Reflection on Mark 5:21-43

 

With Jesus Christ there is always enough time.  Go ahead and say it with me, “With Jesus Christ there is always enough time.” 

It is true.  Speaking against the sentiment that goes something like this, “My troubles are nothing compared to others, I’m sure that God has more important things to do in this world than help me,” we are given a story from scripture that teaches us clearly that Jesus Christ certainly has enough time for each of us. 

And, I do not mean this in just the chronological sense of time.  The time that Jesus provides for us goes much deeper than just the 24 hours in the day.  But, before I get to how deeply Jesus has the time for us, I want to explore the amount of time that we give to Jesus.

Now, the Apostle Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, encourages the followers of Jesus Christ to, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 

Paul has this idea that every moment of our lives can and should be devoted to God.  He has this idea that we can make our lives a living prayer to Jesus Christ; that our entire lives will radiate the love of the neighbor and the love of the world shown on the cross. 

Martin Luther, the reformer of the church, put the idea in very easy terms that anyone can understand.  When talking about living this kingdom life Martin Luther gave this example:

“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”

In other words, living the Christian life is not about labeling everything with crosses.  Rather, it is about living a life that reflects the love of the cross; a life that loves the neighbor in every single thing that we do.  A Christian car dealer is not Christian because he puts a fish symbol on the dealership sign, but rather because he deals in quality cars and refuses to cheat or mislead people in order to gain an extra buck. 

It is about loving the neighbor.  It is about praying without ceasing.  It is about living as if we were standing in the kingdom of God, because “the kingdom of God has come near,” (Mark 1:15). 

Now, this sort of living is hard.  People admit to me all the time that they just do not have the concentration to live a “pray without ceasing” sort of life.  They just do not have the time.  I get it.  I feel it too.  We just do not have the time.  But, we have already heard: “With Jesus Christ there is always enough time.”

Let us not even go as far as “praying without ceasing” in our discussion.  Let us just look at this hour-ish amount of time that we devote to Jesus Christ on Sunday mornings.  I looked up to top reasons that believers say they do not come to church.  Just to be clear, we are only talking about believers here. 

Top Reasons That Believers Say They Do Not Come To Church (In no particular order):

No house of worship in their area.

Poor health or mobility.

They do not feel welcome.

They do not like the sermons.

They have not found a house of worship that they like.

It is just not very important in their lives right now.

They do not actually believe.

They practice their faith in other ways.

They do not have the time.

That is us.  We, everyday people cannot find the time.  But, that is not true with Jesus.  With Jesus Christ there is always enough time.

That same study from 2018 also looked at the top reasons that people do come to church. That is interesting.  Do you want to hear that?

To please their family, spouse, or partner.

To meet new people and socialize.

They feel obligated to go.

To continue their family’s religious traditions.

To be a part of a faith community.

They find the sermons valuable.

For comfort in times of trouble or sorrow.

To become a better person.

So their children will have a moral foundation.

To become closer to God.

That last one, “To become closer to God,” was the number one reason, by the way.  That makes the preacher’s heart feel good.  It means that those people actually desire to spend time with God.  For them, they have enough time for God, at least for one hour out of the week.  But, for Jesus Christ, there is always enough time.

You see, one day Jesus was just climbing out of the boat when a man named Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet and begged Jesus to lay his hands on his little daughter, who was dying.  I do not know what Jesus’ plans were for that day, but he had enough time to go and heal this influential man’s daughter.  The man was a leader of a synagogue, and Jesus went with him.

Now, while on the way, with crowds of people swarming around him, a woman approaches Jesus.  This woman had been suffering from menstrual bleeding for twelve years.  Doctors had bled her dry of funds, to no avail, and she had lost the life of companionship with other people for twelve years. 

Twelve years is a long time for no one but doctors to touch you because you are unclean.  Twelve years is a long time to be isolated from everyone else because the blood will not stop.  She has been sick as long as Jairus’ daughter has been alive.

This woman secretly makes her way through the crowd and hopes that touching at least Jesus’ clothes will heal her of her twelve year affliction.

It works.  Jesus feels the power drain from him and the woman is made clean. 

“Who touched me?”  Jesus asks. 

Of course, hundreds of people have bumped against the guy as he traveled to heal the little, twelve year old girl.  The disciples say as much, but Jesus stops his journey in order to find the one.

The woman came in fear and told the whole truth.  She was the unclean one who dared touch him.  She was the unclean one who put the entire crowd at risk of un-cleanliness as she made her way through the crowd.  She told the whole, selfish truth.

But, Jesus did not rebuke her.  Jesus did not find her selfish.  He did not shout at her for stopping him on his important mission.  He did not ignore her as the low life that she seemed to appear.  Rather, Jesus stopped, looked at her with mercy and peace and said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 

Jesus had time for her.  With Jesus Christ there is always enough time.

Of course, Jesus’ detour with the old woman had some tragic consequences.  The little, twelve year old girl was apparently dead.  And, this is where we go deeper, because, the reality for us is that there are only 24 hours in the day.  For us, we can only do so much in the time that we have.  For us, time needed for children does come in conflict with time needed for others.  What parent does not struggle with that?  For us human beings there is never enough time. 

But, Jesus is the Son of God.  And, when you are the Son of God, there is always enough time.

Jesus comes to the little girl, says, “Little girl, get up,” and the little girl gets up.  For Jesus, time is not a barrier to love.  For Jesus, even death is not a barrier that cannot be overcome.  With Jesus Christ there is always enough time.

And so, living in the kingdom of God is all about that.  It is all about living as if Jesus Christ has enough time.  He has enough time for little, twelve year old girls.  He has enough time for outcast women who have suffered tragedies.  He has enough time for you.

Some Christians in the world understand this better than others.  In Tanzania some Americans showed up promptly for worship at the designated time.  And, after sitting around, and waiting for over an hour, those who were expected to come had finally arrived and the worship service began.  When asked afterward about the lateness of worship, which would never be tolerated in the United States, the Pastor said, “You westerners have watches, but we have time.  We have time for our people.”

You see, in the kingdom of God there is always enough time.  With Jesus Christ there is always enough time.  Though others may fail, Jesus will always have enough time for you.