THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
1 JULY 2018
Last
week, a 14 year old parishioner was killed in a senseless accident. He was a well-liked and respected young man
connected with many others through our parish and sports. The outpouring of support and love for Nolan’s
family was incredible. But, his death
raised many questions about our trust in God’s providence. Many asked the question: was his death part of God’s plan? Even if it was not part of God’s plan, why
did a loving God allow it?
The first
reading from the Book of Wisdom gives us some guidance in answering these
questions. The Book of Wisdom states
very clearly that “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the
destruction of the living.” The author
reminds us of the truth found in the Book of Genesis. God created us in his image. God intended us to be imperishable. Death was caused by the envy of the devil and
by the disobedience of our first parents.
They believed his lies and separated themselves from God. And that is what death is: a separation not caused by God, but by our
sinful rejection of God.
The two
miracles in today’s Gospel reveal God’s plan to destroy death in the person of
his Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.
Whenever Jesus teaches by the sea in Mark’s Gospel, he reveals something
about himself to the large crowds gathered to listen. Both miracles involve women. One is a daughter of an upper class and
influential synagogue leader. The other
is an anonymous woman without resources.
In both cases, the number twelve is significant. The daughter of Jairus is twelve years
old. The woman has been suffering from
hemorrhages for twelve years. Both women
represent God’s people: the twelve
tribes of Israel. In both cases, there
is the pain of separation. The twelve
year old girl is separated from her family by physical death. The woman is separated from society, because
the flow of blood makes her ritually impure and excluded from society. In both cases, the situation is
hopeless. The daughter has died. The woman has exhausted her finances trying
to find a cure.
Jesus
marches boldly into both situations, where he encounters a deep faith. Jairus trusts that Jesus can save his
daughter by laying his hands on her. The
woman trusts that that the one she had heard about can save her. In both situations, Jesus moves beyond the
restrictions of the Law of Moses and shows that it has been fulfilled. Jesus risks ritual impurity by touching the
woman with hemorrhages and by touching the body of a dead person. In raising the girl from the dead, Jesus
prefigures his own victory over death in the resurrection. In healing the woman, he shows the power of
his death and resurrection to free us from the separation that comes from sin.
Jesus gives
strict orders that no one should know about raising the girl from the dead,
because the miracle will only draw attention to himself. The miracle will make sense after his own
death and resurrection to those who have come to believe in him. Then he orders them to give her something to
eat.
We are
among those who have come to believe in him.
We will eat and drink at this Mass, where the mystery of his death and
resurrection is made present here. Like
Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage, we believe that Jesus Christ has
destroyed the power of sin and death. We
entered into the dying of Christ in the waters of Baptism. We emerged one with him when we came out of the
watery font. We trust that our union
with him will not be destroyed by physical death. We trust that our life will be changed at the
end of our earthly life, not ended. Our
task is to remain connected with the person of Jesus Christ and live our
baptismal promises. This is the message
that grieving people need to hear. It is
the message all of us need to hear, because we all live in the shadow of death.
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