Message: Before a Huge Wall / Mark 5:21-43
There are times in our lives when we feel like there's a huge wall in front of us. It's so high and long that we can't see the end of it. It's so strong that we can't break through it. We can't find a way to get over it. Standing alone before the wall, we feel our limitations.
The German psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) called this a 'limit situation.' He believed that every single person must face limits like a huge wall: people must die and can’t live without suffering, conflict, and guilt. Unlike 'ordinary situations,' limit situations are things we can't change.
What matters is that limit situations help us experience transcendence, the God beyond the God defined by language. These situations allow us to realize human existence with its uncertainty and finitude, leading us to break free from illusions that create a false self in us. When we understand what it means to exist within time and space, we open ourselves to true communication with God, who is beyond time and space. In other words, the limit situations we face through death, suffering, guilt, and conflict are triggers that help us learn who we are, what the meaning of our lives is, and who God is.
There are two people in today's Gospel reading who exemplify Jaspers' idea. One is Jairus, a married man, named and recognized as holy and honourable, a religious leader, and the head of a household. The other is a woman whose name is never mentioned. She was poor and suffering from hemorrhages. This woman's illness was considered as if she were having a menstrual period all month long, which made her ritually unclean under the Law. It was also believed to contaminate others, so she had to live a lonely and marginalized life, without belonging to any community.
These two characters could not be more different in religious, economic, and social status, but they were both in 'limit situations'. One was a father on the verge of losing his beloved 12-year-old daughter, and the other was a woman who had lost everything—her health, possessions, and family—due to an illness she had suffered from for 12 years. This shows that no one lives without suffering, whether respected or marginalized, pious or impious, male or female, with a family or alone. Everyone experiences difficult and painful situations in life.
In their limit situations, the man and the woman came to Jesus Christ. They didn’t deny or avoid their suffering, nor did they fall into despair or nihilism. By letting go of illusions and accepting their limits and the uncertainty of life, they found courage, which led them to seek Jesus.
Jairus let go of his religious authority, honour, pride, and sense of superiority. He fell on his knees before Jesus Christ. He was no longer concerned about his reputation or what others thought of him. Shedding the mask of a religious leader, he approached Jesus as himself and pleaded for his daughter's life. Before Christ, he was just a desperate man wanting to save his daughter.
The bleeding woman also let go of religious rules, fear, victim mentality, and sense of inferiority. She pushed her way through the crowd to reach Jesus. If her disease had been discovered, she could have been in danger, but she was not afraid. Before Christ, she was just a vulnerable woman seeking relief from years of pain and loneliness.
Jesus Christ unconditionally accepted those who came to him with courage. He wasn't concerned about their religious status, social class, financial situation, political beliefs, or gender. He did not judge those who faced powerlessness and limitations. Touching a woman with a bleeding issue and going to the side of a girl considered dead were strongly taboo in religious terms at that time. These actions could have labelled Jesus as unclean, but he never ignored those who were in pain. No taboo could stop Jesus from embracing them. Through his healing ministry, Jesus enabled people in limit situations to experience God's grace and love.
In the Bible, the number 12 generally symbolizes completion. The fact that the woman had hemorrhages for 12 years meant there was no hope left for a cure. No one could heal her. But she didn't surrender to the disease. She didn’t give up, and Jesus didn't give up on her. Jesus gently saw her, saying, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
In Jesus' time, childhood deaths were common. Sixty percent of children who survived childbirth died by their mid-teens. So, for a 12-year-old girl, death might have seemed ordinary. It could have made sense to give up, especially if she had been declared dead and professional mourners were present according to tradition. But Jesus didn't give up. He said to the girl who appeared dead, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up."
In the early 1900s, Karl Jaspers, mentioned earlier, enjoyed a successful academic career in Germany. However, when he and his Jewish wife resisted the Nazis, he lost everything that had marked his success. The Nazis threatened him to divorce his wife, but he never gave up. Many renowned German philosophers of the time gave up before the huge wall: some surrendered to the Nazis and became their followers, while others fell into nihilism and claimed that God was dead. But Jaspers chose neither path. Eventually, the Nazi regime was defeated by the Allies just before Jaspers and his wife were to be deported to a concentration camp. Jaspers did not surrender to the wall or fall into despair. Instead, he used his limit situation as an opportunity to experience the God who is beyond time and space.
There are times in our lives when we feel like there's a huge wall in front of us. It's so high and long that we can't see the end of it. It's so strong that we can't break through it. We can't find a way to get over it. Standing alone before the wall, we feel our limitations, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses.
But do not give in to that wall or fall into despair. If we don't give up, we will hear the voice of Jesus Christ, who never gives up on us: “Daughter, get up! Your faith has made you well; go in peace.” “Son, get up! Your faith has made you well; go in peace.” “Min (your name), get up! Your faith has made you well; go in peace."
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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