13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 27, 2021 – Mark 5: 21-43, especially focused on verses 25-34, the centerpiece of the Gospel, which recounts the healing of the woman whose severe bleeding is healed.
During this Covid-19 pandemic, the priests in the rectory from time to time enjoyed a few types of pizza. I was intrigued with the message on one of the pizza boxes: it said “You’ve tried the rest, NOW try the best!” We three priests then said, “We’ll be the judge of that!” And to tell the truth, most of them were very, very good! At the same time, that same motto, “You’ve tried the rest, now tried the best!” ALSO belongs to the woman, whose healing is directly in the center of the Gospel. For she had tried THE REST: many doctors, who could not provide her with the relief she needed. The result was that this woman was treated like a leper in her community: an untouchable; someone who could not go to temple. She was considered unclean, and therefore could not share the company of family, friends, and neighbors.
But LOOK at what that woman’s faith meant in the BIG picture of Jesus Christ saving the world. She didn’t need OR ask for Jesus to pray over her, or touch her, or do anything spectacular, like Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from death. Because of this woman’s faith, Jesus did a few things, as divine power went OUT from Him, like an electrical current into this woman. Jesus stopped her hemorrhaging, and relieved her physical, emotional, spiritual & social suffering. Jesus awakened her to new reality: she could resume relationships without fear or shame. Even more: Jesus offered this woman a FOREVER relationship, one that contained a bond of freedom, one that was free of fear.
In case you haven’t guessed already, this woman represents EVERY man, woman, and child: for we are ALL wounded people, be it physical, emotional, visible, invisible or in every other way. And to this woman AND to US Jesus says: you are precious to me; you are mine; you are my sibling. With Jesus’ assurance, let us be as strong as possible in our faith. People in our midst, perhaps even ourselves, have already tried the rest; now we are called to turn to only the best. And if we are not accustomed to doing going to Jesus, let us all allow Jesus to direct our hearts by spending time with Jesus each day and each week in personal prayer, as we put our faith in Jesus Christ: only in Jesus; forever in Jesus, the One who our Savior for all seasons.
