What does it mean to be a person of faith? How does faith make us whole? Throughout the Gospels we hear many lessons on faith – how the disciples showed their lack of faith in the storm; how if we only had the faith of a mustard seed we could move mountains; how Peter begins to walk on the water, only to fall when he loses his faith. But what do we mean by faith, and what does it have to do with healing? Is faith what we believe? Is it something we are responsible for teaching our children? Or is faith something that grows inside us?
On the whole, Protestants make a lot more about faith than other branches of Christianity. The heroes of Protestantism were strong men and women who know what was right, and who acted on it. People like Martin Luther, who stood up in defiance over the issue of papal abuses. We imagine him to be this bold, confident reformer who was convinced of the rightness of his cause, and who certainly didn't harbor any doubts about what he was doing. He was a man of faith. When it comes to our religious beliefs, doubt often seems like the enemy of faith.
But today's gospel shows us a very different view of faith. Today we hear about two people from vastly different backgrounds who each came to see Jesus for the same reason. One was a powerful man named Jairus. He was well known in the town, one of the elders of the synagogue, and he had a twelve year old daughter who was lying on her deathbed. So when he heard that Jesus, the man who could heal with just his touch, had come into town, he decided to go and see him. Now, Jesus and his disciples had just come off the boat. They were tired, and still had places to go, people to see. And the crowds were just getting bigger and bigger, making it harder and harder for them to do anything. But Jairus was a man with access and, desperate, he fell at Jesus' feet, and begged him to come to his house and heal his daughter.
Meanwhile, there's another person in this story, a woman whose name we never learn. She had been sick for twelve years, as long as Jairus' daughter had been alive. She was constantly bleeding, a condition that caused her to be an outcast. She had tried everything – tons of doctors and treatments – but nothing worked. Now, all of her money was gone, and living on the edge of society, she was dependent on charity for food and shelter. Just an anonymous person in the crowd, she, too, had heard about Jesus; but unlike Jairus, she had no access to him. Because of her illness, she did not dare to approach him, much less touch him. Still, she was desperate; and, drained of her life blood and drained her money, she pushed her way through the crowd and reached out.
Two people with different levels of power and access, both come to Jesus at the same time. The powerful man comes to plead his case on behalf of his daughter, and humbles himself by groveling at the feet of Jesus. The frail woman is too afraid to even speak, but she nevertheless manages to summon up the courage to reach out and grasp at her only chance at wholeness. Both of them are desperate, both have reached the end of their rope. And both of them are examples of faith.
Some people believe that faith is a sign of strength; that to be a "person of faith" means that we should be able to stand alone in the face of any adversity. For them, any sign of weakness or desperation is a sign that their faith has somehow been diminished; any show of uncertainty or doubt is a sign that they lack faith. They act as if their faith depends on themselves, and that any questions they might have about what they believe could be cause for God to withhold God's favor.
But God doesn't respond to our faith; faith is our response to God. God comes to us, reaching out for us, taking the initiative to live in relationship with us. God offers us a gift, freely available to all – a gift of life in abundance. It is something we do not deserve, and something we can not earn. But it is also something we need to have the courage to accept. In her book, The Dream of God, Verna Dozier wrote: "The important question to ask is not, 'What do you believe?' but 'What difference does it make that you believe?' She means that faith is less about what's in our heads, and more about what's in our hearts. It's not about our intellectual assent that God exists, but that God still acts in our lives... and that we are part of God's action. In short, faith is about the way we respond and live into God's relationship with us. How? By reaching out to grab on to the last hope that comes our way; by ignoring the rules that tell us to keep away, or friends who say "there is no hope;" by remaining in relationship with God and those around us.
Both Jairus and the woman were afraid when they came to Jesus, but still they approached him, clinging to the hope that he could save them. She tried to steal her blessing and sink back into the crowd, fearful that in touching him she would be condemned for her uncleanness. But Jesus stopped and called for her to come out and be known. She was made well by the touch, but she was restored only when he called out to her. Later, when they arrive too late to save Jairus' daughter, she, too, was restored by the call of Jesus. God reaches out to us even when we are desperate, even when our faith is imperfect and clouded by fear and doubt.
The good news for all of us is that faith is not about what we believe, but how we live. Faith is not about rules, regulations, and religion; it is about reaching out, relying on, and resting into. Faith is reaching out to God, even when we've tried everything, even when we've lost everything, even when we're afraid that all is lost. Faith is relying on the fact that through it all, God still seeks a relationship with us, to make us whole. Faith is, at the end of the day, elbowing our way through the crowd and then resting in the loving arms of God.
Thanks be to God.
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