Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr B. June 30, 2024
Readings
1st: Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24
2nd: II Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15
Gospel: Mark 5:21-43
Theme: Don't Bemoan The Size Of Your Problem, Believe In The Power Of Your God
My dear people of God, today is Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr B. Our reflections would focus on the theme - That a Christian does not fret and talk/complain about how big a problem is, but how BIGGER a God he/she has. Both our First Reading and the Gospel of today point to the tragedy of death. Per the Jewish estimation, the sick girl in our gospel was just at the point of crossing into full womanhood - 12 years and a day, as prescribed by law. That was the basis of the growing anxiety and distress of the Synagogue official called Jairus. Matthew and Luke refer to him as ruler. As ruler of the Synagogue, Jairus was a person of considerable importance. His position gave him the right as administrative head in charge of the good management of the Synagogue. The ruler allocated duties and superintended the conduct of the temple service/worship. Such a vivid picture of a ruler of the Synagogue at the time of Jesus' public ministry tells you the amount of power Jairus held and excersied, and the respect and reverence he was accorded. He was a pillar of Jewish orthodoxy, one of those who despised and hated Jesus and, in fact, wished Him eliminated. However, in the stirring face of death, something amazing happened. Apparently, he came to Jesus after everything else had failed. No doubt, he had tried every kind of doctor and every kind of cure and only came to Jesus as a last resort. At this critical moment of sheer desperation, Jairus threw off his prejudices, forgot of his dignity, compromised the artificial pride of a ruler of his calibre and, perhaps, abandoned his friends, if he had any at all. A prejudiced mind shuts out a man from many blessings. Pride makes a man too big even for God to accommodate. There comes a time in life when a man has to forget about his dignity in order to save his life and soul. That was precisely what Jairus did when a tragedy (of death) was looming. Humility is not humiliation.
From the Jewish point of view the woman we meet in our today's Gospel could not have suffered a worse humiliating disease than the issue of abnormal discharge (bleeding) beyond the time/period of her impurity (mensuration). The horror was that it rendered the sufferer unclean. By law, the victim was shut off from the worship of God and from appearing and/or mixing up with people in public. By implication, she was not even supposed to be in the crowd surrounding Jesus. If by any chance the crowd had known, her fate would have been one of public embarrassment. There is little wonder that she was desperately eager to try anything which might rescue her not only from the stigma of the disease but also from a life of prolonged isolation. Our theme takes its inspiration from that daring move of the woman, "Don't bemoan the size of your problem, believe in the power of your God". Just by touching the hem (maybe the tassel) of Jesus' garment her "problem" was put to flight, never to return. Praise the Lord! We are told, time and again, on this platform that, "Faith is the ONLY KEY that opens and moves the Heart and Hand of God without any struggle." When she defied the pressure of a confused crowd and forced her way to touch the tassel of the robe of Jesus (long dress like an alb or cassock, like the type your priests wear), it was as if time stood still. All at once amidst the milling crowd Jesus stopped abruptly and for a moment it was as if nothing existed and nothing mattered apart from the woman and her problem. For Jesus, the labelled and isolated woman (for no fault of hers) was not simply a poor woman lost in the crowd; indeed, she was someone to whom Jesus was prepared to give the whole of Himself.
What Christian lesson can you and I pick from Jesus' interaction with a projected public figure (Jairus) and a laballed, despised and isolated figure? It is still the case that society gives selective justice to different people based on how the individual is "graded". In the mind of Jesus everyone matters. It is worrying that in some churches even seating is done according to who matters more. Note, that Jesus gave the same attention to both the Synagogue official and a woman who, by law, was not supposed to appear in public. In the eyes of God your past or current state cannot be a verdict on your future. What is thought and said of you cannot be final for God. Therefore don't magnify your problem, magnify your God. As you participate at the Table of Grace today, may the Lord give you a live story to tell the world. Yes, that problem may appear big but your God is BIGGER. Continue to pray the Holy Rosary daily. God richly bless you and your family.
Rev. Fr. Thomas L. Debuo - Catholic Diocese of Damongo, Ghana. (0244511306/0243711926)