6 Pentecost

 

Baptism of James WilliamStalboerger

June 30, 2024

Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Mark 5.21-43

+ I once had a Homileticsclass in which the students were told not to make the pulpit into aconfessional.

Meaning, don’tget up and tell people all your faults and failings.

I have failedmiserably at that over the years.

I often bring upmy vices, because it’s important for all of us to know that we’re in this thingcalled life together.

None of us areperfect, not even those of who are called and ordained.

Even we ordained peoplehave vices.

Well, exceptmaybe for Deacon Suzanne.

One of my biggestvices is. . . .wait for it.  . . . impatience.

I know. You’reall surprised by that one aren’t you?

Well, I admit it.

There are timeswhen I want certain things—and I want them NOW.

Not tomorrow.

Not in some vaguefuture.

NOW!

But for me I havenever liked waiting.

Waiting is one ofthe worst things I can imagine.

For me, if therewas a hell and I was sent there, it would be a place in which I would donothing else but wait. Forever.  For alleternity.

Hell for me woulda waiting room in which one waits and waits and waits.

And while I wait,my anxiety grows. And my anger grows. Andthere’s nothing I can do about nay ofit. See…..hell.

Still, impatientas I am, ultimately I know that waiting and being patient is a good thing sometimes.

The fact is, wecan’t rush these things.

Things happen intheir due course.

Not OUR course.

Not MY course!

But the propercourse.

God works inGod’s own time.

And this isprobably the most difficult thing for us. 

It certainly isfor me.

Impatience is actuallypresent in our Gospel reading for today, but in a more subtle way.

Our reading fromthe Gospel today also teaches us an important reflection on our own impatienceand waiting.

We have twothings going on.

We have Jairus,the leader of the synagogue, who has lost his daughter, even though he doesn’tknow it yet.

While Jairus ispleading with Jesus to heal his daughter, we encounter this unnamed woman whohas been suffering with a hemorrhage for twelve years—twelve years!—isdesperate.

She wantshealing.

I can tell you inall honesty that as I read and reflected and lived with this Gospel readingthis past week,  I could relate.  

I can relate toJairus, who is being touched with the darkness of death in his life.

And when I readof the woman with a hemorrhage grasping at the hem of Jesus’ garment, I couldcertainly empathize with her impatience and her grasping.

Many of us haveknown the anguish of Jairus.

We have known theanguish and pain of watching someone we love fade away and die.

And many of usknow the pain of that woman.

We often findourselves bleeding deeply inside with no possible hope for relief.

And can youimagine how long she must’ve lived with this?

For us, as werelate, that “bleeding” might not be an actual bleeding, but a bleeding of ourspirit, of our hopes and dreams, of a deep emotional or spiritual wound thatjust won’t heal, or just our grief and sadness, which, let me tell you, canalso “bleed” away at us.  

And when we’vebeen desperate, when we find ourselves so impatient, so in need of a change, wefind ourselves clutching at anything—at any little thing.

We clutch evenfor a fringe of the prayer shawl of the One whom God sends to us in those darkmoments.

When we do, wefind, strangely, God’s healing.

And in this storyof Jarius’ daughter, I too felt that moment in which I felt separated from theloved ones in my life—by death, yes, of course.

But also when Ifelt that a distance was caused by estrangement or anger.

And when I havebegged for healing for them and for myself, it has often come.

But it has comein God’s own time.

Not in mine.

It is a matter ofsimply,  sometimes waiting.

For Jairus, hedidn’t have to wait long.

For the woman, ittook twelve years.

But in bothcases, it did come.

Still, I admit, Icontinue to be impatient.

But, resurrectioncomes in many forms in our lives and if we wait them out these moments willhappen.

And not allimpatience is bad.

It is all rightto be impatient—righteously impatient—for justice, for the right thing to bedone.

It is all rightto be impatient for injustice and lying and deceit to be brought to light andbe revealed.

And dealt with.

It is all rightto be impatient for the right thing to be done in this world.

But we cannot letour impatience get in the way of seeing that miracles continue to happen in our lives and in the lives of thosearound us.

I know, because Ihave seen it again and again and, not only in my own life, but in the lives ofothers.

We know that inGod, we find our greatest consolation.

Our God ofjustice and compassion and love will provide and will win out ultimately overthe forces of darkness that seem, at times, to prevail in our lives.  

Knowing that,reminding ourselves of all that we are able to be strengthened and sustainedand rejuvenated.

We are able toface whatever life may throw at us with hope and, sometimes, even joy.

We are not in thatweird, made-up hell I have imagined for myself.

At some point,the doors of what seems like that eternal waiting room will be opened.

And we will becalled forward.

And all will bewell.

That is whatscripture and our faith in God tell us again and again.

That is how Godworks in this world and in our lives.

In our impatience,we sometimes see glimpses of God’s goodness and love.

We certainly seeit today in sweet James as he is washed in the waters of baptism.

We see it in the amazinglife he is about to enter into.

We see it in thejoy we feel as we celebrate his new birth.

So, let us clingto this hope and find true strength in it.

True strength toget us through those impatient moments in our lives when we want darkness anddeath and injustice and pain behind us.  

Let us be trulypatient for our God.  

Because, if wedo, those words of Jesus to the woman today will be words directed to us aswell:

“your faith has made you well;

go in peace;

be healed.”