[This is the bare bones of the homily. If you want the meat, watch it on our YouTube channel here. The whole Mass is on our FaceBook page here.]
The day after my ordination twenty-seven years ago, I preached on this gospel passage at my first Mass. Of course, with a little more experience comes a little more perspective. The story of Jairus’ daughter and the woman who is healed when she touches the edge of Jesus’ cloak has not changed. Yet, it speaks very differently to me now. There are three different encounters: Jairus with Jesus and the pressing crowd; the healing of the woman in the crowd; the raising of Jairus’ daughter at his home. We can learn from each one of them.
Jesus was having a busy day. He has just finished the Sermon on the Mount, cured the Gerasene demoniac, and put a pig farmer out of business in the process. The encounter with Jairus happens just as he gets back on his home turf. It must have been something to see a leader in the community falling at the feet of Jesus. But Jairus is not there for himself. He’s there for his daughter. He doesn’t want Jesus the rabbi, he wants Jesus the prophet. He pleads for healing.
I like Jairus. He shows us that we should never be afraid to approach Jesus with our needs or the needs of others. We should not hesitate to ask the Lord of Life for that which will give life. It’s a way of affirming our reliance on God’s love and mercy.
The woman with the hemorrhage is something else. She had to be discrete, primarily because the nature of her condition rendered her ritually unclean. She could not go to the temple or synagogue, let alone approach Jesus openly for fear of giving scandal. How ironic to be so isolated in the midst of a large crowd. The striking thing here is that Jesus is not unaffected by the encounter. So it is with any of us who do any kind of ministry in the parish, whether it’s as a eucharistic minister, visiting the homebound, catechist, group leader. One cannot emerge from the encounter unaffected. Sometimes we wonder just who was ministering to whom.
Finally, at the home of Jairus, we can learn that when our resources have been exhausted, God is just getting started. It’s interesting that they ridicule Jesus just before he performs the miracle. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” As people of faith, we need to take heed. How easy it is to let our fear overcome our faith and forget that miracles really do happen even in the present day. We should never be afraid to ask for the miracle.
There is much to learn from each part of the story in today’s Gospel reading. May we have the faith to approach the Lord in our need, confident that he still wants to work the miracle of his grace in our lives.