Last weekend we witnessed the mighty power of Jesus as he calmed a mighty storm at sea and how he challenged his disciples to place their trust in him. In this week’s gospel, Jesus takes on sickness and death and challenges all present to place their trust in him. He says: “fear is useless, what is needed is trust.”

While God in his infinite wisdom allows sickness and death to touch our lives and even ravage them, it should be clear from today’s first and third readings that God is not on the side of sickness and death but on the side of health and life. In our first reading today, we hear these words:

God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living
. . . God formed man to be imperishable. . .
But by the envy of the devil death
entered the world
and those who belong in his company experience it.

In today’s gospel we have a concrete sign of God at work in Jesus showing himself to be very much on the side of life and wellness. The gospel dovetails two stories, both filled with emotion.

Jairus, a leader at the synagogue comes pleading to Jesus. He falls at the feet of Jesus. This demanded much courage, humility and vulnerability. As a leader of the Synagogue, you can be sure that Jairus’ peers did not want him to go to Jesus. After all Jesus was regarded as a heretic. They may have begged him not to go see Jesus. This may also be true of his family. Notice no one came to Jesus with Jairus. He came alone. Falling at the feet of Jesus also demanded humility and vulnerability. If we are proud people and tend to keep our feelings in tight check, we would have a very difficult time coming to someone and falling down at their feet begging them to help us. But if we are really hurting we may surprise ourselves at what we would be willing to do. This is especially true when the one in need is “daddy’s little girl”.

As we read this part of today’s Gospel, we may be led to remember in prayer parents who daily deal with the heavy burden of a sick child who may have some incurable disease. Many such parents are wonderful people. The demands on their lives are extreme. Let us also remember in prayer parents who have lost a child in an accident or through sickness, war or hunger.

The woman with a long term illness

Jesus agrees to go to Jairus’ house. As he travels a large crowd follows him. Among them was a nameless woman who had a bleeding problem for twelve years. She went to every doctor in town. None could help her. Jesus may have been her last chance, It seems the woman was ashamed of her condition. She did not want a face to face encounter with Jesus. She thought “If only I could touch the hem of his garment, I would be healed.” It was a common belief in those days that touching the clothes of a holy man could bring a healing.

The woman thought she could touch Jesus, get cured and go back to her life. Jesus had other plans. He wanted to encounter her face to face. He wanted a relationship. Sometimes people come to Jesus for help, get what they wanted and return to life without in any way changing their relationship with God.. For Jesus the greatest of all cures is the healing of our relationship with God. The worst disease is the disease of sin that wounds our soul and relationship with God, the wound that leads us to believe God does not love us or care about us. You can imagine how easy it would be for a person with a long term illness to believe God doesn’t love them and care about them.

“Who touched me?”

After the woman touched him, Jesus felt ‘power leave him’. People involved in the healing ministry often say how draining it is physically, emotionally and spiritually. Reflecting on today’s Gospel, Fr. Flor McCarthy writes: “Healing can be exhausting and painful for the healers. The healing act itself is often an occasion of suffering. We can’t take away suffering without somehow to some degree entering into it, if only by listening to the pain of the sufferer.”

In response to Jesus’ question about who touched him, the disciples say: “Master, everyone is touching you”. But Jesus is really asking: ‘Who touched me with faith? Who came believing in my power to heal.’ Jesus’ power and the woman’s faith combined to heal the woman.

Sometimes Catholic preachers like to connect this story with the sacraments. As Catholics we believe and teach that sacraments are not empty rituals but encounters with the living Christ. Our challenge is to come to the sacraments with the faith of the nameless woman in today’s gospel. Our challenge is to believe that in the celebration of a sacrament, Jesus is reaching out to us to touch our lives in some way. We may not feel his touch, but in and through faith we should believe he has come to us with his healing mercy, strength etc.

After the woman faced Jesus, she fell down before him in homage. He said to her “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace . . “ We can be sure the woman’s life was forever changed physically and spiritually. If she had gotten away with out encountering Jesus face to face, she may have been healed physically but not spiritually. There was also a social dimension to her healing. Because of her blood problems, the woman was considered ritually unclean and not allowed to actively participate in Synagogue services. Now she was restored to the community. Many people with a severe illness often experience social isolation. This has to be a great cross to bear especially for those who are extraverts and love to be with people.

In the meantime back at the ranch . . .

After healing the woman, people from Jairus’ house came and delivered the devastating news: “Your daughter has died.” One thinks of thousands of people who must hear those words daily “Your loved one has died.”

But the bearers of the bad news had no idea that Jesus was going to demonstrate his power over death. As he went he challenged Jairus to have faith. When he arrives at the house, he chases out all the mourners and chases death out of the little girl. Those who moments earlier ridiculed Jesus for saying the little girl was only asleep, now have egg all over their face. Now they are “utterly astounded” at the healing power of Jesus.

Both stories not only manifest the power of God over sickness and death, but they also call us to place our faith in Jesus. One wonders what stops us from placing our total trust in Someone who can quiet a huge storm, heal where medicine had miserably failed and raise a dead child to life. What could keep us from totally placing our trust in such a person? I’m not sure. But my guess is fear - fear of letting go, fear of loosing control, even though the control we think we have is a big illusion. Everything we have could be taken from us at any moment of the day - health, loved ones etc.

A final point on the gospel. It is important to notice that both Jairus and the woman sought out Jesus. They didn’t just sit at home and wait for a miracle to happen. Both took an assertive posture to resolve their predicament.

St. Paul’s Collection: Supporting the Missions and Peter’s Pence

Reaching out beyond our own parish is a tradition going back to Apostolic times. In our readings today, Paul is organizing a special second collection amongst the Corinthians to help the poor in Jerusalem. He gives some powerful reasons why the Corinthians should participate in the collection.

· Be generous as Jesus has been generous to you. He gave his life for us that we might enjoy eternal life. Giving of our time, treasure and talent to others is the most concrete way we can express gratitude to God for his blessings to us. It is one thing to say “Thank you, thank you Lord for health, family, financial blessings” etc. But, I believe that the ‘thank you’ that will most impress the Lord is a generous sharing of our blessings. It is one very concrete way for us to LIVE Eucharist - which means to give thanks.

· The second reason Paul gives has to do with equality. It is not God’s plan that some of his children live in great wealth while others live in great poverty. Paul says: “Your abundance at this present time should supply their needs, so that their abundance may also supply your needs”. In others words, it only makes sense that those who have more than enough should share with those who have less than enough. Paul reminds us that we who live in abundance may one day have the tables turned on us. Someday we may be the needy ones. Paul is asking us to bring about a time where abundance and need meet common ground, where people have neither too much nor too little.