Daughter, Your Faith Has Made You Well

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’ While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. Mark 5:21-43

These remarkable stories of healing by Jesus touch me in a very personal way. I am a daughter and I have three daughters and I had three (now two sisters). Women are often left out of the stories from most of the bible or they are servants or caught doing foolish things. Yet Mark wants us to hear how tenderly and respectfully he treats these women, calling them by tender, familial names. He showed respect to each one when the rest of the culture did not. He laughed at the crowd who had given up on the small child and instead took her by the hand. We followers of Jesus are called to treat all people with respect and tenderness, especially those who are ignore, thought subservient or given up on.

Loving Creator, you love all your creation

in all our complexity and variety you made us

with unique roles, cultures, languages and tradition

you show us your beautiful face in our diversity.

We do not respect those who we deem as less

we are not tender with those who are suffering

we see their need as their failure not ours

and we ignore our siblings who need our care.

Help us to see those who are on the road with us

help us to tenderly care for all those around us

make us respect those who we used to judge

and set us free to never give up on your love. Amen.