Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Sunday, June 30, 2024

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

First Reading: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13

Gospel: Mark 5:21-43 

The first reading today is from the Book of Wisdom. The Book of Wisdom is one of those Books we don’t find in the Protestant Scriptures or in the Hebrew Bible. It begins by recounting the creation story, the origin of death and sin. Our passage today retells the story of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis. It reminds us that God created the world to exist forever. He made man in His image to be imperishable and for eternal life. It highlights the fact that God did not make death, but the devil through his envy brought death into the world. The Book of Genesis tells us that God made man in His own image and likeness. But the devil led man to sin and so brought death upon man. And God said, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3: 9). The punishment for sin is death. Man is desperately in need of a savior. Who can save us?

The responsorial Psalm invites us to sing the praise of God who has rescued us and changed our mourning into dancing and our death to life. The gospel continues the same theme and presents us two powerful healing stories highlighting the ultimate healing and salvation that God has brought to us in Christ Jesus. To communicate this, Mark uses a literary device Scripture scholars call “Markan sandwich,” technically called “Intercalation.”  Just as tomatoes, lettuce and pickle are put in-between two slices of bread, Mark puts a story inside another in such a way that the flavor of the inner story adds zest to the outer story and the test of the outer story is meant to permeate the inner story. The main story or the outer story is about Jairus, and his twelve-year old daughter and the inner story is the story of the woman who suffered hemorrhage for twelve years. The story of the woman with hemorrhage is sandwiched within the story of the raising of Jairus’ daughter. Mark is a wonderful storyteller. The Markan sandwich serves a dramatic purpose by heightening the suspense and illuminating the mystery that is being revealed.

Jairus, a synagogue official falls at the feet of Jesus and pleaded earnestly with Him to come heal his daughter who is sick and dying. On His way to Jairus’ house, a woman who suffered hemorrhage for twelve years got healed by touching Jesus’ garment. Her flow of blood rendered her impure. According to the Jewish catechism of the day, whoever touches her or is touched by her will become impure. But she believed that Jesus is so holy that if she touches even His garment, she will be healed. The moment she touched His garment, her flow of blood stopped. She touched Jesus and Jesus did not become impure, rather she was healed. In the next miracle Jesus will take the child by the hand and raise her to life.

Notice the similarities between the two stories. Neither the older woman nor the young girl is named. Both women are referred to as daughter. The young girl is the daughter of Jairus. Jesus addresses the older woman as daughter. The number 12: while the young girl is 12 years old, the older woman has suffered hemorrhage for 12 years. Both were ritually unclean: Blood and death were the chief sources of ritual impurity.  The older woman believed that if she touches the clothes of Jesus, she will be healed. When Jesus came to the young girl who had died, he took her by the hand. Finally, the manifestation of faith. Both the woman and Jairus had faith in the power of Jesus to heal.

Because Jesus stops to ask, ‘who touched me’ after the healing of the woman, and finding the woman, say to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you,” He arrives late to the house of Jairus when Jairus’ daughter has already died. Here is an interesting parallel with the story of the raising of Lazarus in the Gospel of St John. Martha and Mary send a message to Jesus telling him that their brother is sick. Jesus delays in coming and arrive when Lazarus had already died. While Jesus was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house came and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Jesus responded by telling Jairus, “Do not be afraid. Only have faith.” The faith of the woman has made her whole and now Jesus is asking Jairus who has already manifested faith to continue to believe.

He takes with Him only Peter, James, and John, i.e., His inner circle, the same ones He took up to the mountain of the transfiguration, and to the mountain of Gethsemane. Whenever Jesus takes only this three, something very significant is going on. He takes the little girl by the hand and says to her, “Tal’itha cu’mi” which means, “little girl, I say to you, arise.” She got up and walked. What is going on here is that the raising of this twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus is not an ordinary miracle. It is not just a miraculous healing of a particular child at a particular place in a particular village in the first century, it is a sign that is meant to point beyond itself to what Jesus will do with each one of us in the resurrection of the dead. Mark tells us she was twelve years old. The number twelve symbolizes completeness and God’s redemptive plan. The raising of Jairus’ daughter which parallels the raising of Lazarus in the gospel of John is a sign of the ultimate healing, which is the healing of death itself, the triumph over death itself, which Jesus is going to bring through his resurrection and they who belong to his company experience it.

Happy Sunday,

Rev. Fr.  Chidi Onwuka, m.ss.cc.