This Sunday’s readings touch upon the core of our human condition – sickness, suffering, healing and the role of faith in God’s plan of salvation. As Catholics we believe that “God formed us to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made us” (Wisdom 2:23). In the gospel, St Mark indicates that by deciding in expectant faith to establish a relationship of trust with God, Jairus and the hemorrhaging woman were rewarded with hope that the healing they sought [Jairus for his ill daughter; the woman for her affliction with blood] would be granted to them through the healing touch of Jesus the Son of the very God whose Hands had formed them in the womb. They were certain that the promised imperishability in their own situation had already started.
The primary story is about Jairus’ plea to Jesus to heal his 12 year old daughter, who was near death. Then inserted or “sandwiched” [a writing technique common to the gospel genre and frequently used by Mark] within this story was one about the woman afflicted with hemorrhages for 12 years. Jarius’ story starts with Jesus landing on the shore and having a large crowd gather around Him. Jairus, one of the rulers of the local synagogue, came forward and at Jesus’ feet, begged Him to “lay his hands” to heal his daughter. Jesus’s response was immediate as He took off with Jairus to go to his daughter. The disciples and the crowd followed. In this crowd was a woman of faith who had an “issue of blood” for 12 years, which not only made her suffer physically, but worse, she suffered the stigma of being “unclean” under Mosaic law (in Leviticus 15). Under this law, her husband (and maybe children) could not eat food she has cooked, could not sit on chairs she had sat on or lie on the bed she had lain on. They could not touch her without becoming unclean themselves! Worst of all, she wasn’t allowed into worship services. She was all alone and suffered a life which felt certainly like death for 12 years.
But she heard about Jesus and His miracles and quickly responded in expectant faith, believing that just by merely touching His clothes, she could be healed. So coming from behind the crowd she touched His cloak. Jesus felt power go out from Him, and He turned around and said: “Who touched my clothes?” At this, His disciples looked at each other and at Him perplexed that He would ask this question since the crowd was pressing and jostling into Him. Yet Jesus continued to look around; and the trembling woman came forward, fell at his feet and told Him the truth. Then finally Jesus looked at her and called her “Daughter” and said “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.” At long last after 12 long years of suffering, she was made well and ritually clean at the same time and therefore restored back to her life. Here was a prime example of someone who had expectant faith. Not only did she believe in who Jesus was, the Healer and Holy One, but she expected that if she touched Him, she would be healed. She reached out to Him in expectant faith, and that, Jesus said, was what healed her.
Continuing on with Jairus’ story - messengers from Jairus’ house came with sad news that his daughter had died. Jesus counseled Jairus: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” When they reached the house, Jesus went into the room of the little girl with Peter, James and John and shut the door. Inside, He took her hand (in clear contravention of the Mosaic law in Numbers 5 that states that touching a corpse defiles the living person) and said to her, “Talitha koum...Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl arose immediately and walked around. Her father and mother were utterly astounded. His touch turned Mosaic law on its head for the Son of God was not made unclean but worked a miracle to restore the little girl back to life.
Moved by so much suffering Christ not only allows Himself to be touched by the sick, but He makes their miseries His own. [Making good on God’s promise in Isaiah 53] ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’ But He did not heal all the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. They announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through His Passover.” (CCC 1505) Sickness and death are not from God but are the result of the envy of the devil, and those of us who commit sin and thus belong to His company experience it (Wisdom 12:24).
Lord Jesus most importantly sees our need to have a personal relationship with Father God just as He saw the hemorrhaging woman’s need for the Father’s touch when He called her daughter. When we have an intimate personal relationship with the Lord we become wonderfully receptive of His great love for us, secure in the conviction that we could always call on Him in expectant faith to give us His healing power and cleansing touch. Through salvation, He reverses the law of sin, sickness and death to give us life and teach us the way to holiness. As the Psalmist said: He preserves us from the pit, and changes our mourning into dancing. Love flows from Him unceasingly and He gives it away freely to everyone who needs it, because in the Kingdom of God there is not only healing and salvation but also equality. This was, is and always will be the Father’s response to His sons and daughters who ask in prayer.
Now let’s ask ourselves: Have we witnessed Jesus’s healing love to others? Have we ministered to the needs of others in humility and love? Have we shown love to our neighbors through our service and prayers? Finally by spreading His healing love, has our faith been deepened? If we haven’t done so already, now is a good time to start. Amen.
But she heard about Jesus and His miracles and quickly responded in expectant faith, believing that just by merely touching His clothes, she could be healed. So coming from behind the crowd she touched His cloak. Jesus felt power go out from Him, and He turned around and said: “Who touched my clothes?” At this, His disciples looked at each other and at Him perplexed that He would ask this question since the crowd was pressing and jostling into Him. Yet Jesus continued to look around; and the trembling woman came forward, fell at his feet and told Him the truth. Then finally Jesus looked at her and called her “Daughter” and said “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.” At long last after 12 long years of suffering, she was made well and ritually clean at the same time and therefore restored back to her life. Here was a prime example of someone who had expectant faith. Not only did she believe in who Jesus was, the Healer and Holy One, but she expected that if she touched Him, she would be healed. She reached out to Him in expectant faith, and that, Jesus said, was what healed her.
Continuing on with Jairus’ story - messengers from Jairus’ house came with sad news that his daughter had died. Jesus counseled Jairus: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” When they reached the house, Jesus went into the room of the little girl with Peter, James and John and shut the door. Inside, He took her hand (in clear contravention of the Mosaic law in Numbers 5 that states that touching a corpse defiles the living person) and said to her, “Talitha koum...Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl arose immediately and walked around. Her father and mother were utterly astounded. His touch turned Mosaic law on its head for the Son of God was not made unclean but worked a miracle to restore the little girl back to life.
Moved by so much suffering Christ not only allows Himself to be touched by the sick, but He makes their miseries His own. [Making good on God’s promise in Isaiah 53] ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.’ But He did not heal all the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. They announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through His Passover.” (CCC 1505) Sickness and death are not from God but are the result of the envy of the devil, and those of us who commit sin and thus belong to His company experience it (Wisdom 12:24).
Lord Jesus most importantly sees our need to have a personal relationship with Father God just as He saw the hemorrhaging woman’s need for the Father’s touch when He called her daughter. When we have an intimate personal relationship with the Lord we become wonderfully receptive of His great love for us, secure in the conviction that we could always call on Him in expectant faith to give us His healing power and cleansing touch. Through salvation, He reverses the law of sin, sickness and death to give us life and teach us the way to holiness. As the Psalmist said: He preserves us from the pit, and changes our mourning into dancing. Love flows from Him unceasingly and He gives it away freely to everyone who needs it, because in the Kingdom of God there is not only healing and salvation but also equality. This was, is and always will be the Father’s response to His sons and daughters who ask in prayer.
Now let’s ask ourselves: Have we witnessed Jesus’s healing love to others? Have we ministered to the needs of others in humility and love? Have we shown love to our neighbors through our service and prayers? Finally by spreading His healing love, has our faith been deepened? If we haven’t done so already, now is a good time to start. Amen.