Desperate Choices

Mark 5:21-34

Desperation causes people to do things they would not otherwise do.

One of the horrifying sights when the World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorists was that of people jumping from the windows to their destruction. The sight of people jumping is so horrifying that the media who rarely seem to restrain themselves in what they show, do not show these pictures.

What possessed these people to jump? A room full of fire from airplane fuel burning and no possibility of rescue led these people to jump. Rather than be burned to death, they choose to jump to their destruction. In desperation, they jumped.

I’m reading Thomas Friedman’s book From Beirut to Jerusalem, which I highly recommend as a way to become more familiar with the complexity of the issues in the Middle East. In this book he talks about people in Lebanon and Palestine who are so without hope that in their desperation they turn to acts of violence.

In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean is so desperate that he steals some bread for which he is sent to prison. Fontine is so desperate that she turns to prostitution to earn money to take care of her daughter Cozette.

A desperado is a bold and violent criminal, a term used especially for criminals in the west of the US in the 19th century like Billy the Kid and Jesse James. In the movie, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman and Robert Redford are bank robbers who have been pursued to South America where they are surrounded by an army. With no hope of escape, in their desperation, these two desperados run out of their little shelter with guns blazing to be destroyed by an army of bullets.

Desperation is almost always linked in our minds to destruction. Desperation drives people to commit suicide, robbery and murder.

Desperate people have run out of options. They have run out of hope. They are willing to break the law, break social conventions, break their bodies because they are desperate.

But desperation can also cause people to make life giving decisions. Consider the woman in this morning’s text from Mark. Her bleeding was bad in itself. Her bleeding probably came from a benign tumor or perhaps a tearing in the uterus and was fairly constant. Physically, she would have suffered chronic anemia and weakness.

But the greater pain was the social alienation she experienced. She had probably been unable to conceive and was therefore childless, a significant shame in her world. Even worse, because of her bleeding, the Law in Leviticus 15 said that anything she lay or sat on would become unclean, as would any person who touched her. If she was married when her bleeding began, her husband probably would have divorced her. She would have been unable to participate in any of the synagogue activities.

Step by step she was cut off from the world in which she had been raised. Cut off from her husband. Cut off from her family. Cut off from her community. She continued to live in her community but could not be a part of it. She could look but she could not touch.

All these things were her lot in life and this had been her life for twelve years. Twelve years! 1992 to 2004, that’s twelve years. How old were you in 1992? What were you doing in 1992? Twelve years ago I was 41 years old, my daughters were 12 and 14 years old. Since then they graduated high school and college. One of them was married two years ago and the other one became engaged to be married yesterday. Twelve years ago I had seven years left in the business world before I sold my company and in my wildest dreams I would not have been able to imagine that I would make my way to live in Morocco.

There is a lot that happens in 12 years but for this woman her 12 years had not changed much except that as time went by she felt weaker and weaker. She continued to bleed, continued to be unclean, continued to be separated from her community. As year after year went by she moved through grief to anger to bitterness to hopelessness to depression and numbness. Now after 12 years she was desperate.

We know she was desperate because of the laws she broke when she moved through the crowd to touch Jesus. But desperate people don’t pay attention to laws or social conventions. They do what they have to do to help themselves.

Picture the scene with me. She waits by the side of the road, probably hiding behind a tree or rock so no one would see her. She didn’t want to be told to go away. She had heard that Jesus was coming and she had heard about all the things he had done. He had cast out demons, made the blind see and healed the sick. It was this last detail that caught her attention. If he had cured leprosy and made lame people walk and healed sick people, couldn’t he also heal her? Into the numbness and depression of her life came a ray of hope.

So she waited. In the distance she first saw a cloud of dust. There were a lot of people walking together so that must be Jesus. As they got closer she could see that there were hundreds of people, maybe a thousand people walking with Jesus and her heart sank. How could she get to Jesus with this crowd surrounding him? She had imagined him coming along with ten or fifteen people, not a thousand.

Could she stand in the middle of the road and make people go around her? That way she would be sure to see him and touch him. But if she did that, people would recognize her and tell her to get out of the road. She was a familiar sight. Everyone knew she was unclean. There was no way she would be able to come at Jesus from the front.

But maybe if she came in from the side she could get to him. She waited until the crowd passed the tree behind which she was hiding and then she began to move in.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him, says Mark in his Gospel.

She had underestimated the speed with which they were walking and the difficulty of getting through the crowd to Jesus. She was not the only one who wanted to be close to Jesus. The crowd around Jesus strained to get closer to him, hear what he was saying. This was complicated by the fact that Jesus was a moving target. It is one thing when everyone is trying to get to a person standing in one spot. But when that person is moving, the crowd becomes more chaotic.

A normal person might have given up but this was not a normal person. This woman was desperate. She had suffered for twelve years and was not going to give up her chance to get to Jesus. She moved through the crowd, pushing, elbowing, straining. She was pushed aside and as she worked her way closer to the center of the crowd, she discovered to her dismay that she was moving further and further to the back of the crowd and so she had to begin moving faster and faster forward to catch up to Jesus. Ducking under arms, seeing a space between two people and darting between it. Finally she saw Jesus, walking alongside a well-dressed and wealthy man.

She hesitated a minute. It was one thing to make unclean all the people she had been touching but this wealthy man and Jesus, a holy rabbi? But her hesitation lasted only a minute and she made a last desperate surge forward and reaching out with her arm extended as far as it could go she felt her fingers brush the cloak of Jesus and then she stopped.

The crowd surged past her as she stood absolutely still and felt the power of Jesus healing her. She knew at that moment she had been healed.

She also knew that she had just made a good portion of that crowd, including the rich man and Jesus, ritually unclean. No wonder she was trembling with fear when Jesus stood there waiting to find out who had touched him and received healing power from him.

Desperate people don’t think of the consequences of breaking the law and social conventions when they act in desperation, they just do it and face the consequences afterwards.

Dave Robey preached from the story of Bartimaeus that is found in Mark 10 and it is his comments that started me thinking about the theme of this message. If I am a bit repetitive of Dave’s themes in his sermon, it is because I think they are important enough to bear repeating.

Bartimaeus, like the woman who was bleeding, was desperate enough that he broke social conventions to get to Jesus. Bartimaeus was sitting by the side of the road, begging as was his habit. This was probably his spot. When we leave church this morning, there will be three or more women standing by the door begging for money. These women have been here for the four and a half years I have been in Rabat. The children they have with them have very likely been rented from someone in their neighborhood as a way of making their begging more effective. But the point is that they have their spot and Bartimaeus had his spot. Friends led him to that spot each morning and picked him up each evening.

He heard a crowd coming and asked why there was such a large crowd. When he heard that it was Jesus he seized his chance. He had heard about the miracles of Jesus and so he called out. The crowd was a noisy crowd with everyone talking and so he called out louder and louder until he was shouting at the top of his voice.

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

The people of the town were horrified. This was not the way to treat Jesus. What would Jesus think of the people of this town if Bartimaeus the beggar created such a ruckus. And so
Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Bartimaeus didn’t care what Jesus thought of this town. He didn’t care what Jesus thought of the people of this town. He didn’t care what Jesus thought of him. He only knew he had one chance and would likely never have another one.

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

And then Jesus heard him.
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

Bartimaeus received his sight and became part of the crowd following Jesus. I’ll bet you a couple things. I’ll bet that Bartimaeus couldn’t stop talking about what had happened and I’ll bet that now no one told him to be quiet. I’ll bet you another thing. I’ll bet that Bartimaeus did not walk with Jesus and the crowd. I’ll bet you that he danced along the road.

Here’s a question for you. How would the woman have reacted when Jesus came by if it had been just the first year that she had been bleeding? At this point she had not yet used all her resources searching for a cure from doctors. She still had hope that the bleeding would stop, that it was just a temporary affliction. And so if Jesus had come by in the first year of her bleeding, I imagine she would have stood by the side of the road and prayed something like this:
“O Lord I know that you are the one who created me. You know my inmost being and so I ask you to heal me. I pray that if Jesus really has the power to heal and that if you want me to be healed, he will stop as he comes by and will come to me and ask me if I want to be healed.”

Isn’t that a nice prayer? Doesn’t that prayer sound like a prayer you or I would make? There is a lot we like about that prayer. It is dignified. It is refined. It expresses good theology and leaves the matter in God’s hands. It is not demanding. It is a prayer that any good Episcopalian, Presbyterian or Baptist could pray.

It is not yelling as loud as you can for Jesus to help you. It is not being socially inappropriate, breaking social rules of propriety.

Why didn’t the woman have more faith? Why didn’t Bartimaeus have more faith? Why did they have to violate the laws of purity and social convention? Why did they have to force themselves on Jesus. Why couldn’t they have had more trust that God would take care of them?

They did what they did because they were desperate and what is missing in that prayer I imagined is desperation.

When the rich young ruler came to Jesus, he came with great intensity and desire. He ran up to Jesus and fell on his knees before him, two things rich rulers do not do. In the way he approached Jesus he humbled himself in the eyes of all who saw him.

a man ran up to [Jesus] and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

The way he approached Jesus indicates that his was not a casual question, it was not an academic question, it was a question that came from deep within his heart

Jesus responded by reminding him of the commandments God gave to Moses and the purity and sincerity of this young man’s thirst for God is revealed in his answer to Jesus.
“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

Don’t you like this young man? Doesn’t your heart go out to him? What a delight he would be to have in the church.

Jesus had the same reaction.
Jesus looked at him and loved him.

And then Jesus spoke to the core of his heart
“One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

The rich young ruler came to Jesus to ask a question that burned in his heart. There was no better person in the world to whom he could have asked the question. People search and search for years to find the truth. Here he was, asking the right question to the right person. He was so close but he failed in his quest.

At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad,

The woman who had been bleeding for twelve years faced obstacles in her quest for healing: the large crowd surrounding Jesus and the prohibition against touching people and making them unclean. But she refused to give up and pushed through the crowd until she was able to touch Jesus.

Bartimaeus was told to keep quiet and show more respect but he refused and Jesus called him to come to him.

Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all he had and the rich ruler went away sad, unfulfilled, lost because he could not get past his obstacle.

What did the woman who bled and Bartimaeus have that the rich ruler did not have? They were desperate.

Why wasn’t the rich young ruler desperate?
He went away sad because he had great wealth.

It is significant to me that Mark adds the detail that the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years had spent all she had in a search for a cure for her bleeding. When she still had money I don’t think she was desperate. When she ran out of money, she ran out of hope. Money protects us from desperation.

There are probably some here this morning who have not yet submitted to God and accepted his gift of salvation through Jesus. You probably know a lot about Jesus. You are probably familiar with many of the stories of Jesus. You may even have read the Bible for yourself or gone to a study or two about Jesus. But for one reason or another, you have held back from submitting to God and accepting his gift of salvation.

Let me suggest that the reason for this is that you are not desperate. The world is treating you too good., it still holds too much promise for you. There is the golf club, lunches and diners with friends, good books to read, vacations to take. With all this, why be pressed to make a decision?

I want to point out to all of you this morning who have not yet given your life to Christ that there will come a time when you will be desperate and your desperation may come when it is too late to do anything about it.

In Luke 13 Jesus tells a parable
Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.  23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them,  24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.  25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

I don’t know when it will be too late for you. Only God knows that. It may be today or tomorrow. It may be ten years from now. But I do know that if you do not submit to God and accept his gift of salvation, there will be a time when you will be desperate. You will say, “When RPF had communion, I took communion. I went to church. I listened to the sermons.” But you will hear to your great horror, I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers! and then you will know what it means to be desperate.

When all the wealth and pleasure of this world is stripped away from you and you see clearly the emptiness of your life without God, then you will be desperate to be filled with the love of God.

I plead with you this morning to put an end to your struggle and submit to God. Are you desperate enough to come forward this morning? I’m not asking you to raise your hand, I want you to come forward. Are you desperate enough to do that?

When we have communion, before you take communion, I want you to come to me and pray with me. Let me know that you want to give your life to Christ. Let me know that you have decided to follow Christ. Don’t walk away from this service lost and unfulfilled. Be filled with the Spirit of God as you come to him in humility and need.

There are others of you who have already given your life to Christ but are carrying a pain. You may have been carrying this pain for many years. It may be a memory you cannot get out of your mind. Someone may have hurt you and you cannot forgive them for what they did. It may be a fear you have that you cannot lose.

Perfect love casts out fear. Jesus can heal you this morning.

Are you desperate enough to come forward when you come for communion and ask me to pray with you for the healing of Jesus in your life?

There may be someone here this morning who has been living a secret life for many years. It is hard to hold so much in. It is painful to be a prisoner of your secret life. Are you desperate enough to come to me when you come for communion and ask me to pray with you for the healing of Jesus and for his power to set you free?

As was the case for the woman who bled and for Bartimaeus and for the rich young ruler, today is the day when Jesus can set you free. Today is the day when you can be filled with his love and experience the peace of Christ that passes all understanding. You can come this morning to Christ and be healed or you can walk away sad, carrying the pain you brought with you to church.

Desperation makes us take risks we would not otherwise take. Let desperation help you this morning to take a risk that will lead to life. In the words that were spoken to Bartimaeus:
“Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”