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It is unavoidable that sooner
or later in our lives we must confront death. Most often our response is
terror. In today's gospel we hear the story of the synagogue official
whose little daughter was dying. In desperation he turns to Jesus. On
the way to the child, a woman who had been sick for years came up behind
Jesus and
touched the hem of his garment. This woman had tried everything to
relieve her illness. Instead of succumbing to her suffering, she reached
out one more time for a cure. This time her trust saved her.
The woman tried to go unnoticed. She was greatly surprised when Jesus
wheeled about in the crowd and asked, "Who touched me?" Like so many of
us, the woman thought she could manipulate the Lord. How many times have
we said, "do this for me, Lord, and I'll do such and such." More
often than not the Lord comes through, but we do not. We often think,
“God doesn't notice me, I'm too insignificant.” Jesus told the woman,
"Daughter, it is your faith that has cured you."
Immediately after the cure of
the woman, messengers brought the news that the synagogue leader's
daughter had died. Imagine the swelling despair they must have
experienced when they heard the news. Jesus told the man, "Fear is
useless. What is needed is trust."
Fear paralyzes. We are frozen in place, like a deer on the highway
blinded by headlights, unable to react even to save its own life. Jesus
tells us, what is needed is trust.
No matter how great the mystery, whether sickness or even death itself,
our Lord is there with us. It may seem that we are just one in a crowd,
like the woman with the hemorrhage. It may appear that all hope is past
like the news that the little girl had died. But Jesus is still with us.
It might seem easy for Jesus to speak to us about trust. He had to live
with trust in his own life too. When he hung upon the cross he had to
make a supreme effort to keep his own trust in the Father. He did not
allow fear to paralyze him, even as he approached his own death. Instead
he continued his life-giving ministry. In the end, he passed from death
to life.
Through our baptism he invites us to do the same. Jesus returned the
little girl to her father and told him to give her something to eat. In
the same way he reminds us to feed and care for one another around his
table.
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