13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. Clare, Essex
June 27, 2021
Anxious and Upset
How many times a day are we anxious and upset? I certainly feel that way, for example, when I’m facing a difficult decision or when I’m concerned about the health of a priest or a co-worker. Almost no one, including all of us, is exempt from worry and anxiety, and while there are many things to worry about, health has risen to the top of the list, especially since the onset of the pandemic. Understandably, many of us worried and continue to worry about our families’ health.
Jairus and the Ailing Woman
In today’s Gospel, we met two people who were facing health crises. The first was Jairus, a synagogue official, and the second was an unnamed woman afflicted with hemorrhages. The synagogue official came to Jesus because his daughter was about to die, and the woman approached Jesus because no one had been able to help her. Both people were anxious and upset, and both took a risk in approaching Jesus. Each of them approached Jesus in a different way but they both had a deep and trusting faith. Let’s look more closely at these two people, beginning with Jairus who pleaded with Jesus to save his daughter’s life.
All parents feel great anxiety when their children are seriously ill. You can almost hear the anxiety in Jairus’ voice as he approaches the Lord: “My daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” Jairus’ love for his daughter overrode the risk he took in approaching Jesus. As a layman who managed the synagogue’s activities and finances, he knew he could be criticized for seeming to put his faith in Jesus. Besides, Jairus knew that Jesus’ last visit to a synagogue did not go well. Many rejected Jesus’ words and some wanted to kill him. In approaching Jesus, Jairus risked not only criticism, but also a fall from grace. Even so, he threw caution to the wind, just as parents often do to save their children.
And, as he did so often, Jesus responded to Jairus compassionately. After Jesus received the news that his daughter had died, the disciples tried to scuttle his visit to Jairus’ house, but Jesus overrode them. As he went, Jesus reassured Jairus: “Do not be afraid. Just have faith.” To his credit, Jairus took Jesus at his word. He believed! Raising up Jairus’ daughter, Jesus wielded the power of God over life and death. Everyone, including Jesus’ closest followers, were astounded. We can well imagine that Jairus began to follow Jesus in earnest.
Along the way to Jairus’ house, a woman with hemorrhages approached Jesus. Her particular affliction not only drained her strength but also rendered her “unclean” under the Law of Moses, and this meant that she was something of a social outcast. Moreover, she had spent her money on doctors who were unable to cure her. Unlike Jairus, she did not make a direct request to Jesus. Rather, because of her lowly status, she tried to approach Jesus anonymously, “with fear and trembling”. In her desperation, she plunged into the crowd, confident that Jesus would cure her, if only she could get near him and touch his clothes. The moment she did so, she was indeed cured … and Jesus did not let the moment pass. Jesus asked who had touched him because he wanted to speak to her. He told her to have courage and that it was her faith that saved her.
A Faith Humble and Strong
What do these two figures in the Gospel teach us about entrusting our daily anxieties to the Lord Jesus? For we know what it is to wake up in the middle of the night filled with worry about the health of a husband or a wife or a child or a parent. We know what it is like to grapple with an insoluble problem. We might try watching television or eating things we should not, or reading a book. What we really need to do is to approach Jesus with a faith that is humble and strong. It sounds so simple, does it not!
But experience teaches that there are roadblocks in our approach to Jesus. One of our biggest roadblocks is fear… not holy fear, not a sense of wonder and awe before God’s power and glory – but rather an unholy fear that paralyzes us, that stops us dead in our tracks. Such fear crowds out faith and convinces us that not even the Lord can help us. At other times, we may think that the Lord Jesus will not listen to us in our needs because we have neglected our spiritual life or are caught up in some sin … because we feel unworthy of his love … If only we knew how much the Lord wants to hear from us! If only we realized how much the Lord wants to heal us! For God does not spurn “a humble, contrite heart”.
So, what Jairus and the woman in today’s Gospel teach us is this: the way to experience Jesus’ saving power is to reject fear and and to approach Jesus with a faith that is both humble and strong. They teach us to embrace our faith, a deeply personal faith that comes from living contact, an encounter, with Jesus. And all of us can have living contact with Jesus… when we spend time each day in prayerful conversation with the Lord; when we read the Scriptures and let the voice of Jesus resonate in our hearts; when we approach the Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and asked to be healed of our sins; when we receive the Lord in the Eucharist with gratitude, worthiness, and joy. Then we realize our troubles and worries can actually be like a key that opens our hearts to the Lord, the Lord who loves us so deeply, the Lord whose love is stronger than sin and more powerful than death. When that realization dawns upon us, our problems may not vanish instantly, but we do find the wisdom and strength to address them and, in the process, Jesus give us that “peace which is beyond all understanding”.
Approaching Jesus with a strong and humble faith like that of Jairus and the woman, we find the freedom to pray as did that great spiritual master, St. Teresa of Avila: “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.” May God bless us and keep us always in his love!