July 1, 2018                 Out of the Depths                                  

“Out of the Depths I cry to you, O LORD!” That is the cry of the Psalmist who has obviously sinned against God and man, and yet cries out for God’s forgiveness. The psalmist waits for this forgiveness, hoping and believing that God is merciful and forgiving to those who appeal to the God of Israel.

A number of years ago, I read a book on evangelism that told the story of a pastor and a waitress. The pastor ate lunch with the catholic priest and the Baptist minister every Wednesday, and each day the same young woman waited on them. One Wednesday, the pastor was late and stayed after the other clergy left to finish his lunch. When he was finished with his meal, he motioned for the waitress to come over, and to his surprise, she not only came over to the table, but also sat down opposite him.

“Pastor” she said, “I am a single mother, I have had two children out of wedlock, have abused drugs, and been arrested a number of times. I want to come to church, but I was wondering if the members of your congregation would welcome someone like me.” “I certainly hope so,” said the pastor, but the only way we are going to find out is if you show up for church on Sunday. Don’t worry, I’ll be there to welcome you!”

Sure enough, the young woman showed up on Sunday morning, and the pastor welcomed her warmly, and so did the other members of the church, and she returned as often as she could for Sunday services, and became part of that church family.

This morning our gospel lesson tells two stories in one. The first story is the story of a girl who is dying and her father Jairus, who is a leader in the synagogue sends for Jesus to come and heal her. The second story is the story of a woman who has had a flow of blood for twelve years, disguises herself and touches the hem of Jesus robe so that she might be healed.

These two stories have a number of things in common. The first is that both the girl who is dying and the woman with the flow of blood were considered unclean. For a rabbi – a teacher of the Jewish faith – to go anywhere near them was forbidden. Both the woman and the girl were on their own when it came to getting better, only the gentile doctors were willing to look at them.

The second thing that is similar in these two stories is courage. The first act of courage was that of the synagogue leader Jairus, who knew it was improper to ask Jesus to come and see her. Yet, he is a father, with a father’s love for his daughter – and that’s important. The second act of courage, was the woman, who was supposed to stay shut up in her home. Her courage was manifest not only in her coming out of her home, but also, when she was healed simply by touching Jesus garment, she identified herself – in front of the crowd - as the one who had touched him. She did this despite the possibility that she might be stoned.

By now, you probably know why I told you the story of the pastor and the waitress. What the waitress did that day in the diner took an act of courage. The courage to confess what she believed to be her unworthiness and ask for God’s mercy so that she might be restored to the church. And it took a second act of courage for her to show up for church on Sunday. In every town, people talk, people know each other, to stand before a congregation of people who might whisper about her or look down on her was an extraordinary act of courage.

You know, I think that those of us raised in the church take for granted what we have known all along, that God loves each and every one of us. That we often fall short of God’s intentions for our lives, but as long as we are willing to ask for God’s mercy and seek God’s will for our lives, there is forgiveness. Yet those who haven’t been raised in the church, or who have lost contact with the church, hear a different message from tv’s movies, and politicians. That message is that Christians are an unforgiving bunch who are more likely to condemn a sinner than welcome them into their midst.

But the good news is, in all three of these stories, there was someone who had the faith to turn to Jesus. This faith was found in the belief that in Jesus, the God who loves us like a father loves his daughter, could be found. And this faith believed that Jesus would not let them down. Not in the case of the dying daughter, or the hemorrhaging woman or even in the case of the wayward mother. All three of them believed and all three of them were restored to life.

And I think this is a very important point, that as members of the Christian church, we are called by Jesus to be very intentional about being the kind of church that welcomes the sinner and the lost. We need to be the kind of church that reaches out to those whom the world declares as unclean and unworthy. We need to be the church that proclaims that all people are children of God, and deserving of God’s grace and love. And that proclamation shouldn't just be reserved for those who are part of our family, church, or local community. It also includes all Americans whatever their race, religion, or politics may be, the foreigner in our midst, the immigrant legal or otherwise, and even those who oppose us. 

Out of the depths these people cry to God, and we are called as Christians to respond to them with the same love that God showed to us in Jesus Christ. Only when we believe that Jesus came to save us all, will humanity be healed and live in peace. And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ! Amen.