Do you want to be well?
Proper 5, Year A
Jesus got mixed responses in his day. Some people sought healing from him, wanted to learn from him, and believed he was sent and empowered by God. Other people accused Jesus of violating religious laws and traditions, rejected his teaching, and accused him of getting power and directions from the devil. What moved some people to accept, and others to reject Jesus? What moves people today? Why do some want to be well (spiritually, relationally, or physically) while others assume their situation is hopeless? Why do some people attend church, study the Bible and pray? Why do others consider faith irrelevant or even problematic today?
The Gospel of Mathew describes the believers and doubters who lived in Jesus’ day:
“Jesus ate dinner with tax collectors and sinners-they came to sit with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees learned that Jesus shared meals with sinners and was in the company of tax collectors, they took his disciples aside to convince them not to follow Jesus…that same day (sic.) a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before Jesus, saying, “My daughter has just died; come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus immediately got up and followed him, with his disciples. …then a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” (Matthew 9:10-11 & 18-31)
Some people believed they could be made well while other people doubted anything or anyone could fix what ailed them. After some religious leaders (Pharisees) saw Jesus dining with tax collectors and sinners, they labeled him a false prophet and told the disciples to leave him. But when another religious leader (a rabbi) heard about the miracles Jesus performed he asked Jesus to raise his daughter from the dead. Both the Pharisees and the rabbi were observant Jews. Both were faith leaders. What moved these Pharisees to reject Jesus and the rabbi to seek him out? Some ordinary people rejected Jesus and others accepted Jesus. A woman with debilitating menstrual cycles stalked Jesus until she got close enough to touch his garment. Tax collectors accepted Jesus’ invitation to dinner. In other Gospel readings, ordinary people declined to follow Jesus because they did not want to leave loved ones (Luke 9:59-60) or give up their wealth (Matthew 19:16-22). What moved ordinary people to reject or seek Jesus?
The rabbi was in need, had sought and failed to find solutions to his problem, but accepted failure without becoming hopeless, and turned to Jesus. The rabbi wanted his daughter to be well. When she fell ill, the rabbi and his wife arranged for medical care. They were good and loving parents with knowledge and resources to secure medical care. Because the rabbi was a faith leader and teacher, and his wife was the first lady of the congregation, they must have asked the cantors, other rabbis, members, and neighbors to pray. When medical interventions and prayers failed to cure their child, she died. These parents grieved, but did not give up. They pursued a course of last resort. The rabbi went looking for Jesus. His colleagues criticized Jesus for associating with the wrong people and claimed his powers came from the devil. But their talk did not deter the rabbi. The rabbi had heard other things about Jesus. There was the story about a paralyzed man healed by Jesus who took up his mat and walked (John 5:1-8). The rabbi also heard the story about Jesus heeding a sister’s request to raise her brother from the dead (John 11:1-44). His daughter was dead. Everything he had done had failed. Humbled, but not hopeless, the rabbi went looking for Jesus.
The bleeding woman was in need-she had sought and failed to find solutions to her problem, but she accepted the humiliation of failure without becoming hopeless, and then she turned to Jesus. She needed and wanted to be well. The woman’s dysmenorrhea caused her to hemorrhage for 12 years. She had tried everything she could think of. She visited doctors and magicians. Her relentless pursuit of treatments and a cure exhausted all her money. She was penniless, but not hopeless. She heard stories about a miracle worker named Jesus. That Jesus had mixed dirt and spit, placed the mud on a blind person’s eyes, and gave them sight (John 9:6-12.) When Jesus was hungry, he had healed the mother of a disciple so she could get out of her bed to cook and serve him food (Mark 1:29-31.) The woman had nothing else to loose. She had exhausted all her options. Since family, friends and neighbors would think she was crazy and try to stop her, she secretly resolved to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe. She would not interrupt his teaching or delay his missionary work by asking him for help. The penniless sick woman was humiliated, but not hopeless when she went looking for Jesus.
Rather than give up, instead of assuming nothing more could be done, the rabbi and the woman acknowledged the situation was beyond their control. Their situations were beyond what any human could fix. They used their humiliation and humbling as motivation to search for God. In the bible stories about people who reject or doubt Jesus, most knew their need for God, but refused to repurpose humiliations and humbling experiences. Moreover they let their assumptions about what God would do, to stop them from turning to Jesus. This passage from Matthew (9:9-13, 18-26) makes the distinction between those who believe and those who doubt. Back then and today, people who repurpose humiliating and humbling circumstances are more willing to seek God’s help. Back then and today, people who refuse to limit Divine love, justice, and mercy are better able to find God and be found by God.
Paul proclaimed Abraham’s faith was “reckoned to him as righteousness” in his letter to the Christians in Rome. (Romans 4:13-25) In this letter Paul oversimplified the challenges Abraham and Sarah faced and overlooked their mistakes. Just because Paul ignored their mistakes and problems does not mean we should. Abraham and Sarah, made light of messages from angels, forced a slave to bear a child for them, abused that slave when it suited them, and, when they finally gave birth to a child of their own, they tried to sacrifice him. Because Sarah and Abraham repurposed mistakes and disasters to deepen their faith and trust in God, the Bible remembers them as righteous.
Do you want to be well? Can you let your desire for healing, security, peace, companionship, purpose, and whatever you need, override your fears? What would it take for us to follow the example of the rabbi and the woman from the reading from Matthew? Can we repurpose things that humble or humiliate us so we can move toward God? Will we surrender control so that we can find and be found by God? Can we choose hope in the wake of difficulty, defeat, and disaster? Decide. Do you want to be well? Choose. Do you want to be well?
