Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
June 30, 2024 – 10:30 AM
Saint Cecilia Catholic Community
Rev. David Justin Lynch
Wisdom 1:13-15;2:23-24 | Psalm 30:2;4-6;11-13
II Corinthians 8;7-9;11-13 | Mark 5:21-43
+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.
Last week, we saw how Jesus calmed the storm at sea. He subjected his apostles to the test of fear, thus helping them to arrive at true faith and confidence in him. Today, the full implications of that lesson are spelled out. Jesus put them through the test of fear only to help them realize that he is the master and source of life. To get this point across, today’s Gospel recounts two miracles that seem to be tightly interwoven: the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of the woman with hemorrhage.
In today’s Gospel, Mark tells the story of Jairus, a synagogue official who comes to Jesus in desperation. His daughter is gravely ill, and despite his position and status, Jairus humbly falls at Jesus’ feet, begging for His help. Jesus agrees to go with him, showing His readiness to respond to our cries for help.
On their way, they are interrupted by a woman who has been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years. Despite the crowd, she reaches out in faith, believing that even touching Jesus’ garment would heal her. Her faith is rewarded, and she is instantly cured. Jesus sensed her faith. He stopped and kindly addressed her, calling her “daughter” and affirming that her faith has made her well. That this woman touched Jesus is significant. The customs of his day were that contact with a woman’s blood was taboo because it was considered ritually unclean.
Continuing to Jairus’ house, Jesus and His disciples receive news that the girl has died. Jesus, however, encourages Jairus, saying, “Do not fear, only believe.” When they arrive, He takes the girl by the hand and says, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Immediately, she gets up and begins to walk around. These miracles show Jesus’ dominion over sickness and death by reaffirming He is the Lord of life. Again, Jesus violated a local taboo by touching a person believed to be dead.
The miracles in today’s Gospel are profound acts of empathy. For Jesus, taking care of people was more important than following ritual laws. Once again, Jesus turns rules-based religion upside down.
Jesus doesn’t simply heal; He engages with the individuals, addressing their fears and concerns. To the woman, He offers a personal word of reassurance and healing. To Jairus, He provides comfort in the face of devastating news. Jesus’ empathy demonstrates His intimate concern for each of us. He meets us in pain and suffering, offering physical healing and emotional and spiritual restoration.
In Jesus’s interactions with the two people he healed, money was not a part of the equation. Jesus healed them out of the generosity of his heart, showing us a different, more compassionate approach to healthcare. This starkly contrasts with the profit-driven nature of our healthcare system, where financial considerations often take precedence over the well-being of individuals.
I am seventy-two years of age. Thanks to Medicare, I can maintain my health with minimal out-of-pocket expenses. However, I know this is not the reality for everyone, especially in the United States, which, unlike other developed countries, has not recognized health care as a human right. Some people think it should be; others do not.
The approach to healthcare we see in today’s Gospel sharply contrasts with our current system in the United States. In fact, there are policy influencers among us who argue against this, such as Neurosurgeon Phillip Barlow, who, on a National Institute of Health website, dismissed the idea of healthcare as a human right as “misguided” and “unhelpful” in the discourse on healthcare delivery issues. Economics Professor Walter Williams of George Mason University tells us that it’s morally wrong to force the taxpayers to provide health care for everyone. However, Williams also says that there’s nothing wrong with generosity. But generosity as we know it now does not go far enough.
When it comes to healthcare, the time has come to consider generosity not just as a nice thing but as a moral obligation. The World Health Organization’s Constitution, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and many other international and regional human rights treaties recognize health as a human right.
Universal Health Care should arise from human generosity. Saint Paul talks about generosity in today’s Second Reading, which is part of a larger discourse in which Paul encourages the Corinthian church to participate in a collection for the impoverished believers in Jerusalem. In this discourse, Paul emphasizes generosity, the grace of giving, and the example of Christ’s own generosity, as seen in today’s Gospel.
Paul commends the Corinthians for their excellence in spiritual gifts and virtues: faith, speech, knowledge, earnestness, and love. These are areas where the Corinthians have demonstrated strength and commitment. Paul now encourages the Corinthians to extend their excellence to include generosity. The “act of grace” refers to the act of giving, which Paul describes as both a gift from God and an expression of His grace.
Paul’s theme is that spiritual maturity and excellence are not limited to internal virtues but should also manifest in outward acts of generosity and support for others. Through His divine glory and heavenly status, Jesus was rich, but he willingly became poor by His incarnation and suffering for the sake of humanity.
The self-imposed poverty of Jesus was to make us rich, not only in material terms but in spiritual riches—salvation, grace, and eternal life. Paul uses this example to motivate the Corinthians to emulate the generosity of Jesus. As the world’s wealthiest country, the United States should put the teachings of Jesus into practice by taking the profit motive out of healthcare and see it instead as an outpouring of generosity among people who share a common humanity and not as a burden.
Paul clarifies that he does not intend to burden the Corinthians heavily while others are eased. The goal is not to create hardship but to promote fairness and equality. The principle here is mutual support among all of us for one another. Paul envisions a community where resources are shared so that no one is in need and the burdens are distributed equitably. Paul encourages the Corinthians to consider the broader community and strive for balance and fairness in their allocation of resources.
Generosity should not be a burden but a joyful act of sharing. The most generous people do not necessarily have big bank accounts. Generous people are happier and healthier, with a greater sense of purpose and emotional well-being.
We cannot allow policy influencers like Dr. Barlow and Dr. Williams to win in the public opinion arena. The more people that are healthy, the better off everyone is. The right to health is closely related to and dependent on the realization of other human rights, including the rights to life, food, housing, work, education, privacy, access to information, freedom from torture, and freedom of association, assembly, and travel. It includes both nondiscriminatory access to quality, timely, and appropriate health services and systems and to the underlying determinants of health.
God has given mankind unique dignity, value, and purpose as His image bearers. Humankind bears God’s image with dignity, purpose, and value; therefore, everyone deserves quality and universal healthcare. Healthcare furthers God’s design, going back to the creation mandate. Mankind must not act like animals in a jungle that relies on the law of survival of the fittest to determine who lives or dies. With human persons, every life has value. Denying health care based on inability to pay does not comport with the primary Catholic value of human dignity.
Today’s First Reading from the Book of Wisdom reminds us that God did not create death, nor does God delight in the destruction of the living. Rather, God’s creation is wholesome and life-giving. Death and suffering are not part of God’s original plan but came into the world through the envy of the devil.
Jesus Christ is a conquering hero like no other. Today’s Gospel illustrates that Jesus took on the powers of sickness and death and won. The raising of Jairus’ daughter powerfully demonstrates Jesus’ authority over death, affirming Him as the Lord of life. This miracle prefigures His own resurrection and the ultimate victory over death.
Let us ask ourselves: How do we respond in times of crisis and suffering? Do we turn to Jesus with the same faith as Jairus and the hemorrhaging woman? Today’s readings invite us to deepen our trust in Jesus, knowing He has power over every situation we face. Let us also seek to embody Jesus’ empathy, reaching out to others with compassion and love and becoming instruments of His healing grace in the world.
As we go out into this world from this celebration of the Eucharist, let us carry with us the assurance of Jesus’ power over death, His profound empathy, and His call to unwavering faith in Him. May we trust in His love and power, confident that He walks with us through every trial, and may we always be channels of His grace and compassion to those around us. AMEN.