Today’s scripture: Mark 5:21-24, 35-43 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message)
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (Julie Benson):
Suppose that one of your greatest desires in life is to have children. To your joy and amazement you are blessed with a beautiful baby girl. Throughout her youth, you instill discipline and good ethics, raise her with Christian values, and shower her with love. You treat her like a princess by dressing her up in pretty dresses and framing her face with her long wavy hair. You buy her dolls and teach her how to help you in the kitchen. Both of you agree that you have a wonderful relationship together.
But she begins to defy you by wearing pants underneath her dresses and putting her hair back in a braid. She cuts the doll’s hair off and gives it a boy’s name. She starts lifting weights and working on cars. Eventually she heads off for college, leaving all the girlie dresses and her family’s social standards behind.
Several years pass and one day, seemingly out of the blue, you receive a long letter from your daughter:
Dear Mom and Dad,
After many years of soul-searching, deliberation, and prayer with God, I am ready to announce that I have begun taking testosterone to transition from the female body I was born in, to the male identity that I have felt since early childhood. I have found peace and freedom now that my body is in harmony with my mind. I am requesting your support by referring to me with male pronouns and using my new male name. I love you both and hope that we can talk about this more together.
You’re crushed. You had always visualized her in a beaded, white wedding gown playing the role of a beautiful, blushing bride. You looked forward to the day she would bear your grandchildren and become a mother just like you. Calling her by a new name with new pronouns just confounds you. You see neither present nor future. All you can picture in your mind is your sweet little girl.
Your expectations for your daughter have been shattered.
Jairus had desperately pleaded with Jesus to heal his dying daughter, but before they reached the girl, men came from his home and said: Your daughter is dead. Why bother the teacher any more?
The people simply expected Jesus to go on His way, for there was nothing more to do. Up to this point Jesus had healed the sick and cast out demons, but He had never raised the dead. Despite scornful laughter from the crowd of mourners gathered at Jairus’ home, Jesus performed his biggest miracle yet and said: Talitha koum! The girl stood and walked!
People’s expectations of Jesus were shattered and they were confounded!
Jesus continued to shatter expectations all the way to His own resurrection.
These stories remind us that shattered expectations do not equal a dismal outcome. In both stories people mourned the loss of a little girl, yet Jesus asked: Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead…! Then each girl was raised from the dead!
In the story of the transgender child, the mother mourns for the child she thought she knew. Because her dreams had died, she felt that her child had died with them. But that child was raised from the dead, brought into his new body, and found peace and freedom to realize new dreams. In the second story, a crowd of mourners grieved the loss of a little girl who had died far too young. But when Jesus arrived, He performed the miracle of healing, allowing the girl to experience a longer, fulfilling life.
Though we may not have a transgender child or experience the earthly resurrection of a loved one from the dead, we set up expectations every day that need to be shattered. People grow. Circumstances change. Crises hit. Money comes and goes. Health deteriorates. Pleasant surprises await us. We can begrudge our shattered expectations, or we can celebrate the new adventure that God has in store!
Prayer for the day: God, help me move more freely through life, expecting my own expectations to sometimes be shattered for the greater good. Amen.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.