Today’s gospel presents to us two powerful and moving healing miracle stories: the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus and the healing of the woman suffering from hemorrhages. We can enter into the heart of the stories and the message of evangelist Mark by looking at the key personalities.
First, we have Jairus, a synagogue official. When the Gospel mentions the name of a person, it tells us that this person is important. Without a doubt, he must have been a person of some considerable importance. Biblical scholars are saying that he was the administrative head of the synagogue, responsible for the good management of the synagogue, including the allocation of duties and making sure that those duties were carried out with all seemliness and good order. He was one of the most important and most respected persons in the community. As a high official of the Jewish institution, there can be no doubt that he must have regarded Jesus as a threat to the institution that he was trying to protect. He must have seen Jesus before as a dangerous heretic, as one to whom the synagogue doors were rightly closed, but in the hour of need and love for his daughter, he abandoned his prejudices and threw himself at the feet of Jesus, begging Jesus to visit and lay his hands on his daughter. What Jairus did was huge; he was practically saying, “I don’t care about my reputation, I know that after this you will ridicule me because I believe in this guy whom we consider a heretic and an enemy of our institution.” Was this an act of desperation to save his daughter? Probably. You know as parents that when it is our family that is at stake, especially our children, we will do everything possible to make sure that they are safe and protected. But, more than just an act of desperation, it was surely an act of faith for we know that during those times there were also other healers floating around. Here was a man who forgot everything – his position, his honor, reputation, pride - except that he wanted the help of Jesus and, because of that forgetfulness, he would remember forever that Jesus is Savior. I wonder if after that display of faith, if he was able to keep his job in the synagogue. He might have lost everything that the world was offering him at that time because of his demonstration of deep faith, but he also gained everlasting life.
Jairus did this because he deeply loved his daughter. What a parent would do for the sake of his children! We were told in the story that the girl was twelve years old. According to Jewish custom, a girl becomes a woman at twelve years and one day. The daughter of Jairus was just on the threshold of womanhood, and for her not to experience that is very tragic to a parent. This tells us that she was at a crucial moment of her life. What Jesus did was to give her a second chance to live her life. When everyone else have given up already, her relatives telling her father not to bother Jesus anymore because she was already dead, Jesus tells her, “Talitha koum” – Little child, I command you arise.” The more literal translation for this in English is “Little Lamb, arise.” It’s a command of love, gentleness and caress when everyone else around her was filled with grief, a heavy heart and hopelessness. How many times do we find ourselves and other people saying, “he or she is hopeless or that I am hopeless; that person is beyond redemption or I am beyond redemption because of something that I have done in the past or am doing at the present.” I hope we have “Jairuses” in our lives who would do everything possible to plead for us before God so that we might be given the grace of a new opportunity to make it better and experience new life. And, even if we do not have personal advocates like Jairus, Jesus wants to take us out from our tombs and commands us with the same life-giving words, “Talita koum” – Little lambs, arise – arise from your miseries, from the shackles of sin and death.” Are there people in our lives right now that we can be “Jairus”, an advocate for others who are in need of God’s healing and compassion?
The other story, which is inserted within the story of Jairus, was about the woman suffering from hemorrhages or bleeding for 12 years. We were told that she tried everything to find a cure, went to every doctor until all her resources were depleted. Aside from her physical suffering, she was also suffering from a societal stigma. During the time of Jesus, this kind of sickness rendered the person ritually unclean as well which means, because of her condition, she was not allowed to participate in the synagogue or any public worship. In short, she was shunned and ostracized by her community and family. She was all alone. The description of “12 years” of suffering is highly symbolic. 12 is a perfect number in the scriptures which means that she was suffering for a very, very long time already. Here was a woman who came to Jesus as a last resort, having tried every other cure that the world had to offer—she finally tried Jesus. So many people seek the help of Jesus because they have reached their wit’s end — Jesus was the last resort. In my own pastoral ministry, I have seen people who have battled with lots of temptations and sinful pursuits until they reached their breaking point and realized in the end that it is only God who can really rescue or completely heal them. No other remedies or doctors can provide the peace and serenity that that the heart longs for. Our society is very much in this situation. People have tried and are trying to explore and push the limits of our exercise of freedom – redefining what God has originally established like the sanctity of human life and marriage; playing gods; thinking other remedies or alternatives will heal and provide us with the happiness and joy that our hearts ultimately long for – but, just like the woman in the Gospel, still end up frustrated and finding themselves in a much worst situation. The woman in the Gospel explored everything, everything possible. What else does humanity need to explore or try more until we all realize our sublime dignity as created in the image and likeness of God; therefore, it is only by living the truth of who we are, according to God’s design, that we can only be found whole, joyful and contented? Do we have to reach the very bottom, like this woman, in order to finally cry out to God, “Lord, save me”? I hope not. But, the thing is, even if people are driven to Christ by the force of circumstances, God will never send us away empty. Are there things in our lives right now that we still have some reservations to place completely in God’s hands because we still want to explore other options or remedies? God is just waiting for us to “to touch his garment”, and like the woman, we can do so even in secret without the cynical and judgmental eyes of others. We just have to touch his garment and power will come out of Jesus! – Fr. Cary