Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73: 25 - 26

Arise! Go in Peace

Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, “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.” And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.  Mark 5: 22 - 26

Two daughters. Jairus' only daughter who was sick, and the woman whom Jesus called daughter. One was only twelve years old and one had been bleeding for twelve years. Jesus healed both on the same day. In a way, both had been waiting twelve years for Jesus to heal them, though neither knew it. One was well, then became suddenly sick. One had been sick for twelve long years.

 Sometimes, we know we're sick and need healing.

 Sometimes we don't. We're well and running around as carefree as a child when it hits us suddenly. "Oh! I'm sick!"

 Recently, a big pile of limbs and large branches appeared in our yard with no explanation for how they got there. Earlier in the day, I'd heard a chainsaw, but I didn't give it a second thought because I figured it was the neighbor across the road taking care of a big limb that had fallen on his property during the ice storm. We're blessed with very good neighbors, so we knew our neighbors wouldn't have piled those limbs on our property.

 We looked and looked for the place where those limbs and branches had been cut, but we couldn't find a thing. Turns out, without notifying us, Duke Energy had sent tree trimmers to cut trees under a power line on our property. And the funny thing was, we had looked in that area, but one of our sons had been clearing trees and brush in that same area so there were already a lot of stumps in there. We didn't see that someone else had cut in there, too. In this case, we couldn't see the lack of a forest for the lack of trees. What we thought we knew kept us from seeing the truth.

 Let me say that again. What we thought we knew kept us from seeing the truth.

 Sometimes, we know we're reprobates who need Someone greater than ourselves to rescue us, to save us, to heal us.

 Sometimes, we're as oblivious to our own sin as a child is to the larger trials of adulthood. I think this can be especially true of someone like me who was "churched" my whole life, but wasn't changed by it until I finally came to see my own sin for what it was. For many years, what I thought I knew kept me from seeing what I needed to see. Sometimes, being in church regularly can impart a false sense of "wellness." I didn't know that I didn't know. I didn't know what I didn't know. This is the most blinding lack of self-awareness there can be.

 But just as in the parable of the day laborers, the workers hired late in the day receive the same wages as those hired early. Early or late, the same reward. Thank you, Jesus!

 To the older of the two daughters, who had been sick for twelve years, Jesus said,

 “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” (vs 34).

 To the younger daughter, after taking her by the hand, Jesus said to her,

  “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (vs 41).

 Two daughters who needed healing, one young and one old. One who suffered only briefly, but violently, and one who had suffered long, growing gradually weaker and poorer as she threw away all her money on doctors who couldn't help her. One who had a father to advocate for her, to reach out for help on her behalf, and one who was alone in the world and had to reach out on her own. Which daughter am I? Maybe in some ways, I am both, or have been at one time or another. Maybe the same is true for you. (So often the truth is "and," not "either/or.")

 Lord, open our eyes to our need for you. Help us to see that others around us need you, too. We want to be made well. We want to hear you say to us, too: Arise! Go in Peace.

 Daye Phillippo

April 2021