The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
June 28, 2009
Vol. 12 no. 25

Everything But...
The train has started rolling through the Gospel according to Mark and there is no way to turn it back. It is always curious to see what the Lectionary guys have skipped over and omitted. Crossing the sea of Galilee Jesus has calmed the storm after a comfortable nap, but when he landed on shore there was Legion, the man possessed and inhabited by a Roman legion’s worth of demons. Jesus exorcised the demons and sent them into a herd of swine who madly rush off the cliff to drown in the sea. An effective, but not practical remedy for swine flu. It is no wonder that the populace were a little insistent that Jesus leave the territory.

The reason I have summarized this famous tale is that this year it is not read. Instead, we leap frog to the most complex literary narrative involving Jesus, often identified as the healing of Jairus’ daughter, but in every version the encounter with the woman with the twelve-years’ hemorrhaging is woven seamlessly into Jesus’ path to Jairus’ house.

Both healings are classic Jesus, yet in both cases Jesus did not lay hands upon the ill person, do anything remotely magical, nor did he pray or declare that anything religious was happening - no mention of the Lord or Spirit. The woman in the pushing crowd heals herself by unimaginable faith. Everybody else is touching Jesus, but she touched him holy.

When Jesus finally arrived at Jairus’ place, his trip was declared a wasted effort. Jesus was the faithful one now, and as he took her by the hand, it was hard to tell who did what as she simultaneously rose to her feet. It was so remarkable that everyone, even the Greek author, remembered his original Aramaic words, “Talitha cumi.” The Spirit of the Pentecost tongues was already at work.