The experience is worse than any walk of shame one sees for people being voted off the program in any television reality show. A woman who is in her upper middle ages had been working in her mid-level management office job for twelve years. She had done all of the right things. She had both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in her field. Her colleagues enjoyed her, as did the people who worked in her department whom she supervised. She kept a cordial relationship with upper management. She wore company clothing with the corporate logo on her polo shirt. Her life was fully on schedule as two of her children were currently in college. What could go wrong?
One sunny Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. two armed uniformed security guards from the company headquarters entered her office. They presented her with a pink slip indicating that her position had been immediately terminated. They had an empty brown box in which she was ordered to place all of the personal belongings in her desk. One guard made sure nothing was taken that was company property (like a stapler or three-hole paper punch). As she was emptying the contents of her desk, the other security guard asked for her company ID badge. He logged onto her computer and deleted all files as he put in new passwords and username codes. The woman was still stunned! She was being “ambushed!” Could things get any worse? Yes, they could!
The two security guards ushered her down the aisles of workers whom she supervised and the colleagues whom she had known for twelve years both on the job and socially in family events. She carried the brown box out toward the parking lot, past the employee cafeteria with the guards closely following her. As she fought back tears, she was taking a final walk of shame to make a corporate power point to the other employees who had not been terminated yet. The office was so quiet one could hear a pin drop on the carpet floor. As she turned on the ignition of her car, she was directed to the parking lot exit. Upon leaving the premises, the parking lot gates were immediately closed and electronically locked. Was this the end of this humiliation? No!
That evening at the local restaurant where everybody hung out after work, the people whom all witnessed her embarrassing exit from the company premises, were as polite as they needed to be to her. But nobody wanted to be seen on camera sitting next to her or socializing with her. Being fired from the job carries a twofold of unwritten assumptions. First, that she did something wrong and the company had good reason to terminate her. Second, if anybody else is seen associating with her, they too could see their job on the “chopping block.” This woman who was terminated after twelve years of faithful service could well empathize with the woman who had the blood hemorrhages, and was also a social outcast.
In Mark’s gospel, it is the marginalized and unnamed outsiders who really understand who Jesus really is as the “Son of God” Mark 15:39 (RSV), The Centurion. The gospel lesson begins with illness of a twelve- year-old girl, who was the daughter of a synagogue leader named Jairus. This is one of the few times in Mark’s gospel where a powerful person in the religious establishment had faith in Jesus’ power to heal. This was good news for those who do hold varying positions of status and power in the community, from middle to upper class occupation. Jairus was still an “outsider” by Mark’s standards. He was not one of Jesus’ discipleship who had heard his teachings, witnessed his miracles, and was present at the casting out of demons. Jairus was certainly not one of the inner circles of disciples such as Peter, James, and John. Yet, he still had faith in Jesus’ power. We never hear of him again in this gospel, although Matthew 9 and Luke 8 mention him.
Before Jesus arrived at Jairus’ house, a named woman in the crowds who were following Jesus, touched Jesus’ cloak. Scholars have written about this phenomenon for ages. There are those who identify other great Greek teachers and healers of the time who could heal people. There is the thought that a person’s clothes as an extension of who they are as people. It would be like my wearing a t-shirt from my home high school as an alumnus, and somebody grabbing onto it. They have made physical contact of where I came from and who I am as the alumni of a given high school. Touching a person’s garments could be viewed as a way of healing. In a modern politically correct atmosphere, the woman might be asked to attend a “boundaries workshop.” The touch to Jesus is still worth the risk even for ten boundaries workshops!
The text reports that the other healing professionals of this woman’s day were unsuccessful in healing her from the bleeding ailment. One commentator I read indicated that the physicians of her day had exhausted all of her financial resources and she was still not well. Her medical benefits had been exhausted for those twelve years. She probably got medical bills for the unpaid co-payments she owed to the medical establishment. She was still ill, and if she read Deuteronomy 15:1-6, she could file for bankruptcy once every seven years. Nobody wanted to be seen around a person like this. They are viewed as a loser, leech, and lackey of the society. She could identify with the woman in the opening illustration who was ambushed on late Friday afternoon by her employer.
She did touch Jesus’ robe. The text says she was healed “immediately.” Mark’s gospel used this Greek word of euthos 42 times. Mark was writing to a small town, rural, working population. They did not have time on their side in terms of daily chores and errands. People in Mark’s community must work quickly to get their chores done before nightfall. There is no time for chit chat or visiting. There is no time for a long Sermon on the Mount like in Matthew 5. There is no time for a “bread of life” discourse like in John 6. The woman was healed immediately. Jesus acknowledged, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease” Mark 5:34 (RSV).
Two observations here: Jesus addressed her as “daughter.” She was not his child out of another relationship. Rather, we see a glimpse what Mark 1:1 meant when the gospel writer said, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” Mark 1:1 (RSV). This Son of God was a healer so others may have new life. Her social outcast stigma was immediately removed. She could get on with her life. No, she was not present to see Jesus calm the stormy sea, or cast out demons. Nor did she hear any sermons Jesus gave to the disciples. She was an outsider who had simple faith in Jesus as Son of God. Life went on for her after twelve trying years. What a sigh of relief! Jesus wished her “peace.” The Greek word earaynee, indicated her life was in harmony, and was in good order.
Mark liked to place a story within a story as a literary tool to make theological points. The narrative of Jairus’ daughter continued as the synagogue leader received news that his daughter was dead. The mourners in the community were already in the house weeping and wailing. Jesus indicated that the child was not dead, but asleep. Jesus used the Aramaic words for “daughter get up!” She immediately (use of that euthos word again) got up and walked. All were overcome with amazement.
New life for this girl was similar to that of Lazarus in John 11. In John’s gospel for Jesus to have such a power over life and death was viewed as a threat to the Judean authorities. In Mark, people were amazed. The girl was given a meal to eat and Jesus ordered strict secrecy of this miracle. We already see a glimpse of resurrection teachings here in Mark’s gospel. Scholars have often pointed to the abrupt ending in Mark 16:8, where the women are simply frightened but nobody has yet seen the risen Christ. This text and the passion prediction in Mark 9:31 (RSV) (“The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise”) are signs that the gospel writer did intend to show the reader that Jesus’ resurrection from the grave was real. Those, whose faith is in this Jesus, will also have a new life like his. This is more good news of the text.
Why the secrecy? This is called the “messianic secret” that is unique to Mark’s gospel. There have been volumes written on this and we will not resolve the scholarly issues this day. I happen to believe that Jesus did not want people to identify him as Messiah or Son of God until he died on the cross for the sins of humanity and rose from the grave three days later. In Mark, Jesus became the Messianic Son of God when he died on the cross. He was not to be mistaken as an itinerant healing, feeding exorcist service. To be part of the kingdom of God in Mark was to simply have faith in Jesus and trust God for new life.
Where is the kingdom of God in Mark’s gospel? It can be among the religious establishment people of the time such as Jairus, his household, and the community who supported him. The kingdom was also among the outsiders such as the nameless woman who was healed simply, for having faith in Jesus’ power from God. Jairus’ daughter could grow up, get married, and have a family of her own. Nobody told them they had to quit the synagogue. New life goes on!
The woman in the opening story found a small community of faith who connected her with a self-employment opportunity in which she still flourishes to this very day. She found new life. Again, new life went on for her as well. The good news of Jesus’ healings today is that that the kingdom was simply not being released from the hospital or physicians care then going home to live like a coach potato for a month or so. The kingdom of God is where people are healed and find new life as a witness to whom this crucified and risen Messiah is in our lives. This is also the spirit of the Pentecost season when the church does its ministry. An example might be that a pastor visited a homebound church member who was recuperating from surgery in a nursing home. The person did not want to lie on the bed all day. They got a box of greeting cards and wrote them to people in their family and community. This is indeed ministry! I don’t know about you, but isn’t it great when we can get something besides “junk and bills” in the mail?
Amen.
1. Adela Yarbro Collins, Hermeneia: Mark: A Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007).
2. Morna Hooker, Black’s New Testament Commentaries: The Gospel of St. Mark, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1991).
3. Juel, Donald, Interpreting Biblical Texts: The Gospel of Mark, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1999).
4. Barclay Newman, Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament (New York: United Bible Societies, 1971).