It really doesn’t matter that the much touted "health-care reform" package of a few years ago never made it out of Congress. We are still living in the middle of a tremendous health-care revolution.

Health insurance might still be a quagmire, Medicaid still inadequate, but the way we think about our health has changed radically in the past two decades. Most of us now realize that we cannot be truly healthy if we segregate our lifestyle from our physical well-being. What started out as advice to eat a well-balanced, low-fat diet, get regular exercise and avoid the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs has grown into a vast complex, a health-care industry completely independent of the white-coated world of traditional modern medicine.

Now, every aspect of our diet has come under scrutiny. Vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts, high potassium, low sodium, nonfat, cholesterol-free -- all have become common terms in our health vocabulary. Naturopaths, homeopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists, aroma-therapists, massage technicians -- as well as plain old M.D.s -- are all frantically applying for the privilege of being our health-care provider, or better yet, our "wellness resource." The one thing all these specialists and attitudes have in common is that they now talk much more about maintaining health than they do about curing illness.

With all the good that has come out of this continuing health-care revolution, it has in some ways managed to re-stigmatize illness. The advent of genuinely scientifically based medicine at the dawn of the 20th-century had reduced illness to a collection of bothersome bacteria and other microscopic marauders. Being sick was no longer anyone's "fault"; it was no longer a sign of weakness, sin or divine displeasure. Sickness was brought on by outside invaders that broke down our body's natural defenses. We had only to find the right "magic bullet," we thought, and all ills could be cured.

Now, everything is our own fault again. Our inability to handle stress effectively clamps down our colon. A love affair with cream cheese and pepperoni pizza clogs our arteries. Curling up with a good book instead of hitting the stair-master has made our muscle tone horribly off-key and our cardiovascular system out of breath. Everything that operates at a less than perfect level is held up to us as evidence of yet another sin in the form of an unhealthy lifestyle.

Our text for this morning used to be broken down into separate stories, the healing of the woman with the discharge of blood and the raising of Jairus’ daughter. Of course, they work together too, showing how Jesus is in control of the whole situation and sees no need to hurry.

And all of our lessons for today deal with the subjects of grief and suffering. We talk about suffering a lot, because, at least at times, suffering is a prominent part of our lives. The point of these lessons is that when we as God’s people are brought into suffering, we can see what our attitudes should be, along with what our response should be. Simply put, in times of trial, we wait quietly for the good God has for us through those times of trial.

When Jesus' healing power brought the miracle of health to the hemorrhaging woman in this week's gospel text, he immediately sought her out to speak

In the hit movie Phenomenon, a simple man experiences a radical physical, mental and spiritual transformation after being struck by a strange white light. His mental powers become remarkable, dazzling all those he meets. But the man himself ultimately claims that the most significant change he has experienced is spiritual.

Watching a brisk wind forcing tall trees to dip and whip, this man sums up the greatest truth that his boosted powers have been able to reveal to him. He acknowledges that the unseen power of the wind is more powerful, more transformative, more real, than any of the more physically present objects it encounters and affects. Spiritual forces, this man perceives, though not always visible, are infinitely stronger and control the movement of our world far more than all the physical forces of the material world.

And that’s the point of today’s lessons. When the Jesus tells the crowd that Jairus’ daughter is just sleeping rather than dead, the crowd laughs at him. Not because He said something funny. They laugh in disbelieving scorn. Just ten chapters later, people would be laughing at Jesus again.

Soldiers would mockingly dress Jesus in a purple robe and hit him on the head with a reed and spit on him and salute him as "king of the Jews." They would bow their knees in a pretense of worship. Moments later, spectators taunt Jesus who is now nailed to a cross. They remind him of the words they did not understand that the temple they were about to destroy would be rebuilt in three days. The chief priests join the spectators in laughing at Jesus by jeering; "He saved others. He cannot save himself." Save yourself and come down from the cross. Then we will believe in you."

They laugh at Jesus at Jairus’ house. The disciples think Jesus’ question about who in the crowd touched him is ludicrous, even laughable. They laugh at Jesus at the cross.

But Jesus shows us that the unseen power of faith is more powerful, more transformative, more real, than any of the physical things of this world. The power of God, though not always visible, is infinitely stronger and controls the movement of our world far more than we realize or understand.

In our reading from Mark, Jesus replaces sickness with health, sorrow with joy, supplies healing that goes way beyond medicine. Even more than that, he replaces death with life. The girl arises from her deathbed, Jesus rises from his tomb. The girl walks and eats, Jesus walks the road to Emmaus with two of his followers and later shares a breakfast meal of fish on the shore with others. Not only was the woman who was healed by her faith made well, she could also go in peace – into eternity itself.

And by God’s grace through faith, the same applies to us. The sickness of our sin has been cured by the blood shed on the cross. Our sicknesses, even those that may eventually claim our lives on this earth, have been healed on the cross. We can look forward to eternity with the knowledge that the things that plague us here on earth will not follow us into eternity.

When Jesus says; "Little girl, I say to you arise," those words foreshadow the angel at the empty tomb who says; "He is risen, He is not here."

Who will have the last laugh? Psalm 2:4 says: "He who sits in the heavens." By faith, we have been empowered to look at the suffering we go through here and now, and laugh because our souls have already been healed and made whole. Amen.