13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
Faith
A little girl dressed in her Sunday best, was running as fast as she could trying not to be late to CCD. As she ran she prayed, “Dear Lord, don’t let me be late! Please Lord, don’t let me be late!” While she was running and praying, she tripped and fell, getting her clothes dirty and tearing her beautiful dress. She got up, brushed herself off, and starting running again. As she ran, again she began to pray, “Dear Lord, please don’t let me be late…. But please don’t shove me either.”
Well it seems like that little girl really didn’t need a push from God, she was getting there under her own power with the faith that she would make it to CCD on time despite the challenge of her mishap. Faith, something that was also common for the women in today’s gospel reading. Faith that Jesus could heal them despite the situation or circumstance.
Within the gospel, we actually have two stories of healing, the healing of the hemorrhaging woman and the little girl that died. What these two intertwined stories demonstrate is Jesus’ loving response to faith filled actions and his divine power over human frailty and sickness. Both of these stories are connected by a common theme of faith. The faith that moves us as believers and in turn moves God. That’s right, getting God’s attention through faith moves God, moves God to respond with mercy. What these stores show us is that true faith is active not passive. Like these stories show, faith takes effort. It’s easy to sit around and think about or talk about faith but action is where the rubber meets the road.
The story of Jairus and his daughter is a story of faith, the faith that Jesus can heal. Now Jairus was a Jewish official, a powerful member of the religious establishment. Yet he humbled himself before Jesus and asked for an incredible favor. His 12 year old daughter was dying and he wanted Jesus to intervene and heal her. It is almost like this story had a tragic end, while on the way to Jairus’ house they got the news that the little girl had already died. Jesus is not met at the house with joy that He is there to heal but with the tears of those who were weeping for the dead girl. But Jarius’ steadfast faith is rewarded as Jesus shows that He is the master of life and death in restoring the young girl to life.
While Jesus was on the way to heal Jarius’ daughter, he passed a woman who was ill. She had been hemorrhaging, bleeding for 12 years. Suffering from a debilitating, chronic and embarrassing condition which had plagued her for as long as Jarius’ daughter’s life. She had greatly suffered, spent all of her funds, seen various doctors and tried everything to get cured. There she was at the end of her rope and on top of it all she was outcast by her own. In Jewish society of the day, women that had such a condition were considered unclean. If anyone were to even touch her, they too would be unclean. Any one who touched the woman would have to wash themselves and their clothing and were considered unclean until nightfall. Even the furniture she used was considered unclean. She was essentially excluded from community life.
The woman’s confidence in Jesus was crystal clear. She knew that just being in Jesus’ presence, touching Him would end cure her life of misery. But there was a very real problem with her touching Jesus’ cloak. By touching Jesus, she made Jesus unclean as well. For Jesus this created a dilemma, if He were to obey custom, He would need to leave the crowd, abandon His visit to Jarius’ house to cure the little girl, to wash himself and his clothing to become clean again in the eyes of Jewish society. But Jesus responded to the woman’s faith at the touch of His cloak by declaring that she was saved and her hemorrhage instantly cured. The message in this story is very clear; a person who trusts completely the in healing power of Jesus will be granted salvation.
Both the little girl and woman were seeking the same thing, they were looking to change to their worlds, from sickness to health and from death to life. They recognized that Jesus has the power to change the world. Jesus responds to them with no questions asked, no strings attached. Because it is God’s will that everyone should be saved. For the woman, her suffering is over. Her story of inspiration is for all who struggle with personal strife. As for the little girl, Jesus is there to help her desperate father. When the father is met with news of the little girl’s death, it is like the death of hope. But Jesus gives the father words of life: “Do not be afraid; only have faith.” Jesus transforms the father’s world of darkness into light. Jesus not only restored the little girl’s life, He showed us something about himself. Jesus is the Lord of life, revealing the mystery of the world to come – showing us that death is not the end.
These stories show us something about the sacramental life of the Church. The stories provide an example of healing, like the healing we experience in the Sacrament of Anointing the Sick. A Sacrament that involves an anointing for the forgiveness of sins and a strengthening in the time of serious illness or approaching death. Providing the grace of peace and courage to overcome difficulties that come with serious illness. In this Sacrament, we seek the Lord’s assistance for a healing of the soul and the body if it is God’s will.
But there is no magic zap of lighting that comes with this Sacrament, because as we saw in the gospel stories faith is a key. Without faith, there is no impact. The experience of a Sacrament is a unique kind of reality. It is not limited to the concrete data and objects of the daily world. At the same time, it is much more than imagination. It is a basic fact that we are human and we relate to the world by our senses. We evaluate things through our sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. But our capacity to fathom the aspects of God is limited. God can not be limited to human senses.
Just imagine this. A sparrow lands on the beach at Folsom Lake. The sparrow picks up a single grain of sand in its bill. Then the sparrow flies all the way to the planet Neptune. Then the sparrow flies back to earth. Now the sparrow continues to take every grain of sand, on every beach on the Earth to Neptune, one grain of sand at a time. This is equal to the first day of creation. Virtually impossible for us to fathom.
So a sacrament is a way to touch, feel and smell, the God that we are not capable of fully understanding. Sacraments provide a marker in time for our encounters with God. Sacraments are memory makers and memory shakers. They provide a reference point for our identity. Sacraments do this through symbols, which have an immediate and lasting effect. Sacraments are not magic, without faith there is no impact.
The use of touch in the gospel reading corresponds to the laying of hands in the Sacrament of Anointing the Sick. In faith, Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage approached Jesus. And with touch, the woman and little girl were healed. In those times of need when strength is needed, all we need to do is to step forward in faith and be healed. In simplicity and hope, remember the words that Jesus shared with Jairus – “do not be afraid, just have faith”.
