THE HOLY EUCHARIST - 10:00 a.m.
Sunday, June 27, 2021 – Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Opening Hymn SS #9 – “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”
The Proclamation of the Word - The Readings
The First Lesson
A reading from Lamentations (Lamentations 3: 22-33)
The Steadfast Love of the Lord
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.
For the Lord will not reject for ever. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The Epistle
A reading from 2 Corinthians (2 Corinthians 8: 7-15)
Encouragement to Be Generous
Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.
I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something—now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have. I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written,
‘The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.’
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Gradual Hymn SS #36 – “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
The Gospel
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark (Mark 5: 21-43) Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So Jesus went with him.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’
Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?”’ Jesus looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’
While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.
When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
The Gospel of Christ. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon: “Touchy Business”
(Archdeacon Michael Stonhouse)
Let me say at the outset that the whole matter of touch has become, to use a very bad pun, very ‘touchy business’. Amidst the pandemic crisis we are encouraged not to touch other people, much less hug them or shake their hands. And while I find this entirely understandable, I still I find it to be very troublesome and problematic when it comes to many of those who are hospitalized or in nursing homes. I sense that touch would be very welcomed by them.
In fact, in the area of childcare, especially with infants, touch has been proved to be essential to their health and well-being. It has been asserted that some infants have actually died or been severely stunted emotionally from its lack. We know that touch promotes healing and conveys a sense of belonging and acceptance. Maybe these are some of the reasons why we have missed it so much.
However, in a difference sense, in the area of interpersonal relations, people have found themselves in very ‘deep water’ for unwanted touching, even touch that seemed quite innocuous and innocent. I get the sense that our current expectations, our protocols, concerning touch are in a state of flux and change, and not just because of covid. Our society is in the process of hammering out just what the do’s and don’ts will look like. Probably like most people, I’m not sure just where this will end of up.
The Palestine of Jesus’ day also had its own do’s and don’ts concerning touch. Proper, conscientious, religiously scrupulous Jews weren’t supposed to have physical contact with foreigners or anyone from certain occupations—ones such as soldiers, shepherds, butchers or tanners. And of course, people like tax collectors and prostitutes were verboten. But even more forbidden were corpses, people on the verge of death or severely injured, people with bodily discharges or people with conspicuous diseases. Well, with today’s passage from Mark, we see several individuals quite consciously and deliberately flouting these prohibitions.
The woman with the continuing hemorrhaging should not have been out in public and certainly not mingling in a crowd. And certainly, she should not have been deliberating touching someone, especially a distinguished rabbi, for her touch would have rendered him ceremonially unclean and unable to take part in public worship.
However, this woman was at her wit’s end. She was desperate; she had tried everything else. She had used up all her money on doctors and medical treatments and was none the better for it. Jesus was her last resort.
She had suffered in so many ways in the twelve years that she had endured this nasty malady. She had been so embarrassed by her rather limiting condition and the predicament it put her in. She had suffered shame and rejection and isolation from the hands of her family and the general public. And, as I have already said, she had suffered the indignity and foolishness of doctors and their quackery and inept and useless cures.
But she did have faith in Jesus. She had heard about Him and was convinced that He could do something that no one else could. But she was too humble, too shamed or perhaps too afraid, to come to Him, to approach Him, face to face. And too timid, to ask Him outright. She didn’t figure that she had any claim to His time or attention and didn’t want to put Him out. So she said to herself, ‘if only I can touch the fringe of His garment.’ She figured that that would be enough to bring about her healing.
And Jairus, the leader of the synagogue in Capernaum, was likewise desperate. In his case, too, Jesus would be his last resort. His twelve year old, the apple of his eye, was at the point of death, and so he begged Jesus to come and lay His hands upon her.
But just think what this cost him? The leaders of synagogues and Jewish leaders in general weren’t at all enamoured with Jesus. In fact, they were counted as some of His most serious foes. We don’t know about the synagogue in Capernaum but the one in Nazareth just shortly afterwards kicked Jesus out and tried to kill him. So Jairus was going against the flow, bucking public opinion. He discarded any prejudices he had and forgot his pride and his dignity and took the initiative to come to Jesus in person. The bottom line was that he too believed in Jesus, had faith in Him, and believed that He could do what everyone else had written off as impossible. (We see just a small indication of how hopeless the situation seemed to everyone else by the fact that the paid mourners were already there at the house, and waiting, and already busy with their wailing etc. by the time that Jesus and Jairus returned. Clearly, none of them thought that there was even a vestige of hope.)
Here, then, we see something quite incredible, quite special, about Jesus. We see someone who ignores, or dispenses with, the social rules or restrictions, the social niceties of His day. He simply goes where the need is and meets it, regardless of what anyone or any rule might say. He counts the individual as precious and valued, no matter who they might be. He treats people, like women, like the sick and the dying, as worthy of His attention. He is willing to be touched by their infirmities and their condition. And, furthermore, in His earthly life, in His incarnation (His becoming flesh, becoming one of us), He was willing to take on our existence and experience it for Himself. Such is the ‘generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ’ that Paul alludes to in his letter to the Corinthians. Lamentations says that ‘the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end’. Or put another way, ‘His compassion never fails.’
And the extra wonderful thing, the marvellous thing, is that this steadfast love, these mercies, this compassion, continues on to this very day. We too are precious to Him, valued by Him. And so, as He was for the woman, and for Jairus, He is ready and waiting, ready and waiting for us to come to Him with our needs and our problems. We may not receive healing or new life in quite the way that they did, as Jesus knows what is best for us. So, if we come to Him and trust Him with our lives, He will respond and will help us in ways that we scarcely even believed to be possible. So, let us, you and I, do even as Jairus, even as this woman did, and that is to entrust Him with problems and with our lives. Amen.
Offertory Hymn - “He Touched Me”
Closing Hymn SS #97 – “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”