Two centuries ago there lived a very famous German-Jewish philosopher named Moses Mendelson. He was brilliant and he was compassionate, everybody respected him- but he had one flaw he was small and hunchbacked.
The story goes that he fell in love with a beautiful and charming young woman, called Gretchen. Gretchen's father was a banker, several months after meeting Gretchen Mendelson visited her father to ask, very cautiously, how his daughter might feel about the possibility of marriage, for he had come to love her very much…

Today's gospel lesson shows us an interesting style of story-telling that is typical of Mark's Gospel. He "sandwiches" the stories that we hear, of the daughter of Jairus and the hemorrhaging woman. The passage begins by introducing the characters of the Jairus story and telling us that despite his power and prestige as the leader of the synagogue, Jairus felt powerless to help his ailing daughter who was twelve years old. Then the story takes a turn..... Jesus, and the story of Jairus' daughter, is interrupted by the needs of the day. A woman who had suffered from chronic illness for twelve years reaches out to Jesus for healing. Then the story concludes with the restoring of the young girl to health. This "sandwich" of telling these two narratives in Jesus' life speaks to us on so many levels......

Firstly that act of interrupting his planned visit to the sick girl to heal the hemorrhaging woman is truly a reflection of God's awesome love. It's one of those times when we see, really clearly, how Jesus can get past all of the peripheral nonsense. Jesus can direct his attention to what is REALLY important. He sees things in their entire context. This woman was completely rejected by her community because of her illness. Her twelve years of suffering had left her poor and shunned by everyone around her. Remember that in that day and time a woman was only as good as the husband she married and the children she bore. So who would ever marry this woman who could not bear children?

Furthermore, but she was religiously unclean, as outcast as a leper. For 12 years -- a long time on the biological clock -- for 12 years she had been going to one quack after another who was happy enough to take her money and leave her broke, and always, always, bleeding. This poor woman didn't have the option of an alternative career path, she was most likely uneducated, and every day she faced the harsh reality of her hopelessness when she woke up and had to change her dressings. She was considered "unclean" remember so she could not prepare food for others, ...she could not touch anyone or be touched by anyone, CAN YOU IMAGINE HAVING NO HUMAN TOUCH YOU FOR TWELVE YEARS? Not even to hold your hand, or put a hand on your shoulder.... ...She could not set foot in the synagogue, ...she was an utter outcast, but Jesus knew that she was desperate, knew that she needed him, knew that she had outstanding hope in him. Jesus sensed that someone had touched his cloak and had been changed.Not only did he seek her out, but also he said to her "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease".

There is a story of Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian author, who was walking down the street one day and came upon a man begging for coins. Tolstoy reached into his pocket, but found that he had no money at all. So he turned to the man and said, "I'm sorry my brother, but I have nothing to give". The man brightened and said, "You have given me more than I asked for - you have called me brother". This story is the only account in the New Testament of Jesus calling anyone "daughter". That's how powerful this moment was in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. That is how gracious Jesus is to this outcast. This story speaks to us tells us of God's amazing grace, and the power of God's love, and it tells us that these things can happen in, can be found in the interruptions of life. It tells us that we need to pay attention to what God IS doing in our lives, now at this present moment, while we are waiting to see what God WILL do in our lives.

And what about the faith of this woman??

After all those years of loneliness and despair, her physical body weak with illness and wear..... She still had enough faith to reach out to Jesus. She still had hope. And so did Jairus, the leader of the synagogue....... In this passage his power as the leader of the synagogue is stripped away. Jairus was a daddy. A daddy of a little girl who adored him, who crawled up on his lap, a little girl who sang songs to him, wanted nothing more than to play with him. Now she's grown to be fully 12 years old, not far from marrying age, not far from the age when she can have little boys of her own to delight grandpa Jairus. And now, on the verge of womanhood, she's dying. What daddy, what parent, what person who has ever lost a love, for that matter, who in this world can, read the story without sympathizing with him? He has undoubtedly attempted to do everything he could to help in his daughter's struggle for life, and still she is gravely ill. Even his friends tell him not to bother Jesus because there is nothing else that can be done. But he is not hopeless.... He reaches out to Jesus too. And the same can be true for us - when life's greatest heartaches come our way, we don't have to lose hope. Because we have been touched by the miraculous love of Jesus Christ, we can reach out and enter into the warm embrace of that love.

So that is an important message for us: God's healing love is offered to us, and as people of faith, it falls to US to reach out and receive it. Can you picture that? - God reaching out to us, and all of us, in faith, reaching back...... God's generous love can heal the dead places in our lives. Those may be old grudges, regrets of opportunities not taken, long held grief that has never been named or allowed room to be healed and replaced by acceptance and hope. ..... All of us have old wounds. The real value in this gospel lesson is that we know those wounds can be healed. And because we are in the season of Pentecost, we know that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our guide and our strength as we seek out that spiritual healing for ourselves, and THEN carry out his ministry in the world.

Each of us is called to do both. We are called to reach out to the God who loves us and receive the healing that our souls need, and we are called to carry that healing love into the world. And that means that OUR FAITH has the healing power of God's love in it. And you never know when someone might be touched by God's love working in and through you......

Mendelson insisted that Gretchen's father tell him the truth, will she think of marrying me, he asked. The truth is the father said, she is frightened of you, because, because, you're a hunchback.

Mendelson asked if he could see Gretchen anyway, and they talked, although Gretchen would not look at him directly, and slowly Mendelson brought the subject round to marriage, he asked, do you believe in the saying "marriages are made in heaven" yes she said, then I will tell you of a dream I had he said, I dreamt that when I was born the angels announced to the whole of heaven who my wife would be, and everyone cheered, but then the angels paused and added, but alas, Mendelson's wife will have a terrible hump upon her back, then I cried out no lord no, a girl who is hunched back will very easily become bitter and hard, and the object of terrible jokes and hurts, please lord, let me have the hump, let her be well formed.

The story goes that Gretchen was deeply moved, and became a loving and faithful wife to Mendelson.

Jesus takes on Himself the hurts of the world, takes away the sin of the world, and offers us healing and hope. As we reach out to touch the hem of his garment this morning let us open our eyes wide to Him in whom there is no darkness, to touch and heal us, and those we love, and thank God for his goodness.

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