In this Sunday's Gospel from St. Mark 5, we have two healing stories interwoven. Both stories make important points about Jesus and about human responses to Him. First, let us look briefly at Jairus' situation. He is called a ruler of a synagogue. That means that he has a position of local religious leadership. It probably implies that he is fairly well-to-do in his community. Yet, in his concern for his daughter, he is also humble. He implores Jesus to come and lay hands upon her.
Another encounter interrupts the trip to Jairus' house, and messengers arrive to inform the man ,“Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” Overhearing this report, Jesus says to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” Jesus takes His core disciples, Peter, James and John to the house. All think the girl is dead, but Jesus goes in with the three disciples and the girl's parents. He tells her to arise, and she does. Faith is the key; it opens the way for Jesus' life-giving power.
The other healing is the inserted story of the woman with the bleeding problem. This woman has suffered from her illness for years and has used up all her money in failed treatments. Beyond that, the nature of her problem means that she is ritually unclean, and contact with her makes other people ritually unclean. So the woman hides in the crowd. She believes that Jesus can heal her, but she dares not approach Him openly- for fear of shunning by the crowd or of an embarrassing rejection by Jesus.
With great and humble faith, the woman reaches out to touch the edge of Christ's robe, and immediately, two things happen: she senses God's healing, and Jesus senses that divine power has flowed from Him. He asks who has touched Him, and the woman comes to humbly admit her action. Jesus in turn recognizes her faith and sends her away in peace and health. This second story is also about how faith opens the way for Jesus' life-giving power.
Let us highlight two distinct applications of our Gospel. One application is about physical healing. Despite all the advances of modern medicine, there are still difficult cases- cases of critical illness like the girl and cases of chronic illness like the woman. Faith does not overcome every single physical ailment. Not everyone in first-century Palestine was healed, but there were miraculous healings like these, and sometimes there still are. In faith, we need to be open to unusual possibilities.
Besides the matter of physical disease and healing, there is a broader application of these stories. The healing of God also applies to mental and spiritual issues. Many troubles in human life affect people in ways similar to the frantic father and the desperate woman. Many things can frighten us or slowly wear us down until we come to Jesus. He is the great physician of bodies, minds and souls. He wants to help us. He wants to give us better lives now and eternally. So let us not make faith a last resort. Instead, let us seek Christ out on a daily basis.
