Road to Emmaus Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jun 24, 2009

First Reading – Wis. 1:13-15; 2:23-24

Responsorial Psalm – Ps. 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13

Second Reading – 2 Cor. 8:7, 9, 13-15

Gospel Reading – Mk. 5:21-43

 

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading from Mark, we encounter Jesus miraculously curing a woman who was hemorrhaging for twelve years, and Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

 

Mary Healy in her commentary, The Gospel of Mark, notes: “…Mark sandwiches one story in the middle of the other. There are several points of correspondence between the two. The woman has suffered bleeding for as long as the girl has lived, twelve years. The woman reaches out her hand to Jesus, whereas Jesus takes the girl by the hand. The healing of the woman who lived with the slow encroachment of death anticipates the healing of the girl who actually experienced death” (pp. 104-105).

 

The woman and the girl give us an example of suffering and death. This leads us to the Gospel readings connection to the Old Testament reading from the book of Wisdom.

 

Wisdom and Genesis

 

Where did suffering and death come from? Wisdom first tells us who it did not come from: “God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living…for he created man for incorruption…” (1:13, 23a). But, it does answer the question of how: “Through the devil’s envy death entered the world…”

 

As the book of Wisdom is wont to do, it leads us back to themes in the book of Genesis. We read in the passage for this Sunday, “For he (God) created all things that they might exist…and made him in the image of his own eternity…” (1:14a, 23b).

 

Adam and Eve were created to be incorruptible and immortal, “in the image of his own eternity.” It is through the abuse of the gift of free will that suffering and death enter the picture, at the instigation, pride and envy of the fallen angel referred to as the devil or Satan. “Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death, out of envy” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 391).

 

However, God promised not to abandon humanity to the power of death. In Genesis 3:15, God speaks to Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heal.” The final victory over Satan, sin, suffering and death will be wrought by the promised redeemer.

 

Jesus, the Redeemer

 

In Mark’s Gospel the promised redeemer, Jesus Christ, is at work conquering suffering and death. He desires to give us a glimpse of the restoration of humanity which he will accomplish through his death and resurrection, as well as through the resurrection of the dead at the end of time.

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The woman suffering with hemorrhages for twelve years suffered more than physical pain. She also suffered exclusion from the communal life and worship of the people of God. She would have been considered ritually unclean for these twelve years.

 

She has such faith that she believed that, “If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well” (Mark 5:28). This verse could also be translated, “I shall be healed,” or “I shall be saved.”

 

Jesus’ response to her is full of meaning and beauty: “Daughter, your faith has made you well…” (Mark 5:34). This verse could also be translated, “your faith has healed you,” or “your faith has saved you.”

 

The Greek word “sozo” is used in Mark 5:23, 28 and 34. This word means both “save” and “heal.” As Mark Healy notes, “The woman’s faith has opened her to receive not only physical healing but also the ultimate salvation of body and soul that it prefigures” (ibid. p. 107).

 

Of course, this definitive healing and salvation from suffering and death will take place when “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more…” (Revelation 21:4).

 

The raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead is but a foreshadowing of the ultimate authority Jesus will show over suffering and death in his glorious resurrection.

 

Jesus desires to work a miracle of healing in all of us. This may not always mean physical healing, but it always means that we can experience a spiritual resurrection from the death of sin. Like the Psalmist from this Sunday’s Responsorial Psalm, we can always pray, “O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol [Hades or the netherworld], restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit” (30:2-3).