Homily: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B
Friends,
during these weeks of Ordinary Time, we are being given stories of Jesus’
divine power on display, as recounted in Mark’s Gospel. Last Sunday, we heard of how Jesus calmed the
storm on the sea by simply commanding it.
Although we didn’t read it here, the next story in Mark’s Gospel is how
Jesus drove out an evil spirit from a man; again, simply by commanding it. Today, we have these two powerful stories of
healing (actually, a story within a story): the healing of the woman who
suffered 12 years with hemorrhages and the restoring to life of the 12-year-old
girl. In each of these, we see Jesus’
divinity on display as he uses supernatural means to reverse distressing
situations for those who approach him.
In
all of these supernatural acts, Jesus is demonstrating the purpose for which he
came: to overthrow the “envy of the devil”, through whom “death entered the
world”. As we heard in the first reading
from the Book of Wisdom, God created living things to live; and death and
destruction of living creatures have never been part of his plan. Therefore, when the envy of the devil led him
to tempt Eve into disobeying God so that death might enter the world, God began
to enact his plan to overthrow the destructive power of death and the envy of
the devil that caused it. Thus, by his
displays of divine power, Jesus is showing God’s power over death, thus
inviting all men to follow him so that they might be saved from death.
In
the Gospel reading from last Sunday, we heard how the disciples feared for
their lives while the powerful storm battered their boat. Nature’s power to cause destruction and
mortal harm is an effect of death entering the world through sin. The disciples’ natural fear of death (for being
alive is good and anything that threatens continued living is something to be
feared/avoided) and their still undeveloped understanding of Jesus’ divinity
(and, thus, divine power) caused them to react in fear, judging the situation
naturally instead of supernaturally.
Jesus asleep while the storm rages is the example of trust in God’s
absolute power over death and that which causes death. His calming of the storm is a demonstration
of that power.
In
the story of the driving out of the evil spirit from the Gerasene man, which we
didn’t read in our liturgy, Jesus demonstrates his authority over the devil himself. If the devil, through whose envy of man and
his favor before God death entered the world, cannot withstand the authority of
God and his divine power, then how could death itself resist God’s power? It cannot.
By driving the evil spirit out of the man, Jesus again shows his
absolute power over death and that which causes death.
Then,
in today’s Gospel reading, we see this come full circle and hear how Jesus
saved two different women from death: one from a psychological/emotional death
and the other from a physical death. The
woman suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years had been mostly ostracized from
the people due to her ritual impurity.
This loss of connection with the greater community must have felt like death
to her. Having heard of Jesus’ miracles,
however—and having tried every natural means to end her affliction—she believed
that divine power could save her and so reached out to Jesus. Her faith was rewarded and she was healed. Although she approached in humility and
obscurity because she felt ashamed, Jesus would not leave her there. Her physical healing was not enough. She needed to be restored to the
community. Thus, Jesus seeks to know her
and, in seeing her, acknowledges her. In
acknowledging her, he restores her to status in the community, thus giving life
back to her.
The
young daughter of the Jairus, the synagogue official, in contrast to the woman
with a hemorrhage, was very much alive until the illness that came upon her
suddenly and threatened her life.
Because of what Jesus came to do, I cannot imagine that it is a
coincidence that Jesus was delayed by the woman while on the way to heal the
daughter of Jairus, so long that the girl died before Jesus arrived. This should echo for us the scene from John’s
Gospel when Martha and Mary send for Jesus to come and heal Lazarus, who was in
danger of dying, and Jesus waited to go to them so that he would not arrive
until after Lazarus had died. Jesus used
these opportunities to show that his divine power could not only prevent death (by
healing illness), but could also reverse death (by restoring life to one who
has died). By raising this girl back to life,
Jesus showed his absolute power even over death itself. ///
Does
this make sense? This is really
fundamental for our faith and so I want to be sure we are clear on this. God did not create death, but he does have
absolute power over it. Although he may
permit us to experience death and the destructive power of death for a time, he
does not abandon his followers to it; rather, in his time, he will come to save
his followers from it. Our faith in this
truth is what frees us to live as joyful followers of Christ, even in spite of the
destructive effects of death that we often suffer in this world; and so we are
called to renew continually our faith in it.
This,
in some sense, is what Saint Paul is calling the Christians in Corinth to do in
the second reading today. He
acknowledges them for their exceptional faith, their knowledge of the faith,
and their earnestness in following it, and he urges them not to diminish these
things by failing to act in the freedom that their faith provides. Namely, trusting fully in the providence of
God not to abandon them if they give generously to the needs of the Church in
Jerusalem. “As God provided manna in the
desert, enough for each one, each day,” Saint Paul says, “so will God provide
for you if you do not fail to be generous for him.” Because of our belief in the absolute power
of God over death, Saint Paul seems to argue, we can freely give: trusting
that, if our fortunes change, God will not abandon us to death.
This,
therefore, is our call to action today: first, to acknowledge the absolute
power of God over death and the destructive powers of the world that often
cause it; second, to place our full trust in God and so give ourselves completely
to him, in spite of the many fearful circumstances in which we find ourselves
in the world. This acknowledgement and
giving ourselves in trust is what will free us to give ourselves generously in the
world: both to worship of God and to generous service to those around us—our families,
our neighbors, and even those far removed from us who are in great need. This is the work of discipleship, and it is
the work of God’s kingdom. As disciples
of Christ and citizens of this kingdom, this is the work that each of us is
called to do. ///
Friends,
in this Eucharist, God gives himself completely to us. In thanksgiving for so great a gift, and in
trust of his absolute power to save us from death, let us give ourselves to
this good work and thus rejoice as God’s power continues to manifest itself
among us.
Given in Spanish at St. Joseph Parish: Rochester, IN – June
30th, 2024
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