Speaker:

Sunday, June 27th, 2021

Touching the Unclean

The 5th Sunday after Pentecost [b]                              June 27, 2021

 

Mark 5:21-43

21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23and 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.” 24And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32And he looked around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

35While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40And they laughed at him. But 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. 41Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Will the Lord allow himself to be touched by the unclean, by sinners, by you and me? Mark 5:30:

[Jesus] immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

 

The woman was unclean. She had, Mark tells us, a discharge of blood.

 

With Moses, the Lord had given gave the Levitical law. This Law told who was to serve in the Tabernacle, who was to bring sacrifices, how the priests were to declare sinners clean, and of who was to not come to the Tabernacle.

 

Those who were not to come to the Tabernacle were the unclean—those with such things as skin diseases or leprosy, also those who had eaten unclean foods. And it included sicknesses such as this woman had.

 

Why did God call this unclean? Did he not love the lepers and those with unhealthy skin? Did God not want to show kindness to those who had a sickness? Is God trying to say that good people deserve life and bad people deserve death?

 

None of that. God loves all and wants all to be cleansed. The God of love and mercy, the God who created us and also who justifies us from our sin, he gave the Levitical law through Moses to draw a sharp distinction between the holy and the unholy, a clear line between the clean and the unclean, a distinction between that which is of life and that which is of death.

 

So when a person was unclean, whether by skin disease or food eaten, or the impurity of sin in the heart, God wanted to cleanse.

 

So he set the Tabernacle and the Altar of sacrifice and the Ark of the Covenant in the midst of Israel, so that every person, no matter what manner of uncleanness, no matter what stain of sin or what covering of shame—every Israelite would know where to come to receive God’s cleansing and purification by the declaration of the priest.

 

 

But, the distinction between the clean and the unclean, the holy and the profane, is not blurred. The unclean one is not to touch the Tabernacle until first being purified in the way God ordained. The unclean one is made clean by the priest making atonement.

 

But the holy is not to be touched by the unholy, clean not polluted by the unclean. Will Jesus let himself be touched by the unclean? Mark 5:24:

And a great crowd followed [Jesus] 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. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.

 

Jesus will let himself be touched by the unclean. He came for just this purpose.

 

We think of the Incarnation, of God coming in the flesh as man, to be a great miracle. And it is. But it is more than just the miracle of God becoming Incarnate; it is God coming in human flesh in order to walk among sinners and be touched by them. In order for the holy to be touched by the unholy, without the unholy being consumed in the fire of judgement. In order for God in the flesh to take all our uncleanness, our impurity, all our shame upon himself, in order to then give himself over to death to atone for the unclean.

 

That’s what he was doing with that woman. He was letting the unclean touch the clean, and in that, her uncleanness belonged to him.

 

And his holiness belonged to her.

 

 

Jesus let that happen to himself. He let her touch him. He let himself be made unclean with her impurity.

 

Will he go out and touch the unclean himself? Not just let it happen to him as he places himself among sinners, but will he seek out the unclean and actively touch? Mark 5:41:

While [Jesus] was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But 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. Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

 

Nothing is more unclean than a corpse. The touching of a dead body put you outside the camp of Israel until you have been ritually cleansed.

 

Jesus goes up to the body and gripped the dead hand with his own.

 

Jesus will touch the unclean. He will make it his own. He takes the death upon himself. He takes upon himself the death of every sinner—that’s what we see his death on the cross.

 

Because he takes our death upon himself, our death is not death. It is, indeed, the death of our body, of our sinful flesh, but it is not the big death; it is not death before God.

 

Before God, when we die, we are only sleeping.

 

When the little girl died, she did not die, her personhood was not annihilated, she did not lose her personal existence. She belonged to the Lord. She belonged to life. Before the Lord, her earthly death was only sleeping, a waiting for the resurrection of the body.

 

Talitha cumi,” Jesus says to her. Stand up. You belong to life. For you, there is no death, only life.

 

 

Jesus in the midst of the unclean, of the sinners, of those covered in shame—Jesus does not shrink back. He touches us. His body and blood to our body and blood.

 

Take and eat, the unholy ones given to receive the holy one. Take and drink, the unclean ones receiving the holy one, and now themselves cleansed.

 

It is all for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus among sinners is always for the forgiveness of sins. For where sins are forgiven, the unclean are made clean, the unholy, holy, those belonging to sickness and death now belong to life.

 

You are clean. You belong to life. Jesus says no less.

 

In the Name of Jesus.