Embodiment and Healing – Sixth Sunday After Pentecost (Mark 5: 21-43)

At our church visioning retreat back in early May of this year, we discussed how we envisioned our mission for the church going forward. Three words emerged as the primary actions of the mission we wanted this congregation to undertake in the world. Those three words were embody -as in we embody Christ; love – as in we share that love of Christ with the world; and celebrate – as in we celebrate God’s creation in all its diversity. Today, I invite us to reflect again, as we did at Pentecost, on the word embody. At Pentecost we celebrated the Holy Spirit breathing life into the church for the first time, making the church an embodiment of Christ and of the Holy Spirit here on Earth. To embody Christ in the world is fundamental to the identity of the wider church. That is why I think it was so appropriate to choose the word “embody” as part of this congregation’s mission. Not only is it appropriate, I also think there is wisdom in that decision. There is wisdom in taking the initiative and the time to name something so fundamental to the identity of a Christian church. After all, we follow the one who came to earth as the embodiment of God’s love for us.

However, I also think it is appropriate, and wise, to take time to reflect on different aspects of what it means to embody Christ, and to do it in our current, modern context. To ask ourselves, what does it mean to embody something in a world that seems to become more and more disembodied all the time. We have meetings via Zoom. We connect with old friends via social media. Also, social media and the internet allow us to make new friends and connections with people far away, people we may never see in “real life,” in person.

Or, we might ask ourselves, what does it mean to embody the fullness and the wholeness of what Christ represents to a world that seems so broken, and injured, that needs to be made whole. In scripture, we have examples of Jesus doing just that. Jesus heals the broken and the injured. He brings wholeness to places of fragmentation or, even, emptiness. But, how can we embody that type of healing? How would we go about embodying the more miraculous parts of Jesus’ life? The Gospel of Mark gives us a look at two examples of Jesus’ healing miracles. It also gives us examples of how we might embody Jesus the healer in a broken world, and these examples are not just in the person of Jesus. We can also look to the example of those who sought his help.

The first person Jesus comes across in this story is Jairus. Jairus is a leader of the synagogue, an important religious leader in his community. He comes to Jesus seeking healing for his daughter, who is sick and close to death. He is so desperate for help that he falls to his knees and begs Jesus for help. Jesus goes with Jairus to help his daughter, he is followed by a large crowd, and in that crowd is a woman in need of help. This woman has been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. Her bleeding has gone on for an unnatural long time, and in the eyes the community has led to rejection and fear because people see her as impure. She comes to Jesus for help as well, but instead of kneeling before him, she comes up behind him and touches the edge of his robe, and just by doing this, she has accessed some of Jesus’ power and she is healed. In the actions of these two characters, Jairus and the woman, we see the first thing that is needed to embody Christ the Healer. The first step to this embodiment is faith.

Faith is what led these two toward healing. Faith in Jesus is embodied by the woman bleeding, who reaches out to touch Jesus and grasp his robe. In doing this she causes Jesus to stop and look for the person who has touched him and drawn out some of his power. The disciples tried to explain it away and move on, because he should have been on his way to Jairus’ house, to heal the daughter of this important faith leader. Jesus, however, accepts the disruption. He looks for the person who has touched him so that he can make a point, teach an important lesson. He wants to let the crowd see that through him one can be healed by faith.

To heal this woman’s life that was disrupted by her bleeding. She was in pain and discomfort, and she was inconvenienced by this physical malady. That’s what wounds do, both physical and emotional, they disrupt us. They create a rupture in our wellbeing. Healing these disruptions is a process done for the purpose of bringing things back into working order, and doing so for the benefit of one’s wellbeing. Jesus often does this in an embodied way, by reaching out and touching people, giving of himself to give the sick access to healing. Responding to people’s faith and belief that healing can happen.

Then we have the example of Jairus. Jairus kneels before Jesus and pleads and prays for him to help his daughter. This is an act of faith by Jairus, however, his faith is shaken and tested when he receives news that his daughter has died. But, while others in the crowd are telling him that he should just accept that and leave Jesus alone now. Jesus’ reply is to say, “Do not fear, only believe.” And this belief is validated, when Christ revives Jairus’ daughter by putting his hands on the daughter and bringing her back. So, we have Jairus, the important man, kneeling before Christ, and we have the woman, who has been rejected by her community, makes her way into the crowd and touches the robes of this great man who has come to heal the daughter of a prominent religious leader. They are both embodying their faith in Jesus. The other option would have been to embody their fear, and act on that. Fear that their wounds could not be healed, whether because they were too severe, or because they were not worthy of help, or because they would run out of time. Instead, they act on their faith and their belief in who Jesus is and what he can do.

The way this story is structured in the gospel of Mark allows us to juxtapose the woman with the issue of blood being healed by her act of faith with, on the other hand, the attitude of the crowd who, collectively, do not believe that Jesus will be able to heal Jairus’ daughter because she is already dead. The implication being they do not yet have the same faith that the woman displays. Of course, as we see, Jesus is able to heal both of them. In fact, in the case of the woman with the issue of blood, she is healed without Jesus even being aware of it at first. He doesn’t realize something has happened until after he feels some of his power drain away. Jesus heals them both, the woman and the girl who had died, and he does it without having to choose between them, without deciding whose problem deserves his attention more. He has time for the woman and the girl. He heals them both, without having to worry that his healing powers had been drained by the first miracle and now he doesn’t have enough for the daughter.

So, if we seek to embody Jesus should we do as Jesus did and reach out and touch the people – the injured and the wounded? Can we do as Jesus did and heal people’s ruptured bodies by giving of ourselves. Is it even possible. These are important questions to ponder, because in the end, for those of us who are not Jesus, embodiment comes down to the choices we make.

As much as we would like to embody Jesus, as mortal human beings we do have our limitations. There are things we can do, and things we will be unable to do. We will eventually have to make choices, based on our capabilities or our physical limitations or our knowledge base. As humans we have to make choices. However, our faith in Christ can be embodied through the choices we make. We can be like the woman and choose to act out of a place of faith and hope, reaching out for help and healing despite the bleeding, the pain, the discomfort, the inconvenience. Or we can be like Jairus who chooses to humble himself out of love for his daughter despite the privilege he has. We too can choose at times to humble ourselves, accept the reality of our problems, our need for healing, and turn it over to the higher power of Christ, in whom we see the possibility of healing.

They also act out a faith that believes Jesus can be reached and touched, moved, even. A faith that believes Jesus can be influenced by prayer, by petition, by physical touch. It’s a faith that says the power of Jesus can be accessed and experienced, can heal us, simply by touching a piece of his garments. It is a faith that says that connection and relationship with Jesus can, and should be, embodied. So, to embody Christ might mean -even though we may not see ourselves as miracle workers- it might mean to bring healing through connection and relationship. Choosing community over isolation. Even if that means disrupting the status quo.

When I think about it in this way, it seems strange that I was called to serve as pastor to a church and then that church would find its way to the word ‘embody’ as a point of mission. I would say I am not naturally prone to embodiment. I’m not often physical, I’m not “touchy-feely,” a lot of my favorite activities, if you can call them that, involve sitting. To live out this call to embody Christ might require a disruption of my status quo. It might mean finding ways of doing things that are outside the norm, outside my comfort zone. It will take intentionality on my part. Just as it will take intentionality on your part.

However, look at the choices that have already been made. At that retreat I heard people saying they wanted to feel closer together during worship. So, here we are this morning, meeting in this more intimate space. At that retreat I heard people say that they missed the passing of the peace, a moment in worship to greet one another, perhaps even come into physical contact with someone through a hug or a handshake. So, we have incorporated that back into our worship. We have started sharing joys and concerns before the pastoral prayer, giving a moment for people to speak aloud the prayer requests, which allows the others in the room to connect more personally with the prayer. People at the retreat said that they missed communion by intinction, so this morning we will be sharing in communion in that way. Coming forward one by one, breaking of a piece of bread, and dipping it in the cup. This is also an embodied act of our relationship with Christ.

So, even before we settled on the word ‘embody’ as one of our mission values, it seems apparent looking back, that the desire for a more embodied faith was already present. While I won’t speculate or analyze what wound or disruption some may have been feeling, it seems that whatever that may have been, there was a knowing -a sense within the community- that the way to heal it was through connection and relationship. Through reaching out to touch even just a fraction, a garments’ edge, of Christ’s power. The power of his love that can be found in the embodied presence of those we come into contact with each day. So, as we seek to embody Christ, now and in the future, let us do so based on our faith -our faith that says that Jesus is a person, an entity, that we can know, that we can touch, that we can gain strength from, that we can move with our prayers, and if we can know Jesus in this way, we can do our best to embody Jesus in this world. So, I pray that when we have the opportunity, we make the choice to “not fear, only believe.”

Amen.

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