The Amazin' Jesus!

July 1, 2012

The First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas.

Mark 5:21-43

I am convinced that everyone needs a superhero. As young children we begin to identify who our superheroes are. In time, these superheroes evolve; they change looks and change names. At first we look at our parents or whoever took care of us as our heroes. As we get older, for boys at least, they’re attention shifts to sports figures, comic book characters, TV personalities and more.

One of my favorite superheroes as a child was Spiderman. He's been in a comic strip, a television series, a video game and a pinball game. Three big-budget movies were made about him in 2002, 2004 and 2007. A musical about him opened in New York in 2011 -- the most expensive musical in Broadway history. Last year, he placed third on IGN Entertainment's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes. And now “The Amazing Spiderman” opens in theaters nationwide on Tuesday.

We all know his story: High school student Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider and gains super strength, as well as the ability to stick to walls and ceilings. He invents a device that enables him to shoot webs and swing high above the city streets. Wearing a Spider-Man costume, he goes out to fight criminals, including super-villains such as the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. And the new Spiderman movie promises to reveal unknown secrets about Spiderman; it promises to reveal the untold story.

We all need a superhero. But what makes someone a superhero? What does it take to be one? The people of Israel were waiting for a superhero, the promised Messiah. They were waiting for a sign of some kind from God. So when the news started whirling around the Galilee about a teacher named Jesus performing great miracles, people came from far and wide to see Jesus for themselves.

Mark tells us that when Jesus crosses in a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, a great crowd of the curious onlookers gather around him: the Amazing Jesus (5:21). Imagine the buzz in the crowd: One person says that she saw Jesus remove an unclean spirit from a man, leaving everyone amazed and saying, "What is this? A new teaching -- with authority!" (1:21-28).

Another says he watched Jesus heal a paralyzed man and reports that all who witnessed it were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" (2:1-12).

A third tells of how a man possessed by a demon was healed by Jesus, and then the man "went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed" (5:1-20).

Again and again, Mark reports that people are amazed: He’s the Amazing Jesus.

Here's the untold story of what Jesus is doing for the people of Galilee: All of his mighty acts are intended to save them. Whether they're facing evil, illness, destruction or death, Jesus wants to come to the rescue. In fact, the Greek word for "save" (sozo) pops up again and again in the gospel of Mark, although it's usually translated to English words such as "heal," "cure" or "get well." What amazes the crowds is that Jesus is working to rescue them, to save them, to save us.

First to appear is Jairus, one of the leaders of the synagogue. Jairus is desperate. He falls at Jesus' feet and begs him repeatedly, "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" (5:22-23).

Jesus goes with Jairus, and a large crowd follows him and presses in on him. And just as you will see in the Spider-Man movie, one challenge is never enough -- the superhero goes to save one person and is unexpectedly pulled aside to save another. A woman who has been suffering hemorrhages for 12 years comes up behind Jesus in the crowd and touches his cloak, believing, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well" (vv. 24-28).

The woman reaches out, touches Jesus, and immediately her bleeding stops. She is healed of her disease and rescued from a miserable life of pain, social isolation and exploitation (v. 29). She is saved by the Amazing Jesus!

But wait. Like Peter Parker, when his "Spidey-senses" begin to tingle, Jesus has a feeling that his power has flowed out of him. Jesus spins around in the crowd and says, "Who touched my clothes?" (v. 30). His disciples look at him as though he's crazy, since a mob of people are pressing in on him from every side. But Jesus searches the crowd for the person he knows is out there, until the woman finally confesses what she's done. He doesn't rebuke her, but instead says, "Daughter, your faith has made you well" (v. 34).

The life of a superhero is 24/7, 365. Peter Parker was constantly interrupted by his tingling “Spidey Senses”. He couldn’t tell anybody what was happening. It was usually in the middle of something big: an intimate conversation with his girlfriend later wife MJ, or while he was at work or at home with his widowed Aunt May. The interruptions kept coming and no matter what he would spring into action.

Throughout the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is also constantly interrupted and he handles the interruptions with grace and mercy. We can imagine the impatience Jairus felt when Jesus stopped to see who had touched him. There’s a girl dying, but yet Jesus stops to ask a question that the disciples think is absurd. Jesus, sensitive to the father’s anguish, might have pressed on. Jesus might have been content with the knowledge that the woman was healed, but he took time out for the personal touch. She is of no less importance to Jesus than the child of this prominent religious leader. She is a reminder to us that the outcast and the marginalized have a place in the kingdom of God.

We discover that the Amazing Jesus has come to save us from anything that can damage, divide or destroy us. And he does this not only through his unique superpowers, but through our own faith; our own willingness to trust him.

Notice that Jesus says to the woman, "Your faith has saved you." It is her willingness to trust Jesus that permits the healing power of God to flow into her. Jesus says that her faith is the source of her healing, rather than his clothes or even his touch. She's saved by her willingness to believe that Jesus is the superhero sent by God to do a rescue mission on Earth.

Some people come from the house of Jairus to tell him that his daughter is dead. But overhearing what they say, Jesus says to Jairus, "Do not fear, only believe" (v. 36). Jesus wants to challenge Jairus to trust him with the very same conviction that the bleeding woman had just shown.

As thrilling as it may be to watch Spider-Man at the movies, the Web-Slinger has nothing on the Amazin’ Jesus. His wall-crawling is pure fantasy, and his web-shooters are the stuff of comic-book fiction.

The Amazin’ Jesus is our true superhero. He is the one with the power to save us, and this fact should not remain an untold story. He rescues us from sin through the gift of forgiveness. He saves us from illness by working for healing in our bodies, minds and spirits. He breaks our social isolation by giving us a place in his community of faith. He rescues us from death through his promise of eternal life with God.

We do not have to fear, because the Amazin’ Jesus saves. We do not have to fear, just trust and believe. Go and tell the story.