This is a sermon I wrote, but then didn't give. Two days before I was to give it, Jeff went into the hospital, and I ended up giving a pretty different sermon, which I didn't write down. So, like a DVD, here is a Sermon "deleted scene".
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Today’s Gospel is LOADED with good stuff. It’s one of those readings that people like me love to preach on, yet at the same time, its difficult because there is so much in it, that you have to be careful of sermon overload.
The theme that I decided upon, for the most part, is that of desperation. If you’ll turn to page ____ of your pew bibles and look at the story with me, you’ll see what I’m talking about here. We’re going to do a pretty un-Episcopalian thing here and go through the text a little at a time.
Verse 22 “Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.
This guy is desperate. Think of it for a second. This is a synagogue ruler. Jesus isn’t too popular with the synagogue leadership crowd. But Jairus has probably heard of some of the miracles that Jesus has done, and he knows that his daughter is very sick, so he desperately appeals to Jesus. And you can tell that his desperation is coming out of fear.
Desperation is a secondary emotion... it comes out of another emotion... In Jairus’ case, he is afraid for his daughter.
I kind of know what kind of desperation he is feeling.
About 6 years ago, we took the kids to Sea World in San Antonio. Patrick was about 5 or 6 years old. John and Josh about the age Patrick is now. We were standing in a big open area with a map, and we were trying to figure out where were going to go next, and then what to do after that. We decided that we were going to go over to the Pirate Ship, which was a big water play area for smaller kids, and right next to us and then go see the dolphin show or something. When we were putting the map away and about to start walking over, we realized that Patrick was gone. And I mean gone. Not started to walk off, and we had to catch up to him... Gone, like we couldn’t see him anywhere.
If you’ve ever been in this situation, you may know how we felt. We started to look around. Robyn stayed with Megan’s stroller and we had the boys start to walk around, but where they could see Robyn at all times. I started to walk around and call out Patrick’s name. Kind of low at first, trying to be calm... my mind was thinking of a thousand things... should we call the park? Have them close off the exits? Please God, don’t let him be gone. What was he wearing? I couldn’t remember. Am I going to be one of those parents on the news begging for someone to return my child? Please God, help me find him. DId he fall into some deep water somewhere? All kinds of crazy thoughts, and the more the thoughts came, the more urgent I became and the more I prayed.
Patrick! Patrick!
At this point, other people are starting to look at me and murmer.
All this time, someone up above me was squirting me with a water gun.
The pirate ship had these cannons up high and you could squirt the people walking by. We’d been by there a few times, and in the heat, it felt pretty good, mostly. RIght now, it did nothing but irritate me.
I kept calling out his name... PATRICK! PATRICK!!
A Sea World guy came up to me and asked if he could help me, I told them that I had lost my son, and you could tell this wasn’t the first half-hysterical parent he’d dealt with. He asked me what Patrick looked like and I sent him over to Robyn.
The whole time, still getting squirted.
I finally looked up, ready to do some unmentionable things to some little kid, and there was Patrick. Up on the pirate ship, squirting me with a cannon and laughing and laughing.
You ever see the TV shows or movies where something similiar to this happens and the parents go over and hug the kid, and cry and say things like “oh patrick, i found you i found you” and they’re all happy, and then all of a sudden grab the kids shoulders and say something like “DONT EVER DO THAT AGAIN!”.... well, we had pretty much the same kind of reunion. Patrick had heard us say we were going to the Pirate ship next, and it was right there, so he just took off.
That feeling we were feeling when we thought he was lost.... thats the kind of feeling I imagine Jairus was feeling. He fell at Jesus’ feet and pleaded.
So Jesus and Jairus and a whole crowd of people go off towards Jairus’ house, and in comes the woman with the bleeding problem. I kind of wish someone had gotten her name, just so we wouldn’t have to refer to her for the next 2000 years as “the woman with the bleeding problem” but thats who she is... verse 25 5And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
She had had this problem for 12 years. For 12 years she had been considered “unclean” - she couldn’t touch other people, couldn’t go into Synagogue, be with her husband... she was an outcast.
She had heard about Jesus from someone too. She’d heard that he could heal people too. She was also desperate. But in a different kind of way. Her desperation is a hopeful kind of desperation. She was not afraid to approach Jesus, she knew that if she could just touch his cloak, that she would be healed. So she moved in, moving through the crowd around Jesus, and reached out, touched his clothes, and was healed.
Her fear came after... when Jesus turned around and asked who touched him... in verse 33 it says Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
We go on to find out that Jairus’ daughter had died during this time, but Jesus restores her to life.
2 kinds of desperation here, one born in fear, one in hope.
There is a third kind that I’ve seen around here in the last few weeks. Henry David Thoreau has a famous quote: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.”
The last few weeks, as part of our Summer Outreach program with 24SEVEN, we’ve been delivering Meals for Meals on Wheels. So far, we’ve delivered more than 125 meals all over Denison. And I mean, ALL OVER. I know where some of you live... in a non-freaky stalkerish kind of way. And we’ve delivered meals to your neighbors. And I don’t mean people in your neighborhood... I mean your literal next-door neighbors. Did you know that the person next door to you might get the only meal they may eat that day delivered to them by volunteers?
We’ve taken routes late before... after we’ve finished the route we were scheduled for, we’ve come back to find out that someone couldn’t make it that day, so we show up maybe an hour or two later than they are used to. Nearly everyone we deliver to is grateful to us for bringing them food. But the ones we show up late to, instead of being grumpy that we are late, are always EXTRA grateful that we’ve shown up. Some of them have told us, that they didn’t know what they were going to do if we hadn’t come.
Thats a humbling experience.
Every time we get back, we are offered a meal... the same one that we’ve delivered that day. Every time, I’ve turned it down. Every time, I have eaten something “better” that day. I was thinking the other day... It would be cool if we could get 10 or 12 volunteer drivers form St. Luke s and one day this summer, we do ALL the routes for MoW that day. Don’t eat breakfast that morning, but come up at 10:30 and deliver out meals. Then, afterwards, we all sit down at the Sr. Citizen Center, and eat the meal that they offer us, and just contemplate... what if that was ALL we ate that day?
There are many kinds of desperation.... What kind are you living with? Are you living with fear? With hope? The quiet desperation of the masses... Looking for the next thing, wondering if you’ll keep up with the Joneses, or make you car payment or wishing you had a new, bigger flat panel TV?
Desperation isn’t a bad thing, necessarily. The more meals I deliver, the more people we meet and see living right around us that need help, the more desperate I become to do what I can. Sometimes, Jesus heals directly. Just like he did to Jairus and the Woman With The Bleeding Problem. Sometimes, he sends someone. Like he does daily by sending out sometimes unwitting volunteers to bring his children food and a smile.
May you become desperate for the things that Christ is desperate for.
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Today’s Gospel is LOADED with good stuff. It’s one of those readings that people like me love to preach on, yet at the same time, its difficult because there is so much in it, that you have to be careful of sermon overload.
The theme that I decided upon, for the most part, is that of desperation. If you’ll turn to page ____ of your pew bibles and look at the story with me, you’ll see what I’m talking about here. We’re going to do a pretty un-Episcopalian thing here and go through the text a little at a time.
Verse 22 “Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.
This guy is desperate. Think of it for a second. This is a synagogue ruler. Jesus isn’t too popular with the synagogue leadership crowd. But Jairus has probably heard of some of the miracles that Jesus has done, and he knows that his daughter is very sick, so he desperately appeals to Jesus. And you can tell that his desperation is coming out of fear.
Desperation is a secondary emotion... it comes out of another emotion... In Jairus’ case, he is afraid for his daughter.
I kind of know what kind of desperation he is feeling.
About 6 years ago, we took the kids to Sea World in San Antonio. Patrick was about 5 or 6 years old. John and Josh about the age Patrick is now. We were standing in a big open area with a map, and we were trying to figure out where were going to go next, and then what to do after that. We decided that we were going to go over to the Pirate Ship, which was a big water play area for smaller kids, and right next to us and then go see the dolphin show or something. When we were putting the map away and about to start walking over, we realized that Patrick was gone. And I mean gone. Not started to walk off, and we had to catch up to him... Gone, like we couldn’t see him anywhere.
If you’ve ever been in this situation, you may know how we felt. We started to look around. Robyn stayed with Megan’s stroller and we had the boys start to walk around, but where they could see Robyn at all times. I started to walk around and call out Patrick’s name. Kind of low at first, trying to be calm... my mind was thinking of a thousand things... should we call the park? Have them close off the exits? Please God, don’t let him be gone. What was he wearing? I couldn’t remember. Am I going to be one of those parents on the news begging for someone to return my child? Please God, help me find him. DId he fall into some deep water somewhere? All kinds of crazy thoughts, and the more the thoughts came, the more urgent I became and the more I prayed.
Patrick! Patrick!
At this point, other people are starting to look at me and murmer.
All this time, someone up above me was squirting me with a water gun.
The pirate ship had these cannons up high and you could squirt the people walking by. We’d been by there a few times, and in the heat, it felt pretty good, mostly. RIght now, it did nothing but irritate me.
I kept calling out his name... PATRICK! PATRICK!!
A Sea World guy came up to me and asked if he could help me, I told them that I had lost my son, and you could tell this wasn’t the first half-hysterical parent he’d dealt with. He asked me what Patrick looked like and I sent him over to Robyn.
The whole time, still getting squirted.
I finally looked up, ready to do some unmentionable things to some little kid, and there was Patrick. Up on the pirate ship, squirting me with a cannon and laughing and laughing.
You ever see the TV shows or movies where something similiar to this happens and the parents go over and hug the kid, and cry and say things like “oh patrick, i found you i found you” and they’re all happy, and then all of a sudden grab the kids shoulders and say something like “DONT EVER DO THAT AGAIN!”.... well, we had pretty much the same kind of reunion. Patrick had heard us say we were going to the Pirate ship next, and it was right there, so he just took off.
That feeling we were feeling when we thought he was lost.... thats the kind of feeling I imagine Jairus was feeling. He fell at Jesus’ feet and pleaded.
So Jesus and Jairus and a whole crowd of people go off towards Jairus’ house, and in comes the woman with the bleeding problem. I kind of wish someone had gotten her name, just so we wouldn’t have to refer to her for the next 2000 years as “the woman with the bleeding problem” but thats who she is... verse 25 5And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
She had had this problem for 12 years. For 12 years she had been considered “unclean” - she couldn’t touch other people, couldn’t go into Synagogue, be with her husband... she was an outcast.
She had heard about Jesus from someone too. She’d heard that he could heal people too. She was also desperate. But in a different kind of way. Her desperation is a hopeful kind of desperation. She was not afraid to approach Jesus, she knew that if she could just touch his cloak, that she would be healed. So she moved in, moving through the crowd around Jesus, and reached out, touched his clothes, and was healed.
Her fear came after... when Jesus turned around and asked who touched him... in verse 33 it says Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
We go on to find out that Jairus’ daughter had died during this time, but Jesus restores her to life.
2 kinds of desperation here, one born in fear, one in hope.
There is a third kind that I’ve seen around here in the last few weeks. Henry David Thoreau has a famous quote: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.”
The last few weeks, as part of our Summer Outreach program with 24SEVEN, we’ve been delivering Meals for Meals on Wheels. So far, we’ve delivered more than 125 meals all over Denison. And I mean, ALL OVER. I know where some of you live... in a non-freaky stalkerish kind of way. And we’ve delivered meals to your neighbors. And I don’t mean people in your neighborhood... I mean your literal next-door neighbors. Did you know that the person next door to you might get the only meal they may eat that day delivered to them by volunteers?
We’ve taken routes late before... after we’ve finished the route we were scheduled for, we’ve come back to find out that someone couldn’t make it that day, so we show up maybe an hour or two later than they are used to. Nearly everyone we deliver to is grateful to us for bringing them food. But the ones we show up late to, instead of being grumpy that we are late, are always EXTRA grateful that we’ve shown up. Some of them have told us, that they didn’t know what they were going to do if we hadn’t come.
Thats a humbling experience.
Every time we get back, we are offered a meal... the same one that we’ve delivered that day. Every time, I’ve turned it down. Every time, I have eaten something “better” that day. I was thinking the other day... It would be cool if we could get 10 or 12 volunteer drivers form St. Luke s and one day this summer, we do ALL the routes for MoW that day. Don’t eat breakfast that morning, but come up at 10:30 and deliver out meals. Then, afterwards, we all sit down at the Sr. Citizen Center, and eat the meal that they offer us, and just contemplate... what if that was ALL we ate that day?
There are many kinds of desperation.... What kind are you living with? Are you living with fear? With hope? The quiet desperation of the masses... Looking for the next thing, wondering if you’ll keep up with the Joneses, or make you car payment or wishing you had a new, bigger flat panel TV?
Desperation isn’t a bad thing, necessarily. The more meals I deliver, the more people we meet and see living right around us that need help, the more desperate I become to do what I can. Sometimes, Jesus heals directly. Just like he did to Jairus and the Woman With The Bleeding Problem. Sometimes, he sends someone. Like he does daily by sending out sometimes unwitting volunteers to bring his children food and a smile.
May you become desperate for the things that Christ is desperate for.
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