13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B); 6-27-2021

Wis 1:13-15,2:23-24.  Ps 30.  2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15.  Mk 5:21-43

Deacon Jim McFadden

            Today’s Gospel from Mark presents a beautifully crafted narrative, involving two miracles performed by Jesus, describing them as a march towards life.  Initially the Evangelist speaks about a certain Jarius, the leader of the local synagogue, who approaches Jesus and beseeches him to go to this home because his 12-year old daughter is dying.  The fact that a synagogue leader would do so was significant because the religious establishment was so much at odds with Jesus as they discredited him as a lawbreaker or unclean on account of  his contact with undesirables: e.g., public sinners, tax collectors, etc.  Jesus agrees; but, along the way, word arrives that the girl is already dead.  Any parent can appreciate the anguish the father must have felt when he heard the news.  But Jesus says to him, “Do not fear, only believe” (Mk 5:36b). How often have we heard this throughout the Bible?  Believe—trust in the Lord!  In all circumstances, no matter what life throws at you, especially at the moment of death, trust in the Lord.   Trust turns the terror of death into hope for Resurrected Life.

            Entering the house, Jesus sent away the mourners, who would be called upon when someone died.  These people would be audibly weeping and wailing loudly—think of the bizarre mourning scene in the ’60s movie, Zorba the Greek.  Jesus sends them away, not because they were causing a distraction, but because they were gripped by fear.  Only the immediate family and Jesus’ inner circle were allowed to go further because they had to have a certain level of faith to process what they were about to witness.  They must hold onto the love of God that make all things possible in the face of wailing and weeping.

            Then we have that intimate touch conveyed by Mark when “He took the child by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha Koun,’which means ‘Little girl, I say to you arise!” (v. 41).  And, she arises as if awakening from a deep sleep.

            Within this miracle, Mark inserts another episode: the healing of a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years.  She is healed as soon as she touches Jesus’ garment (cf. v. 27).  What is striking about this account is that this woman’s faith attracts her to the divine saving power of Jesus and she seems to have “robbed” Jesus of it because our Lord had the feeling that “power had gone forth from him” (v. 30a).  When Jesus turned around and asked “Who has touched my clothes?” (30b), the woman comes forward in “fear and trembling” and confesses the whole truth, he tells her: “Daughter, your faith has made you well” (v. 34). By calling her ‘daughter’, Jesus is addressing her true identity that gave her the courage to reach out for God’s love as it was manifesting itself in Jesus.  God’s love is for God’s children, and she is one of God’s children.  She is not cursed; she is not excluded; she is God’s beloved child.

            What connects these two stories is faith and they show Jesus is the wellspring of life, as the One who restores life to those who trust fully in him.  The two protagonists, the little girl’s father and the sick woman, are not disciples of Jesus,  yet they are satisfied through their faith.  They have faith in Jesus, which means that all are invited on the Lord’s path: no one should feel an intruder, an interloper or one who has no right because they don’t look like us, think like us, or don’t’ live like us.  To have access to Jesus’ heart, there is only one requirement: to feel the need for healing and to entrust yourself to him. 

            Brothers and sisters, we all are sinners which we acknowledge as Holy Mass begins when we say the Confiteor.  We all carry some sin, some dysfunction, some disorder in which our will is not yet aligned with our heavenly Father’s will.  So, we all need to be healed of something, of some sin, of some problem.  And, if we feel this, do we have faith in Jesus?  These are the two requirements in order to be healed, in order to have access to Jesus’ sacred heart: to feel the need for healing and to entrust ourselves to him.  Moreover, Jesus goes to discover these people among the crowd, which is why he asked “who touched me?”  He wanted to draw them out of their anonymity, to free them from their fear of living and of taking risks.  He does so with a look and a word and a tender touch which draws them back on the path of life after much suffering or humiliation. 

            These two episodes—a healing and a resurrection—share one core: faith.  The message is very clear, and can be summed up in one question: do we believe that Jesus can heal us and can raise us from the dead—spiritual and physical death?  The entire Gospel is written in the light of this faith: Jesus is Risen, he is alive, he is our contemporary.  He has conquered our dysfunction, our sin, our death and by his victory we will rise again just as Jarius’ daughter did. 

            This faith invited us to live in the certainty of the Resurrection:  Jesus is the Lord—He is God among us!  Jesus has power over evil and death, and he want to lead us to the fulness of life where we dwell within the house of his Father, where life reigns forever.  And there the People of God will meet again in the house of our Father, in the life that Jesus will give us.

            Jesus is the wellspring of life.  Those who acknowledge Jesus as Lord must acknowledge this and promote life—from womb to tomb—in every situation, in order that everyone, especially the weakest and most vulnerable, , experiences the love of God who frees and saves.  Amen.