Tissot, James, 1836-1902. Daughter of Jairus, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57958 [retrieved June 29, 2024]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Daughter_of_Jairus_(La_fille_de_Z%C3%A4ire)_-_James_Tissot_-_overall.jpg.

RCL Year B, Proper 8 (Alternate Readings)
Wisdom 1:13-15 and 2:23-24, Psalm 30, 2 Corinthians 8:7-15, and Saint Mark 5:21-43

Faith, I am sure, casts out fear. But, surely, fear also casts out faith. Which will it be?

You recall that when the disciples and Jesus were in the boat and were tossed by a storm, Jesus asks his disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”[1] Clearly the disciples’ fear had cast out their faith. By quieting the storm, Jesus encourages them to let their faith cast out their fear.

And in the Gospel today, a leader of the synagogue, Jairus, approaches Jesus because his daughter is ill. She dies, but Jesus says to him, “Do not fear, only believe.”[2] And Jesus brings her back to life, giving Jairus a reason to for faith to cast out fear. Jairus, like the disciples, has been given an experience that you would think will in future give him what he needs so that he will choose that his faith will cast out his fear.

At every moment of our lives, we are free to choose between acting in a faithful way or acting in a fearful way. Which will it be? Will our faith cast out our fear, or will our fear cast out our faith? We are the deciders of this question for our lives. We are free to choose how we shall live. I believe that God does everything possible to guide us toward faith. God does everything to guide us toward faith short of taking our freedom to choose away from us. He limits himself in order to make sure our freedom remains. Jesus calms the storm. Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter. And the Gospel tells the story of these miracles to guide us to choose that our faith should cast out our fear.

We should recognize whenever we decide how we shall act that we are free to choose faith; we are free to choose fear. And God respects that decision. Which will we choose? The words of the great hymn come quickly to mind:

                                                  “Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed!
                                                            For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
                                                  I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
                                                            Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.”[3]

[1] Saint Mark 4:40.

[2] Saint Mark 5:36.

[3] Hymn 637, Stanza 2.