The Reach

Mark 5

The Reach

 

 

“Jerry” was desperate.

 

His daughter was deathly ill. He needed help fast. He needed a miracle.

 

Likewise, there was a woman who had suffered for years. But it wouldn’t go away. She had tried everything. She was alone. She was out of money and it wasn’t getting better. The doctors had no answers.

 

She was at the end of her rope.

 

But…

 

Jesus was within reach.

 

As you know, it is not as simple as that. Jesus is always within reach. But, it’s the reach, right?

 

A reach is leaving our comfort zones, it requires a choice, it requires effort, it requires risk, and it requires that something be left behind.

 

For both Jerry and the woman it was a risk to reach Jesus – it could have cost them everything.

 

For Jerry, a religious official, his turning to Jesus for help put his status and reputation at risk.

 

For the woman, she had virtually nothing left, but would be getting Jesus in trouble with the religious officials.

 

Maybe there was just something about Jesus.

 

Jerry, also known as Jairus, put it all on the line and humbly asked Jesus for help – and Jesus said he would come to see his daughter.

 

The woman, literally reached for Jesus, “if I but touch his cloak, I will be healed,” she thought to herself.

 

And…

 

Just as she grabbed his cloak, she knew it was over – she was healed! And then the words, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague (Mark 5:34 The Message).”

 

Speaking of daughters, by the time Jesus got to Jairus’ daughter, she was dead. They had heard the news along the way, but that didn’t stop Jesus. And when He got into her room of mourning, the Son brought the light! With just a “Wake up, little girl” she was alive again!  

 

I guess Jerry and the woman could have played it safe. Jerry’s daughter would have died and stayed dead. We might say that they would have healed over time. The woman would have gone on alone and suffering. Not much of a life though.

 

Not much of a life though.

 

We play it safe, too safe. We are held hostage by our fears and doubts. We make compromises and deals and say, “We can live with it.” But deep down, the ache and the regret and the “what ifs” overflow in our souls.  

 

That is why these two, Jerry and the woman have always meant so much to me – they challenge me and remind me. They remind me to always be thinking about my faith; the times I have reached and been blessed and convicting me for the times I haven’t. And they remind me of some special people I have known who have made that reach. And how they found faith and healing and yes, even miracles.

 

Because when we are reaching and risking for Jesus’ sake, our faith is real and alive. From the inside out, from behind the wall, out of the silence, out from the pew, beyond the doors, beyond our fears – that is where the healing is, that is where the miracles are, it is where we live – blessed – on the other side of the reach – in the handful of His cloak, in the humbled “ask” for help.

 

How much risk is in your faith today? In which parts of your life are you reaching out to Jesus? What needs to be left behind as you reach? In which parts of your life are you risking something, if not everything, in faith? If you belong to a church – where is your church risking and reaching?

 

How is your reach?

 

Amen.

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Reaching, Finding, Healing

 

 

 

“My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering from God.” James 5:19-20 The Message

 

 

I want to tell you about an important scene from one of my favorite movies, Seabiscuit (2003). It is one of my favorite movies because it so beautifully illustrates grace. Charles Howard is a man haunted by loss and death, looking to buy a horse and he goes through all the regular channels. But out of the corner of his eye he notices something different. He notices a “crackpot” horse trainer named Tom Smith. Later on, under the cover of night (like Nicodemus) Charles comes to find Tom. He notices that Tom is treating an older horse that no one else wanted and asks why he is “fixing” the horse. Tom explains that every horse is good for something. And then Tom says a line that I always remember – it is at the heart of the grace of Jesus Christ and the heart of my ministry, “You know, you don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause he’s banged up a little.”

 

Banged up a little. That’s all of us – whether we are open about it or not. Whether it is visible or not. Whether it was by our choice (sin) or by circumstances and events. That is one of things I was reminded of yesterday about why Youth Sunday always stands out. The brave young people who shared their testimonies poignantly reminded us that we are all banged up a little. The difference – each year, several of our wonderful young people speak bravely and openly about it. No pretense, no apologies –

just authenticity, some tears and hope – a lot of hope.

 

Speaking of hope. “We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him (Jesus) (Isaiah 53:6).” It is by this fact that we are people of grace – received, undeserved, unearned grace as in forgiveness.

 

See, God didn’t write us off, when he could have. Sometimes Christians and churches get so good at celebrating God’s grace that we forget that God could have written us off. And we lose sight of what it was/is to be without grace and a kind of blindness develops to those who are “banged up” and who have wandered away from God.

 

That is why, when we are tempted to think people are less than perfect and don’t belong and to think that lives can be written off, we need to stop and listen…

 

“My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering from God (James 5:19-20).” 

 

Do you know someone who has wandered off from God’s truth? Do you know some people who are “banged up a little” or worse? I know I do. And I have been going after them for most of my life. I do because first I know that I am “banged up a little” and I know the grace by which I am saved – for which I am eternally thankful. And I do this because I believe every life is precious to God, even if they are “banged up a little.”

 

It is hard to precisely put into words how amazing it feels when God has allowed me to be a part of “getting them back and rescuing precious lives…” It is a peace beyond words and it feels sacred; it is the true definition of fulfillment for me. I know that I experience healing when I am a part of others’ healing. God is the initiator of grace, but if we are faithful, the grace we receive can be shared and multiplied – and really that was God’s design – for the grace to be shared. And how “wonderful and marvelous” it is to play a lead role or even to be an “extra”   in stories of grace and redemption. And though I may not get it right every time, it is at the core of my soul.   

 

As many of you know, the partnership of Charles Howard and Tom Smith led to finding the rider Red Pollard and the horse Seabiscuit. It is story of winning despite lost causes; it is story of finding and sharing grace and healing in the midst of brokenness; it’s about redemption. At the end of the film, during the last race, the sound of hoofs and cheers recedes to the musical theme played softly and to Red’s voice, who explains, “You know, everybody thinks we found this broken down horse and fixed him. But we didn’t. He fixed us. Every one of us (as the camera shows each of the main characters). And I guess in a way, we kinda fixed each other too.”

 

See, when it comes to people, according to God – and therefore to us, there is no such thing as a lost cause. And to believe this – to live this – is to be in the palm of Jesus’ outstretched hand.

 

We can’t prevent or stop all the wandering and the dents that we get in life – self-inflicted or the ones that just happen. But we can experience and be a part of the reaching, finding and healing.

 

That is where I want to be.

 

Will you join me?

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. What is your own redemption story? Have you ever shared it with anyone? Would you like to share it with me?
2. Have you ever been a part of someone else’s healing and grace? What did that feel like?
3. Can you think of someone for whom you can be a part of reaching, finding and healing? What will you do about it?
4. How you can share some grace today?

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