Matthew 9
Today we read the gospel from Matthew. But Mark’s gospel describes the same episode with more lively details. The young girl’s father’s name was Jairus, a synagogue official.
When Jairus came to Jesus for help, there was already a great crowd around Jesus. And the crowd followed Jesus on the way to Jairus’ home. They surrounded Jesus pressing on him while they moved. The procession sounds a little chaotic. The crowd must have been excited to see what Jesus would do to Jairus’ daughter. I guess all walked rather in a hurry and talked to one another with excitement. In the middle of this moving commotion, the woman with hemorrhages strove to touch Jesus at least by his clothes. The woman and Jesus knew what had happened, but Jesus couldn’t even see her touch his clothes because of the pressing crowd. Jesus wanted to see her. And she came while trembling and fell down before Jesus. But Jesus praised her faith.
In today’s episode, two people are saved – the daughter of Jairus and the woman with hemorrhages. Don’t you think it is interesting that only two people were healed among so many people? Do you think these two were the only ones with sickness among all the crowd? Which do you think, if we have any group of people, is easier, whether to find a perfectly healthy person or to find a person with a medical condition? In reality, it is rare to find a person with perfect health. Are you in perfect health? Not me. Jesus was surrounded by people, and, probably, not all of them were perfectly healthy. They were already pressing in on Jesus. But None of them were healed except the woman who had to swim through the crowd and touched Jesus just by the fringe of his garment.
We surround Jesus every day in our prayers and every Sunday at Mass. But do we approach him desperately like the woman with hemorrhages or just move along with him leisurely like the crowd who were only bystanders. Do I realize how much healing I need for my soul? How many of us approach him with truth faith and touch him with humble hearts?
Even at the news of the young girl’s death, Jesus said, “Do not fear, only believe.” When we have true faith, Jesus can cause so much more than we can ever expect.
