Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle b

MARK 5:21-43
I THINK MOST CATHOLICS IN THIS COUNTRY HAVE AN EXTREMELY ANEMIC FAITH. I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO SHOW UP FOR MASS ONLY ON CHRISTMAS OR EASTER; I'M TALKING ABOUT THE ORDINARY CATHOLIC WHO GOES TO MASS EVERY SUNDAY, PERHAPS HAS A FEW PRAYERS HE SAYS EVERY DAY; GOES TO CONFESSION ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR – IN SHORT, DOES WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO IN ORDER TO REMAIN IN “GOOD STANDING”, BUT VERY LITTLE ELSE. ANEMIC CATHOLICS BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF PRAYER, SORT OF. WHEN A CRISIS COMES ALONG, WE ANEMIC CATHOLICS PRAY; AND SOMETIMES WE ANEMIC CATHOLICS PRAY FOR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES, CHILDREN, OUR PASTOR, OUR POLITICAL LEADERS; BECAUSE WE BELIEVE THAT SOME GOOD WILL COME FROM PRAYER, EVEN IF WE DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN, EVEN IF WE WOULD BE SURPRISED IF WHAT WE PRAYED FOR ACTUALLY CAME ABOUT THE WAY WE ASKED FOR IT. WE SAY THINGS LIKE, “GOD WILL ANSWER OUR PRAYERS, ONLY SOMETIMES THE ANSWER IS “NO”.” WE ARE BIG PROPONENTS OF “THY WILL BE DONE” BECAUSE IT MAKES US FEEL VIRTUOUS IF OUR PRAYERS ARE NOT ANSWERED, AND WE HAVE LEFT A LITTLE QUALIFICATION IN CASE GOD DOESN'T REALLY WANT TO DO WHAT WE ASK HIM TO DO.
TODAY WE MEET TWO PEOPLE WHO DO NOT HAVE ANEMIC FAITH. ONE IS A LEADER OF A SYNAGOGUE. THESE LEADERS OF SYNAGOGUES WERE NOT ACTUALLY RABBIS. THEY WERE PEOPLE WHO WERE ELECTED BY THE MEN IN THE CONGREGATION, AND THEIR JOB WAS TO OPERATE THE SYNAGOGUE. THEY SCHEDULED THINGS, THEY PUT ELDERS ON THE LIST TO READ THE SCRIPTURES ON THE SABBATH; THEY PAID THE RABBI, AND DOLED OUT THE CHARITY, AND COLLECTED THE TITHES. IT WAS A VERY IMPORTANT POST WITH A LOT OF INFLUENCE. AND HERE, THE LEADER OF THE SYNAGOGUE PUBLICLY ASKS A WANDERING PREACHER, WHO HAS BEEN REVILED BY THE PHARISEES, WHO SEEMS TO BE A RABBLE ROUSER, TO COME AND HEAL HIS DAUGHTER. IT WOULD BE LIKE OUR BISHOP GOING TO ONE OF OUR LOCAL PENTECOSTAL PREACHERS WITH THE PRESS IN TOW, TO ASK HIM TO HEAL SOMEONE IN HIS FAMILY. BUT JARIUS OVERCAME ALL HIS SCRUPLES, ALL HIS CONCERNS FOR HOW HE APPEARED TO THOSE OVER WHOM HE RULED, AND SWALLOWED ALL HIS PRIDE.
A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO READ THIS GOSPEL DON'T SEE MUCH OF A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE STORY OF JARIUS AND THE STORY OF THE WOMAN WITH A HEMORRHAGE. THIS HEALING TAKES PLACE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORY OF JARIUS. I THINK THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP. THE WOMAN IS LIKE A LEPER, LIKE SOMEONE WITH AIDS. IN JEWISH LAW, A WOMAN WHO WAS BLEEDING WAS UNCLEAN, AND NEEDED PURIFICATION. THIS WOMAN NEVER STOPPED BLEEDING. SHE COULD NEVER BE PURIFIED. AS SUCH, SHE WAS AN OUTCAST, SOMEONE WHO AVOIDED OTHER PEOPLE, WHO WAS SHUNNED BY HER FRIENDS AND RELATIVES. AND SHE WAS KNOWN TO THE TOWNSPEOPLE, AND EVERYONE KNEW HER PROBLEM; SHE HAD AFTER ALL, GONE TO SEVERAL DOCTORS AND YOU COULDN'T KEEP SOMETHING LIKE THIS QUIET. AND JESUS, FEELING HIS POWER GO OUT OF HIM, DIDN'T JUST LET IT HAPPEN. HE STOPPED AND CALLED ATTENTION TO THE FACT. JARIUS MUST HAVE HAVE REALLY REGRETTED THE FACT THAT HE HAD ASKED JESUS TO HEAL HIS DAUGHTER; NOW JESUS WAS STOPPING AND TALKING TO SOMEONE NO DECENT JEW WOULD HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH. AND HE TOLD HER SHE WAS HEALED – SOMETHING NO ONE COULD PROVE; AND JARIUS, WHO HAD GONE OUT ON A LIMB, WAS FINDING THAT THE LIMB WAS BEING CUT OFF.
AND THEN, WHEN IT SEEMED THINGS COULD NOT GET ANY WORSE, THEY DID. THEY CAME AND TOLD HIM HIS DAUGHTER HAD DIED. AND THEN THE WANDERING PREACHER ADDED FUEL TO THE FIRE BY INSISTING THAT THE DAUGHTER WAS ONLY SLEEPING, WHICH BROUGHT RIDICULE AND LAUGHTER UPON HIMSELF, AND BY EXTENSION, JARIUS, WHO AT THIS POINT SEEMED TO HAVE LOST EVERYTHING – HIS STANDING IN THE COMMUNITY, HIS DAUGHTER, AND HIS VERY REPUTATION AS A PERSON WHO WAS WORTHY OF BEING THE RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE; ALL BECAUSE HE PLACED HIS FAITH IN JESUS.
BUT JESUS CAME THROUGH; JESUS HEALED THE LITTLE GIRL. AND THE PEOPLE WERE ASTOUNDED, AND JARIUS HAD EVERYTHING RESTORED TO HIM; HIS DAUGHTER, HIS REPUTATION, AND NOW HAD THE FURTHER RESPECT OF THE PEOPLE, BECAUSE HE HAD PUT HIS FAITH IN JESUS, AND IT WAS NOT IN VAIN.
THE WOMAN WHOM JESUS HEALED HAD SAID TO HERSELF, “IF I TOUCH HIS GARMENT, I WILL BE HEALED.” SHE DID NOT SIT IN THE CORNER AND WISH THAT SHE WERE HEALED, SHE DID NOT PRAY SILENTLY THAT SHE WOULD BE HEALED, ADDING THE QUALIFIER, “IF IT IS YOUR WILL”. SHE PUSHED THROUGH THE CROWD AND DID WHAT SHE BELIEVED SHE HAD TO DO, AND HER FAITH WAS REWARDED. BUT I THINK JARIUS MADE THE BIGGER GESTURE; HE PUT EVERYTHING ON THE LINE, AND WHEN IT SEEMED THAT HE HAD MADE A BAD BET, HE DIDN'T BACK OUT, HE CONTINUED TO BELIEVE THAT THIS PREACHER WHO UP TO THAT POINT HAD HEALED, DRIVEN OUT DEMONS, PREACHED A GOOD GAME-- THINGS THAT OTHER WANDERING MYSTICS DID AS WELL-- HE CONTINUED TO BELIEVE THAT EVEN THOUGH HIS DAUGHTER HAD DIED, MAYBE THIS MAN COULD STILL DO SOMETHING – SOMETHING UNPRECEDENTED, SOMETHING UTTERLY ASTOUNDING – AND HE BELIEVED JESUS WHEN JESUS SAID, “DON'T LISTEN TO THEM, SHE IS ONLY SLEEPING.” AND HIS FAITH WAS REWARDED.
WE CATHOLICS OF ANEMIC FAITH; AND I KNOW SOME OF YOU ARE NOT ANEMIC, BUT I AM; WE CATHOLICS OF ANEMIC FAITH ARE NOT QUITE WILLING TO GO OUT ON A LIMB; WE ARE NOT QUITE WILLING TO BELIEVE, IN SPITE OF THINGS HAPPENING TO THE CONTRARY; WE THINK THE AGE OF MIRACLES IS OVER, AND WE ARE NOT SURPRISED THAT GOD DOESN'T ANSWER OUR PRAYERS; WE NEVER REALLY EXPECTED HIM TO IN THE FIRST PLACE.
AND YET, SOMETIMES IN OUR HEART, BURIED FAR BENEATH OUR RATIONAL MIND, WE GLIMPSE THAT JESUS STANDS READY TO ANSWER OUR PRAYERS, IF WE PUT OUR TRUST IN HIM, IF WE PUSH THROUGH TO TOUCH HIS GARMENT; IF WE HAVE THE FAITH THAT IS WILLING TO TRUST HIM WITH EVERYTHING WE VALUE.
WHEN YOU READ THE GOSPELS, JESUS DOESN'T WORK MIRACLES AS OBJECT LESSONS; HE WORKS THEM BECAUSE HE MEETS SOMEONE WHO HAS A NEED. IN THE TOWN WHERE JARIUS LIVED, THERE MUST HAVE BEEN MANY WHO WERE SICK OR DYING, BUT ONLY JARIUS AND THE WOMAN WITH A BLEEDING DISORDER CAME OUT TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY HAD FAITH.
SO ON THIS SUNDAY WE NEED TO ASK, DO WE REALLY BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL ANSWER OUR PRAYERS, THAT HE DESIRES TO SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS, TO FULFILL OUR NEEDS? AND IF WE BELIEVE THIS, HOW DO WE SHOW HIM THAT WE HAVE THE FAITH OF JARIUS, OF THE WOMAN WITH THE HEMORRAGE, OF SO MANY OTHERS IN THE GOSPELS WHO SHOW THEIR FAITH AND RECEIVE HIS GRACE.