A commentary on Mk 5, 21-43 (XIII Sunday OT: June 28th 2015)
We read today Markâs chapter five, in which we continue watching Jesus on both sides of Galilee lake with a clear message of Godâs nearness to the poor and those with a âbroken heartâ; a message that is conveyed, not only in inspiring words, buts also in concrete gestures that confirm the words and give them a kind of âphysicalâ consistency. Jesus performs what we can call âmessianic signsâ, that is, concrete actions that reveal Godâs presence among his people from both âsidesâ of the lake: Gerasa and Capharnaum
From âimpureâ to Godâs children
In todayâs Reading we are told about the story of two women (a twelve year old girl and a grown up woman who has been sick for twelve years). In spite of being impure (as a dead body or as someone loosing blood), both are touched by Jesus and they are restored, not only to live, but also to their dignity as Godâs children, able to rise up (âGet upâ), to believe (âYour faith has saved youâ), and to share in the banquet of life (âGive her something to eatâ).
Some people may look at this episode as if Jesus were a magician, with special powers, able to produce magic effects⊠Certainly I have no doubts about Jesusâ power. But I do not think that this is the right perspective to understand what happened in the river of Galilee Lake or what it continues to happen with many believers today. The right perspective is to consider this and other episodes as âmessianic signsâ, that is, actions and gestures that flow out of two fundamental elements:
–The extraordinary capacity that Jesus has to love and be in communion with people in their concrete situations, beyond and in spite of traditional taboos; to be in deep and close relationship with people, taking very seriously the reality of each person; to communicate to others his own experience of the Fatherâs loving nearness. As Benedict XVI says, only love redeems. When somebody is loved, he or she recovers the dignity and becomes able to rise up and have full live.
– The faith of humble people, who, threatened by sickness and death, raise their hearts and their hopes to God as their last refuge. In my missionary live in Africa, Europe and America, I have met quite often people like the dad of that twelve years old girl o that woman in despair because of a humiliating sickness.
Before such situation of distress, people look for any kind of possible help: medicine, prayer, advice⊠anything that can be a ray of hope. Many people rebuke them, scoff them, pity them⊠But they need to be taken seriously and respected in their anguish and hope. This is precisely what Jesus does: from his deep experience of communion with the Father he is able to be in communion with those Godâs children who are crossing a sea of difficulties and despair and having doubts about their own value and dignity.
Word and action
All human beings, included those who appear most self-assured, are feeble creatures exposed to sicknesses, suffering, despise, dangers and, after all, death, even if a miracle expands our limited time of existence. Thatâs why I do not think that the objective of Jesusâ miracles was to extend for a while our live, but an altogether different live, marked by the confidence in a real, dignifying and fruitful Godâs love. After Jesus âsignâ to them, the two women we see in todayâs reading could say truly: âI am important for Jesus, I am important for God, I am important for the community of Jesusâ friends. What is important for me is not that I am sick, but that I am a GODâs CHILD.
This is the central message given by Jesus. And to pass it out to people, He uses words and âmessianic signsâ that appear in a double quality:
–They are quite concrete and practical, related to the real life of people; they are a concrete help to solve a concrete problem of peopleâs life.
–They go beyond their concrete effect: even if they are quite material, they are more than that: they communicate something very especial about the person, empowering her to get up, enjoy life and become a helper to others
That is why the Christian mission, following the steps of Jesus, walks always on this double principle: word and action, faith and charity, material and spiritual. Both dimensions are essential and recall each other: word without action degenerates in lie; action without word misses its saving meaning.
Fr. Antonio Villarino
Roma