“Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who has touched my clothes'” (Mk 5:30)? The woman could have slipped away, she could have stood still and said nothing, no one knew. His disciples were bewildered that Jesus asked such a question with so many pressing about him. But the woman approached with “fear and trembling” and told him the truth. Jesus did not admonish her for breaking a social taboo but publicly acknowledged her faith and so empowered her with a deeper healing than the merely physical one that she sought. She was not only healed from there physical state that had plagued her for twelve years, she was saved body and soul and made whole.
All the while as this scene transpired, Jairus must have been in agony. He knew how close his daughter was to death, and every second counted. Jesus took that limited, precious time and engaged with this woman. Just as they were about to resume their journey, and he began to breathe again, the terrible news came that his daughter had passed away.
What might have flashed through his mind in that moment? The time Jesus took to talk with the woman, could that have made the difference? He was a synagogue official and would have known the taboos she crossed to reach out and touch Jesus in public, he knew that in doing so she would make Jesus unclean, she was a woman considered the lowest of low. She was frail and pallid from her condition, at death’s door herself, yet she had mustered such courage and faith to touch him. She took such a risk. While these or any other thoughts were passing through his mind, Jesus assured him, “Do not be afraid, just have faith” (Mk 5:36).
Jairus had just witnessed such faith with the woman healed from the hemorrhage, probably someone until this very moment for whom he might have shown disdain for. Maybe just maybe, if he could muster the same faith as she… Jesus could bring his daughter back to life just as Jesus had brought this woman, who was death’s door back to life and wholeness. A light shone in the darkness of his despair and the darkness did not overcome it. Jairus would not be let down. Jesus indeed healed his daughter. He took her hand as he had done with Peter’s mother-in-law, and commanding her to rise and walk, she came back to life.
How many of us have ourselves or have ever known someone who has experienced such great needs as did Jairus, whose twelve-year old daughter died, or the woman who had been suffering for twelve years with hemorrhages, with no healing from doctors all this time? In both of these cases Jesus brought about miraculous healings. How many of us have experienced the opposite? No healing that we prayed for. We wondered where Jesus was or why he didn’t bother to help? The truth is that Jesus is present, though he may or may not have brought about the outcome we may have sought.
This is not an abstract point for me. My wife, JoAnn, died. She was not healed from the pancreatic cancer that ate away at her body, similar to the woman experiencing the hemorrhage. While I laid by her side and held her hand awaiting the funeral home to pick up her body, Jesus did not come to raise JoAnn from the dead, as he did for Jairus’ daughter. Does that mean Jesus does not heal anymore or that there is no relevance in the readings of the Gospels?
No. Quite the contrary. Entering into the daily rhythm of reading, praying with, and meditating upon these accounts helps us to know Jesus as a person, as did this woman, who reached out and touched him. When we also do so, we will encounter Jesus as our Lord and Savior, brother and friend. As we enter into each passage, slowly and prayerfully, we are invited to enter into his memory. We sit, eat, walk, and witness his life. In so doing, we grow in our relationship. As we trust him, he enters into our lives as he did with those we read about.
Read again prayerfully today’s account, experience and ponder the courage and faith of the woman with the hemorrhage. May we trust in Jesus even in our imperfections and need for healing. When we struggle, when the ground feels a bit shaky underneath, let us take to heart and believe in the words that Jesus spoke to Jairus, “Do not be afraid, just have faith (Mk 5:36). When we place our hope, faith, and trust in Jesus, we are not alone no matter what is coming. When we breathe, receive, rest, and abide in his love, we will be filled with the fullness of God.
Photo: JoAnn received an even greater healing. Jesus did come that day. He took JoAnn by the hand, and she, unlike Jairus’ daughter, arose not to die again, but to be with him for all eternity.
Spiritual Stepping Stones 