THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2024)
Readings:
Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24
Psalms 30:2, 44-6, 11-13
2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mark 5:21-24, 35-43
The Church’s annual cycle of readings is meant to reveal insights into who the preacher from Nazareth really is, and in doing so it reveals to the listeners the ability to recognize the essential connection between Jesus and His divinity. This Jesus is truly the Son of God! We saw this so clearly in last week’s gospel proclamation from Mark – even the winds and the seas obey Him, something Job and the Psalmist would attest are divine attributes. This week the commonplace and universal experience of death is also subject to the control of Jesus, raising His divinity quotient a considerable step higher.
If we focus on the shorter version of today’s gospel, we see the resuscitation of Jairus’ daughter. Jairus is a synagogue official, a good Jew, who sought Jesus out in order to ask the perfect stranger a question: “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” In other words Jesus, I would like to steal you away from this “large crowd that has gathered” to hear you speak, and take you to my home where I am convinced you can do something beneficial for my daughter. The boldness of Jairus is only matched by the unflinching generosity of Jesus who goes off with Jairus, as a “large crowd followed Him and pressed upon Him.”
On their way home, “people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died ; why trouble the teacher any longer?”” Hearing the words no parent wants to hear, Jairus was no doubt beside himself and upset. Jesus quickly tries to calm Jairus down, and give him some comfort: “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” In the gospels Jesus often assures the confounded and disturbed with the words “Do not be afraid.” The majority of Jesus’ appearances to His frightened disciples begin with “Do not be afraid.” And there was every good reason to be afraid, for the life of Jairus’ twelve year old daughter was at stake, a precious life that her loving father had hopes and dreams for.
The first reading from the Book of Wisdom makes it clear that “God did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living.” “God formed man (and woman) to be imperishable; (in) the image of His own nature He made ‘them’.” The devil, and the fraility of humankind, brought death into the world and it has no boundaries- all men and woman will die, and even Jairus’ daughter will one day, once again, succumb to the power of death.
Note that the power of Jesus is not used to impress, telling the people outside of the room weeping that “the child is not dead but asleep.” There is very little drama in Jesus’ actions: “He took the child by the hand and said to her,”Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The word “arise,” which is lost on the people in the room, pre-figures Jesus’ final triumph over death in His resurrection. Jesus’ concern for the girl is complete, as is seen in His saying the girl “should be given something to eat.”
The girl joins the select company of Lazarus, who in John’s gospel Jesus raises from the dead. Her life will carry on until such time as God calls her back to Himself, and one would like to think that because of this experience, her life was changed for the better. The young girl and Lazarus remind us that we need not fear death, for at our end Jesus will gently take our hand and lead us into the realms of eternal glory. This Jesus of Nazareth who has already been seen to have power over the tumultuous sea, is now seen to have power over death. We have every right ‘not to be afraid,’ for with His own death Jesus conquers sin and death, and earns for us what we could never earn for ourselves – eternal life.
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