The Gospel reading for this Sunday deals with two seemingly impossible situation. The woman afflicted with hemorrhages has struggled with her condition for twelve years. She has given all her money to doctors, who have not only not helped her, but her illness has gotten worse. In the context of Israelite culture, her situation would also result in social isolation. Israelites were very cautious when the membrane between the body and the external world was compromised or when people had discharges of blood or uncontrolled flow of bodily fluids. In those situations, the Mosaic Law would require that the person suffering from the condition be considered ritually impure and the person in question would have to isolate from the community for certain periods of time.
Since the woman in today’s Gospel passage has had the condition for twelve years, she has not had any respite from her social seclusion. Nevertheless, she braves going among people despite the rules in order to find healing. She believes that if she could at least touch even the garment of Jesus, she would be cured. Her decision to touch Jesus is, in her cultural context, a very bold choice. She is considered ritually unclean, and by touching Jesus, she would make him ritually unclean too, just when he is on the way to the house of the synagogue official to tend to his sick daughter. If her action were to be found out and Jesus would share in her ritual uncleanness, he would, according to the law, not be allowed to enter the house of the official himself.
But the woman doesn’t care. She is desperate to receive healing. Her desire to get well overrides every other consideration and she has faith in the power of Jesus. In the end, she is rewarded for her faith with physical healing and also with a connection with Jesus, who praises her faith. Her faith resolves her seemingly impossible predicament.
The second situation in the Gospel reading for this Sunday seems even more impossible. The daughter of the synagogue official succumbs to her illness and dies. But Jesus shows that nothing is impossible for God. He disregards the daughter’s death, calling it only sleep, and then restores the little girl to life. He shows his divine power over life and death.
As we struggle with our own seemingly impossible situations, do we truly have faith in God’s power? Do we truly believe that God is all-powerful, who can overcome every obstacle, even ones that defy our human imagination? Do we have the faith and determination of the woman in the Gospel passage?
At the same time, we must also remember that our ultimate home is not in this world but in the hereafter. If we accept God’s grace in our lives, God will solve all of our problems. But the solution may not come in this life. The final resolution will come in the next life, where we will have eternal peace, measureless joy, and complete fulfillment. The miracles of today’s Gospel passage point toward that heavenly reality. The woman receives physical healing. The girl receives her earthly life back. While these are wonderful gifts, they are merely a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate gift for those who accept his love – heavenly glory, where we enjoy eternal life, imbued with absolute joy, free of all suffering or harm.
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The readings for Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B are:
Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24
Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13
2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43
The full text can be found at the USCCB website.
Photo Credit: Jesus and Child, AI generated art using NightCafe by Zoltan Abraham.