Jack Hardaway
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Stories.
We are surrounded by stories.
Stories of people and pain.
The ease with which we can tell our stories, and the ease with which we can hear each other’s stories is one of those slow surprises that we have woken up to in today’s world.
We are overwhelmed by each other, our stories crowd and swarm.
Suffering isolates, amplifying the pain.
Sharing and hearing, knowing we are not alone or forgotten, it helps hold off the darkness.
Two stories today.
About suffering and grief.
They are also about what holds off the darkness.
They are about what keeps us going in the night.
Stories that are about faith and belief and miracles.
The story of the two daughters.
The daughter of Jesus and the daughter of Jairus.
One is healed. One is raised from the dead.
Neither has a name, only daughter.
One is poor, one is privileged.
Both miracles have to do with not giving up and not giving in and seeking out Jesus.
Both raise questions about those who are not healed, is their faith and belief lacking? Questions that have no answer. The questions show us that being privileged and being blessed are not the same thing, but how can we tell the difference? They make us grow silent, they humble us.
What the story does tell us is that Jesus is the one who connects their stories together, the two daughters, he hears their story and he responds.
This is really about who Jesus is, and what Jesus shows us about God.
The one who connects all our stories together.
And we can believe that.
And we can have faith in that.
That is the message, the good news, that holds back the darkness and that keeps us going in the night. God connects us. Jesus is the flesh and blood showing us that communion of God
Don’t be afraid.
There is faith.
There is belief.
Live lives of faith and belief and trust, that is the story the world needs to hear from us.
That is the story of the two daughters.