When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other shore. A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
Saint Augustine was one of the most prolific writers and thinkers the Church has ever known. Once he converted to Catholicism, he was unstoppable, teaching the Gospel in northern Africa with exceptional clarity and depth.
Before his conversion, however, Augustine had quite the storied life. He was known for having many guilty pleasures, one being his love for women, something he didn’t want to give up.
Around the time of his conversion, he’s famously quoted for saying, “Lord, make me celibate… Just not yet.”
***
Like some of us at times, Augustine wanted to do the Lord’s will. Just not yet.
The same is true for one of the figures in today’s Gospel. “Lord,” this person says, “I will follow you wherever you go…But let me first go and bury my father.”
“Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead,” Jesus says.
In other words, stop putting off the inevitable. “I have called you, and you are mine.”
***
In what ways am I hesitant to follow the Lord? Am I putting off doing what is right?
***
For example, COVID disrupted everyone’s routines – from school to work to gathering socially.
This is no less true spiritually. How many have put off returning to Mass – not because of fear, but because of sunny days, being busy, or lazy?
***
“I have called you,” Jesus says. “And you are mine.”
If we belong to the Lord, then we must do his will.
“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 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 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.
***
***
At some point in life, almost everyone wonders, “Why do people suffer?”
If God loves us, then why do we suffer?
***
Both stories in the Gospel today deal with faith in the midst of suffering.
There are two women who, together, represent all of humanity. There’s Jairus’ daughter, who’s only 12 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 all who are aging, whose bodies and minds are weakening, slowly breaking down.
Two stories of suffering with varying degrees of faith.
***
Jairus is a synagogue official, a man of wealth and status who can do anything but restore his daughter’s health.
Whatever attempts that have been made to save her life have proven futile, so he desperately falls at the feet of Jesus.
“My daughter is at the point of death,” he says. “Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.”
Jesus heads to Jairus’ home, while a large crowd presses in on him, curious to catch a miracle.
Jairus must’ve been filled with hope. His frantic plea has been heard. Jesus is on his way.
Suddenly the momentum disappears. Standing in the midst of the crowd, Jesus stops and says, “Who has touched my clothes?”
It seems like a ridiculous question. Why should Jesus worry about such a trivial matter? A young girl is on her deathbed! Time is of the essence.
But Jesus will not take another step until he finds an answer.
***
There are probably many reasons why Jesus stopped that day. One reason must’ve been this: to test the faith of Jairus and the crowds.
When reports surface of this little girl’s death, the skepticism of the crowd is revealed: “Your daughter has died,” they say to Jairus. “Why trouble the teacher any longer?”
“Do not be afraid,” Jesus says, “just have faith.”
Jesus wants everyone to mimic the faith of the woman who was hemorrhaging, who touched the tassel of his cloak and, miraculously, was healed.
***
If only it were so easy.
How many of us have felt like Jairus or the crowds? We hoped in the Lord, but had our faith pushed to the limits?
Maybe we’ve struggled to get it back.
What Jesus said of Jairus’ daughter might be said of us. “Why this commotion and weeping? Your faith is not dead but asleep.”
Sometimes the Lord tests our faith – as he tested theirs – only to re-awaken it.
***
***
Contrast our natural ability to doubt with this older woman, who breaks through barriers to merely touch Jesus.
Risking public embarrassment and making Jesus ritually impure, she barrels through the crowds, seeking only to touch the tassel of his cloak.
I’m sure many of us can recall such a moment in our lives, when we were desperate for God, frantically grasping for the tassel of his cloak.
Perhaps we received a malignant diagnosis, endured a period of heartbreak, or waited patiently for a door to open.
We needed to be healed, saved from our fears, saved from our uncertainty.
Maybe the Lord opened the door we wanted or gave us the healing we so desperately sought.
Or maybe he gave us the peace to accept a future different from what we had hoped.
Either way, like the woman in the Gospel today, we reached out for Jesus and power came out of him.
***
***
Mark sandwiches these stories to create an image for our own lives. Faith and doubt live in tension within us.
There are times when we doubt – even to the brink of despair like Jairus and the incredulous crowds – and there are times when our faith wins the day, like the woman who touches the tassel of Jesus’ cloak.
When we feel like Jairus, we must remember that, at times, the Lord tests our faith only to strengthen it.
As it’s written in the Letter of Saint James, “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2-3).
***
Wherever we may be on our journeys, whether our hearts are filled with doubt, faith, or a combination of both, may we all persevere.
***
***
Image credits: (1) International Business Times (2) The Raising of Jairus’ Daughter, Pinterest (3) Jeremy Winborg Art (4) Pin by monteil on Jesus, Pinterest (5) Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey, Wrentham, Massachusetts
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: “I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.”
God also said to Abraham: “On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.”
God further said to Abraham: “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples shall issue from him.” Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?” Then Abraham said to God, “Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!” God replied: “Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation. But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year.” When he had finished speaking with him, God departed from Abraham.”
The Word of the Lord.
***
***
Perhaps one of the most nerve-racking periods in a married couple’s life is when the wife first becomes pregnant.
Everything about their relationship changes; they are no longer two, but three. Perhaps a home office is painted powder blue; onesies and diapers are purchased in anticipation; sleeping habits are disrupted; finances are stretched.
Then there are the changes a woman experiences physically. Allowing another human being to grow inside her body is almost miraculous.
Enduring a nine-month pregnancy is not for the faint of heart.
***
Imagine being Abraham and Sarah in our first reading. They’re preparing to become first-time parents at an age when most of us would be retired…or somewhere over the rainbow!
Sarah is old and frail. Naturally, Abraham asks God, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?”
God’s promise seems so absurd that Abraham literally laughs out loud.
That slow, nine-month period of Sarah’s pregnancy would’ve been no less stressful for Abraham and Sarah than it is for a married couple today. Only they didn’t have the science, the medicine, or the technology that we do.
Once she conceived, Abraham and Sarah simply had to trust that her body – and the baby growing within – would endure to the end.
***
Though most of us – perhaps none of us – are pregnant, we’re all in different periods of waiting.
Some of us are waiting for a prayer to be answered; a door to be opened; a temptation to subside. Once we ask the Lord to help us, a seed is planted. A promise is made.
“Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith,” Jesus says, “you will receive.”
***
Unlike Abraham, who laughed at God’s promises, may we continue this day in faith.
***
***
Image credits: (1) The Funny Old Man, Pinterest (2) Portrait of Patriarch Abraham, Guercino (3) The Heaton File, God Made Her Laugh
