The Power of Desperation

Reflections on Mark 5:21-43

There is nothing like desperation to give a person motivation to act and some focus. I don’t know how the term “deadline” came to be, but it’s a term I’m familiar with. How about you? It’s a great term. If you cross the line marked on the calendar without the assignment complete, you are figuratively dead. And it is amazing how focused and motivated one can be when faced with the potential of losing one’s life. And when time is running out, and your back is against the wall, this generates the state of desperation. And in the state of desperation, life can get really interesting.
In the scripture passage read this morning, we have accounts of two people who are desperate. They are at their wits end and are struggling to make things right. They find their options limited and filled with risk. But out of desperation, they must act, and act with swiftness, with firmness, and without concern of what the ramifications may be for themselves or others.
Jairus was the leader of a synagogue. Being so, he was looked upon to be the guardian of the tradition. Those who guard the tradition tend to be those who are most vociferous of their denunciation of renegades and rebels, those who break off from the tradition or push back against it, people like Jesus. Yes, Jesus was a miracle worker. But he did things and said things that did not conform to the tradition. Not only that, there was word that he perhaps was making claims about his relationship with the Almighty that bordered on blasphemy. Yet, he was drawing a crowd. And people were being healed.
Jairus knew his position. He knew what he was putting at risk as the leader of the synagogue if he ran to this renegade Jesus to get help for his young daughter who was dying. But in this state of desperation, with the life of his daughter on the line, concerns about his own standing with the people, concerns about being a guardian of the tradition, concerns about maintaining his own integrity as a faithful Jew, all of that was laid aside by putting his hope in Jesus, the man who could heal, and, hope against hope, would be willing to heal the daughter of one who opposed Jesus and even denounced him to the people. What an act of humility. What an act of self-sacrifice out of love for his daughter. What an act of desperation. And Jesus knows Jairus’ heart. Although he had somewhere else to go, Jesus responded to this need expressed by a loving father who cared only for his daughter. After all, Jesus knew something about humility and self-sacrifice for the sake of love and the hope to bring healing. Jesus saw in Jairus something of himself.
As they hurry to Jairus’ house, crowd in tow, we are introduced to another person who was in a state of desperation. This unnamed woman with the blood flow has a story and is desperate in a way that is common in these days. How many of us can relate or can sympathize with her story? She has had this medical condition for twelve years, spent all she had on doctors, following their prescriptions for health. And she has gotten worse rather than better. Her hope and faith in doctors has failed her and she is bankrupt as a result. Suddenly, an opportunity falls into her lap. Jesus the miracle worker is coming by. The woman can’t believe her luck. And out of desperation, she hatches a plan of stealth, but also of sensitivity. She wants to get healed, but she is hoping that in doing so, she won’t be noticed, and that will save Jesus from the hassle. The hassle would be causing Jesus to become declared ritually impure. Since she had this hemorrhage, she was ritually impure and anyone who touched her would be the same. She had hope that Jesus would be able to heal her if she but touched the hem of his garment. And, hopefully, if she did it without being noticed, then neither Jesus or anyone else would be the wiser, and, although Jesus would be technically unclean, he wouldn’t know and would not be inconvenienced. So, out of desperation, grateful for her luck, and acting in a way that seemed most responsible, she slips through the crowd to touch Jesus with the hope of being healed.
To be in a state of desperation is not a state we long for. To be desperate drains us. Daily life becomes distorted as we obsess over what we need or long for and the odds that stand in our way. Desperation and fear go hand in hand. The sense of powerlessness can be overwhelming. Anger lurks underneath the surface, occasionally exploding, lashing out at those we love or turning it inward on ourselves. In times of desperation, there is a thin line between desperation and despair. The temptation to give up, to surrender to fate, can loom large. Whatever our hopes were for something better, or for a better day, drifts away like mist. Doom is certain. To continue to hope would be a fool’s hope.
However, it can’t be denied that there is something powerful about being in the state of desperation. This is when miracles happen. In all the great stories of heroes, it is desperation that drives them. It is in a state of desperation that life becomes most basic. In this state, we discover a lot about ourselves. We discover where our moral and ethical limits are. We discover how courageous we can be. We find inner resources, an inner strength and durability we did not know we had. It can call forth humility and self-sacrifice. Desperation can call forth the hero in us.
And what prevents desperation from leading into despair is faith, hope, and love. Jairus and the unnamed woman put their hope, perhaps a fool’s hope, in Jesus. They hoped against hope that this miracle worker would work for them, to whom they had nothing to offer in return. They put their faith in the miracle worker. And Jairus demonstrated the love he had for his daughter by publicly begging, in spite of how it looked, for the sake of his daughter. Despair could have won the day in both of their lives. Jairus, not allowing himself to ask for help from the renegade, could have passed it up and succumbed to the fate that his daughter would die. The woman, had she not had just a little more strength to try one last thing, to reach out to Jesus, would have succumbed to her illness and died, having spent the last twelve years of her life having not been physically touched. But, no. In them faith and hope remained. Love for his daughter was strong enough. And these two people, out of desperation, responded as heroes.
Do we live in desperate times? In degrees, yes, we do. Some of us are experiencing desperation more than others. And it could well be that in the years ahead, desperation will become a greater reality for more of us. Denial, of course, is a wonderful defense mechanism and an excuse not to act. But denial will only go so far and all of us, in our sober moments, will look around us, look at our own situations, and that gnawing sensation of desperation may begin to surface.
Well, when we acknowledge the desperation that we are in, if Jesus were here, you know what he would say. “Do not be afraid.” Times of desperation are also times of renewed commitment to what we value, times of self-sacrifice, times of serving a greater cause than one’s self interest, for when everything is on the line, personal self-interest can become secondary to the greater cause of mutual survival. Times of desperation are times when new partnerships are forged, or broken partnerships are mended. Times of desperation are times of heroics. Times of desperation are the times of miracles, times when stories are written, legends are born, and the virtues of faith, hope, and love have the greatest potential to shine like bright lights in the gathering clouds of doom: faith in God who holds our lives in His hands, hope for better times, and love that will not allow us to give up.