THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

[cappie]

 God, who formed us in his imperishable image, did not intend for us to die, we hear in today’s First Reading. Death entered the world through the devil’s envy and Adam and Eve’s sin; as a result, we are all bound to die.

But in the story with Jairus in today’s Gospel, we see Jesus liberate a little girl from the possession of death.

First, we are introduced to Jairus, a leader of the synagogue, who emerges from the crowd that meets Jesus as he disembarks from a boat. Jairus approaches Jesus, falls before him, and begs him to heal his little daughter. While a large crowd follows Jesus and presses in on every side, he begins to accompany Jairus to his home.

Soon, another person emerges from the crowd. She is not there to ask for the healing of another but rather to seek it for herself.  

She has tried everything. She has done everything money can buy.   Despite all she has been through, something in her believes, trusts, even expects that if she simply reaches out and touches the edge of Jesus’ cloak, she will be healed.  All she wants is to touch his cloak and then slip away, unnoticed yet healed. She comes up behind him and reaches for his hem. She immediately feels healing within her. She might have escaped through the crowd, except that Jesus feels the exchange as well.  He asks “Who touched me?” The disciples are befuddled and Jairus is likely impatient, but Jesus is insistent.

 The woman steps forward and shares her story with Jesus and in front of the crowd. Jesus responds, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

 She felt she had to acquire her healing by making as little commotion as possible. By stopping and inviting her to tell her story, Jesus encourages the woman to see that not only is she worthy of healing but also that she offers the crowd a witness of deep faith, persistence, and courage.  

  He and Jairus are soon on their way again, despite other people saying that hope for the daughter’s life is already lost. Jesus enters the home, gathers with the young girl’s parents and loved ones, and invites her to get up and walk around. She is healed, and they are all overcome with amazement.

We are called to have the same faith as the parents in the Gospel today — praying for our loved ones, trusting in Jesus’ promise that even death cannot keep us apart. Notice the parents follow him even though those in their own house tell them there is no hope, and even though others ridicule Jesus’ claim that the dead have only fallen asleep

Both of these stories contain amazing healing but also persistent hope. The woman has exhausted everything she has—her finances, her options—but hope emboldens her to reach out her hand, even when her body and her finances are depleted.

Jairus is told not to bother the teacher any longer, that his daughter has already died. But he and Jesus carry on, continuing to the house to see her. Hope moves his feet, carries him forward.

There is desperation in both of these stories, but hope is stronger.   And it is clear in both stories that to hope is to know something about who Jesus is. In their different ways, both Jairus and the woman reach out to Jesus in hope because they know who he is. To hope is to rest in the assurance that Jesus desires healing, wholeness, and fullness of life for all of God’s children.

Healing—physical, emotional, societal—takes place in many different ways. To seek healing is to hope for more wholeness, to believe that it is possible. In Christ, we believe such wholeness is not only possible but also desired by the One who created us and loves us.

 To follow Christ is to know and to be encouraged that God desires healing. God desires fullness of life, peace, and wholeness. 

   Already in Baptism, we’ve been raised to new life in Christ. And the Eucharist, like the food given to the little girl today, is the pledge that he will raise us on the last day.