Robert Barron - Reach Out in Faith
Peace be with you. Friends, I mentioned last week that we're in the Gospel of Mark now in this liturgical cycle, and Mark is such a... He's a literary master, really. As I mentioned last time, there's something Hemingway-esque about him, there's something very direct and uncomplicated. But, in another sense, he does show a lot of literary sophistication, and you see it especially in this famous story for today. It's a technique he uses a number of times, it's a kind of narrative sandwiching.
What I mean is he begins a story, then he interrupts it to insert a second story, and then he finishes the first story. It's a very clever technique, for a number of reasons, but I think what's going on is he's forcing us to read these two stories together. He's compelling us to say, "Okay, there's some connection between these two narratives". N.T. Wright, the great biblical scholar, said that these two stories here kind of spark off each other. As they come up against each other, they send off illumination upon each other. And here's the basic structuring. We have the story of the daughter of Jairus. Jairus, the synagogue official who comes to Jesus, "Lord, my daughter's dying. Please come".
And so then Jesus sets out. And while He's setting out, now we put the second story in, and the story of the hemorrhaging woman that reaches out and she finds healing in Him. And then that story ends, and we go back to the original story. And now we see how Jesus raises the daughter of Jairus from the dead. So, that's where we are in the Gospel of Mark. Let me start with the story in the middle, but always keeping in mind these two are sparking off each other. So, He's on His way. And the people, they're excited, because now they've heard about this Jesus, He's been performing miracles, and so they're really interested. "Oh, He's going to help this girl, and so let's see what happens".
So, the crowd is excitedly around Him. And then we hear of this woman who has been beset for 12 years, long time, with a hemorrhage. We're not given any more details about her disease, doesn't really matter. But here's what matters when we talk about a hemorrhage. In the Jewish culture of this time, read the Book of Leviticus for the details, if you had a flow of blood, that meant you that meant you were unclean, first of all. Secondly, anything you touched or sat upon was unclean, any person that came in contact with you would be unclean.
Can you see how desperate this woman must have been? 12 years where she's physically suffering. So, it must have been something serious enough to be this ongoing physical problem. But, in a way, that's the least of her concerns, because the psychological suffering involved in being ostracized, in being this dangerous figure, "Don't even touch her. If she reaches out to you, get out of the way". Can you imagine, you're living your life that way? Anything you touch or sit upon, that's now unclean. It must've been a kind of psychological torture. More to it, you say "unclean", that means you're religiously unclean. You can't join the synagogue to worship. You're now, religiously, in an awful position. At every level of her life, this woman is suffering. She hears about Jesus, this healer.
"Okay, okay, maybe, maybe, as one desperate move, I'm not even going to talk to Him because that would make Him unclean, and He'll know that I'm a problem, and I'm not going to go up to Him. That's asking Him way too much. But maybe, as He walks by, I can reach out, and not even touch the main part of His clothing, but just the tassel of His clothing". And so she does, summoning, and we have to see this, everybody, summoning enormous courage to do it. See, even that move, "What's she doing here? She's unclean. And what's she doing now? She's actually reaching out to the teacher"? She had to summon enormous courage to do even that. And then I've always... The time I was a kid and first heard this story, I've always been intrigued by that line where Jesus, it says, "felt power go out from Him".
I always wonder what's that like, to feel power go out? But the point is that He is this source of healing power, and just the slightest touch of His tassel brings that healing power into this woman's life, listen, at every level, because healing her of the discharge is healing her of her social ostracization, healing her of her religious alienation, it's healing at every level. What did Jesus say to her? "Daughter, your faith has saved you". Now, that word, faith, famously, it can be read a lot of different ways. I think here what it means, in the most fundamental meaning, "Your trust, your trust in me has allowed power to come forth from me to save you".
All right. So, this is a story vividly remembered. I love it about both parts of the story. There are so many little details that say to me that this is something that was vividly remembered, and was talked about, and the story was passed on. So, this really happened to this woman. But can we see her, too, as a symbol for a lot of us? I bet, right now, there are a lot of people listening to me who feel much like this woman. Maybe with the physical element, but maybe not. What I mean is who just feel ostracized from the Church, from God, from their fellow human beings, they feel like an alien, like an outsider. For whatever reason, whatever reason, there's shame, there's humiliation.
Maybe you've lost a sense of faith. You used to go to church, but now you don't. You used to know how to pray, but now you don't. And you find yourself like this woman. 12 years, 12 years. Maybe you're like that. Maybe longer. Maybe longer, you've felt like that. Here's all you got to do. We're not asking you to become Mother Teresa tomorrow. All we're asking is to summon the courage to touch the tassel of His cloak. See, what I mean here is let's say you're a full-fledged disciple. You're with Jesus, you're following Him, you've heard Him, you attend to His words, you're in prayerful relationship with Him. Yeah, okay, that's full discipleship. I'm not asking for that tomorrow for you if you feel like this woman. What I'm asking is to touch the tassel of His cloak.
Now, what does that mean? It might mean I know you've not been to church in 25 years. Maybe go back this Sunday. "Oh, they're going to think I'm..." Who cares? Look what this woman faced. Just go. Maybe, yeah, you haven't prayed in 30 years. Pick up grandma's rosary. I bet there's one in a drawer someplace. Maybe just summon a prayer like, "Lord, I'm lost. Help me". Maybe there's a sermon that you run across online or on radio or TV, and there's one word, one phrase that kind of gets your attention. Reach out. Maybe there's one kind person who seems to embody what Jesus is all about. Follow, follow that lead.
See, my point is as Jesus is walking by you, and you're alienated and you're like this woman, all she needed to do was have enough faith to touch the tassel of His cloak, and she found complete healing. Reach out. Reach out right now. And maybe, maybe these very words of mine are functioning as that tassel of Jesus' cloak going by. All right, reach out, touch. You'll find healing, "power will go forth from Him". Okay, so let's leave that middle story, and now come back to the sandwiching story, which is the daughter of Jairus.
So, Jairus getting down in his knees, it's a beautiful image. He's a synagogue official, he's kind of a high-level guy. But in this, imagine a father, and he knows his daughter is dying: he'll do anything. He's not going to worry about being religiously proper. So, he gets down on his knees and begs. And Jesus comes. Jairus has faith, right? They get to the house, and it's a heartbreaking scene, because he's begged the Lord to come, He arrives, but the official mourners are there. And we shouldn't make fun of that, it was a typical practice in ancient times, is mourners would come, and they would wail and they would cry, and they kind of lead the family in mourning. So, there they are, and the word comes to Jairus. "Don't bother the master, she's died".
Imagine how he must have felt, imagine the... His heart just broke, right? What's Jesus say? "Child's not dead, but asleep". And of course this detail too is perfectly reasonable, and they ridiculed them. I bet they were angry with Him, I bet. "Are you mocking us? She's dead. We know when someone's died. And you're telling us she's asleep"? They ridicule Him. But He put them all out. He brings the child's father and mother, they enter the room. And then this beautiful touch, and again, this is a sign, everybody, that this story, they remembered this very vividly, and they passed it on carefully, because it's one of three times in the Gospels when the original Aramaic of Jesus is remembered.
So the Gospels, of course, are written in Greek. But here, He bends down, and He takes the girl's hand, and He says, "Talitha koum". Which is Aramaic, Jesus' native language. "Little girl, get up". And then, still, 2,000 years later, we're astounded beyond words by this story. And the girl, a child of 12... Remember, by the way, the woman had the hemorrhage for 12 years? This little girl is 12 years old. So, this is tying the two stories together. A child, 12, arose immediately, and walked around. And then, the understatement of the century, "and they were utterly astounded". I bet. And then this other one too, that tells me they remembered these quirky details, and He said, "Don't tell anyone about this, but give her something to eat". But why would you put that in there, unless it was vividly remembered as something that really happened?
Okay, let me do now, with this story, a bit of what I did with the last story. The hemorrhaging woman would represent someone who is at her wits' end. She's suffered enormously, she's alienated, but she's got at least a modicum of faith. And with that trust, she reaches out to touch the tassel of His cloak. Okay, she's probably like a lot of you listening to me right now. But the little girl who's already dead, whom does she represent? She represents people who are really dead, spiritually. They're so alienated from God that they've lost even that little modicum of faith. We talk about mortal sin. That's a really good, accurate description. There are certain sins that lead us down a path towards spiritual death. And if you doubt it, you haven't been around planet Earth very long. That there are people that have walked down this path. So, the girl who has died seems to me she represents that kind of spiritual death.
So, do we give up? No, no. See, it was the faith of Jairus that brought Jesus to her. In the first case, the woman, "it's your faith, your trust has saved you". Terrific. The little girl who's spiritually dead, she can't muster that. But her father, her father had the faith, her father had the trust, and brought Jesus to her. So, here's the lesson now for all of us. We all know people around us who are spiritually dead. That they will not summon, they won't be able to summon. But they might need your faith. They might need your faith. Maybe your faith is not so much for you, it's for them. Is there somebody in your life that you know who's really walked down this terrible path? They can't summon faith, but your faith will bring Jesus to them. I think everybody, of course, we read these as these marvelous miracle stories of Jesus. But they're meant to speak of the miracle of grace that still goes on in the life of the Church today. And God bless you.