PRI Reflections on Scripture • 1-30-24 - Tuesday of the 4th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel Mark 5:21-43 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. 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. 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. Reflection In this gospel, we have almost a simultaneous healing of two figures one a woman, one a young girl. And what we see so clearly is Jesus’ power to take away that which robs us of life, be it a disease that debilitates and takes away our energy, or whether it's death itself. And what it seems so clear to me that if you truly believe that, then one of the things that should disappear from our way of seeing the world is fear. Fear is the great enemy, because it tends to tell God that we are frightened and something will be taken from us that we need essentially, and he has promised us he will take care of everything we need. So be aware of fear. And when you feel it, turn that fear into trust, into a God who can do what he promises. But he demands, and asks for faith. Closing Prayer Father, we worry. We have anxieties. We have doubts. And yet we know that this is part of our human nature. But each time we experience these negative feelings, we need to respond to them. Not with a sense of shame, with a sense of having an opportunity to exercise what you ask us to do, to turn away from fear and replace it with trust in God. And we ask this In Jesus’ name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices