Eagle in the barnyard Peter Jairus and the woman

 A man found an eagle’s egg and put it into the nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life the eagle did what the barnyard hen did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.

Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.

The old eagle looked up in awe.

“Who’s that?” he asked.

“That’s the eagle, the king of birds,”

said his neighbour.” He belongs to the sky.

We belong to the earth - we’re chickens”

So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.....

or that’s what he was told he was, and he believed it.

There are three main characters in today’s New Testament and Gospel readings who have one thing in common.

They all have confidence in Jesus.

Peter’s confidence stemmed from the fact that he was a witness to all that Jesus said and did on earth. He saw him die, and actually saw and spoke with Jesus after his resurrection. Peter had just been filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And now he and John had just performed a miracle, in the name of Jesus. A lame man was now walking and leaping and praising God, and Peter stood up boldly to give his speech.

The woman in the Gospel reading also must have had confidence in Jesus, because she was determined to touch even the hem of his garment in order to receive healing.  Despite the heaving crowds, she forced her way through in order to be able to reach out to him. Perhaps she had heard Jesus speak or seen him heal someone else, Mark records that some one else had told her about his ability to heal. She was a woman of faith, we are told. But also in Mark’s gospel we are told that this woman who’d had an issue of blood for twelve long years, had suffered a great deal under many physicians. Perhaps the reason for her boldness simply came out of the fact that her misery factor was more powerful than her fear factor.

And lastly we have Jairus, an important man about town, leader of the synagogue in Galilee whose daughter was near to death.

Here was a man so desperate to have his daughter made whole again, that he threw all caution to the wind in order to have Jesus visit his home and minister to her. Here was an important man who dispensed with the dignity of his position, and threw himself to the dusty ground in order to beg at Jesus’ feet. How many people in important positions of authority can you see doing that?

Jairus, like the woman in the same story, must have had confidence in Jesus ability to heal.

All three took flight, like the eagle in the cloudless sky, their spirits soared on the powerful wind currents of Jesus’ compassion and power.

Peter took the keys of the kingdom into his hands and opened up the church of God.

The woman went on her way cured, full of assurance in her own worth.

Jairus’ daughter had died yet Jesus brought her back to life.

The question I would like to ask this morning though is - ‘What then if they had reacted like the barnyard eagle?’

What if someone had reminded Peter at this stage of his life, that he was only a rough and fairly illiterate fisherman in reality, whose intellect was no match against the authority and power of the Sanhedrin.

What if he’d hesitated to deliver this powerful sermon and indeed the one at Pentecost, for fear of the consequences, or for the simple reason that he might upset the authorities and bring judgement and persecution upon himself and his community?

If this eagle had lived and died a chicken, we would not be sitting here now.

And what about the woman with the haemorrhages, what if there had been well- meaning people in that large crowd telling her she was insignificant as a woman, and unclean at that, and that she must not dare approach Jesus.......that she would be reprimanded for her audacity.... that she would pollute his holiness with her unworthiness....what then?

She would not have heard that beautiful word ‘daughter’ being spoken to her, she would not have had her actions affirmed by Jesus, she would not have been praised for her strong faith and courage; she would have missed out on the passing of the peace directly from Jesus.

Instead the curse was lifted from her and she went on her way rejoicing.

If Jairus had been wary of losing the respect of his congregation, begging there in the dirt at Jesus feet, and had maintained his dignity and cool head and not made his request.

If Jairus had listened to those voices which told him his daughter was dead and that he must trouble the master no further, if he had taken notice of those who laughed at Jesus for saying the girl was only asleep, as they entered the house...... then he would not have seen his daughter emerge from the sleep of death.

I’m sure we can all look back on our lives and recall many lost opportunities and times of regret at decisions we made that we wish we hadn’t. The clock cannot be turned back but it is still ticking now. There is still much to do. It’s time to fly! It’s time to soar with eagle’s wings.

Let us be confident and trust in Jesus to work great good out of lives, let us offer ourselves once more to his will for us. Let’s not hesitate to walk where he walked and let us not forget to encourage others around us, in their journey too.

 I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for supporting me and affirming me, as I reach out and touch the hem of Jesus garment myself, next Sunday, in my desire to serve God as priest. You are all very special to me, and you have all, whether you believe in the Ordination of women or not, you all have been a great source of encouragement to me since I came here.

My thanks also to John and Jill, to Bob and all my family and friends who have been such a blessing to me, in my struggle.