Oct. 27, 2005

"Sticky Situation"

Mark 5:21-43

In the story The Silver Chair, Jill, Eustuce, and Puddleglum are on a mission to rescue the prince. They find the prince, but he has had a spells cast on him and he is bound to a chair in order to restrain him. The three heroes have a decision to make. Do they follow through with Aslan’s orders and free him which may mean they loose their lives to this madman or do they abandon the mission and save themselves.

“Oh, if only we knew!” ‘I think we do know,” said Puddleglum. “Do you mean you think everything will come right if we do untie him?” said Scrubb. “I don’t know about that,” said Puddleglum. “You see, Aslan didn’t tell Pole (Jill) what would happen. He only told her what to do. That fellow will be the death of us once he’s up, I shouldn’t wonder. But that does not let us off following the sign.” They all stood looking at each other with bright eyes. It was a sickening moment. “All right!” said Jill suddenly. “Lets get it over. Goodbye everyone.” They all shook hands.

This is a great story about having faith in something even when you do not know the outcome. The three heroes only knew what they had been told by Aslan, then did not know that that everything would be alright.

In the story on the woman with blood in Mark 5 illustrates this same faith. The woman had faith that if she could just touch Jesus he would heal her. She also knew that coming out into the crowded streets while she was unclean was a risking thing. She had no idea how the crowd would react or how Jesus would do when she touched him, but she went for it anyway. In the end, Jesus tells her “Your faith has made you well.”

I believe these stories are challenging us to follow Jesus, even when we are not certain of the outcome. I think it will be our faith that will see us through.