WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
June 28th 2009

Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Touched”
Mark 5:21-43
Last week we were witnesses to the trouble that is always stirred up whenever you leave the places of comfort and venture into unfamiliar territory. The storms rage and anxiety builds and our doubts and fears take over. But this week, Jesus and the disciples, have returned from the other side. And from the moment that Jesus feet are on dry ground, his services and his touch are in high demand.
The crowd has been eagerly awaiting his return. In fact, the crowd is so big that it is not only difficult for Jesus to get off the boat, but for anyone to get close to Jesus. To even get a glimpse you would have to be rather pushy. But, when you are in need of a healing touch, being polite is the least of one’s concerns.
While the crowds were unforgiving, they did know when it was time to step aside. For a leader of the synagogue, even the crowd knew its’ proper place. When Jairus shows up on the scene he is given unfettered access to Jesus. Two sets of rules, one for the crowd and one for those with connections. It is something that is understood well and even beyond question. As the crowd follows the preapproved social protocol though, something amazing happens. Jairus falls at the feet of Jesus and begs repeatedly!
There is nothing uncommon about someone begging for the healing of their child. But Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, must beg repeatedly before Jesus acts. For someone used to having crowds part at his presence, needing to beg repeatedly must have been a lesson in humility. But the important lesson that day was for the crowd more than for the man who was willing to do anything for his daughter.
Without saying a word, Jesus goes with him. Whatever Jesus planned after his return trip from the other side was quickly shelved when faced with the immediate needs of a child. As Jesus goes on his way the crowd begins to press in on this healer. It is nothing new for Jesus. Since the moment that he began his healing the crowds were thick. The crowds always pressed in hungry to touch and to be healed. But in this crowd, on this journey to save a little girl, there was a different touch. It was a touch that moved beyond the mere bumping up against. It was a touch that stopped Jesus in his tracks. “Who touched me?”
The disciples get the absurdity of the request. Who touched you, Jesus are you crazy? Everywhere we go there is a crowd pressing in on you. The strange request should have let the disciples know that Jesus was up to something. But to this woman, this unnamed woman, Jesus’ question only brought terror.
For twelve years she has suffered. From one doctor to another and then on to the specialists each one offering their interpretation of what was happening and the plan for treatment. Test after test and at the end of the day she was worse off and without a clue as to the solution. To make matters worse she had gone well beyond her life time allotment with the insurance company. She was broke and sick. On top of all this she was unwelcome in her faith community because she was considered unclean.
Ritual law saw this daughter of God as unclean. Everywhere she would go she had to shout out: “Unclean.” It was her duty to make sure that her ritual impurity would not infect others. No longer did she have a name, she was only known as unclean. So for this woman to push her way through the crowd, to touch Jesus, was an offence to ritual law. Not only that, she had contaminated the entire crowd and Jesus. When Jesus says; “Who touched me?” the woman knew that humiliation and punishment was sure to follow. But this is not how God works, despite God’s followers too often acting otherwise.
She falls at Jesus’ feet confessing her supposed crime and telling him all that has brought her to this point in life. Into the face of this terrified woman, Jesus looks and gives her a name: Beloved daughter of God. He even goes beyond this by acknowledging her great faith. This woman, formerly known as unclean, has been healed, restored, and commended. It is a moment that all those gathered should celebrate.
But wait a minute! Have we forgotten about Jairus’ daughter? The delay caused by the interruption of the unclean woman, has caused the death of the daughter of the leader of the synagogue. Despite this news, Jesus does not miss a beat and heads to Jairus’s home. Jesus silences the crowd and brings peace to the commotion surrounding this daughter of privilege. But unlike the unnamed woman there will be no public healing here. Everyone is sent out except a few. There will be no crowd. Healing and restoration on this day will come in private. The great reversal has come full circle. The one who stood at the margins was brought to the center and commended for faith. And the leader of the synagogue is admonished to trust God and then restored to his daughter.
Jesus brings healing to the blind, deaf, and even the dead all with a touch. The laying on of hands is the chosen method for healing and restoration in the gospel of Mark. In the ritual law touch was strictly regulated and Jesus often ignored the regulations. Touch is more than just a means of Jesus healing; it is integral to human health. The need of touch from another human being is wired into the very fabric of our humanity. A newborn that is not held in the early days of life can fail to thrive and even worse, die. This week I read Parenting Magazine and a side bar article gave the following in dealing with minor bumps and bruises:
Apply gentle pressure to the area with your hands for a few moments. Touch sensations travel faster to the brain than pain, and because the brain can register only one at a time you can trick the brain in to thinking the hurt is not so bad.
There is true power in even human touch.
However, even as we talk about the healing power of touch, we must also acknowledge that touch can also be unwelcome, and anything but healing. But the touch offered by Jesus only comes when requested. It is not forceful or demanding. The touch offered by Jesus is that which moves beyond the mere physical to something much deeper. The touch of healing offered by Jesus is the sort which can bring healing to someone who is alone in the midst of a crowd. It is a healing that comes to one suffering silently and to a parent desperate for the life of a child. Whether it was the daughter of a community leader, or someone seen as unclean, Jesus knows the importance of touch, the importance of being connected with others. Yes, it is Jesus who is bringing healing, but he is also bringing people together. It is a lesson in the power of community and the power of truly being connected to God and to one another. Let us never forget the basic power of touch and not be afraid to reach out our hand and offer a healing touch in Jesus’ name to all who cross our path, from the daughter of privilege to those that society has labeled unclean. It is then,and only then, that we will know the power of the healing touch. Amen.

Fear and Faith

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
June 21st 2009

Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Fear and Faith”
Mark 4:35-41

That day was a day of great exuberance. The crowds swelled and there was a real energy in the air. On that day there was a revolutionary spirit at work. On that day the kingdom of God was on the lips of everyone in the gathered crowd. On that day, Jesus was on a roll with all his parables about the kingdom. From the parable of the sower, to lamps and bushes, and finally mustard seeds, Jesus was busy teaching a new reality. It was clear that a new day was dawning. Change was on the way and hope was felt in powerful ways.

While the full implications of that day may have been lost on the gathered crowd everyone was caught up in the excitement of these moments. But, like all days, no matter how great, the sun eventually sets. That evening would prove quite a test to the exuberance of that day. Jesus’ request to venture to the other side faced no resistance. It should have. The other side was an unfamiliar place. The people there were a different sort with strange customs and ideas. Did they realize that Jesus’ request meant the kingdom of God included all people, even those on the other side? If the disciples grasped this reality, they would have surely put up a struggle.

Maybe it was the exuberance of that day, but whatever the reason, the disciples took Jesus on the journey to the other side, just as he was. That was a pretty amazing feat because the disciples seldom deal with Jesus just as he was. Instead, we choose to dress Jesus up to suit our sensibilities. Sometimes, Jesus wears the flag of the nations where his disciples live. Other times, Jesus looks like a member of one political party, and more often than not Jesus chooses one culture, race or gender over another. So to take Jesus just as he was, means leaving the places of certainty, the adulation of the crowds, and moving out of comfortable surroundings and into; the other side. To take Jesus just as he was will require us to place our fishing boats, over livelihood and our way of life at risk. Had the disciples known all of this, my guess is that they would have chosen to form a committee to study the impact of crossing over to the other side.

For a moment though, let us imagine that the disciples did grasp all this. What if they knew exactly what it meant to take Jesus, just as he was, to the other side? Even if they have considered the cost and were willing to risk their lives, there were greater forces at work seeking to end this foolish trip to the other side. A great storm arose. To modern disciples, this great storm should come as no surprise. We know well that movements for change and greater inclusion in the family of God always face storms. As the waves of the most recent storms beat against the church the prediction of imminent doom become all the rage. We do mission studies and reevaluate mission statements. After all, if Jesus is asleep in the back pew, we are going to take matters into our hands. It is not that mission studies and mission statements are bad ideas but they are often convenient places to focus the anxiety associated with going over to the other side.

This particular storm comes at a time when the disciples were being as faithful as they knew how. The resistance of the storm to their faithfulness is great. The waves beat the boat and water begins to seep in the cracks. The water begins to cause all sorts of problems. In the midst of this storm, when chaos seems to reign, Jesus is asleep, on a cushion, in the back of the boat. Jesus’ slumber was enough to unnerve even the most faithful disciple. Maybe the cushion was overkill. It was Jesus who asked them to go to the other side. It was Jesus who talked about the new kingdom. And now all his talk led them to the brink of destruction and he has the audacity to sleep while we suffer. What gives?

Jesus’ posture of sleep is not a sign of indifference to the suffering of others but a sign and example of how to trust. Jesus is able to sleep comfortably because he expects there is going to be storms. When we cross over to the other side there is always going to be resistance. Faithful discipleship is not a life devoid of storms. We cannot proclaim a new kingdom and not expect the kingdoms and powers of this world to go quietly. We cannot cross over to the other side without drawing the ire of those comfortable with the current and familiar boundaries. We cannot take Jesus just as he was and not find the storms of resistance arise externally, but more often than not internally. Storms are a part of the life of discipleship we can simply count on that. But the good news is that in the life of faith the storms do not have the last word. So no matter what beats against the boat, no matter what storms may rise up in our lives or in the church, let us never forget those storms do not have the last word. Amen? Amen!

Called?

Isaiah 6:1-8, John 3:1-17

Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller

Every year when we come face to face with the doctrine of the trinity I am left wondering: “How do you preach this?” What sort of enjoyable and memorable story can I share to help illustrate the mystery of our faith? The honest truth is that I do not have one. Since that is the case I have a few things I want to share about the trinity and hope that we can make some sense of this mystery for our lives.

The trinity, or at least the churches emphasis of the doctrine, has been greatly affected by the setting in history and the culture. What I mean is that different aspects of what is essentially a mystery have been emphasized, or overemphasized depending upon the setting in time and location. I offer this as an interested observer and not as an historian. There was a time when the Trinity was understood as a form of divine hierarchy. This understanding affected the way we saw ourselves and the way society was ordered. If we human beings then are made in the image of God it was then thought natural that some, mostly men, would rule over others. While this was a distortion of the doctrine it served an important role in the ordering of society. But this is not longer relevant or interesting except to point out the follow of our predecessors.

Much of the most interesting work being done these days on the Trinity emphasizes something very different. It has been a turn inward, focusing on the way in which the persons of the trinity are interrelated. This move appears, from my way of thinking, to come from a sense that it takes a village to raise a child. Or, as more communally based cultures teach us: “I am because we are.” It emphasizes the importance of community over the individuals. While communitarian thinking has its well documented pitfalls, I think it can serve as an important corrective to the excesses of the great American myth: Rugged Individualism. This is not to say that the Trinity leads us to state collectivism but it does work as a corrective to an individualism which shows no concern for the needs of others.

We proclaim that God is one known to us in three persons. This ancient belief of the church is not one that I want to debate or unpack. In other words, today, on the doctrine of the Trinity, I am going to assume the argument. Instead of arguing about the doctrine of the trinity I would rather focus on doing something more constructive. I think we find within the three persons of the trinity the source of our helpful corrective to rugged individualism and a collectivism which subverts the individual. The nature of the trinity is that there is one God who is in three distinct persons. They are not three isolated individuals nor are these persons subservient to the whole. There is no hierarchy within the trinity. It is a community of mutuality.

The trinity then, matters to human beings because it is we who have been made in the image and likeness of this Triune God. At our very being, we are not made to be alone but in relationship. It is not a stretch to say that we cannot be fully human alone. We need other people. It really is that simple despite our attempts to deny it. For example, we did not choose to be born and when we are born we are completely dependent upon others for our survival. And, at the end of our lives we will most likely be dependent upon others for our care as well. We are needy people who live in a culture which says that asking for help is a sign of weakness. But the good news is that if we are made in the image of God being interdependent is what it means to be fully human. We are made to be in relationship and our need is not a sign of weakness.

There is nowhere in the bible where the doctrine of the Trinity is explicit. It has been faithful folk though, who have engaged the witness of scripture and see God revealed in three persons. It may seem like a stretch to find an explanation for the trinity in our scriptures from this morning. But instead of trying to explain the trinity using our scriptures, I want to take a different approach. So let us ask this question: “What can these passages teach us about the nature of the trinity?” Again I am assuming the argument.

When it comes to the calling of Isaiah and the famous passage from John, we get a picture of the importance of our calling as people, individuals, made in the image of God, and in the love of God for the whole world. It is within these passages where we can see the importance of the individual and the whole world in God’s plan. One does not take precedence over the other. Herein lays the correction to the excesses and abuses of individualism and collectivism. By assuming the Trinity, we can understand our calling as children of God. And that calling includes each person and the whole world.

The Trinity matters, not as a doctrine for which we accept, reject, or simply ignore, instead it matters because it is radical good news. We have been made in the image and likeness of God. The God in whom we bear the image is by its nature affirming and upholding both the individual and also the community. When we gather at the communion table we eat together as individuals but never alone. We gather in community and are bound together so that we might just become fully human; that we might get a glimpse that the intractable battles of our lives may not have the last word. As a people made in the image of God we can never accept any calls for community which ignores the needs of individuals, particularly the most vulnerable. Likewise, we can never accept an individualism which privileges the needs and whims of one person to dictate the work and ministry of the community. Our calling is bigger than our individual wants and needs but it is not bigger than the love of God for each person. Indeed, the Trinity is a mystery, but it is not all that mysterious. If we accept this strange word to be both champions for the individual and the community, it is then when we just might get a glimpse of the reality of this mystery. Amen? Amen.