Faith waits, waiting is believing, believing is blessing - 13th Sunday - Wilson SVD
June 30 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 1: 13-15; 2: 23-24, 2 Corinthians 8: 7,9,13-15, Mark 5: 21-43
Story 1: The rains failed again that year. It was third year in succession. No rain, no cultivation. Draught and feminine all over. Desperate for help, the villagers gathered for a meeting and decide to have a special prayer for rain. Now, there lived people of many faiths in the village; there was a temple, mosque and a church. Each of them wanted to have the prayer in their own place. Finally, they decided to have the prayer under the open sky in the common ground. As all people gathered for prayer, a small girl came running, holding high an open umbrella. Everyone wondered at her. The leader of the village asked, ‘why did you bring the umbrella, don’t you see there is no sign of rain and we are here to pray for rain. Yes, said the child, I too came to pray for rain and its going to rain as we pray, I will go home without getting wet.
Story 2: A dad was asked, ‘how do you divide your love among your children. He answered, ‘I do not divide, I multiply it.’
Today, we read in the gospel, Jesus restoring two persons to life: one from social death and another physical death. Faith waits, waiting is believing and believing is blessing.
A story within a Story:
The transformative act of the woman suffering from flow of blood is sandwiched between the beginning and the end of the healing of Jarious’ daughter. This is a story within a story – the story of the woman with the hemorrhage set within the story of Jairus and his daughter. The two stories compliment each other. The evangelist mark creates a dramatic narrative tension by narrating the two stories together. Each enhance the other.
Juxtaposition between the two women
Jairus’ Daughter Woman suffering Hemorrhage
Unnamed Unnamed
Twelve years old suffers for twelve years
Young Adult
Rich Family Poor family
Father intercedes actively Passive touch
Saw Jesus Heard about Jesus
Unclean as she is dead Unclean because of Hemorrhage
Jesus touches her She touches Jesus
Jesus calls her daughter Jesu calls her daughter
Jesus is Christ for all: Jesus does not divide his graces instead he multiplies it. The stories tell us that Jesus is for all people, people of different standing and background. Jairus is well to do and influential, while the woman is financially impoverished and socially outcast. Jesus does not favour one over the other. He neither rebukes Jairus for his social status nor ignores the woman because she is poor and marginalised. Jesus does not divide what he has but multiples and shares equally according to each one’s need.
Faith waits, waiting is believing, believing is blessing: Jesus is travelling to Jairus’ house and the journey is interrupted by the woman with blood flow. Jairus is worried what will happen to the little girl while they delay. Jairus had to wait. The servants bring the news that the child is dead and do not bother the teacher anymore. The crowd weeps, laughs and ridicules. Faith meets with battles. Jairus held on to his trust. Faith waits patiently. Waiting is a sign of believing. Believing is blessing. Jairus daughter was blessed with second life. The woman with blood flow suffered for twelve long years, twelve years of social stigma, frustration and desperation. She waited and believed and the Jesus restored her. Both Jairus and the woman demonstrate deep faith in Jesus. Jairus is convinced that Jesus’ touch will make his daughter well. The woman was convinced that just touching Jesus’s garment will heal her.
Our Take Away
1.Faith meets battles. Faith needs patient waiting. Waiting is believing and believing is a sign of blessing in anticipation. Waiting is not delaying; it is a time of preparation.
2. Good things happen when God says it is time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
3. God’s healing touch knows no gender, caste, colour, culture, rich or poor.
Wilson SVD
Divine Word Missionary
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