"Go In Peace" Sermon for 6/28/09

Sermon for 6/28/09
Pentecost +4, Proper 8B, Ordinary 13
Mark 5:21-43; Psalm 30
"Go in Peace"

So often when we hear "Peace" in our culture, I believe we often hear "absence of conflict" or we associate it with the 1960s and 70s, Woodstock, and Flower children. Maybe you hear John Lennon telling us to "Give Peace a Chance." It's commonly used in various capacities, so much so that I think we sometimes forget the power that the word really has. Peace means so much more than just absence of war or lack of conflict. We hear Jesus bidding the woman in today's Scripture passage to "Go in Peace." Jesus is referring to Shalom, the Hebrew word translated as peace. Shalom is peace in a holistic sense that is much broader than many of us likely imagine. The peace that the woman is given literally changes her whole world, and her life would never be the same. But to better understand how her life changed, it might be best to let her tell her own story.

[Sermon continues in 1st person w/ shawl wrapped over shoulders as 'Hannah']

"Shalom. Thank you for letting me speak. My story is so remarkable, I must continue telling it. I cannot help but share the good news of my being made well. You see, I am the woman who bled for 12 years straight. Well, I was her. Now I am Hannah, and my story is a miracle. Before I was a nobody, but now I am someone with a name and a future and hope. It all starts over 12 years ago when my illness began. And if it wasn't bad enough, it just kept going. I went to physicians, priests, healers, medicine men, just about anyone in this whole region who claimed to heal. I kept going to these doctors until I had no more money to spend. I was broke. My illness ruined my life.

Living in a Jewish town in a Jewish region, everyone was Jewish. Everyone lived by the Torah. Everyone knew the laws about cleanliness, everyone including me. I have heard many teachings on Leviticus and what is clean and unclean (Leviticus 15). I also knew how to perform the needed sacrifices and washing to become clean after the bleeding was over. But it never ended, at least until that one remarkable day when everything changed. You see because of the bleeding, I was unclean. No one could come near me. No one would come near me. Even being around me at all would render them unclean as well. No one would have anything to do with me. Not my friends, not my family, not the merchants in the marketplace. I was an outcast. It was like being a leper. So like I said, I tried everything. I visited everyone I could find until I was penniless and homeless. My family abandoned me, and I was left living on the street.

Once I become of marrying age, no one would even consider me. They wouldn't come near me, much less ask me to marry them--are you kidding. I was cursed. No husband meant no children. No children meant no legacy. Without heirs I would continue to be poor and destitute, because I would have no children to care for me later in life. I was worthless. I was hopeless. I had no power and no means to help myself. Being someone's daughter or wife or mother allowed me to have power that I couldn't have on my own. Without a husband or son, I couldn't think about owning property or having future income.

And then there's my spiritual life. I longed to be allowed back in the outer courts of the temple where the other women gathered. I longed to bring my sacrifices to the priest to be deemed clean and well. I had faith and my faith endured, but it was certainly challenged. I clung to the verses I remembered from childhood. "Sing praises to the Lord, and give thanks to his holy name." I knew my weeping would only last for a night and joy would come in the morning, but I waited so long to see the dawn. Now, finally, I can proclaim with my loudest voice, God has turned my mourning into dancing; God has taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever" (referencing Psalm 30). Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!

Yes, my faith wavered, but it never failed. So that's what led me into the crowd that one day when I heard Jesus was in town. This new rabbi was well known in my region because of the miracles he had done. Just before my encounter he had calmed the waves on the sea and made the demons leave the man. Despite his disciples' best efforts, word still spread about the wonders Jesus did. He brought peace to these people, and he did the same for me. That day, I remember hearing that he was coming, so I decided that I had to go see him. I knew that my being in the crowd was problematic, being unclean, but I could not stop myself. He was my last resort. Everyone else had tried and failed, and the stories about this Jesus were almost too good to be true. I remembered the words from the prophet Malachi (Malachi 4:2) that some rabbis interpreted that even the Messiah's robe would bring healing, so I thought surely I can get close enough to touch his robe. "If I but touch his clothes, I would be made well" (Mark 5:28).

I didn't mean to interrupt him that day. Jesus was busy and was needed at Jarius' home because his daughter was ill. I had heard the commotion at this synagogue official's house and time was running short. I was a nobody, so how dare I interrupt him. There were so many people surrounding him, I thought there would be no way he would notice my light touch on the tassel of his rob given all the hands reaching out to him. The tassels hung down from the corners of his prayer shawl that he, like many men in my town, wore over their shoulders (Number 15). God commanded that we wear these as a reminder of our covenant. The tassels hung low enough that I thought there was a chance I could reach them through the huge crowd. So I did it. I sometimes still can't believe I did it. I reached down, touched only the tassel, and my bleeding stopped. It was a miracle. But then he turned and asked who had touched him. He felt himself healing. It wasn't the tassel that healed me it was Jesus himself. I was able to sneak away, but he wanted to meet the person who touched him. Could he mean me?

I was shaking. I have never been so scared in my life. How would he react? I had violated his cleanliness and made him unclean, and he and I both knew it. But I had to step forward to face him; he was waiting. My knees buckled in fear, and I fell to the ground in front of him. The crowd surrounded us as I poured out my heart and my whole story. The years of illness, the attempts at healing, being lonely and ritually unclean. That's when the real miracle happened. He wasn't angry. He didn't send me away to be completely banished from society. He didn't order me stoned. Instead Jesus offered me a blessing. I will never forget those words, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." "Shalom." He blessed me and called me his daughter. I was now a somebody. I was Hannah, and I was whole. No longer unclean. No longer without family or friends or a future. I was God's daughter and part of God's Kingdom.

Jesus offered me shalom--peace. Jesus offered me salvation--being made well. Jesus offered me health and wholeness in more ways than I had dreamed of. It's been a few years since that encounter and yet, it still feels like yesterday. I shall never forget that feeling when Jesus offered me shalom. A few weeks later after this encounter my family heard of my healing and reached out to me. Cousins, nieces and nephews, family I had never even met were now welcoming me into their homes like a lost daughter. Parties were thrown in my honor. It was though I was dead and was alive again.

Soon after my encounter with Jesus I even received an offer for marriage. One of the men in the crowd that day took notice. Now my future looked promising after all of the struggles I had over those twelve years. He has property and a house, and there is food on the table each evening. I no longer have to search for food in the trash. My cup runneth over. God is so good.

And you might be asking about the daughter that I took Jesus away from when I interrupted him in the crowd. Because of my interruption that day, she died. But, like my story, Jesus healed her as well and she received new life through him. Jesus turned her family's mourning into dancing. He made her well too, and I see her around town every once in a while. She's well and someone would never know she had been so sick--Jesus brought her wholeness too. We both received the greatest gift--shalom. There were many miracles that day--what a day it was. We must not forget. It is up to all of us to tell the story of Jesus' gift of shalom--of peace--of wholeness and healing. It is surly a day people will remember for years to come. "O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever." (Psalm 30)


[Hannah's story is historical fiction based on research about the passage from Mark 5]
Resources Consulted
-Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005) 105-107.
-William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, rev. Ed from The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1975) 126-137.
-Lamar Williamson, Jr. Mark: Interpretation Series (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1983) 108-113.
-Michaela Bruzzese, “June 28” in “Living the Word, Reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary, Cycle B;” Sojourners Magazine (June 2009, page 49).
-Pheme Perkins, “Mark” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. VIII (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) 586-591.
-Mark D. W. Edington; Michael L. Lindvall; Efrain Agosto; and Beverly Zink-Sawyer; “Proper 8: Mark 5:21-43” in Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 3 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 188-193.
-James J.H. Price; Frederick J. Parrella; Christie Cozad Neuger; Susan Langhauser; Keith Hohly; Martin Kich; Kenneth H. Carter, Jr.; and Brett Younger; “Proper 8, Ordinary 13, Pentecost 4 for Mark 5:21-43” in Lectionary Homiletics, Vol. XX, Number 4 (June-July 2009) 28-36.

Tour Guides for God (Sermon for 6/14/09; Proper 6B/Pentecost 2B)

Tour Guides for God
Sermon for 6/14/09 (Proper 6B/Pentecost 2B)
Mark 4:26-34; Ezekiel 17:22-24

And now for the interactive portion of our sermon. Raise your hands--How many of you have ever raised a garden--be it for vegetables or flowers? OK, you can put your hands down. Now raise your hands again--How many of you grew up on a working farm or live on a working farm today? OK, you can put your hands down. As I suspected, many of us have had at least some experience working in a garden or farm where we worked the soil, planted seeds or seedlings, and watched as the seasons changed and brought different looks to the garden in the cycle of life. But even thought many of us have experience with gardens, I doubt that many, if any, of us rely solely on our gardens and farms to feed our families. Thankfully we have grocery stores, farmers markets, and restaurants that provide most of our food these days. At the same time we have choices for the source of our food, we can easily loose our connection to creation and our Creator because we spend less and less time with our fingers in the dirt and our senses heightened by the changing seasons.

Jesus lived in an agrarian culture where farming and crop cycles were a tremendous part of basic survival. During those days, I can only imagine how closely they watched the seasons, crop cycles, and weather just to be sure there would be food to last through the year. As we read through Scripture, we quickly notice that crops, trees, bushes, seeds, plantings and harvests cover a huge landscape of Jesus' parables. We read two of these very parables today--the first one that only appears in Mark, and the second about the mustard seed that is likely much more familiar as it appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Of these two seed parables, the growing seed parable resonated with me much more this week than the mustard seed one. I can relate to that someone who goes along, plants some seeds, and a while later realizes how much they have grown. Steve and I have gotten into vegetable gardening this year for the first time. A couple of months ago I ventured into my local Home & Garden store and walked out with seeds, dirt, peat cups, and hope for what we would be harvesting later this summer. I diligently planted the seeds, remembered to water them occasionally, and low and behold, in a few days we had sprouts growing up. Then, as many of you know, we bought a house the end of May, and the first thing we did after our closing was to head to our new house to build the raised-bed garden.

We needed to transfer our seedlings into the ground quickly, since they were quickly outgrowing the small peat cups. I set up the soaker hose on a timer and spent the next two weeks sun down to sun up trying to get everything moved from one place to the next.

All of the sudden one day last week I looked out in the backyard, and was amazed to see our garden. It's huge--so huge in fact that yesterday afternoon we spent time digging up some of the squash plants and transferring them back to big pots to make some room for the rest of the garden--I guess I should have listened to the spacing directions on the package better! Amazingly, after only a few weeks our lettuce is ready to eat. We picked our first lettuce Friday night, and it was so exciting to eat our first real dinner in our new house and enjoy the lettuce of our labors.


As I've thought about the parable of the growing seeds and my own gardening experience this year, one detail in particular jumped out. In Mark 4:27 the text says, "and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how." This gardener does not know how the seeds grow. Yep-I relate to that! Can anyone else relate? Sounds to me like Jesus shared this parable and used me as the example--I'm pretty much clueless as to how the whole seed process works. I just know it does--with a little water and sun added in, and voila--we have fresh veggies for dinner. This little phrase "he does not know how" in the Greek uses the word that we derive our word "automatic" from. The seeds grow automatically. But this word in the Greek subtly shows that in fact, it was God's work that helped the seed grow automatically. God provides the sun and rain. God provides the seed. God created the soil and God's hand is right there tending the crops.

This parable deals with the ordinary, mundane, and not always so exciting process of planting, growing, and harvesting. It takes place in the minutia--the stuff of life that most of us likely do somewhat automatically without thought. We watch the seasons change, but sometimes it's hard to tell when the change has actually taken place. We generally wake up one morning, turn off the heat, forget the scarf and hat, and go about our business, not realizing that in fact winter is finally over and spring is here to stay. We notice the days getting longer and longer, but just keep going about our ordinary lives--not thinking about the movement of the created universe that makes all of these things possible. Our lives are very much automatic--winter leads to spring, trees grow leaves, fields become vibrant with growth, and then it's time for the harvest and the process starts over again.

The someone in the parable might not know how it all happens, and we might not understand seed germination and growth, but our Creator God certainly does. God is at the heart of this yearly planting, growing, and harvesting. God is present in the ordinary, mundane details, even when we're on autopilot. God is omnipresent--everywhere--and has a hand in every detail, no matter how small--from the mustard seed to the tall cedars that soar. Seeing the crops and watching the seasons change help us to know God is in fact Creator and is not a distant, far off God. God is present here and around us and in us every moment of every day. One writer I came across this week said about this parable that "Jesus invites us to see and to hear God in the familiar rounds of daily life... to sit still and contemplate quietly until the commonplace wakes our minds and hearts to wonder." [1] Does your garden cause you to pause and wake your mind and make your heart wonder?

This past week in our Velvet Elvis small group, we read a section that caused much discussion and connects with this parable. Rob Bell is discussing mission trips, which many of us are either just returning from, or about to leave out on. Bell is relating Paul's work with different people groups in Acts 14 to current mission endeavors today. Paul tells the group he is working with, "God has not left himself without testimony; [God] has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; [God] provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." [2] Bell then says, "Missions then is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of a God who is already there. It is almost as if being a good missionary means having really good eyesight. Or maybe it means teaching people to use their eyes to see things that have always been there; they just didn't realize it. You see God where others don't. And then you point [God] out. Perhaps we ought to replace the word missionary with tour guide, because we cannot show people something we haven't seen. ...So the issue isn't so much taking Jesus to people who don't have him, but going to a place and pointing out to the people there the creative, life-giving God who is already present in their midst." [3] He goes on to explain, "Tour guides are people who see depth and texture and connection where others don't. That is why the best teachers are masters of the obvious. They see the same thing that we do, but they are aware of so much more. And when they point it out, it changes the way we see everything." [4]

Tour guides for God. It is certainly a different way to describe our mission adventures. It might be a good bumper sticker or T-shirt slogan. But something in that resonates with me deep down. God is present everywhere. God makes the sun to shine and the seeds to grow automatically--we do not know how. God is at work in the mundane, ordinary actions and interactions, and when we take notice, we can draw closer to our Creator through creation. It is up to us to see with new eyes, intentionally pay attention, and notice where the seeds of faith, love, and hope are sprouting around us. Maybe God's presence will be obvious and you can't miss the sign at all. Or maybe it's a secret garden that isn't really located on the map, but you can see glimpses of our Creator in the flowers and trees around you. It also reminds us that sometimes the seeds are planted and we must wait patiently for them to sprout to be tall enough to be seen through the dirt. Sometimes we are planting seeds that will take months or years to be able to identify. Do not give up hope--growth is taking place with God as the gardener.

This summer, I invite you to think about where you see God around you. Where is God working automatically, so much so that we are oblivious and need new eyes to see God's presence? Where can our mundane, ordinary experiences become places to pause and begin to wonder about all God has created? How can we connect with our Creator through gardening, hiking in nature, hammering nails, painting walls, or having conversations with friends? How can we be tour guides to show others where God is already at work? And how can we help others see with new eyes to point out God in their midst too? And just as Thanksgiving is a celebration of the bounty of the harvest, let us not forget to give thanks for the garden bounty, the signs of God in our midst, and all the new eyes that become tour guides directing us closer to our Creator God. Amen.

[1] Lamar Willimason, Jr., Mark: Interpretation Series (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1983) 100.
[2]Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005) 87. Bell references Acts 14:17.
[3]Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005) 87-88.
[4]Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005) 89.