When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the lake. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live. ” He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately, her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?”
But his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”
While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?”
Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.
When we are faced with problems, we often try to do everything within our power to solve them. We ask for favors from all the people we can come to and we exhaust all the resources we have. But sometimes, we forget to do one important thing - we forget to pray and to cast all our cares upon God.
The woman in the Gospel today spent all her money for medication, but to no avail. She had no one else to ask help from. So, when she heard of Jesus, she just had to come to Him. It is quite astonishing that what doctors failed miserably to cure was cured just by one touch of faith. The woman did not even get to touch Jesus. She only touched His cloak and she was healed because of her great faith.
Had the woman heard of Jesus before, and had she had the chance of touching His cloak earlier, she would have come to Him first. She would not have suffered for twelve years. Nevertheless, her story teaches us that God is more powerful than men - much more powerful, at that. We should trust in God much more than we trust ourselves and others. Unlike the woman, we know Jesus, and He Himself invited us to cast our burdens upon Him (cf. Mt 11:28). We should, therefore, have recourse to Him in our needs, not completely relying on our own power or on that of others.
“Do your best, and God will do the rest,” a saying goes. We can do many great things, for God has equipped us with the ability to do so. Nevertheless, trying to succeed without God’s help is futile. Yes, we can do great things and fight our battles. But without God, we always come up short.
Work and prayer go hand in hand. Indeed, we can never accomplish anything if we do not work. But, if we think that doing something is enough, we are mistaken. By ourselves, we can do nothing. But we can do everything through Christ who is our strength (cf. Phil 4:13).
Only in God can we ever hope for triumph over our problems, for healing and salvation. We see in today’s Gospel that Jesus was able to raise Jairus’ daughter. From the people, we only hear, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer” (Mk 5:35), and also weeping and wailing. But from Jesus, we hear, “Do not be afraid; just have faith” (v. 36) and “The child is not dead but asleep” (v. 39). Jesus was a ray of hope amidst the wailing and the ridicule of the crowd. Of course, He was the only one who could do something to help Jairus. In the same way, we only hear from the people around us how impossible our situations are, how our efforts are useless. But in God, we have hope. He blesses our efforts and completes our shortcomings. He makes us whole.
God is a gracious and merciful God. He heals and saves the souls who cling to Him and put their trust in Him. Who, but God alone, can we cling to for mercy and salvation? As the psalmist proclaims, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes” (Ps 118:8-9).
The woman in the Gospel today spent all her money for medication, but to no avail. She had no one else to ask help from. So, when she heard of Jesus, she just had to come to Him. It is quite astonishing that what doctors failed miserably to cure was cured just by one touch of faith. The woman did not even get to touch Jesus. She only touched His cloak and she was healed because of her great faith.
Had the woman heard of Jesus before, and had she had the chance of touching His cloak earlier, she would have come to Him first. She would not have suffered for twelve years. Nevertheless, her story teaches us that God is more powerful than men - much more powerful, at that. We should trust in God much more than we trust ourselves and others. Unlike the woman, we know Jesus, and He Himself invited us to cast our burdens upon Him (cf. Mt 11:28). We should, therefore, have recourse to Him in our needs, not completely relying on our own power or on that of others.
“Do your best, and God will do the rest,” a saying goes. We can do many great things, for God has equipped us with the ability to do so. Nevertheless, trying to succeed without God’s help is futile. Yes, we can do great things and fight our battles. But without God, we always come up short.
Work and prayer go hand in hand. Indeed, we can never accomplish anything if we do not work. But, if we think that doing something is enough, we are mistaken. By ourselves, we can do nothing. But we can do everything through Christ who is our strength (cf. Phil 4:13).
Only in God can we ever hope for triumph over our problems, for healing and salvation. We see in today’s Gospel that Jesus was able to raise Jairus’ daughter. From the people, we only hear, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer” (Mk 5:35), and also weeping and wailing. But from Jesus, we hear, “Do not be afraid; just have faith” (v. 36) and “The child is not dead but asleep” (v. 39). Jesus was a ray of hope amidst the wailing and the ridicule of the crowd. Of course, He was the only one who could do something to help Jairus. In the same way, we only hear from the people around us how impossible our situations are, how our efforts are useless. But in God, we have hope. He blesses our efforts and completes our shortcomings. He makes us whole.
God is a gracious and merciful God. He heals and saves the souls who cling to Him and put their trust in Him. Who, but God alone, can we cling to for mercy and salvation? As the psalmist proclaims, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in princes” (Ps 118:8-9).
