13TH SUNDAY B

FAITH THAT SAVES

13th Sunday, Ordinary Time

The gospel today offers two accounts that are very real and concrete.  Who will not be able to identify with the two women in Mark’s narration – the woman bleeding for twelve years and the little girl on her deathbed?

There are times when we are desperate in our search for solutions to our problems.  This woman was sick for a long time and her resources are already exhausted. Yet, she persists in her pain. My mother went through this in two years of cancer medications and I think I know what’s happening here.

Maybe for the longest time ever you are in search of a job, or your career is slow and unproductive, or you have been waiting for a loved one to find the light. Yet you cannot bring about the results you desire.

There are also times when the light of our life is dimmed, like Jairus whose lovely daughter just died.  How he hated to see her go and would do everything to augment her life.  Certainly, in our lives too, there are people dying, relationships ending, dreams crashing down, plans drifting away – all these beyond us and how we wish we can reverse the trend.

This is the source of hopelessness and despair – when we meet life’s obstacles and no one and nothing seems to be working on our side. It causes in us sadness, confusion, anger and remorse.

But take a look at the first reading from the Book of Wisdom: “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome…”  God’s plan is life not death, success not failure, joy not grief.

The bleeding woman and Jairus, the girl’s father did not lose heart.  They did not succumb to the temptation of giving up and blaming God.  Instead, they did the best thing their hearts were telling them to do – go to Jesus!  And to Jesus they went, one jostling through the crowd to touch the Lord’s garment and the other kneeling down in humble supplication for his lovely girl. 

They knew what to do. They clung to the only resource that does not disappoint. They exercised faith!  They drew close to Jesus, humanity’s only hope.  Even the Lord acknowledged that it was faith that cured the woman and faith that revived the dead little girl. In faith, we realize how close the Lord is to us and how powerful he is to dissolve our fears, to strengthen us and to restore our drooping spirits, to solve the problems we are powerless to solve.

Are you about to give up?  Are you on the verge of losing joy and hope?  Have you depended on people, drugs, tactics that won’t work? Friend, put your faith into action!  Go to Jesus and tell him what you need.  Believe in his love and accept his power.  Like today’s psalm, we will soon say:  I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.