synagogue leader, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the synagogue leader’s house, 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. Taking her by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl stood 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. (New Revised Standard Version)
Christ Healing the Hemorrhaging Woman, by Ivan Rutkovych, 1698
Hopeless. That’s how two people felt in today’s story. One of them a woman, and the other the father of a little girl.
To have a sense of hopelessness is perhaps one of the worst feelings a person could ever have; it is to suffer with the despair that your suffering isn’t going to end.
It was still early in Christ’s earthly ministry. Jesus had already performed amazing exorcisms and healed people. His fame was spreading, and crowds began to form everywhere he went.
The Hemorrhaging Woman
The woman had suffered for 12 years with hemorrhaging. She went through a string of doctors with no answers to her malady. Her condition drained her not only bodily, but also emotionally and financially. Despite everything she tried, not only did things not get better, but they got worse.
She likely didn’t get out much because of her situation. But even if she did, the woman would have to literally remain on the margins of the community because of all the blood. In other words, she was unclean, and anyone who touched her would be, as well.
I see many folks in my line of work who have had an adverse health condition for years. Some of them have had a debilitating illness for so long that the sickness is what now defines them. Their daily schedule is ruled by doctor appointments and therapy sessions. Their health maladies have taken over their identity.
Despair and desperation are close cousins. The woman’s desire to gain back her life aroused the courage to seek out Jesus. And she believed that by resolutely getting through the crowd of people, that even if the edge of his cloak could be touched, restoration would happen.
True faith leads us to act in a way that seems irrational to others.
The woman pushed and wormed her way close enough to Jesus to touch just the edge of his cloak… and the effect was immediate. She felt it in her body. The woman was cured with but a simple touch.
Then the woman became afraid, realizing that Jesus was aware that someone touched him. And a woman, no less, who had a hemorrhaging issue. Christ looked around, trying to find out who did it.
The extreme awareness of Jesus contrasts with the blatant unawareness of his disciples. They dismissed their Teacher’s investigation because of all the people who clamored around him. But Jesus was determined to find the person who touched him.
The woman realized she could not hide what she did, and what happened. With her robust faith in Jesus, she was willing to face any consequence for touching the rabbi. She was so scared that she trembled as she talked to Jesus. The woman revealed her story to him of who she is and what brought her to this point.
Genuine faith and healing always brings light, because grace and redemption will have its way in this fallen dark world.
Whereas we might expect a religious leader to respond with disdain or shock, and likely a firm rebuke, Jesus honored the woman by calling her “daughter.” He truly saw her, and publicly bestowed blessing and peace upon her.
Jesus confirmed and affirmed the woman’s healing in front of everyone. She was hopeless no more.
The Sick Young Girl
Christ continued his journey to young girl’s house. Her faither, Jairus the synagogue ruler, appealed to Jesus to come and heal her. She was at the end of life. As the father of three daughters myself, I can easily imagine the despair and desperation of Jairus concerning his precious little girl’s condition.
Somehow he knew there was only one hope for his daughter; Jairus needed Jesus because there was nothing he could do, or anybody could do, to save her. And once he got to Jesus, his poverty of spirit was evident, his humility palpable.
Jairus fell to his knees and became a spiritual beggar. He pleaded with Jesus to come and lay healing hands on his dear girl.
But his hope morphed into hopelessness; while on the way, Jairus received the devastating news that his daughter had died. All is lost… or is it?
Jesus didn’t think so. He simply gave a hopeful reassurance, “Don’t fear. Believe!” To the unbeliever, those words must seem cruel – giving a father whose child has died false hope. But for God, nothing is impossible. In God’s kingdom, death never has the last say on a person’s life.
It’s hard to have faith and hope whenever everyone else is mourning and crying and grieving. Arriving at the house, Jesus said yet another possibly cruel thing: “The child’s not dead but sleeping.” Christ understood that she was not all dead, just mostly dead.
The nervous and stressed laughing of the people in the house did nothing to deter Jesus. He was supremely confident about what would happen – a future that no one else could yet see.
A simple command, just a few words, was all it took. Taking the girl’s mother and father into the room, I imagine Jesus saying with a combination of authority and compassion, “Little girl, get up!”
Since Christ’s authority knows no bounds, the girl immediately got up. She was alive – so alive that it’s as if nothing ever made her ill to begin with.
Only a Story?
You may think this is only a story. Perhaps you believe there’s nothing to this, other than an ancient follower of Jesus trying to make his Teacher look like a healer, a savior.
For me, the story confirms what I know and believe to be true from my own experience as a church pastor, hospital chaplain, and follower of God: The impossible happens with Jesus. Christ is more powerful than anything life throws at us. Jesus is enough.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 