Fill My Cup, Lord, with Courage Mark 5:21-43

From his bed the dreadfully burned, semi-conscious little boy faintly heard the doctor talking to his mother. The doctor told his mother that her son would surely die - which was for the best, really - for the terrible fire had devastated the lower half of his body.

But the courageous boy didn't want to die. He made up his mind that he would survive and somehow, to the amazement of the physician, he did.

Without such courage and determination certain death for one and a lifetime of confinement for another would have been the future of the two women in our story from Mark's gospel. But to catch the extent of the courageous actions we see here, we need to look at the way the life was in the time of Jesus.

When we see Jarius approach Jesus to beg for healing for his daughter, we don't think too much of it. After all, wouldn't we do the same if we had the chance? If Jesus and his disciples were walking down RT 59, wouldn't we leave the sanctuary and fall at his feet begging for healing if our son, our daughter, our husband, our parent were critically ill? Of course we would, but then we know who Jesus is. Not so for Jarius. To him Jesus was simply a carpenter who apparently possessed a gift of healing. And Jarius, well he was one of the head honchos of the synagogue. He was used to people coming to him, begging him to intervene with God, to plead for healing or forgiveness or hope. That's the way it was; the way it should be; the way God wanted it to be. Jarius knew it; his fellow Rabbis and Scribes and Pharisees knew it; and none of them was happy with this upstart healer from Nazareth of all places. For Jarius not only to approach Jesus but to fall on his knees and beg for healing required audacious courage; it required him to step beyond what was safe, easy or comfortable and dare to see life in a new way. And he did it for his daughter in a culture where women and girls were seen as property, far less valuable and important than men and boys. Then in the face of eyewitness testimony that his daughter was dead, he courageously chose to trust Jesus with his daughter and his life. Yes, Jarius was a courageous man and his courage led to healing for his daughter and a new sense of wholeness for himself.

But if Jarius displayed audacious courage, it paled in comparison to the actions of the unnamed woman in this story. This woman was an outcast from society and temple; her bleeding made her ritually unclean and anyone or anything she touched was also contaminated. If she had been married when the bleeding began, she was no doubt divorced by now -what husband would continue in a marriage where he could not see or talk to his wife for twelve years? Then she heard that Jesus -the healer- was passing through her town. Daring to step beyond fear, beyond the possibility of condemnation by the religious authorities, beyond the ridiculousness of the notion that simply touching his garment would heal her she approached Jesus and with one simple touch her hemorrhaging stopped. She was home free -or so she thought until Jesus asked "Who touched my robe?" And what happened next required even more courage than she had already shown. If she admitted what she had done, would he condemn her? curse her? reverse the healing? Acting in spite of her very real fears she stepped forward, fell at his feet and told Jesus her whole story. And in that moment, through her audacious courage she was more than cured of her physical ailment, she was healed, made whole and empowered to be a source of blessing for the world.

Courage leads to healing; I don't think I have ever thought of it quite like that before, but I believe that it is true that true healing requires courage and courage always leads to some level of healing be it body, mind, spirit or relationships. Courage according to Wikipedia is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. "Courage" according to a line from Shawshank Redemption- "is not the absence of fear, but is the presence of fear and the will to go on." Courage -I believe- is a true gift of God, given so that we can find our way to healing and wholeness and life.

As I was pondering this connection I remembered the prayer written in 1934 by Reinhold Niebuhr and adopted by the Alcoholics Anonymous movement.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.

Think about it; think about the courage it takes for one who is addicted to alcohol or drugs or food or sex or gambling or any of the other addictions which plague our lives to follow the 12 steps to recovery; think about the courage it takes to change health destroying habits into life-giving actions; think about the courage it takes to face the wounds of our past and trust in the healing power of God’s love in the here and now; think about the courage it takes be fully who you are created to be in the face of all the voices that say you must look or act or be something other than who you are; think about the courage it takes to move beyond failure, defeat or grief; think about the courage it takes to face the future with confidence that God is with you no matter what.

When the mortal danger was past, the little boy heard the doctor tell his mother that since the fire had destroyed so much flesh in the lower part of his body, it would almost be better if he had died, since he was doomed to be a lifetime with no use at all of his lower limbs.

Once more the courageous boy made up his mind. He would walk. But unfortunately from the waist down, he had no motor ability. His thin legs just dangled there, all but lifeless.

Ultimately he was released from the hospital. Every day his mother would massage his little legs, but there was no feeling, no control, nothing. Yet his determination that he would walk was as strong as ever.

When he wasn't in bed, he was confined to a wheelchair. One sunny day his mother wheeled him out into the yard to get some fresh air. This day, instead of sitting there, he courageously threw himself from the chair. He pulled himself across the grass, dragging his legs behind him.

He worked his way to the white picket fence bordering their lot. With great effort, he raised himself up on the fence. Then, stake by stake, he began dragging himself along the fence, resolved that he would walk. He started to do this every day until he wore a smooth path all around the yard beside the fence. There was nothing he wanted more than to develop life in those legs.

Ultimately through his daily massages, his courage and his resolute determination, he did develop the ability to stand up, then to walk haltingly, then to walk by himself - and then - to run. Later in college he made the track team. Still later in Madison Square Garden this courageous young man who was not expected to survive, who would surely never walk, who could never hope to run - this courageous, determined young man, Glenn V. Cunningham, ran the world's fastest mile! It is perhaps not surprising to hear that his favorite passage in the Bible, the one that carried him through was Isaiah 40:31: "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

Courage that leads to miracles, to healing, to life! Fill our cups, Lord, with courage!. Amen