The Rev. Margaret Watson
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School
Deuteronomy 15:7-11 | Psalm 112 | Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-15 | Mark 4:35-41, 5:1-20
Talk about being scared! I was standing in our living room the other day looking at our books. We have a lot of books. I thought I was all alone in the house and suddenly right behind me I heard, “Whatcha looking for?” You can imagine what I did. Ahhh!! I slung the water in my glass everywhere and my heart was racing and I was short of breath. It was my husband, but I was really startled. I am sure each of you has been in that position at least once.
The girl Jesus called back from death, imagine how this poor girl felt. There she was just slumbering, quiet and perhaps beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel of death. That good place, that heavenly place we have been promised. When suddenly in the midst of her comfortable darkness, “Little girl, get up!” Her heart must have been racing as she gasped for breath. I was just in my living room and I was scared, so imagine how scared she must have been.
And did you get that. The girl was raised from the dead and Jesus says, “Give her something to eat.” Do you really think she felt like eating anything? Why did Jesus tell them to give her something to eat? To prove she was alive. Dead people don’t eat. That one was easy.
Okay, so why did Jesus call her back from the other side of death if the other side is where our reward is? That question is more difficult. Let’s back up from this text and look at the Gospel of Mark as a whole. This Gospel, like all the others, has a definite structure. The structure, broadly, goes: Who is Jesus and how do we know that? What happened? And what should we do? The story we heard today about the dead girl brought back to life comes from the first part of Mark’s Gospel, the part that demonstrates who Jesus is and how we know that. In this part Jesus heals the sick, makes the blind see, the deaf hear, and makes the lame walk. Last week we heard how Jesus calms a deadly storm. The last few words of this story are from the disciples. “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey?” This week Jesus raises a girl from the dead. Who is this that even death obeys?
The people on the streets knew. They knew the ancient words of the prophet Isaiah. He said: Look your God is coming. Do not be afraid. The eyes of the blind are open. The ears of the deaf unsealed. The lame leap like deer and the tongues of those who cannot speak will sing for joy. Water gushes in the desert. The scorched earth becomes a lake and through the desert will run a road called the sacred way. No lions will be there, but the redeemed will walk there. Sounds like heaven doesn’t it?
So Mark’s answer to the question, who is this man, is, look can’t you see, he is the coming one. The blind do see, the deaf hear and the dead are redeemed and brought back from death. That is who He is and we know it because the prophets told us and scripture is perfected, completed, fulfilled. Wow, the wonder of it.
But, you know what happens to me at this point. Yes, I get lost in the glory of it all, but I keep asking more questions. What happened to the little girl? Where is she now? I know one thing for certain. She must have died again. We would know about if she were still alive. The headlines, 2000 year old woman celebrates another birthday. NOT! She must have died. Again.
Hey God! What kind of cruel joke is this that someone would have to die twice. Once would be enough for any of us. Why would God do that? This is a story about who Jesus IS. About who God IS. Because this is a story about life and death, the little girl’s death which opens Mark’s gospel, must be compared to the death that completes Mark’s Gospel. Jesus’ death. This little girl was called back from death, but the death of Jesus end differently. He conquers death. He goes right through death and comes out on the other side. So these deaths are like book-ends, holding the whole Gospel together, comparing coming back from death to Jesus’ going through death so that we may know what real life after death looks like. What does life after death look like? We know because of the little girl. We know because of our life after sharing the death with Jesus in baptism. We know because Jesus calls us like he called her, “Little one, get up!” He calls us to himself, where he is.
So it is not this life or that life, light or dark, awake or asleep, before death or after death that is important here. Not at all. Because the light and the dark are both alike; Awake or asleep, life and death are both alike. The essence is we hear God and we get up and we follow. We are called to God by God to wherever God is. Wherever. Because God IS heaven. God IS the reward.
As I was working on this I tried to stop there. But I couldn’t. I am a woman of many questions and another question kept whipping around my head like a mosquito. Like, why dear God did Jesus say not to tell anyone? I am fresh out of seminary so you can imagine what my head is pumped full of the last three years: Everything that all those scholars have ever said or written. Like, “Not his time”, or “The disciples weren’t ready.” “Things had to happen.” Yadda, yadda, yadda. All the answers that lead to history being set in stone. All the answers that rob creation of its freedom. I am not sure if there is an easy answer to that one, “Why not tell?”
There is a little part of me that has ventured into a thought that begins with “Don’t get stuck in that miracle part because that is not what it is all about.” It is about health, vision, wholeness, and understanding. That is what it is all about. And it always begins with a call from Jesus, a call to satisfy us with something to eat.
(Margaret finished her sermon with a gesture to the altar.)
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