C. SUMMARY ... My Bible headlines these two miracle stories, "a dead girl and a sick woman". The "dead girl" story is sandwiched around the "sick woman". While walking through villages Jesus agrees to help a local Synagogue leader whose 12-year-old daughter is sick. On the way a crowd presses in on him, including a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years. She touches Jesus' garment, and Jesus feels "power" go out from him and demands to know "who touched me?" The woman tells her story, Jesus blesses her faith. Proceeding to the sick girl's house, they are told she has died. Yet Jesus goes to the house and brings the girl back to life.

D. KEY POINTS:

1. FAITH. What the heck is it? How does it work? What about when it doesn't? Jesus is very bold. He says "Ask and you shall receive.... if you have even small faith you can move mountains... greater things than I do you can do." And so Christians face every crisis, emergence, disaster with faith. These two stories encourage us. A sick woman is healed. A dead child is resurrected. If Christianity did nothing more than this every day for every dead child and sick adult that would end all religious debate forever. People want to be "saved" from whatever the most immediate danger is: and no danger tops sickness and death. Jesus affirms and rewards those who face both with faith.
2. BUT... we all know of sicknesses and deaths that outlasted our faithful prayers. Sometimes that hurts, or disappoints, or creates doubts, even hurts our faith. There are clichés, like: "Keep Calm... Carry On.... it's God's will... sometimes God says 'no', etc., all designed to help us feel better. And I have explanations and rationales to get us past disappointments. I absolutely do believe that God walks with us through the fire. AND, that God will help us find good even from the worst. I do not believe God gives us "the fire" or "the worst". Together, God and us, we can turn lemons into lemonade. But it feels insensitive to think of sickness or death as just a lemon that can be sweetened into lemonade. So where do we go when our faith doesn't produce the desired result?
3. WORLD VIEW, everyone has one. Optimist or pessimist. Capitalist or socialist. God controls everything or free will. In our scripture the sick woman's "world view" pushed her forward to never give up. She was relentless. She also had faith in Jesus enough to be there, reach out and believe the best. It was an undefined faith with no creed. It was as simple as trying, as putting her faith in Jesus to do something. That's my worldview: that Jesus will do something. One world view is that God gives us sickness, calamities, death, failures to punish or teach us. Another world view is that it's all blind luck, happenstance, coincidence. We choose our worldview. Doesn't mean we are right, but it does govern how we look at everything. I choose to believe that God is in the middle of whatever I'm facing. With that comes comfort, guidance, strength.  This leaves room for the miracle of healing and the joy of resurrection. Both are beyond explanation. But healing happens often enough to count on it when we or loved ones are sick. Count on it until we can't count on it anymore. Then count on resurrection. Choose a worldview that takes you the furthest and the deepest. That's the gift of faith.