Sermon for Pentecost 5: "Hanging on by a Thread"

 + 5th Sunday after Pentecost - June 27, 2021 +

Series B: Lamentations 3:22-33; 2 Corinthians 8:1-9; Mark 5:21-43

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Sometimes you get that feeling like you’re hanging on by a thread. 

 

Could be that your children or grandchildren are in high school or college, surrounded by temptations, distractions, and dangers - all the sirens’ noise that beckons them away from the faith you’ve tried so hard to instill in them. Could be that your relationship with a friend, family member, or spouse is broken in some way and you just don’t see how it’ll end in peace.. Maybe it’s the reality of trying to make ends meet in challenging economic times. Or perhaps it’s the endless list of doctors’ visits, pills to take, daily aches and pains. 

 

Whatever the case, it’s safe to say, at one point or another, we’ve all been there. Feeling like you’re hanging on by a thread. 

 

In today’s Gospel reading from Mark 5, there are three such people.

 

There’s a young girl near the end of her short life. Mark doesn’t tell us how long she’s been sick, or even what illness plagues her. All we know is that she is only 12, and she’s near the point of death. She’s hanging on by a thread.

 

Then, there is her dad, Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, Mark tells us. Mark doesn’t tell us how he heard about Jesus, but news about a miracle working rabbi named spreads fast. Like any parent whose child is sick, he’s desperate to find help. Fighting his way through the great crowd, he finally reaches Jesus. With nothing but a plea for mercy, he falls down at Jesus’ feet and begs him to heal her. He is hanging on by a thread.

 

There’s a woman suffering from some kind of recurring bleeding condition. Suffering has been her constant companion for as long as the little girl has been alive. She has been through twelve years of seeking doctors, twelve years of spending all she has, twelve years with nothing to show but more pain and empty pockets. She too, is hanging on by a thread.

 

All three were in need. All three had nowhere to turn. All three were hanging on by a thread. 

 

And that, as we know, is a desperate, helpless, frightening place to be. Everything feels insecure. Unsteady. Like life itself is unraveling. You’re hanging on by a thread. 

 

Unless of course, the thread that you’re hanging onto is connected to Jesus. It’s his hold on the other end that makes all the difference. 

 

That’s how it is for the three people in Mark 5. Jairus didn’t know what or how Jesus would do, but he was holding onto the thread of hope that he could do something to save his daughter. And he was right. Jesus is more than your average rabbi. He is the Son of God in human flesh. 

 

The woman, too, reached out to Jesus, believing, trusting, that if she just touched the fringe of his garments it would be enough to find healing. And she did. She found healing in the one who came to carry our diseases and bear our griefs and sorrows, by whose stripes we are healed.

 

Even the little girl awoke from the sleep of death simply by hearing the word Jesus spoke. Little one, arise. 

 

They lived, as our Lord calls us to live, that is, in faith in him. Trusting that when life feels like we’re just hanging on by a thread, Jesus is not letting go. He’s right there with you, holding onto you. That’s what God’s gift of faith does. Faith looks not inward to our doubt and despair, but to Jesus’ faithfulness and promise. Faith clings not our strength, but to Christ crucified and risen for you. Even when it feels like our faith is holding on by a thread, Jesus is the one holding that thread. And his hold on you is far greater than your suffering, doubt, despair, or even death itself.

 

Both Jairus and the woman Jesus healed knew that Jesus, who was holding onto them, was far stronger, and was holding on to them for dear life. And he was holding on with a lot more than a simple thread. Jesus held them, as he still holds you, in the power of his life-giving word, his new creation bringing death and resurrection, his powerful, living and active word that heals a woman’s bleeding and raises a little girl from the dead. 

 

So it is for you. Jesus promises you healing—if not now, then when He returns. Jesus promises resurrection—as He raised Jairus’ daughter and as He Himself rose on Easter morning. Jesus promises that whenever you feel like you’re just hanging on like a thread, Jesus is at the other end holding you safe and secure in his pierced, risen, and glorified hands. 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.