Paths and Crossroads

Reflections on the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43)

The Gospel invites us today to a crossroad, where meet the life paths of two individuals in desperation. First, we meet Jairus, whose name in Hebrew means “God shines”. He is a Jewish man and the head of a synagogue. Understandably, therefore, he is a man who commands some level of authority. The second individual we encounter is an unnamed woman. She is unfortunately afflicted by one of those diseases which, according to the culture of the time, rendered her impure and excluded her from society. Here is a victim, who has suffered not only her physical ailment but also the resulting alienation for twelve years. Here is a woman who knows what suffering means.

Jairus takes the initiative of approaching Jesus, and as he meets them, he throws himself at his feet. He pleads with him to come home with him and heal his daughter, who is at the point of death. Another interesting detail is that her daughter is 12 years old, the exact number of years that the nameless woman had suffered from haemorrhages. She must have heard about Jesus as well. However, she does not approach him like Jairus. Nor does she get the opportunity to speak to Jesus or talk about her illness. She does not say a word but her courageous gesture speaks volumes. She had spent all her wealth on doctors who could not heal her. Perhaps her last hope is this miraculous healer, who happened to cross her path. Here is her last resort.

She “comes up behind him in the crowd and touches his cloak” and is healed instantly. The gospel insists that only the woman recognised that she was healed: “She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction”. Not a single soul in the pressing crowd was aware either of her or her healing. No one, except Jesus that is! Mark reports that Jesus became aware at once that power had gone out from him, and therefore turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?”. The disciples seem annoyed with the question and ask, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”.

When the woman finally reveals herself, Jesus does not confront her for crossing her limits or breaching his privacy. Instead, he comforts and reassures her by addressing her as his ‘daughter’ and interpreting her boldness as faith. He tells her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction”. The faith journey of Jairus, on the other hand, takes a slightly different route. While walking the path with Jesus, he is confronted with a piece of devastating news. People from his home report that his daughter is now dead and therefore ask him not to trouble the teacher. While it was the faithful persistence of the woman that made her healing possible, in Jairus’ case, it is Jesus who invites him to keep faith. He tells him, “Do not be afraid; just have faith”. As the first reading insists, death is not God’s design. Despite the ridicule of the mourning crowd, Jesus brings the daughter of Jairus back to life.

Jairus and the woman, in their unique ways, walk their paths of/to faith. Their models show that there is no single, pre-defined path to faith that can be universally applicable to all of us. The Lord waits to meet us in the existential realities of our lives in ways that differ from each other depending on our history, purpose, personalities, struggles, strength of faith, etc., He requires us to accept his mysterious ways, entrust our concerns to Him in the gesture of humble prayer. When we humble ourselves, we hear Jesus pronounce the magical words, talita koum, an Aramaic term that means “little girl, get up”. The Greek version of the verb is also employed in the gospel references to Christ’s resurrection. In asking the girl to “Get up!”, Jesus gives her a foretaste of his future resurrection.

Jesus continues to whisper talita koum in our lives today: “My son, my daughter, get moving! Get up! I invite you to walk the path of faith. I am calling you to stand up, to keep walking, to follow me”. Discipleship means walking the unique path of faith that Christ has set for us. Following him means reaching the crossroads of our societies, exiting our isolated clubs, creating missionary communities, and proclaiming the gospel through our words, presence, and concrete actions for the poorest, the needy, and those who (like Jairus and the woman) await us at the crossroad.