July 1, 2018
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time B
Wisdom 1: 13-15, 2:23-24 ,
2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15 ,
Gospel MK 5:21-43
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, "My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live."
He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him.
There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,
turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?" But his disciples said to Jesus, "You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'" And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."
A Bleeding Woman and a Dead Girl
In
today's Gospel passage we have two incidents that bring out the personality of
Jesus. We have two miracles, the healing of the woman with hemorrhage and the
raising of the daughter of Jairus from death. The first one is a totally
unknown and insignificant person of the society, while the other, though
equally unknown, is the daughter of a person of great stature in the society –
Jairus.
When
I read this passage I ask myself a question: Couldn't Jesus heal both of them
simply by a word of mouth? Then why did he touch or allow to be touched in such
a way that it makes him ritually unclean? In the first incident no one knew
that the “touching” really took place except the woman and Jesus. She did not
want to be identified in a crowd that she had been a woman in bleeding. She did
not want to make Jesus ritually unclean by her touch. At the same time she had
the great faith that if she touched at least the tassel of his cloak she would
be healed. Of course she got healed and she slipped herself into the crowd. But
Jesus announced it and made it public that somebody had touched him and power
went out of him. By having made the woman confess that she was the one who
touched him, he made it public that he had become ritually unclean by the touch
of a bleeding woman. Sometimes we may feel whether there was any need for Jesus
to declare it and put the woman to shame. Again at the bed side of the daughter
of Jairus, he could just raise her to life just by a word as he did at the
coffin of the son of the widow of Nain or Lazarus. Here again he held the girl
in his arms and brought her back to life. So there is something more to the
passage than just two miracles of Jesus.
Recently
I was travelling in a car in Ahmedabad city. The car stopped at the traffic
signal. There were many cars of different sizes and variety waiting in line. A
poor girl- a ‘street urchin approached each vehicle knocking at the glass and
begging for some money. Many in the posh vehicles turned their eyes away. As
the girl touched the car and knocked at the window, some showed their
displeasure clearly. It was shocking to see the reaction of a few. Some rich
ones sitting inside did not like the girl touching the window of the costly car
at all. One of them threw a coin at the girl and shouted, ‘take it but dont
touch my car and make it dirty!!! In contrast here we have Jesus publicly
announcing that he is “touched” by a bleeding woman, thereby putting her to
shame and declaring himself ritually unclean. Again at the house of Jairus, he
not only touches the dead body of the girl, but holds it in his hands and
thereby making himself unclean again.
In
every culture a woman in her menstrual cycle is considered ritually unclean. In
our Indian society this concept is very strong. Same was the case in Jewish
society too. Even in the twenty first century this concept has not undergone
any change.
Recently
there was a big issue in one of the big companies in Kerala. It was reported in
all the dailies and became a point of heated discussion in the news channels.
All the women employees of the company were subjected to physical examination
after they refused to reveal who left a sanitary napkin in the ladies toilet.
The women’s rights groups and the feminist groups were up in arms. Our society
has not learned to respect the rights of women. Even some of the women in the
panel discussions were not ready to discard their view that “uncleanness was
attached to the body in menstrual period. There is nothing “clean” or “unclean
in it. It is just a matter of physical status.
My
hats off to Jesus who upheld the womens rights for a dignified status in the
society. He questions the irrational notions that kept women away from the
mainstream of society by imposing restrictions on them and taboos on a merely
physical function and reality. Jesus understood that power went out of him and
healed the woman. He could just avoid declaring it and making a big noise of it
there publicly. At the first instance we may feel that Jesus is putting the
woman in embarrassment. But there is larger purpose in Jesus action. It is
clear from the dialogue between them after that. I am overwhelmed by the
affection and intentional “siding” Jesus does to support women. Here and
elsewhere in the Gospels we see that. The social workers today speak a lot
about women empowerment. Here is Jesus who really tries to empower them. He
publicly declares that there is nothing “impure” in a woman. They are of equal
status in the society.
The
irrational notions of impurity should be removed from our minds. Indian society
is full of taboos and “dos and donts”. Most of them affect the downtrodden of
the society and women. It is high time we adopt the attitude of Jesus regarding
purity and impurity. Neither a bleeding woman, nor a dead girl makes someone pure
or impure. It is the so called ‘dirty beliefs and our attitudes that make us
impure. Mahatma Gandhi understood the message of Jesus better than us. He
declared, ”Untouchability is a crime against God and humanity.” Rather than
looking at this Gospel passage as two miracles of Jesus, let us look at it in
this light. Going against social conventions and challenging them he brings
about healing and wholeness in the life of two persons of insignificance. This
passage challenges us to adopt the attitude of Jesus.
Dr.
Martin Mallathu CMI
