Sun 28 June Do not be afraid. Only have faith!

Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had gone across by boat to the other side of the lake, a vast crowd gathered around him on the shore. The leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, came and fell down before him, pleading with him to heal his little daughter. “She is at the point of death,” he said in desperation. “Please come and place your hands on her and make her live.” Jesus went with him, and the crowd thronged behind. In the crowd was a woman who had been sick for twelve years with a hemorrhage. She had suffered much from many doctors through the years and had become poor from paying them, and was no better but, in fact, was worse. She had heard all about the wonderful miracles Jesus did, and that is why she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his clothes. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his clothing, I will be healed.” And sure enough, as soon as she had touched him, the bleeding stopped and she knew she was well! Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples said to him, “All this crowd pressing around you, and you ask who touched you?” But he kept on looking around to see who it was who had done it. Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him what she had done. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, healed of your disease.” While he was still talking to her, messengers arrived from Jairus’s home with the news that it was too late—his daughter was dead and there was no point in Jesus’ coming now. But Jesus ignored their comments and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just trust me.” Then Jesus halted the crowd and wouldn’t let anyone go on with him to Jairus’s home except Peter and James and John. When they arrived, Jesus saw that all was in great confusion, with unrestrained weeping and wailing. He went inside and spoke to the people. “Why all this weeping and commotion?” he asked. “The child isn’t dead; she is only asleep!” They laughed at him in bitter derision, but he told them all to leave, and taking the little girl’s father and mother and his three disciples, he went into the room where she was lying. Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Get up, little girl!” (She was twelve years old.) And she jumped up and walked around! Her parents just couldn’t get over it. Jesus instructed them very earnestly not to tell what had happened and told them to give her something to eat.


Food for thought!


A desperate father, named Jairus came to Jesus and fell to his knees, beside himself as he begged, "My dear daughter is at death's door. Come and lay hands on her so she will get well and live." This man was helpless and he came to Jesus for help. And got it. Jesus agreed to go with him. But even as he was going with Jesus, tragedy struck; his daughter died. Lesson: tragedy hits everybody including those walking and working with Jesus. So don't ever think that because you pray every day, because you go to Mass every Sunday or even everyday, that tragedies will not come your way. Even followers of Jesus get tragedies.

Jesus told this man what he tells all those people in hopeless situations: DO NOT BE AFRAID. ONLY HAVE FAITH! This is the only thing Jesus asks of us, only one, just this one: only have faith. The rest is his. Jesters is telling a father whose daughter had just passed away not to be afraid but to hold on to faith. Strange. What can faith do to a mourning father? What can faith do to a dead girl. And Jesus knows it. He told it to the hemorrhaging woman, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, healed of your disease.”

Great acts of faith are seldom born out of calm calculation. It wasn’t logic that caused Moses to raise his staff on the bank of the Red Sea. It wasn’t medical research that convinced Naaman to dip seven times in the river. It wasn’t common sense that caused Paul to abandon the Law and embrace grace. And it wasn’t a confident committee that prayed in a small room in Jerusalem for Peter’s release from prison. It was a fear and despair.

Faith begins when you see God on the mountain and you are in the valley and you know that you’re too weak to make the climb. You see what you need . . . you see what you have . . . and that you have not enough to accomplish anything. Peter had given it his best. But his best wasn’t enough. Moses had a sea in front and an enemy behind. The Israelites could swim or they could fight. But neither option was enough. Naaman had tried the cures and consulted the soothsayers. Traveling a long distance to plunge into a muddy river made little sense when there were clean ones in his backyard. But what option did he have? Paul had mastered the Law. He had mastered the system. But one glimpse of God convinced him that sacrifices and symbols were not enough. Jairus and the hemorrhaging woman were no exception. They had no way out than coming to Jesus. Life has a way of bringing us to places where there’s nowhere to run except to Jesus.

If you’re facing insurmountable circumstances, surrounded by impossibilities, remember that God can do ANYTHING and that prayer changes EVERYTHING. Today's gospel reading wasn’t written for Jairus and the hemorraging woman, it was written for you and me. In the very situation you’re in . . . if you can apply faith, you’ll find a miracle within it, and your life will never be the same. It’s realizing that whoever you are, wherever you are, and whatever you’re going through, God will deliver you. But it takes faith.


Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 18:6
In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.