Do not be afraid; only believe

 

 Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea.  And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name.  And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter lies at the point of death.  Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live."  So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.  

Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians.  She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.  For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well."  Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.  And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?"  But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"  And He looked around to see her who had done this thing.  But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.  And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well.  Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction." 

While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, "Your daughter is dead.  Why trouble the Teacher any further?"  As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe."  And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.  Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly.  When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep?  The child is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.  Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."  Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age.  And they were overcome with great amazement.  But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.

 

- Mark 5:21–43 

 

 

Yesterday we read that, after sailing through a fierce storm, Jesus and the disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.  And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had so often been bound with shackles and chains.  And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him.  And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.  When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him.  And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I implore You by God that You do not torment me."  For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!"  Then He asked him, "What is your name?"  And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many."  Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there in the mountains.  So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them."  And at once Jesus gave them permission.  Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.  So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country.  And they went out to see what it was that had happened.  Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind.  And they were afraid.  And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine.  Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him.  However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you."  And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled. 

 

  Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea.  And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name.  And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter lies at the point of death.  Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live."  So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.  My study Bible comments here that authority over life and death is in the hand of God alone (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6).  As Jesus is of one essence with the Father, He has this authority (John 5:21).  

Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians.  She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.  For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well."  Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.  And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?"  But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'"  And He looked around to see her who had done this thing.  But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.  And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well.  Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."   Here, Christ's power to cleanse and to heal is demonstrated.   In the Old Testament, my study Bible says, hemorrhage caused ceremonial defilement, which imposed religious and social restrictions, as contact with blood was strictly forbidden (Leviticus 15:25).  This woman was suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years, even suffering many things from many physicians, and finding no relief.  She accounts herself unclean but nonetheless approaches Jesus secretly and with great faith.  My study Bible notes that there is also a spiritual interpretation to this encounter in patristic commentary, which sees this woman as representing human nature in general.  We are in constant suffering and we are subject to death, which is symbolized by the flow of blood.  Those physicians who could not cure the woman stand for the various religions of the world, as well as the Old Testament Law, which were unable to grant life to humanity.  Only through

 Christ we're freed from suffering and bondage to sin.  In this double sense, her faith has made her well, and she may go in peace, reconciled to God, and healed of her affliction.

While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house who said, "Your daughter is dead.  Why trouble the Teacher any further?"  As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe."  And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.  Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly.  When He came in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep?  The child is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying.  Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."  Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age.  And they were overcome with great amazement.  But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.  Here is another story of the power of faith.  For we must note how those who are permitted to follow Jesus are only His "inner circle" of Peter, James, and John his brother.  That is, the disciples with the strongest faith.  Jesus defies the consensus, who ridicule Him for saying the child is not dead, but sleeping.  The weeping and loud wailing of this group of people is their mourning for her death.  Jesus puts all outside, and takes only the father and mother to the child with Peter, and James and John Zebedee.  He takes the little girl's hand, and tells her to arise, healing by touch and by command of His voice.  Note that she is twelve years old, at the beginning of life, the same number of years that the woman in our story was suffering from a continuous flow of blood.  Note that the child immediately resumes a normal life; she arose and walked, and Christ commands that she be given something to eat. 

We don't know exactly what caused this woman's twelve year flow of blood.  For that matter, neither do we know from what affliction Jairus' daughter was suffering.  There are many things that can cause the blood flow, such as a deep and unresolved infection, for example, or perhaps a particular uterine condition; and of course children may suffer from a whole host of ailments.  But in both cases, as my study Bible notes, the flow of blood is a vivid symbol of loss of life, loss of vitality and energy and human spirit.  So it is also with a dying child.  Who is not moved by loss of life at such a young age?  At any rate, both conditions teach us not only of suffering, but of a loss and outflow of life force, a dissipation of what would otherwise be healthy human life.  Viewed from this angle, Christ's intervention in both the woman and the child's life is one that is powerfully life-giving.  As my study Bible indicates, these stories tell us that it is only He who can restore this life, who has the power to give life.  So, healing in this sense in which the divine Christ offers us life, is a healing that doesn't simply restore to health, but rather a condition in which life itself is given to those with faith.  On the one hand, great faith is shown by the woman who even braves a fear of this crowd turning upon her when they discover her condition, and on the other we have the parents of the girl, buoyed only by Christ and then also by the disciples whom He calls to accompany Him.  In the woman's case, she has such faith that she believes that by touching His clothes, she might be made well.  Such was already the image and stature of Christ, and this is affirmed by the power that had gone out of Him in response to that faith.  And certainly it is only Christ who could defy the ridiculing crowd at the home of Jairus, and persuade the parents to follow Him in faith, and not to fear.  Both the woman's longterm blood flow, which has been treated by many physicians (the treatment itself causing further suffering), and this child's death which is so certain in the eyes of the crowd that wails and mourns and ridicules Christ, also suggest to us a level of despair that is present in each case.  Anyone who has suffered together with parents who agonize over a child's dissipating condition, or has struggled with similar problems in adulthood, knows the struggle with faith and hope, and what a difference faith can make under such conditions, even to persist in seeking healing.  This is a story, in short, in today's reading, of the struggle for human life, and the things we ultimately struggle against.  That is, those influences that would seek to take away from us the power of faith and the power of life within us.  Such a very physical story might also serve to remind us, ironically, of St. Paul's words, that "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).  For while we can struggle against the ironies, difficulties, and uncertainties of human health and medicine, we also struggle against those products of "darkness" that rob us of hope, of faith, and of life itself on so many levels, so that we are robbed of our capacity to try, and to persist., and to endure.  Let us consider these stories, hopeless as they must have seemed to those who lived them, and how they teach us about endurance, and faith, and about fear.  For each faced fear, and struggled to meet fear with faith.  Let us do all we can to shore up our strength for that particular battle as well, when we focus on the things that dissipate our life in any way -- and remember the power of Christ's faith for us.  Let us believe in His word.

 

Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well

 

 While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.

 

- Matthew 9:18-26 

 

Yesterday we read that, passing on from healing a paralytic, Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."  

 

  While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  My study Bible comments here that authority over life and death is in the hand of God alone (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6).  As Christ is of one essence with the Father, He has this authority (John 5:21).  The healing of the woman with the blood flow is an expression of Christ's power to cleanse and to heal (see Matthew 8:1-4).  In the Old Testament, my study Bible explains, hemorrhage caused ceremonial defilement, and imposed religious and social restrictions, as contact with blood was strictly prohibited (Leviticus 15:25).  Even though this woman, having suffered so long, accounts herself as unclean, she nonetheless approaches Jesus secretly and with great faith.  Jesus brings her good cheer because of her faith, and also corrects her thinking.  She could neither hide her touch from Him, nor is she excluded from Him because of her illness.  Finally, He exhibits her faith to all, so that they might imitate her.  

What are we to make of this woman who has suffered so long (twelve years) with a flow of blood, a hemorrhage?  Twelve is a significant number in the Bible; there are twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the sons and grandsons of Jacob, also named Israel.  There are twelve disciples named by Jesus who will go on to found His Church and its bishops who descend from them.  Twelve is a type of building block of time, as there are twelve months to the year.  So this number of the years of her suffering defines her in a way, in this sense of her shame and uncleanness, and her lack of healing.  But encountering Christ does something entirely different for her than anything she has known.  In St. Luke's Gospel, she has "spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any" (Luke 8:43).  Everything she knows or understands has in some sense sentenced her to this life as one who is unclean and cannot be helped, her suffering and isolated status unalleviated by anything she knows.  But here is Jesus in Capernaum in the crowd, approached by Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, who seeks help for his daughter (in St. Luke's version, she is also twelve years old), and although the woman according to the law is unclean because of her flow of blood, nevertheless she approaches Christ with great faith.  What we notice is that her faith enabled her even to run the risk of being caught in this crowd, also forbidden to her in the law as she would have been excluded from community.  But let us observe that there is a sense in which Christ's healing power works seemingly despite Himself; He does not see this woman, but power goes out of Him to heal nonetheless in response to her faithful touch.  That faith of hers connects with Christ as Son, with the power of the divine to heal, and makes the connection.  Again, in St. Luke's Gospel, Jesus asks, "Who touched Me?"  (Luke 8:45).  Thus far in St. Matthew's Gospel we have had several occasions to ponder the Lord's ultimately healing aim in all things, whether we speak of the Law or the many teachings and healings of Jesus in the New Testament.  But here He affirms, and exhibits before the whole world, the faith that heals, that is here an essential component to healing.  We have had occasion to read of friends' faith helping to heal the paralytic, we have heard Christ referring to Himself as Physician (in yesterday's reading, above), we have seen His healing of two demon-possessed men among those without faith (see this reading), we have read of His healing of the Gentile centurion's servant, and the healing of a leper by touch (also forbidden in the Law).  All of this followed upon His teaching of the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5 - 7 of St. Matthew's Gospel), showing us that in Christ there is a new birth, a renewal of all things, a New Covenant.  And all of this is true in His healing of this woman, no longer sentenced to her twelve-year identity as unclean, with an unremitting affliction casting her out of the society.  She is, instead, put on display by Christ for her exemplary faith, which He says has made her well.  Moreover, He proclaims her "daughter" in so doing.   In the Revelation, the Lord on the throne says, "Behold, I make all things new" (Revelation 21:5).  In the Greek, we should understand that it effectively means, "I am always making all things new."  And then He adds to St. John, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."  True and faithful; these must be the themes we seek and know for today, for they are exemplified in this woman's healing, in her transformation to one returned to community and healed, in her faith to which Jesus testifies to the whole community for all of us.  Let us remember that faith is trust, and where better shall we put that trust than in Him, the faithful and true?

For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well"

 

 While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  And the report of this went out into all that land. 

 

- Matthew 9:18-26 

 

Yesterday we read that, after healing a paralytic, as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means:  'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.  Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.  No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.  Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

 

  While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  And the report of this went out into all that land. My study Bible comments on today's passage that authority over life and death is in the hand of God alone (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6).  Being of one essence with the Father, Jesus has this authority (John 5:21).  The healing of the woman with the blood flow demonstrates Christ's power both to cleanse and to heal (see Matthew 8:1-4, in which Jesus healed a leper by touch).  In the Old Testament, my study Bible explains, hemorrhage caused ceremonial defilement, which imposed religious and social restrictions, for contact with blood was strictly prohibited (Leviticus 15:25).  This suffering woman accounts herself unclean, but she nevertheless approaches Jesus secretly and also with great faith.  Jesus brings her good cheer because of her faith.  He also corrects her thinking, because she could neither hide her touch from Him, nor is she excluded from Him because of her illness.  Finally, Jesus exhibits her faith to all, so that they might imitate her.  

My study Bible really focuses in on the trouble of the woman with the blood flow.  She has been crippled from the society and participation in it because of this affliction.  We see Christ's mercy at work in His response to her, but we also see something quite powerful that doesn't involve an apparently conscious decision on the part of Jesus.  In this text, here in Matthew's Gospel, we're told that Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  In Luke's Gospel telling of this story, Jesus asks, "Who touched Me?" and later says, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me."  We should keep in mind that when we read additional details in one Gospel over another that the Gospels are made from witness statements, and come from oral testimony, so this should not surprise us nor should it be considered unusual.  But taking either text, what we see here is the response of the divine to this woman's faith.  While Jesus perceives power going out from Himself (in Luke's Gospel), here in Matthew, He turned around, and it is only when He saw her that He responded to tell her that her faith made her well.  It might seem to be a slight form of elucidation of meaning, but nevertheless what we can see is His divinity responding to her faith, and specifically to her act of faith in touching the hem of His garment.  The human Jesus may be quite aware that power has gone out of Him, and that it is the faith of this woman that has made her well, but nevertheless it was the human Jesus who needed to turn around to see her to fully understand what happened.   The divinity of Christ, on the other hand, responded to her faith before Jesus' human sight could be aware of her.  What this seems to mean for us would be an assurance that the divine power of Christ is present and working, whether or not the human Jesus walks among us still.  What we can be assured of is the response of God to our faith, the response of the divine to real faith -- and I would say especially to acts of faith.  That is, to faith put into action and thus made manifest somehow by what we do.  This is what the woman does by reaching out and touching the hem of Christ's garment.  She puts her faith into an action, and the response of Christ's divine power is immediate, even before He is aware of who touched Him.  So let us take heart from this story, and understand that while the world is beset with its own problems, we are not left abandoned by God.  For God's Spirit is present for us and working in us (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  We must be particularly aware of God the Holy Spirit this week, as tomorrow is the celebration of Pentecost in the West (in the Eastern Churches, it is one week from tomorrow).  Let us give thanks and be aware of God's great gift to us.  We may not experience the kind of immediacy that this woman experienced in the presence of Jesus Himself, but our prayers are heard and God's power is at work to help us to God's way for us (Philippians 4:13).