Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace

 

 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him.  And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue.  And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.  

 

But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.  Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment.  And immediately her flow of blood stopped.  And Jesus said, "Who touched Me?"  When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"  But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me."  Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.  And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well.  Go in peace."

While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, "Your daughter is dead.  Do not trouble the Teacher."  But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well."  When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl.  Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.  But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, "Little girl, arise."  Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.  And He commanded that she be given something to eat.  And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

 

- Luke 8:40–56 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus and the disciples sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.  And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time.  And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.  When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I beg You, do not torment me!"  For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.  For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.  Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?"  And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him.  And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.  Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain.  So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them.  And He permitted them.  Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.  When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and the country.  Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.  And they were afraid.  They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed.  Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.  And He got into the boat and returned.  Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him.  But Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you."  And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

 

  So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him.  And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue.  And he fell down at Jesus' feet and begged Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.  Jesus and the disciples have just returned from a frightening, adventurous trip across the Sea of Galilee, where they sailed to a place of strangers and Jesus healed a man possessed of a legion of demons.  Here, they return to the "home" of Jesus' Galilean ministry, where He is well known, and a ruler of the synagogue comes and begs for Christ's help for his only daughter.  The contrast with the setting of His healing of the demon-possessed man is stark.

But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.  Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment.  And immediately her flow of blood stopped.  And Jesus said, "Who touched Me?"  When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"  But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me."  Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.  And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well.  Go in peace."   My study bible offers varied commentary on this part of the reading.  First, it tells us that the healing of this woman demonstrates Christ's power to cleanse and heal (see Matthew 8:1-4).  In the Old Testament, hemorrhage caused ceremonial defilement, which imposed religious and social restrictions, as contact with blood was strictly prohibited (Leviticus 15:25).  This suffering woman accounted herself unclean, but nevertheless she approached Christ secretly and with great faith.  Jesus tells her to be of good cheer because of her faith.  He also corrects her thinking, as she could not hide her touch from Him, nor is she excluded from Him because of her illness.  Finally, He exhibits her faith to all, so that they might imitate her.  Additionally, there is also a traditional spiritual interpretation of this healing miracle given in Patristic commentary.  In that understanding, the woman symbolizes human nature in general.  Humanity is in constant suffering and subject to death, which is symbolized by the flow of blood.  The physicians who could not heal her stand for the various religions of the world, as well as the Old Testament Law, which were not able to grant life to humanity.  Only through Christ are we freed from suffering and bondage to sin.

While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, "Your daughter is dead.  Do not trouble the Teacher."  But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well."  When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl.  Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.  But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, "Little girl, arise."  Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.  And He commanded that she be given something to eat.  And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.  My study bible notes that authority over life and death is in the hand of God alone (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6).  As Christ is of one essence with the Father, Jesus has this authority (John 5:21).  Note that Jesus heals the girl with a touch, taking her by the hand, and His call.

 

 Let us note Christ's great emphasis on faith in the healing of the little girl.  He first permits only Peter, James, and John to enter, besides the father and mother of the girl.  Peter, James, and John form Christ's inner circle, so to speak.  They are those among the disciples who have the strongest faith.  It is these three who will be present at the Transfiguration as well (Luke 9:28-36).  At the same time, we also see the extent to which Christ goes to keep those who ridiculed away, as the text specifically tells us that He put them all outside.  He also heals with His touch and His call.  Each of these things emphasizes the idea that it is faith in Christ that is central to our healing and the setting of all things in proper order; moreover, it is the one thing that is life-giving.  This is not about following a set of rules and priorities, nor a moral code, or a legalistic prescription or aphorism.  It is all about a faith in which Christ is central, and it is our relationship to Christ that sets things in place and creates right-relatedness, or righteousness.  The same is powerfully true and illustrated through the healing of the woman with the blood flow.  She is ceremonially unclean because of her hemorrhage, but it is her faith that makes her well, and for which Christ points her out to the crowds and praises her.  He tells her, "Go in peace," meaning that all things are in right-relationship for her.  This is an important understanding about His language.  "Go in peace" is also a blessing.  If we break down the Greek word for peace and how it is used in the New Testament (εἰρήνη/eirene; from which is derived the name Irene in English), we understand this word to mean wholeness, things joined together.  In Hebrew, and Jewish tradition, "go in peace" is a common form of farewell.  To quote from Strong's definitions, it is meant "in the Hebraistic sense of the health (welfare) of an individual," thus emphasizing wholeness.   But taking account of the text, and the faith the text teaches, to have this wholeness -- to have all things joined together in proper peace -- centers on Christ.  He proclaims to this healed woman Himself that it is her faith that has made her well.  In a modern world, we have an endless supply of moralistic do's and don'ts, and countless aphorisms to teach us moralistic behavior.  There seems to be an inexhaustible line-up of others who will watch what we do and tell us what is proper, even in new forms of correctness.  We have an army of finger-pointers on social media, who will even comb through by-now decades-old communications to announce to the world that someone needs to be shunned for violating a new taboo.  We can take a look back over the past century in various places around the world, and see systems evolve and change that amount to a set of new political commands (almost always accompanied by a kind of nostalgia for a utopian past that never was), and severe penalties for breaking them.  And even persistent through the ages, despite Christianity's long reach through two millennia, are still taboos on women and blood flow that might surprise some.  There are superstitions about women on boats, and in some pagan and traditional religious practices, menstruating women are not welcome, despite the embrace of such traditions by modern political activists as liberating.  But the faith of Christ dispels as secondary all such rules, regulations, and moralistic lists of what we can do and what we cannot, because it is our relationship to Him that is central to all things.  It doesn't matter what taboos this woman has broken, because it is her faith that has made her well.  She may be viewed as unclean, contaminating those around her by her presence, but it is her relatedness to Christ that changes all of that.  In the healing of the young girl, the primary form of restoration comes as shoring up this faith in Christ Himself -- and the touch and call that comes from Him is the healing act.  In Jesus' view on offer here, we are not made perfect by following every rule, or by making every correct appearance to the judging world around us.  We are not made perfect by being perfectly made, perfectly clean, without blemish, and without stain, or illness, or ailment.  As we have seen in our previous reading (above), not even occupation by a legion of demons excludes us from salvation.  We are, in fact, beings capable of faith which transcends all of those things, who are healed through an ongoing and persistent relationship to this Person, Christ.  That is, to God who is love (1 John 4:8), to the Person who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).  Pagan and gnostic systems of all kinds placed great emphasis on rules and systems.  New modern forms of the same -- even some who embrace the ancient pre-Christian past in hope of a modern form of liberation -- continue to embrace various systems of rules that come down to a worldly sense of perfection, taboos, and rigid systems of conduct that allow for no nuance, and enable merciless judgments without regard for human frailty or mistaken perceptions.  But the faith that Christ offers us is one that is both transcendent of our flaws and at the same time offers us a way through them, envisions a lifelong process of growing in likeness to Him, grants us love and forgiveness, and gives us grace as its centerpiece of mercy.   This faith is about trust in the Person of Christ, and a right-relatedness -- a peace and righteousness -- whose center is there, and not dependent upon how perfectly we follow a set of rules or avoid social taboos.  Let us remember how powerful this great gift is, as did our pagan ancestors, and how blessed a gift it remains as a response to the new social conventions which exclude and vilify and scapegoat.

 

 

 

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." 

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

- Luke 5:27-39

Yesterday, we read that it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his be through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, he said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."    Levi, also known as Matthew, answers Jesus' call, "Follow Me."  He leaves what he's doing as tax collector and becomes a disciple.  My study bible says that from the beginning of His ministry Christ has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners, which is one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him (and their scribes, as the text says).  It's possible that Levi was one of the tax collectors who came to John the Baptist and were prepared for Christ (see this reading).   Matthew's feast for all of his friends expresses his joy and gratitude.  My study bible says, "The guest register is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness."  Jesus' reply to the Pharisees gives us an entire picture of His ministry and its aims, to call all to healing and repentance, restoration.

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  While Jesus is with His disciples and those who hear Him, it's a prefiguration of the great wedding feast of heaven, a time of great blessings and joy.  There will come a time when His followers will practice the fast.

  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  Jesus explains His startling ministry with a parable; everything begins anew with His ministry for healing and restoration, the calling of sinners to repentance.  The final sentence here, about the preference for the old, is found only in Luke.   It gives us a flavor of human nature, or of resistance to the new.  My study bible says it illustrates the difficulty with which the Jews would accept the new covenant, and also the inner resistance a person faces in turning from a sinful way of life -- as well as the general stubbornness of the human heart.  Perhaps it is an important reflection overall on Christ's ministry of paradox, the "strange things" people are seeing contrary to their expectations and given understanding (see yesterday's reading, above).   It fits also with Jesus' rejection at Nazareth, His statement that "no prophet is accepted in his own country."

What is it about the familiar and the accepted that has such a deep hold on us?  Does this have to do with neuroscience and the understanding of how our brains work?  We certainly form ingrained patterns of thinking; some modern anti-depressants may work to "break up" those patterns.  But psychologically we can see in the Gospels the understanding of the human heart and mind.  Jesus says here in Luke the Physician's Gospel:  "No one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"   There is no better psychological profile of human beings than the Gospels.  But what we're given here is the response of human beings to revelation of the divine.  As in yesterday's reading, when the people responded to Jesus' work of healing and forgiveness, they said, "We have seen strange things today!"  As noted in yesterday's commentary, this word for strange used in the text is one that is literally "paradox."   For the early Fathers of the East, there is no deeper truth than the paradox of the divine breaking into the worldly.  It is in this paradox that we find the truth of God who can't be contained, the action of God the Word in the world.  Jesus' ministry of healing and reconciliation, that which does not condemn but rather calls sinners to repentance, teaches us about God's love.  It doesn't fit with what people know already.  Why is He hanging out with tax collectors, of all people?  You can just imagine how despised such people were:  working for the Romans, oppressing their own people with the scandalous taxation, regularly taking more for themselves than was required by the foreigners in order to make a profit, backed up by occupying power.  And yet Matthew/Levi is called by Christ:  "Follow Me."  Clearly Jesus sees something in Levi when He calls him to discipleship.  Christ is the knower-of-hearts; He must read the repentance in Levi.  What is interesting is just how Christ puts His faith into human beings, and the picture of the Gospels isn't just the other way around (how we put our faith into Him).  Calling Levi is a bold move, and Jesus must be aware of how the religious leadership will respond.  He sees what they can't.  And that's perhaps where the great paradox is found, in that deeper seeing into the heart and depths of what it is to be human, and the relationship found there with Creator.  Matthew/Levi's longing is to be restored to such relationship, and thereby to right-relatedness with others.  Jesus' call to discipleship is not a call that embraces the sinfulness or sinful behavior that harms community.  But it is a call to healing, to a better way, to going back where we belong.  And that's the great paradox that is hard for people to accept.  They know Levi one way, but Christ knows him another way.  To get to that place of depth and healing is really to reach into ourselves in a place of true identity, a place that acknowledges who our Creator is and where we long to return in good grace and right relationship.  He pulls us back, in some sense, from the places where life has taken us and into our true selves, where we are truly at home, and where we can truly serve.  The wedding banquet is just that:  the time of feast and joy at the union of Creator and creature, a depth of self that is "home."  What we appear to be to others may be all kinds of things.  We may wander to many places searching for whatever it is we hope to find.  But Christ calls us to who we truly are, the place where we are set to rights, so to speak.  The question is if we can take Him at His word to "follow Him" and start on the road to discipleship, no matter what it looks like to other 'worldly' views.  So much depends on how we are called and Who's doing the  calling.  Do we have ears to hear?   The depth of reach in the call also holds the power to take us back.