June 30 2024. Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
GOSPEL Mark 5:21-43
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .
GOSPEL Mark 5:21-43
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat
to the other side,
a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
"My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live."
He went off with him,
and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
There was a woman afflicted with haemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd
and touched his cloak.
She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured."
Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,
turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?"
But his disciples said to Jesus,
"You see how the crowd is pressing upon you,
and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'"
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her,
approached in fear and trembling.
She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you.
Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."
While he was still speaking,
people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said,
"Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?"
Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
"Do not be afraid; just have faith."
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official,
he caught sight of a commotion,
people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them,
"Why this commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead but asleep."
And they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out.
He took along the child's father and mother
and those who were with him
and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum,"
which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!"
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this
and said that she should be given something to eat.
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
SHORTER HOMILY
The first reading from Wisdom tells us that God creates man for incorruptible life. The Gospel for Sunday begins with the statement that Jesus “crossed to the other side”. This is always a reference to the Passover, to redemption, and, in fact, the text tells the story of two women – both of whom are redeemed from death to life by their encounter with Jesus. Jesus is asked to lay his hands on the sick daughter of Jairus. This laying on of hands is usually an act of fatherhood, an act of bestowing the inheritance upon the children. Jesus agrees to go and in the meantime a woman who has haemorrhaged for twelve years touches his mantle. According to the rabbinic law, this woman with her loss of blood should not touch anyone. So we have two women, one who cannot be a mother because of her loss of blood, and the other who cannot become a mother because she dies on the threshold of maturity. How many young people struggle to become mature adults! How many adults struggle to have the capacity to be mature parents! Jesus comes to heal femininity, masculinity, fecundity, the capacity to be channels of life. All of us need to be visited by grace to bring to completion our capacity for maternity and paternity! There are many particulars in this passage regarding redemption, life and healing. Let us not attend the liturgy on Sunday to perform a ritual! Instead, let us approach the Lord to touch his mantle, and to be touched by him. Jesus can heal our haemorrhages and our illness if we allow him, but we look everywhere else to have solutions to our incompleteness! In this passage we see that many doctors failed to heal the woman, whilst the girl was not saved by the fact that her father was an official of the synagogue. All of our religious efforts and human science will never be able to heal us. What saves us is the fact that Christ has come. Jesus says to the girl, “Little girl, I tell you, arise!” Jesus calls all of us to life. Sometimes, we need permission or encouragement from someone in order to go ahead. When a parent has faith is his child, that trust helps them to grow. Christ shows similar faith in us and says to each one of us, “Arise!” permitting us to escape from our supressed and fearful existences. Within us there is something incomplete or unresolved, so long as we look within ourselves or to the world for permission to be. But Christ himself is saying to each one of us, “Arise!” As the first reading says, God created humanity for life, not for death.
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