THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
(Wisdom 1:13-15. 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-23)
Dear friends, today we have for consideration two of the most striking
stories from the Gospels. These stories add to the Gospels of the past Sundays
to deepen our understanding of who Jesus is. They tell of two people who
believe in him as a prophet of God. This serves as the beginning for us. Little
by little, the evangelist will lead us to the conclusion that Jesus is the
Messiah; that is, the Son sent by the Father to save us from sin and death.
When Jesus arrives on the shore of the lake from his journey in the boat,
a Jewish leader approaches him. This man, named Jairus, shows his faith in
Jesus as a man of God. He is not like the scribes from Jerusalem who recently
accused him of being in league with the devil. Falling at his feet, Jairus asks
Jesus to come to his house to heal his dying daughter.
On the way, a woman approaches the Lord timidly. She has had a continuous
flow of blood that has left her weakened. The harm from the bleeding causes
multiple hardship. Physically, she is anemic, lacking energy, nearly dead.
Also, she is considered impure, unable to have relations with her husband or
marry if she does not have a husband. She is also prohibited from worshipping
the Lord in the Temple. Furthermore, the passage describes her as victimized by
doctors who took her money without curing her disease.
The woman touches Jesus' garment with the hope of being cured of her
illness. She is not disappointed. Sure that Jesus has acted on her behalf, she
gathers the courage to present herself to him. With the same gesture of homage
as the Jewish leader, she shows her gratitude. She receives Jesus' blessing,
who affirms that it is her faith in him that has healed her.
When Jesus arrives at Jairus' house, people say that his daughter has
died. Jesus responds as God would, saying that for him, death is a kind of
sleep. He takes her by the hand and says, "'Talitha koum,' which means,
'Little girl, I say to you, arise.'" The girl gets up and walks, showing
that she has truly been healed.
As with Lazarus in the Gospel of John and the widow's son in the Gospel
of Luke, this awakening from the dead serves as an anticipatory sign of Jesus'
resurrection after his crucifixion. However, there is a significant difference
between these two types of resurrections. In Jesus' resurrection, he will live
forever. In the other cases, those whom he resurrects will die again. Because
he is raised by God without the intervention of any man, and because his
resurrection is definitive, Jesus can be called "the only Son of
God."
In time and with much reflection on both the power of Christ and his
resurrection, the Church will determine that Jesus is not only "the only
Son" but also the "true God." We can trust him completely when
we feel desperate, abandoned, or exhausted.
One more thing, the healing that Jesus performed for the woman with the
flow of blood should not cause us to distrust doctors. Usually, God employs
doctors to work his cures. Saint Martin de Porres, who treated many sick people
with his knowledge of herbs and plants, used to say that he only cared for the
sick; it was God who healed them. Let us benefit from the knowledge of doctors
while praying to God. He not only can grant us healing of the body but in time
will raise us from the dead as he did with Jesus.
