13th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

June 28, 2009

by Reverend Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

        On Labor Day weekend, September 2, 1989, my wife and I were awakened at 3 am by our door bell. At the door were our pastor and the Chief of Police, who said: “I’m sorry to inform you that your son was killed in an automobile accident.” Our oldest son was 19 at the time of his death. That was 20 years ago, and it still seems like yesterday; the pain still remains.

        Everyone in pastoral ministry inevitably faces the question: “Why did God let this happen?” It can come in the tears of a devastated person whose spouse has just left them for good. It can be the parishioner who has just learned that he or she has a terminal illness. Or it can be on the face of a parent who has just lost a child. Such losses come crashing into our lives and we feel powerless as we stand among the ruins. It is in these instances that we turn to the all-powerful God with our recriminations and reproaches. We ask the questions: Why does God allow suffering, disease, and death to come into our lives? Is it because of “something I’ve done, or something I failed to do?”

        Death is a fearful thing, whether it comes suddenly or slowly. St. Francis of Assisi claimed it as our sister, not a foreigner, but a member of the family. Mystics of his caliber can greet even death as an ally along the gracious way to God. But for the rest of us, death remains an enemy of sorts, ever threatening the only life we know. We find ourselves asking all those questions that come with our mortality – Why do we die? What is life if it must end? Where do we go if we are not here?

        In today’s 1^st reading from the Book of Wisdom we are told that we are created in the image of God. “God did not make death.” Death is not God’s idea, and it is certainly not God’s plan for us. God formed us to be imperishable and to enjoy eternal life in His presence. Physical death would never have been known except for the failure of Adam and Eve to listen to God and do as He commanded. But they gave in to the temptation of the devil, and rejected God’s will. Consequently, sin entered the world and made death unavoidable for us all, but it doesn’t make it invincible.

        The way we cope with what defies our ability to truly understand, lies in the reality that we celebrate today – that our God is a God of the living, and not the dead, who sees, cares, and in great mercy and wisdom, has given to humankind an imperishable spirit that lives on forever beyond the distressing passage of death.

         In today’s gospel Jesus shows us another way to consider death. It is like sleeping and only requires the right person to reach out and wake us up. All the accompanying commotion as a result of death, the weeping and wailing and the grief, is only natural, but not the whole story. When my son died, I cried uncontrollably for my loss of him, for a part of me died too; and I also cried for my wife and our three other children who had lost a son and a brother. But I also sincerely believe, as surely as we lost him, that my son, Jeffrey, himself, is not lost. He is in fact found, because Jesus is the one who seeks and finds those who are lost.

        In today’s Gospel we see a man who is suffering and who turns his suffering around to a moment of faith when he experiences the healing power of Jesus. Jairus, an official at the synagogue, was very probably a wealthy man, respected by the people of his village, and without a care in the world. His daughter of twelve was the joy of his life. Then one day his daughter falls critically ill, and his world tumbles down around him. He is overcome with fear and worry and helplessness.  What can he do? To whom can he turn? He turns to God in prayer and God answers him.

        He hears about this wonderful man, Jesus, who has been going around teaching and healing people. Jairus sees him as one sent by God and goes to him for help. He asks Jesus to come to his house to heal his daughter and Jesus agrees. Just before they get there, people tell Jairus his daughter is dead. Jesus says to him, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” And Jairus places all his faith and trust in Jesus. And it is that faith and trust that leads to his daughter’s healing.

        There is also a woman in the story who also turns her suffering into a moment of faith. This poor woman suffered from a serious disease, which was not only a physical affliction, but also made her ritually unclean, and therefore, took her out of the mainstream of society. People would not go near her, because by doing so, they too, would become ritually unclean. Her plight was one that she endured for twelve years, and it cost her all her savings and made her a very lonely person.

        She hears of the wonderful man who is healing so many people. Maybe he will help her, she thinks to herself. So she follows him and touches his cloak, and she is healed. Jesus tells her that it is her faith that has healed her.

        Jesus in today’s gospel is a testimony to the fact that He is the Lord of life. He reminds us that God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living; for he fashioned all things that they may have their being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome. Jairus and the woman with the hemorrhage seem to know this about God and that Jesus has the power to restore the young girl and the hemorrhaging woman to wholesomeness.

        As we go through life, we hit bumpy roads. Sometimes our world seems to crash around us. How do we respond? Do we become angry and resentful? Do we get depressed and despairing? Or do we use the moment to let it teach us something? Does it lead us to a loving God who wants only the best for us? God never promises that there will be no pain in our lives, but only promises that he will be with us in our pain and bring us healing. In the movie The Passion of Christ, Mary goes to Jesus when he was a child and had fallen and says to him, “I’m here.” Later, when Jesus falls under the weight of the cross, Mary again goes to him and says, “I’m here.” That’s what God does for us because God loves us. We have to place our trust in God in those dark moments of our lives. When we do so, God is there.