Fr. Eduardo Emilio Aguero, SCJ
13th Sunday In Ordinary Time
Back in the 5th century BC, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, the father of historians, related that in a sanctuary in Greece, newborns were received with mourning and weeping, because they understood that they were entering a cycle full of suffering and pain. On the other hand, when people died, they bid them farewell with a great feast because they believed that this was how the souls were freed from the sorrows of this world.
Could it be that life is so cruel? How can we explain that a city as rich as Macau has one of the highest suicide rates in the world? Last year alone, 88 people took their own lives!
What does death mean for us today? Is life worth living?
The Word of God brings us light to understand the mystery of death and life and to take on our existence with hope and strength. The Book of Wisdom states, “It is because of the envy of the devil that death entered the world” (Wisdom 2:24).
Everything God created is good and even more so the human being that God pronounced as “very good” (Gen 1:31). That is why life is good and worth living!
Evil and sin are the fruit of misused freedom: At first, it was the angel Lucifer, who, boasting of his beauty and intelligence, separated himself from his creator and refused to obey him.
If God had created programmed robots with artificial intelligence, Satan could not have tempted them and they could not have strayed. But God made us free! He showed us the limits of our creatureliness (the only forbidden fruit). Furthermore, God offered us his friendship as a place of communion and celebration: “Son, you are with me always, and all that is mine is yours” as the Father said to the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:31).
We call “sin” the abuse or misuse of our freedom. This transgression alienates us from our original vocation, from our relationship with God, with others, and with all of creation. Disease and death are the fruit of sin, as are wars, abortion, euthanasia, and all that this “culture of death” represents.
In his great mercy, God responds to this “mystery of iniquity”, and comes to our aid: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:2). Jesus had compassion on the multitude “for they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mk 6:34), without direction or food. That is why he teaches them and feeds them.
St. Mark presents Jesus as the Messiah foretold by the prophets, who stops the flow of blood of the woman who dared to touch his cloak and restores life to the daughter of Jairus.
According to Semitic culture, life resided in blood. That is why the woman suffering from haemorrhages was slowly running out of life. Of all the people who pressed Jesus on his way to Jairus’ house, she alone touched him with faith. And so, a power emanated from the savior that managed to stop the flow of blood in her body so that she could hold on to life. When Jesus says to her “Your faith has saved you”, he indicates something that goes beyond her physical health, it restores and heals her condition as a child of God, which is why he calls her “My daughter”.
In the mystery of redemption, which restores and perfects the work of creation, human freedom once again comes into play. Once again, we have the opportunity to welcome the light: “To all who received it he gave the power to become children of God” (Jn 1:12). That is the same power Jesus gives to the woman and the girl in today’s gospel. But before that, Jairus, an important man, humbles himself before the Lord, as does the poor sick woman on the road. They recognize their littleness before the Messiah, the Son of God. An attitude opposed to the acceptance of the Light is the one that John mentions later: “The judgment consists in this: that the light has come into the world, and people have preferred darkness to light” (Jn 3: 19).
There are some details in today’s Gospel text that help us to turn away from the temptation to reject the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God who “pitched his tent among us” (Jn 1:14), taking on our human nature: First, we notice how the evangelist narrates that Jesus “felt” a power go out from him and that the woman “felt in her body” that the flow of blood had stopped. Secondly, Jesus takes the girl by the hand as he commands her and helps her get up. Immediately, she begins to walk, and Jesus tells her parents to feed her. Walking is a metaphor that indicates that this 12-year-old girl has a whole life ahead of her and a mission, for which she needs to be fed.
Jesus brings us life in abundance, a life that embraces the totality of our humanity: body and soul. As the book of Wisdom teaches us: “God created man to be incorruptible, he made him in his own image and likeness” (Wisdom 2:23).
Like with the woman on the road, Jesus communicates to us the power of his Spirit for a new life. As He did with the girl, he awakens us from sleep and raises us so that we may live our lives with intensity, meaning, and direction, so that we may walk strengthened by the nourishment which is his own Body and his most precious blood, by which we were redeemed.
Follow
