May we have the grace to realise in today's Eucharistic celebration that God is the author, source and sustainer of human life, may we by his grace live a life of faith in him so that our human life will one day merit eternity in his heavenly kingdom.
DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Wisdom 1,13-15; 2,23-24; 2 Cor 8,7.9.13-15; Mark 5, 21-43: 13th Sunday of Year B, June 27, 2021)
Today the liturgy offers us in the first reading, taken from the book of Wisdom, a general perspective on death and life, good and evil. The Gospel corresponds to this reading, because it shows Jesus as the source of life: he not only heals a woman suffering from haemorrhage with a simple contact, but also raised a dead girl to life. In the second reading, Paul speaks to the Corinthians about the collection made for the poor of the Church of Jerusalem.
The book of Wisdom does not hesitate to say that God did not create death. Death does not come from God, but entered the world out of the devil’s envy. Indeed, in the book of Genesis, at the creation of all things by God, each time it is repeated, like a little refrain this expression: And God saw that what was created was good (Gen 1,10.12.18.21.25.31). Therefore, creation, the work of God, is good. God is the source of life, the source of good, and his intention is always positive. The book of Wisdom states: The creatures of the world are healthy, in them there is no poison of death. But the devil partially ruined this work of God with temptation and sin, and, therefore, death. In his letter to the Romans Paul affirms: Sin has entered the world, and with sin death (Rom 5,12). God's intention in creating man was positive: Yes, God has created man for immortality; he did it in the image of his own nature. God created man in his image, that is, he created him for immortality, to be associated forever with his blessed divine life: a life of total love, a life in which there is nothing bad. The book of Wisdom declares that justice is immortal; therefore, the underworld does not reign on earth.
In the Gospel, Jesus shows himself in full harmony with this divine intention. He came into the world to do the will of the Father, which is a will of salvation, life and love. Jairus, the head of the synagogue, goes to him, because his little daughter is at the ends. She prays to him insistently: Come and place your hands on her so that she may be healed and live. He recognises the source of life in Jesus. Immediately Jesus, with an extraordinary availability, accepts to go with him to his home. Mark, who gives us a very lively and realistic description of this episode reports that a great crowd followed him and huddled around him. Among this crowd there is a woman who has been suffering from haemorrhage for twelve years and who has suffered a lot at the hands of many doctors and – Mark adds, with a certain irony - has spent all her possessions without any advantage, she was even getting worse. It deals with, therefore, of a woman who suffers from a truly persistent disease and cannot be eradicated. She has heard of Jesus, his goodness and mercy, and also of its power. Then she has the desire to take advantage of his goodness and power. Therefore, in the midst of the crowd, she approaches him. According to the Jew’s mentality, this woman is in a state of impurity. Haemorrhage, in fact, like any other loss of blood, was considered by the Jews to be impurity, which is transmitted to anyone who is touched by the sick person. This woman dares to touch Jesus' cloak, despite Moses' law that forbids contact with other people in such a case of blood flow. She thinks: If I can even touch his cloak, I will be healed. This woman demonstrates great faith, bold faith, which does not seek any external manifestation, but is content with a simple touch. And in fact, after touching Jesus's cloak, she feels in her body that she was healed. Jesus becomes aware of this touch; he turns to the crowd and asks: Who touched my cloak? Jesus does not want to perform a miracle that is, as it were, automatic/ anonymous but he wants to establish personal contact with those who receive it. This is very important: miracles are occasions of contact with Jesus, of explicit faith, and, therefore, not only physical healing, but also spiritual. The disciples say to Jesus: You see the crowd that is gathering around you and you say: Who touched me?. But Jesus knows what he says: he is not referring to just any touch, but to a special touch, which has caused the emanation of a spiritual force capable of healing. The frightened, trembling woman throws herself in front of him and tells the whole truth; She confessed to having touched him despite her state of impurity. Jesus then says to her: Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your evil. Thus Jesus establishes a personal contact with this woman, confirms her faith and its positive effect and makes her go in peace with the profound joy of having had contact with Jesus, and, therefore, being healed not only physically, but also spiritually. Meanwhile some friends of the synagogue leader come to tell him: Your daughter is dead. Why do you still disturb the Master? Jairus had asked Jesus for the healing of his daughter; but now it is no longer necessary to ask for it. After the girl's death, people think that Jesus cannot do anything. Jesus, on the other hand, is sure of being able to intervene and asks Jairus only to have faith: Not to fear, only have faith! These words are very important to us. When we have difficulties, when it seems that the Lord does not want to intervene, when we do not see the solution to a problem, we must listen to Jesus who tells us: Do not be afraid, just continue to have faith. Difficulties must be occasions for progress in faith, and not for renouncing faith and hope. Thus, Jesus continues his journey to Jairus’ house and when he arrives he sees hustle and bustle and people crying and screaming. This is the way of expressing grief and pain in the middle East of Jesus’ time. But Jesus says to the people: Why are you making so much noise and weeping? The child is not dead, but she is asleep. For Jesus, death is like sleep, and he is able to awaken someone from such sleep. On the other hand, Jesus does not want to arouse extraordinary enthusiasm for his miraculous action; he wants to intervene with great goodness and generosity, but does not seek success/self-notice. This is constant in his behaviour. In all the Gospels, and particularly, that of Mark, he asks those who have obtained an important grace not to talk about it, not to spread the news. After having sent everyone out, Jesus takes only the child’s father, mother with him and the three apostles who accompanied him: Peter, James and John. He enters the girl's room, takes the girl's hand and simply says to her, in Aramaic: Talita kum! which means: Girl, get up! At these words of Jesus, the little girl gets up and starts to walk. Everyone is amazed. Only Jesus remains calm, and insistently recommends that no one should know about this miracle. Then he again shows his kindness and concern towards the child, ordering to give her something to eat. Maybe, people don't think about it, because they were amazed by the miracle, but Jesus is also concerned with these simple but essential things in life. In this episode we can observe how it manifests itself – in a lively, but also very spontaneous way - the power of life that it emanates from Jesus. The miracles have been told so that we, truly, have faith in Jesus’ power. He is the source of life: not only of physical life, but also, and above all, of spiritual one, of life created in the image of God, as Genesis portrays. Our existence must not be concerned only with material needs, but, to be fully a gift of God, it must also manifest spiritual aspects of faith, hope and charity.
In the second reading, Paul invites the Corinthians to be generous, in participating in the collection organised for the poor of the Jerusalem Church. The Jerusalem community was poor. We know that in the year preceding that in which Paul wrote this letter there had been famine, which had exhausted all the resources of the people, and the Church was in trouble. Paul takes the initiative to organise a collection, which must also have the purpose of forging stronger ties between the Churches that have come from paganism and the mother church of Jerusalem, consisting of Jews. In his exhortation the Apostle shows shrewdness and ingenuity in carrying out this initiative of his. He begins by congratulating the Corinthians: You mark yourselves in everything, in faith, in word, in science, in every zeal and in the charity that we have taught you. Since they are excellent in everything, they must also be excellent in this generous work. Then Paul reminds the Corinthians of Christ 's example: You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: from the rich place he was, he became poor for you, so that you became rich through his poverty. Jesus was rich: as the Son of God, he possessed all wealth; but he made himself poor for us, that is, he accepted to assume the condition of a servant (cf. Philippians 2,7) so that we would become rich through his poverty. If we want to acquire the richness of Christ, we must follow him in his way of poverty. It is not possible to obtain the richness of Christ immediately or automatically, but it is necessary to follow the paradoxical path traced by Christ, the way of poverty, understood as a condition of true charity, in order to become partakers of his spiritual, divine richness..
Paul then gives the Corinthians some very balanced advice: This does not mean that to give relief to others you ought to make things difficult for yourselves; it is a question of balancing what happens to be your surplus now against their present need, and one day they may have something to spare that will supply your own need. In this way an exchange is established, sharing of goods - material and spiritual. In this way a very real brotherly union is achieved, and everyone grows in charity. To support his argument, the Apostle quotes a passage from the book of Exodus concerning manna: The man who gathered much had none too much, the man who gathered little did not go short. God wants a certain equality; he does not want there to be rich who have so many superfluous things, and poor who lack everything. He wants us to share what we have, and live ever more fully in his love. We also welcome this teaching of Paul, which completes the vision of faith that is given to us by today's Gospel. +John I. Okoye
(garphics by Chukwubike)
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