It was the other night after hearing a sermon which was quite all over the place, that I had cause to remark to Louise — ‘Thank God for systematic Theology!’ The speaker this night had a genuine desire that we should become followers of Jesus, but he had no real framework of thought on which to guide us. So he left us with a sense of urgency to believe in something, but did not build any understanding of what it was. As he had no clear understanding of who Jesus was, what the church was or even what salvation meant, his words failed to build a path to belief, and only the feeling remained.

Now I do not think that it is necessary for each of us to race out and enrol in a Doctor of Divinity programme, but we have a duty to build for ourselves a framework or a theology that will be the foundation of our belief. The fundamental questions of Who is Jesus? (Christology), What is the Church? (Ecclesiology) and How we are saved? (Soteriology) can become the basis of our belief - the framework of our faith.

Sadly, when it comes to talking about healing, we can tend to become emotional, and build our understanding upon feelings, rather than a sound theology. I must admit that it has been a struggle for me, to come to a point of understanding of what it is all about. Rather than stand here and teach — this is healing, I invite you to join me in the struggle to see the hand of God at work. All to often, we are caught up into accepting things without thinking about them, and the questions of ‘Why are some not healed?’ and ‘What it is to prayer for?’ are part of the difficulty of this ministry. When someone is not healed we run the danger of dismissing it in terms of ‘Death is the ultimate healing’ or ‘There is sin in their life’ or that ‘they (or we) had insufficient faith’. None of these explanations seem to stand up when we look at the accounts of healing in the Gospels or Acts.

Ultimately, we find ourselves in that position that echoes the thoughts of the philosopher who concluded to ‘Everything there is a season’ which formed our first reading today. So the questions remain — Why pray?, What should we pray for? Etc.

It is to our second reading that I would like us to turn. This story is part of our Gospel accounts, which are the chosen stories — not the complete story — of Jesus life. When those who knew Jesus sat down to record a message for future generations of the church — to explain the Good News or Gospel — they chose incidents of Jesus life and teaching for the building up of the body, the church. Then as now, finances were important. Given the cost of parchment, we can be certain that there is nothing included that is not important, and for this reason alone, there is a duty for us to study the Scriptures.

The reading tells not one but two stories which are intertwined, but each could exist with out the other and so we can assume that there is an importance that they are told together. I mean by this, They could have said one day a called Jairus came to Jesus and begged him to heal his daughter — on the way, the messengers came to say that she was already dead etc.. Or the story could come — that as Jesus was travelling along the crowds, pressed in on him and he felt the power go out from him etc. It is clear, that we need to put the two stories together to understand.

Now the key appears to be the phrase ‘Your faith has made you well’. But what if we were to make it a question: ‘Your faith has made you well?’. As a statement, we tend to build a theology that talks of faith being the currency of healing. We need enough for these things to happen and any less and we can’t shop at the store. We build a theology that says that it is not the faith of the ill, but the friends or the minister, but they is understanding that there must be enough or healing will not take place.

At this place perhaps I should clap my hands and shout ‘POPPYCOCK’ or words to that effect. Look at the text. It is not about faith at all. It is about desperation. This woman had tried everything, twelve years at the mercy of the doctors with no result, and no doubt some horrific treatments for what was incurable. And an illness that would have driven her out from her society, for she would be ritually unclean. Jesus was the last hope — She had nowhere else to go. Or Jairus for that matter. He begged Jesus to forestall the inevitable death of his child. And where was the faith in the friends and family who laughed. Jesus had to say to Jairus ‘Only Believe’.

These are not sterling examples of faith, and yet Jesus could act, restoring the old woman to life bringing her back into society and life to the little Girl. Jesus response is not based on some quantum measure of faith, but rather the hope that here is an alternative. These stories free us from a belief that there is some level of faith required that is a pre-requisite, that we must generate in order for healing to take place.

Rather there is to be that simple admission, that Jesus is a solution. These stories ask us to see Jesus as an option. The key to understanding these stories is not that your faith has made you well, but what Jesus said to Jairus — ‘Do not fear. Only believe and she will be saved.’ Do you believe that Jesus can heal? The answer is Yes or you would not be here. So do not be afraid that he will not heal you.

Fear then is what will prevent healing, but perfect love drives out all fear — Let us take courage as we approach God this day.