Reaching out for Jesus.

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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.

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages 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 him,
“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.

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There are two layers to be uncovered in today’s Gospel: there’s the reality of human suffering, and beneath it, the invitation to faith. 

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It begins with Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter, who’s near the point of death. Jesus is on his way to heal her, when suddenly a woman reaches out and touches the tassel of his cloak.

Shocked at feeling power go out of him, Jesus stops, wasting precious time to find out who did it. Relieved, the woman steps forward admitting her desperate act of faith.

Meanwhile, the crowds inform Jesus that Jairus’ daughter has died. What good can be done now?

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Consider the dramatic difference in faith between this woman and the sea of humanity surrounding Jesus.

While hundreds – if not thousands – of people bumped into Jesus as he was walking, this woman touched him. Her faith allowed her to receive Jesus’ divine power and thus a dramatic healing.

I’m sure many others were either sick or sinful, but they didn’t receive what they wanted from him because they lacked what she had: faith.

This begs the question: How often do we bump into Jesus, as opposed to touching him?

Every time we listen to the Gospel, receive communion, pray, or even say his name, we make contact with the Lord.

But is it half-conscious contact? Or, like this woman, is it driven by a faith that is desperate to receive the grace that flows from the Lord?

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“Ask and you shall receive,” Jesus says. “Seek and you will find.”

We may add, reach, and receive what God has prepared for you today.

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Image credits: (1) Denise Marks Blog, WordPress (2) The Encounter Chapel at Mandala, Galilee (3) “Faith,” by Yongsung Kim