Reflection on XIII Sunday OT Year B :Readings: Wis. 1:13-15, 2:23-24; 2Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mk.5:21-43

The gospel passage of the XIII Sunday (Ord.Time) is a lovely story (or stories); a tale within a tale. It is the typical style of the Evangelist Mark of bracketing one story within another; a narrative sandwich which is made up of two stories woven together. The incident of the healing of a woman afflicted with hemorrhage who has tried every doctor but found no relief until she meets Jesus, is narrated inside the story of the resuscitation of  the little girl, daughter of the leader of synagogue, Jairus.

At first glance, we might think that these two stories are unrelated, each with its own meaning and interpretation. However Mark does put these two stories together and connect them purposely, in order to bring out the same message since the meaning of one story sheds light on the meaning of the other. Looking attentively at the whole text, we notice that:

• the little girl is 12 years old, at the same time the woman has been sick for 12 years. The number 12 stands as a kind of sign that there is abundant life in Jesus
• Jesus uses the same words to encourages both the woman and Jairus: “Do not be afraid, just have faith”…and both take Jesus’ words seriously, both believe that Jesus can restore their lives.
• the way Jesus addresses the situation of the afflicted woman and of the little girl: we can understand that Jesus defeats both the realm of the afflicted and the realm of the dead, to restore two women to abundant life.
• In both stories there is a reaction of ridicule and doubting resistance to Jesus’ words: the reaction of the disciples to his question (“Who touched me?”) and of the mourners to Jesus’ statement (“She is not dead, she is asleep”). But in the end those who wondered and those who laughed are left in speechless amazement.

Stories of Jesus’ grace

Both stories indeed narrate another story, an implicit story for each of us. It is the story of Jesus’ grace and hope for humanity. Jesus’ life, along with his death, grants life-changing healing. It is a healing power that crosses boundaries, both ethnic and gender ones. Jesus chooses not to leave people in the conditions in which he finds them. He has the power to change those conditions, to restore people’s life. Here comes up the question: Do we? Can our Christian community alter people’s life conditions? Can we bring healing into troubled lives? Can our service, our efforts, go beyond boundaries, limitations? Accordingly, we should be able to tell the story of advocating, promoting life, give meaning and change, in our respective situation.

One of the tragedies of life is the strange insensitivity of the human mind. We so often utterly fail to realize what others are going through. Eventually we are not able to tell their story, to enter into their conditions… we are just paralyzed, unable to make a change, to bring healing to people’s lives. The greatness of Jesus was that he was prepared to pay the price for helping others, and that price was the outgoing of his very life. We follow in his steps only when we are prepared to spend, not our substance, but our souls and strength for others. Let us not forget a universal rule of life that says: “we will never produce anything great, unless we are prepared to put something of ourselves, of our very life, of our very soul into it. “