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Gospel: Mk. 5: 21-40
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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Mark sandwiches two different stories of healing into this Gospel passage in order to represent all of humanity.
There’s Jairus’ daughter, who’s only twelve years old, and a woman who’s been hemorrhaging for the last twelve years.
The young girl represents every child who’s suffered, along with the pain of their parents. The older woman represents those who are aging, whose minds and bodies have grown weak under the slow pressure of time.
Two stories of suffering with varying degrees of faith.
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In the case of Jairus’ daughter, the crowds report to Jesus that she has died; there is nothing more that Jesus can do.
Meanwhile, the woman who’s been hemorrhaging for the last twelve years desperately touches the tassel of his cloak – and instantly, she’s healed.
This happens while the Lord is surrounded by a countless number of people – the sick, the sinful, and the sorrowful, all bumping into Jesus as he moves closer to Jairus’ home.
But this woman touches him in faith.
She needs neither Christ’s attention nor to touch his body; an anonymous brushing with the tassel of his cloak is enough. Suddenly, twelve years of misery are over.
Her faith made the Lord stop as he felt his healing power go out of him.
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As Christians, we’re in constant contact with Jesus. We listen to his Word, we receive Him in the Eucharist, we say his name in prayer.
But is it half-conscious contact like the crowds who bumped into Jesus on the way to Jairus’ home? Or do we touch him in faith like the woman who hemorrhaged for twelve years?
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“Daughter, your faith has saved you,” Jesus says to her.
May the Lord say the same of us, who for our own reasons reach for the tassel of his cloak.
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Image credits: (1) Driven Deep by Paul Moore, Facebook (2) Duc in Altum, Magdala (3) Pinterest