The line that struck me as I was reflecting on this Gospel was the line, “she had spent all she had, yet she was not helped but only grew worse.” There is another Gospel that uses almost the same line, but in a very different way. It is Matthew 13:44 which says “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy, goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” In this parable, we see the man giving up all he has to gain heaven; whereas in today’s Gospel, we see this woman giving up all she has in order to save her earthly life, and only getting worse.
We humans don’t like death, do we? We never have. Nearly every culture on earth finds death an uncomfortable subject. Even those who can admit that will die can’t really imagine our own death. It’s something far away, isn’t it? I mean, I stand before you 25 years old, and although I know I will die, I hope it is in 60 to 70 years. But for all I know, it could be in 60 to 70 minutes! In the US, we despise aging and death. The average American woman spends $13,000 on make up in her lifetime. That’s about 91,000 Pula. On make up! Over $10 billion is spent each year on plastic surgery in the US. $10 billion! That’s almost 70 billion Pula each year on surgery to make us look younger or feel younger. But does it stop us from aging? Does it stop us from dying?
As technology has advanced, so has our feeling of invincibility. We feel powerful. And why shouldn’t we? We can save babies from previously deadly diseases. We can have a computer in the palm of our hand. We can send people into space. We can clone living beings. We can destroy entire cities with the push of a button. We are powerful. But we can’t stop this body from dying. Maybe that’s why we hate death so much; because it reminds us that we really aren’t all powerful. Even we humans have a limitation: death.
Both Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage knew there was nothing they could do. They knew they were powerless to stop the sickness and death that was threatening them. They had to set aside all of their fear, all of their pain, all of their anxiety, and even all of their anger, and trust Jesus. They had to trust that this man had the power to do what no one else, even today in 2012, could do. And both were healed and made whole for their faith in God. The woman’s hemorrhage stopped at once, and Jairus’ daughter was brought back to life.
Does our dying mean that we don’t have faith in God? When bad things happen to us, when we are injured or afraid or when our lives are shaken, does it mean that it wasn’t because we didn’t have faith? I don’t think so. The woman with the hemorrhage died. Jairus died. The little girl died again. Jesus, the Son of God, died. Having faith doesn’t mean that somehow we won’t die or not have pain in our lives. What faith means is that we believe death is not the end. The first reading reminds us that God made all things to exist and says that since we are made in the image and likeness of God, we are to share in God’s eternal life. Our unloving and sinful choices are what brought death into this world, but God is still stronger, and even though one day we will take our last breath and depart this world, it will not be the end. It will be the beginning of something greater.
So don’t let the things of this world disturb you. By all means we must take care of ourselves and do what is necessary, and we certainly cannot neglect our responsibilities, but let us pray that we never exchange our trust in God for worry about the things of this world. For it is in letting go of these things that we can hold onto God. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. AMEN.
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