Don’t Reach for the Stars
Mark 5: 21-43
Don’t reach for the Stars
This I have learned. Reaching inspires people. Show me a basketball player that reaches for the hoop, and I will show you an inspired crowd cheering. Rescue teams reaching out to people in destitute situations are the stuff movies are made of. “Reach for the stars” we hear in inspirational talks and sermons. Even toothbrushes are marketed by their ability to reach where others could not.
What does it mean to reach? To reach means you put in effort. That you go the extra mile, that you leave a comfort zone. It means that you stretch yourself a but further. You need two things to reach: Courage and faith (or hope). Ironically it is sometimes precisely the very scary and difficult kind of situations, desperation that draws these qualities out of us and make us reach. Most people only reach when they are at the end of their options and rope. The woman in todays story suffered for twelve years and the man in this passage-his daughter were near death before they reached beyond what was ordinary and comfortable.
So, if reaching out helps us achieve new heights and helps us live inspiring lives what prevent us from doing it? Again, two things. Clutter and hysteria. If your life is cluttered it prevents you from reaching further. It is like clutter of things, options, opinions, comfort, activities and people limits one’s ability to reach out. Hysteria is actually just a form of emotional clutter. It is when the mood and emotions and opinions of the crowds around you makes you stop thinking and you blindly follow the wisdom of the crowds around you.
One more thing about reaching. To reach well, you must reach for the right things. Some of the most ingenious reaching are done by drug addicts, reaching to get their next fix. But it isn’t good reaching because it reaches for what ultimately kills. Some people reach hard for the wrong things and when they finally grab hold of it, they realize they were deceived. That fame, that child, that wife or husband have in fact not delivered the fulfillment and happiness I thought it would.
If I could summarize a message from this passage it is this: People who reach for Jesus, find life. On this particular day we could say there were two kinds of people around Jesus. The crowds, who were bumpers that bumped into Jesus following the hype. But then we read that there at least two people who weren’t bumpers but reachers. Who purposefully in faith, reached out to Jesus. They found life. They inspired Jesus and others. Jesus responded to them in a healing and life-giving way whereas to the crowds He responded by rebuking and passing through them.
We don’t need to be the strongest or biggest church or community. You don’t need to be an overachiever to inspire people. You don’t need to do everything perfectly. But to be an inspiration, you do need to be a God reacher. You and I are called to stretch ourselves and reach out to God. There is something in us called faith that enables us to do that. So, let’s see what this woman and man can teach us about how to become good God reachers.
Learn to say “it doesn’t work anymore”
When we bought our house, it came with a washer and a dryer as most houses in Canada does. The thing is, they were twenty years old. The dryer made the sound of a train when it span, which next to our bedroom, was unpleasant to say the least. Then the washer started leaking. At first it was only a little perspiration. At first, I was sympathetic. What old lady wouldn’t sweat a little when she does all the washing. But then the perspiration turned into peeing and finally into flooding that seeped through to the bottom floor. I went up to both the washer and the dryer. I looked straight into their round hopeful bellies. It was hard but suddenly the words that I should have said long time ago: “You are not working for us anymore”. It was painful for both of us, but we took the plunge and we have such an energy efficient and effective washer and dryer now, I stare at it just for entertainment.
Why is it sometimes so difficult to say these words: “It is not working anymore”, even when it comes to a washer and a dryer? And you will know, it is even harder to say it when it comes to something personal like your close relationships, you career, the medical treatment you get or your…life. It scares us to look it in the eye and admit that something is not working as it should. It means we must consider other possibilities. It means we need to explore, take responsibility and make painful changes. It complicates our lives. It is sometimes hard to open up to the possibility that life can be better because what if we are wrong? Then we put ourselves through all the turmoil for nothing but pain!
Now here is a secret that could make it easier for us to admit something is not working. If together with looking that painful fact in the eye, we turn to Jesus, it will have a happy ending. Even when we think it is too late. See this is what both Jairus and the woman with the bleeding problem did. It must have been hard for both of them. For Jairus, a synagogue leader to admit that the religious system he invested his life in, could not solve the problem of his daughter dying, must have been very hard. Jesus might have enjoyed some popularity, but He was controversial and religious systems don’t thrive when they flirt with the controversial. For this woman to admit that all the numerous doctors’ treatments have not only ruined her financially but also made her condition worse, was basically to give up hope. And imagine what Jairus went through when his daughter died. I bet he told himself for a moment there that it was because he turned away from his tradition to this rogue prophet Jesus. But all is well that ends well. And in this passage, all ended well for people who turned to Jesus, when they faced the scary fact that something isn’t working as it should.
“This isn’t working”, scary as it is, could be a step of faith. It is an acknowledgement that the Jesus I know, wants better for me. But then it must be accompanied by turning to Him, trusting Him for the solution, even when you see none. If you are still looking for a new year’s solution, here is a good one: “I am going to name and shame things that doesn’t work”. Some things that doesn’t work might be fixable, others need to be replaced. None should be denied and ignored. Jesus is good at doing both. Because I believe in Him, I need not be afraid to tell Him if something is not working anymore.
Realize that seams are enough
When this woman, full of pain and frail as she was said to herself that even if she only manages to reach the seam of Jesus’s clothes it will be enough, it was an amazing act of faith in Jesus. It showed that she did not put her trust in her adequacy and her ability to reach but in Jesus’s power to reach those who reach out to Him. It was a faith that touched Jesus, so much so that he stopped on his way to an emergency and made him attend to a particular woman in a sea of bumpers.
Jesus meets reachers halfway. Sometimes He meets us more than halfway. In the previous passage he healed a man who couldn’t even reach out to him at all. I said that one needs hope to reach out. Hope is born the moment you realize Jesus is powerful but also reachable.
We need this balance in our thinking about God. One the one hand we need to be humble enough that our best theology only touches the seams of the richness and fulness of who Jesus really is. On the other hand, we need to be confident in faith that even that has the power to transform us and turn Jesus towards us in grace.
Don’t quit reading the Bible because you feel that you understand very little of what you read. Because even the little you do understand can be used powerfully by Jesus. Don’t do nothing because you would like to do everything but cannot. Do what you can. Don’t quit praying because you feel your prayers are inadequate. Trust in the Spirit who takes those prayers and translate them into a powerful plea to a God that loves you. Even Moses just saw God’s back but it was enough to stomach leading his people out of slavery! The Bible is not full of people that manage to grab it all. It is full of people grabbing what they could and God surprising them with what he did with it. Ruth’s leftover grain became the gateway to a new beginning. Jacob’s wrestling with God became the source of his new identity. Paul’s letter to the few scattered churches of his time became the hope of generations to come. A boys offering of fish and loaves became the food for five thousand people in Jesus’s hands just like the seam became this woman’s long desired healing.
It is never too late to reach out to Jesus.
I said that clutter prevents us from reaching. Maybe there is a third thing and that is excuses. There are always reasons to believe that you are too late. This woman had plenty. Twelve years of suffering, her history could have been an excuse to stop reaching out. The list of doctors that tried and failed to treat her successfully could have been an excuse. People in the crowds stronger and more important than her could have been an excuse. Even cultural convention and religion could have been an excuse not to touch Jesus. Likewise, with the man. The fact that his whole religious system failed him. The fact that his daughter was sick and later dead could have given him an excuse to call it quits. It almost did. The crowds hysteria was another good excuse to get carried away in sadness.
But Jesus is always on time. It is never too late to reach out to Him. No situation, no person is too far down the road to be turned around and healed by His grace and mercy. There might be many reasons you think it is too late for you. Yes, there might be a season in your life that have passed, and opportunities missed never to be repeated but it is not too late for Jesus to bring hope and new life. He can do it in ways you cannot even imagine. He did it for both this woman and the man in ways they couldn’t think possible.
Neil and Elaine’s cousin, Hannah, was born with a severe heart defect. After an operation, her heart wouldn’t start again. We prayed. Her parents prayed. The parents went to say goodbye and switch off the life support. Just then her heart started beating. She produced urine and is getting stronger everyday.
There is much in our past we cannot change and much in our future we cannot know but there is something about the here and now we can know for certain: Now is a great time to reach out in faith to Jesus. Now is the perfect time for Jesus to bring new life if He decides to.
Close
If you know something about art, you will know about the term “craquelure”. Basically, all painting have a spiderweb of cracks in them. These cracks are not considered flaws but in fact a mark of authenticity. It gives the painting character and value. It preserves its flexibility and longevity.
Isn’t it funny how we look at the cracks in human lives not as marks of character, authenticity and value but as imperfections and marks of worthlessness? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we can realize that in God’s eyes our lives are artworks. And the cracks gives it character and value. Leonard Cohen put it well when he said: “There is crack in everything, that is how the light gets in”.
We serve a Jesus that can shine his light into our cracks. Jesus reaches into the cracks with a healing touch. And because He reaches right inside of us, we can reach out to him.
Don’t reach for the stars. Reach for Jesus. He is so much closer.
Amen