2 Sam.l:l,17-27
PS.130

2 Cor.8:1-9,13-15
Mark 5:22-24,35b-43

Pentecost 4
Proper 8B RCL
10:00 HE 2A

"MY LITTLE DAUGHTER"
(WHEN JESUS LAYS ON HANDS)

Credit: Interp.Bible on the Gospel passage
Previous: 82,91,94,97,03

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In today's Gospel, Jairus comes to Jesus to ask for the healing of his little daughter. Jairus is the ruler of a synagogue, a sort of lay president (or senior warden) of a congregation. We hear of Jairus only this once, but he is remembered because he came into contact with Jesus. And like other figures who are mentioned only once, they gleam like windows which catch the rays of the sun for a moment.

I. The light which falls on Jairus reveals at least two things about him, that are worthy of never-ending remembrance.

A. Jairus was a person who in mind and spirit was open to experiment. That word is not rich and full enough to convey the faith of Jairus, faith which led him to kneel at Jesus' feet. But his action and its saving result, began with a type of mind that was open to experiment. Here was a new teacher with the reputation of a healer. Perhaps He could help. The mind of Jairus was not closed, and he made the venture.

But think how many obstacles stood in the way of his coming and kneeling and making his request without reservation. He was the ruler of a synagogue, a little world in which tradition was the rule - not experiment. He had to cast aside his rank and his prestige, in falling at the feet of an unauthorized, traveling Teacher. But he could open his mind to what was new, to the possibility that a divine power was at work in an unexpected and unlikely Person. Seeing Jesus, Jairus made the leap of faith and trust.

What a contrast this is to very common attitudes! Others have come to Jesus with prestige and learning and position, and have seen Jesus dimly, yet seeing Him, they have kept their minds utterly closed to experiment. Seeing Him, they ignore Him or despise Him. You and I have probably done this also, at times.

Across the years, the kneeling figure of Jairus says persuasively, "Keep your mind open. See and venture. Let Jesus bring health and wholeness into life. Let Him bring saving power into a civilization or family or church that has gone into a deathlike coma."

B. If Jairus was a person who in mind and spirit was open to experiment, he also was, in the second place, a man who came to Christ because he was driven by concern for someone else. Jairus was driven not so much by his own need as by the desperate need of a loved one. His words, "My little daughter" lose none of their genuine pleading for all the 2000 years that have passed. What perhaps Jairus would not have done for himself, he did not hesitate to do for his little daughter.

Here again is an open window into a large field of human experience, the company of those who come to Christ through their sense of the needs of other lives.

This is especially true of parents. The coming of children into the home and family, has made parents see and feel that the child needs equipment for life: a wholeness, a fortification, something that the parents cannot give from themselves. So they come to One Who has much to give, and say, "My little daughter, my little son." They ask that they may have sustaining power, to give to young lives for a long journey. That ought to be the experience of all mothers and fathers who feel deeply their responsibility. "Clothes I can provide, and food and home and education. But for the deep resources of life, for truly saving power, I must follow Jairus, see Jesus, and say, 'My little son, my little daughter'".

To parents and Godparents, pastors and teachers, the coming of children into a home is a moment of supreme opportunity to bring the loving and all-sufficient Christ into that home, into every home.

II. Jairus says to Jesus, "Come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made well, and live." That was a tremendous statement of faith in Jesus, but it was also the measure of a father's love for his child, and his own sense of need. But the words also carry the suggestion that whatever or whoever Jesus lays His hands upon, does live. And that is a matter of history as well as a matter of faith.

A. Jesus laid his hands on the energy of Peter, and that power of Peter, which might have been a lawless chaos, began to live, and still lives. He laid His hand upon the emotional capacity of the Apostle John. He laid His hand upon the ambition of St. Paul. What a scourge ambition has been, in those who have marched to power over the mangled lives of multitudes - people like Napoleon or Hitler or modern industrial giants. But Jesus laid His hand upon the zealous ambition of Paul, the number one killer of Christians in those days, and gave that power a new direction, so that it lived. We can see it in Paul's letters: "I must see Rome" ... " I yearn to have some spiritual fruit among you Romans also." (Rom.l:13).

B. If Jesus is allowed to lay His hand on the family, it lives. We have an easy way of talking about the home, as if family life were a bit of heaven. Yet we know that family life can be an outpost of hell, and not so very far out from hell at that. People who are forced to live together, without love that suffers long and is kind, end in torment and war. But marriage and home, in which love has been lifted up to the clear light of Christ's purpose. that marriage and home live. Even upon sorrow and trouble and affliction, Christ has laid His hand, and instead of bringing death they have lived, to be a blessing. That is an outstanding truth of Christian history - dark and mysterious, but true and as inescapable as sunlight. The supreme example is Jesus, of course: He laid His hands upon the Cross, an evil thing; and the Cross lives.

C. So with these economic systems of ours. They can be motivated by greed and profit-making until they bring on death by tyranny and disaster, as we are seeing now. But if Christ is allowed to lay His hands upon them, if they are brought under the rule of brotherhood, it instead of the clutched fist of greed, they become symbolized by strong hands laid upon tools for the supply of human need, then they too will live.

D. There is one more question we should ask before we leave this story. Jairus begged Jesus to lay His hands on a child. Can Christian parents make this prayer without reserve? All too often there is a trace of fear, that Christ might lay hands too closely on a young life - lest the young person take Christ too seriously and follow Christ into unusual paths, perhaps dangerous ones, - lest the young life be out of conformity with the plans or the social customs of the parents. The future of Christianity depends in a real way on the parents who will say without reserve, without a trace of selfishness - "Lay thy hands upon this child that she or he may live" - for with that prayer goes another one: "Lay your hands upon my ambitions, and make my ambitions live in unselfish and sacrificial ways."

(At a Baptism, 1994,1997: Parents, Godparents:
You offer this child for Baptism, that Christ will lay His hands on him/her. You think you will teach the child, but the child will teach you. You never know what you're letting yourselves into when you present a child for Baptism!)