READINGS: Wis 1:13-15,2:23-24; Ps 29:2,4-6,11-13; 2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15; Mk 5:21-43
THEME: DO NOT BE AFRAID, ONLY BELIEVE!
Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings present to us the theme of faith in Jesus who has power even against our greatest fear: Death.
a. TWELVE YEARS OF WASTED EFFORTS!
The gospel reading of today presents to us two wonderful stories which are told to highlight the importance of faith in the power of God to heal us and restore us from the predicament of sickness and death. The story of the woman with the flow of blood is put as a disruption of Jesus’ movement to Jairus house to heal Jairus sick daughter (Mk 5:23-24). This woman, for 12 good years, was committed to finding solution and getting her restoration. The evangelist says that for 12 years she went through a long and painful treatment under various doctors, spending all she had, but instead of getting better, she was getting worse.
Yes, the woman had met all the doctors who were believed to be capable of handling such predicaments, but they could not heal her because humankind has not all the solutions to its predicaments. It is interesting to see that what mattered to Jesus was the faith of the woman and not her delay in coming to him thereby making faith in Jesus the last resort.
Dear friends, many of us are like this woman. Our predicaments in life had taken us to different people, to different places, even where we are ashamed to enter, and not permitted to enter. Jesus does not judge us nor is he angry with us when we finally come to him. The scripture says that when the woman heard about Jesus, she developed her faith immediately in the power of Jesus to heal her to the extent that she believed that she did not need too much but to struggle and get hold of his clothe. We have heard so much about Jesus. But the question is, “What is keeping us from encountering him with such a faith that makes a different touch?”
The woman spent everything she had just for her to get well, yet nothing happened. Her restoration was not the type that is dependent on her material possessions but on her spiritual possession, her faith in the power of Christ. In many cases, the cost for our healing and restoration is not our material goods but our spiritual possession of faith in Christ Jesus.
b. EVEN IF HE DELAYS, CONTINUE TO HAVE FAITH!
Jesus was delayed in going to the house of Jairus by the case of the woman with the flow of blood. By the time Jesus was done with the woman with the flow of blood, news came that the daughter of Jairus had died (Mk 5:35). The people asked Jairus not to disturb Jesus any further because his daughter is already dead.
This shows that the people at least had faith that Jesus could heal the daughter of Jairus (may be because they had seen where Jesus performed such a miracle before, e.g Mk 1:21-28; 29-34; 40-42; 2:1-12; 3:1-5) but they do not believe that once death has occurred, that Jesus could do anything more because till now, Jesus had not raised anyone from dead. We see similar incident in the case of Lazarus in John 11.
When Lazarus was sick, Mary and Martha, his sisters, sent for Jesus to come and heal Lazarus (Jn 11:3). But as Jesus delayed in going to Bethany (Jn 11:6), Lazarus died (Jn 11:11,14). When Jesus finally went to Bethany, each of the two sisters said to him, “Lord if you have been here, my brother would not have died.” (Jn 11:21,32). Hence, the two sisters believed that Jesus’ presence would have stopped death from happening to Lazarus, but since Lazarus had dead, there is nothing Jesus could do again (cf Jn 11:39).
As the people were asking Jairus to put an end to his faith in Jesus, Jesus turned, looked at him and said, “Do not be afraid, only believe.” The command ‘only believe’ (pisteue, πίστευε) is in present tense with present aspect. This means, Jesus was telling Jairus, ‘keep on believing.’ Jairus had believed that Jesus could heal his daughter, so when report came that the daughter was dead, Jesus was like telling him, ‘Do not be like these people whose belief in him stops when death occurs, rather keep on believing that I have power, not only against sickness but also against death.” Dearest friends, this is Christ encouraging me and you.
Sometimes we do not delay like the woman with the flow of blood in coming to Jesus with our predicament. Sometimes, we do not even go to another place in search of answers and solutions to our problems but directly to Jesus. And sometimes as we are waiting for him to come to our rescue, our problem becomes worse and sometimes almost irredeemable humanly speaking. Like Jesus told Jairus, he tells me and you, “Do not be afraid, only keep on believing.”
c. THE CHILD IS NOT DEAD BUT SLEEPING!
In the first reading, death is presented as a contradiction to God’s plan for us. The scripture says that God created all of us “TO BE” (Wis 1:14), that is what Germans call Dasein which means “to be there”. God created us to be there with him in happiness, and in eternity.
However, by giving himself to the deception of the evil one, humankind brought sickness and death upon himself as the consequences of his desire to be his own God. But Jesus shows us that even the natural death is nothing beyond God’s power. Death becomes for Jesus, a mere fallen into sleep (cf also Jn 11:11). However, this kind of sleep is the one that only Jesus can raise one from. Jesus showed his power over death by holding the little girl by the hand as he said, “Talitha kum!”
Furthermore, sometimes, we look at certain parts of our lives and conclude: “it is over. There is nothing more that can be done.” Where Jesus is, there is never ‘impossibility’(cf Matt 19:26). That aspect of our lives, our businesses, our families etc which we think there is no remedy again, needs just Jesus to come and touch it and say, “Talita kum! Even that which you think is dead in you, can have life again and flourish, if Christ touches it. But the question is, do we have faith to go to him? And when it seems he is delaying, and things keep on getting worse, do we continue to believe in him, or do we go away from him?
In the case of the woman with the flow of blood, power had to move from Jesus so that the woman could be healed (Mk 5:30). In the case of Jairus’ daughter, Jesus had to suspend his movement in order to go to the house of Jairus and raise his daughter. And by holding the child by the hand, Jesus established a communion between him and the little child.
This goes with what St. Paul says in the second reading when he speaks of Christ’s generosity to us. He does
not cast us away; he looks at us with pity and comes to our needs; he holds us by the hand and gives us a share of his power and wellness. Therefore, we are called to extend the same attitude of Christ to one another. We must be ever ready to offer help to others who lack what we have.
Whether the person comes to us like in the case of the woman with the flow of blood, or that we need to go to him/her like in the case of Jairus’ daughter, we must always be available to help and to assist in relieving the pain of others.
Fr. Nnamah Henry C
Catholic Diocese of Aguleri