Ordinary 13
by Paul L. Larsen

Lamentations 3: 22-33 & Mark 5: 21-43

The prophet Jeremiah was probably the outstanding failure in the Bible. For
40 years he proclaimed God's will to the people, but apparently no on
listened to him. Jeremiah came on the scene about 100 years after Isaiah,
during the religious reforms begun by King Josiah of Judah. He criticized
the shallowness of these reforms. And just as he warned would be the case,
they seemed to have no lasting effect. Later he preached against idol
worship and some of the people retorted that things were better when they
worshiped idols. They cursed Jeremiah, threatened to kill him and threw him
into a dungeon to die.

Jeremiah advised the government against making an alliance with Egypt , but
they went right ahead with it. He wrote a book of his prophecies; King
Jehoiakim cut it up and burned it. He warned that Jerusalem would fall to
the enemy and was clapped into prison as a traitor. He was contradicted by
false prophets who preached what the people wanted to hear, "saying, 'Peace,
peace,' when there is no peace." After the fall of Judah the people actually
asked for his advice. So Jeremiah warned them not to move to Egypt. Not only
did they then go to Egypt, but they forced the prophet to go with them.

The truth is, this was the result God told him to expect when he called
Jeremiah into service saying, "They will fight against you." Fortunately,
God promised to provide him with strength and Jeremiah relied on that
strength.

Jeremiah is called the reluctant prophet. When first called, he said he was
too young. He hates pronouncing judgement on the people, but says that God
forces him to do so. Jeremiah curses the day he was born. He hates seeing
all this sorrow and he hates spending his days in shame.

Jeremiah is also known as the weeping prophet because of his great
unhappiness in having constantly to give his people a message of doom. And
yet, few men have been as courageous as Jeremiah. He had a difficult message
to deliver: to expose the sinfulness of his people; to predict national
disaster; to counsel surrender, but he carried out his task faithfully.

But a part of Jeremiah's commission was also "to build and to plant." And
throughout the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations there are glimpses of
better things to come. Not only did Jeremiah promise a return of the Jews
from exile in 70 years. But he also foresaw in the future a "day of the
Lord" when all evil would be overcome. At that time God would establish a
new covenant with his people, based on the forgiveness of their sin.
Everyone would know and obey God, they would enter into a new covenant and
faithfully follow God's law, for it would be written upon their hearts.

In the book of Lamentations we see that message of hope. Despite the fact
that Jerusalem has been destroyed.; despite the fact that the nation is in
exile; despite the great suffering and deprivation people are experiencing;
Jeremiah proclaims a message of hope in our text for today. He says, "The
steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my
portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."

Jeremiah and his people are in one of the most hopeless situations you could
ever imagine and yet he preaches that there is hope in God. He proclaims
that we should never give up because the steadfast love of the Lord never
ceases. Great is God's faithfulness.

We see that same message lived out in our Gospel text. Jairus, the leader of
the synagogue was desperate. His 12 year old daughter was dying. There
didn't seem to be anything he could do about it. He was a person of power.
He was in a position of authority. But in the face of death he was
powerless. He runs to Jesus, throws himself at Jesus' feet and shamelessly
begs Christ to come and heal his daughter. He is absolutely out of options.
Jesus is his last and only hope.

Christ agrees to come, but on the way another desperate person reaches out
to him, hoping against hope that he will heal her. This time it is a
nameless woman who has been suffering with a flow of blood for 12 years.
Twelve years of going to doctors and spending all of her money and not
getting better, in fact she was getting worse. This wasn't just an illness.
According to Jewish law this flow of blood made her unclean. Anyone she
touched would be made ritually unclean. She was cut off from family and
friends. She was ostracized from the temple. She was an outcast. In her
desperation she says to herself, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made
well."

Jesus feels power flow out from him and asks who touched him. His disciples
think he is crazy to ask such a question. People are crowded all around him.
Lots of people would have touched him. But the woman knows what he means for
she has felt his healing power. She comes forward in fear and trembling and
tells him the whole truth about what has been going on in her life. Jesus
says to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be
healed of your disease."

Can you imagine the panic going on within Jairus? His daughter is dying.
There is no time to spare and Jesus stops to deal with this worthless,
outcast woman! What is he thinking?

Then the terrible news comes. His daughter is dead. All hope is gone. There
is no longer any need to trouble the teacher any more. There is nothing he
can do. But Jesus says to Jairus, "Do not fear, only believe."

"Do not fear, only believe." That is a message we often need to hear. It is
also a tough message to heed. There are so many frightening things in life.
There are threats and dangers all around us: Global warming, Avian Flu, an
AIDS pandemic, terrorism, war, illness, job loss. Those things and others
can scare the life out of you if you let them. But Jesus says, "Do not fear,
only believe." Jeremiah says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never
ceases... Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, therefore I
will hope in him."

An unknown poet has penned these words:

When nothing on which we can lean remains,
When strongholds crumble to dust,
When nothing is sure but that God still reigns,
Then that's the time we should trust!

One of the most beloved and colorful sports personalities of our time was a
man named Jim Valvano -"Jimmy V," as sports fans around the country
affectionately knew him. Valvano died on April 16, 1993, after a year- long
battle with cancer. He was forty-seven years old. He will he remembered as a
great basketball coach. His North Carolina State team won the national
championship in 1983, upsetting that great Houston Cougar team that featured
Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Valvano also will he remembered as an
outstanding TV analyst, an eloquent inspirational speaker, and a lovable,
wisecracking humorist. But most of all, he will be remembered for the
courageous way he faced a debilitating illness. A few weeks before he died,
Valvano was honored on national television, and to that vast viewing
audience, he said:

Today, I fight a different battle. You see, I have trouble walking and I
have trouble standing for a long period of time. Cancer has taken away a lot
of my physical abilities. Cancer is attacking and destroying my body. But
what cancer cannot touch is my mind, my heart and my soul. I have faith in
God and hope that things might get better for me. But even if they don't, I
promise you this. I will never ever give up. I will never ever quit. And if
cancer gets me then I'll try my best to be the best coach they've ever seen
up in heaven. Then, pointing to his 1983 Championship team, he said, I
learned a great lesson from these guys; they amazed me! They did things I
wasn't sure they could do because they absolutely refused to give up! That
was the theme of our championship season: "Never ever give up!" That's the
lesson I learned from them and that's the message I leave with you: "Never
give up. Never ever give up!" (1)

I don't know what situations you are facing in life, but most of us have
something that threatens us or scares us or causes us trouble.

We may not have the multitude of problems that faced Jeremiah, but we can
learn from him. We can listen to his faith in God's faithfulness. We can
place our hope in the same Lord who has promised that his steadfast love
will never cease.

We may not be suffering from an illness like the woman Jesus healed. We may
not be a social outcast. But we can still reach out to Jesus and ask that he
offer us his healing touch for that which is causing us pain. He may not
cure our disease; he may not reconcile the relationship that is ailing in
our lives; he may not do exactly what we want in the way we want it, but he
will provide healing.

We may not be facing the death of a loved one, like Jairus was. We may not
be facing our own death, like Jimmy Valvano, but we will be one day. And on
that day we can hear Jesus say to us, "Do not fear, only believe." For God
has demonstrated that he has the power even over death and he has promised
to raise us to new life.

Never give up. Never ever give up. Because we have a God whose steadfast
love never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. Great is God's
faithfulness and our hope is in him. Amen.

Reference:

 Never Give Up, James W. Moore, Attitude Is Your Paintbrush, Dimensions,
61-62.

(Comments to Paul at paullarsen@COMCAST.NET.)
Christ the King Lutheran Church

New Brighton, MN