Thirteen Sunday of Ordinary Time-B
Death befalls every person, and when the inevitability happens to a younger person, a similar mantra is often heard to relieve the pain. “God must want her in heaven.” “God must have some reason for allowing her to die way too early.” “God must have some purpose for this suffering.” “Why did God not save this person from death?”
People tend not to let an event go unexplained. Not knowing the answers to perplexing questions disturbs them, especially concerning life and death. Since life and death are not in the purview of human power, the question or culprit inevitably places the blame on the divine. Even faithful Christians facing tragedy have temporary amnesia and forget what the Book of Wisdom has previously told them. “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.”
The God we worship is not a God of death of any kind. If anything, all of the suffering and death experienced from the beginning of time was placed right in front of the Son of God, who assumed our humanity. Jesus was not spared from death but accepted it as how the God of life would be made manifest for all eternity.
The Gospel readings for the thirteenth week from the evangelist Mark use a curious literary device. He begins by describing Jarius, a synagogue official who asked Jesus, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” At this point, the reader is unaware whether Jesus did what was asked of him because Mark pivots to another encounter with a woman suffering from a disorder of over twelve years in length, in other words, a woman suffering from a chronic condition.
The woman in question was suffering from twelve years of hemorrhaging. At first blush, twelve years of bleeding in the culture of her time was equivalent to the poor woman being isolated from her community because, by definition, she was unclean. The ancients believed that blood was the source of life, and the loss of it represented death. Therefore, the woman was deemed to be unclean for seven days until the blood was gone. If the woman were even touched, the person would also be unclean.
St. Mark fills out the story by saying the woman touched the cloak of Jesus, supposedly making him unclean. But that didn’t happen. When touched, Jesus became aware power had left him was a sign of the battle between life and death. The woman was cured and fearful because Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” She fell to her knees in fear before Jesus, who said, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.” Twelve years of suffering, twelve years of isolation, twelve years of living death destroyed by God, not caused by him.
Mark now finishes what he started. Jesus returns to Jarius’ house, and by all accounts, he is informed that the daughter has already died. Mark includes a significant fact before we are told that Jesus rebuffs the reports and tells those present that the daughter of Jarius is asleep, not dead.
Those two stories dovetail perfectly in representing that Jesus, who cured them both, is the God of the living, not the dead. Those who were healed were both daughters; both were unclean, one attributed to her death, one bleeding for twelve years. We are finally told that Jarius’s daughter is twelve years old. The number twelve is important because it represents the twelve tribes of Israel.
We can’t conclude our reflection without focusing on another veiled reference to the term daughter. The bleeding woman who was cured was referred to by Jesus as “daughter,” and the twelve-year-old child was the daughter of Jarius, insinuating the lesson is to focus on unnamed individuals having female characteristics referring to the universality of a woman instead of the specific.
For one, it was the inability to give birth. For the other, it was the importunity due to death. The subtle emphasis on childbirth is significant, for, without it, the ability to bring future persons into existence would be the epitome of death. From the beginning, Eve became the mother of all the living. The healing of these two female characters proves that God is the God of the living and not the dead.
The God of the living is reinforced when we consider the Blessed Mother. Not only did she give birth to the Savior who destroyed death and restored life, but she was also known as the Mother of the Living, expanding on Eve’s role in the order of grace.
“For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it (Wisdom 1:14).