Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 28, 2015 - 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Wis 1:13-15, 2:23-24; 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35-43 ,95]"My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may geet well and live. " "If I but touch his clothes, I shallbe cured." [Mark]
Healing is one of the trademarks of Jesus' ministry. This means more than curing an illness. It means the restoration of an individual to life with others. The healing of the little girl, Tabitha, restores her to her anxious father, Jairus, and all her family. The healing of the woman with hermorrhages, which would have made her "unclean" and isolated her from ordinary community relationships, restores her to relationships. In both stories, the anxiety and desperation of the petitioners is easily felt. Many parents in the Beloved Congregation would know the anxiety over a sick child. Others will know of illness that does not seem to get better or a disability that is rapidly becoming permanent. In both cases in today's gospel, it is faith in Jesus that results in a healing.
It can be a very useful, if not discomforting, thing to come to terms with our own reaction to human suffering, whether it be our own or that of others. Notice in both stories that the "crowd" acts as a deterrent to Jesus' response. He ignores their comments, to the benefit of Tabitha and the lady suffering from hemorrhages. Who are we in this picture? Are we Jairus, desperate for our child? Are we the suffering lady who has lost her resources and hope? Is Jesus our "last resort" or our first one? Do we tend to think of "health care" as a kind of commodity instead of healing suffering human beings? Are we in a crowd that politicizes this and thinks of it only in terms of money? Human suffering raises many uncomfortable questions, but Jesus' response is to heal. What is ours? AMEN