By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
Ipray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.
– Mark 5:23b
These are the words of a desperate father pleading for Jesus to heal his dying daughter. Our gospel story takes us to another crisscrossing the Galilean Lake of Jesus and his disciples preaching and healing. Jesus’ power of healing goes to the optimum with the continuation of Mark’s narrative in the dramatic healing of the bleeding woman and a child clinically dead.
Everybody needs healing. This is the sad truth that is difficult to accept. And people with diseases which are considered incurable or terminal seek and try all the remedies in order to get well. Despite the advancement achieved in the scientific medical fields, there are still the old maladies that discovered or invented drugs could not cure and new diseases pop up faster than the discovery of effective treatments.
It is also known worldwide that more people suffer from emotional, physical and mental ailments. The latter has been the cause of alarm among Filipinos since it has been on the rise and more and more are dying because of it. We recognize the government’s final realization of the gravity of this killer illness by approving the mental health bill recently. And this could be considered as part of the cure of mental illness – but still ‘prevention is better than cure’.
The gospel lesson this Sunday tells us about two kind of diseases which at that time seem incurable. The frantic acts of the two persons affected and afflicted by these ailments are enough evidence of their desperate situation. Let us go back to the story. There is Jairus an official of the local church who came pleading for Jesus to intervene in his daughter’s medical condition. His daughter when he last saw her was dying due to a serious disease not specified in the story. What made the story interesting and not from an ordinary Jesus’ healing sessions is the personality of Jairus. He was no ordinary individual. Indeed, he was a very important person. He was one of the rulers of a local synagogue. He was charged with correct administration and the due conduct of worship. His decision to go to Jesus could not have been an easy one. This scene was early in Jesus’ ministry, but already the opposition is beginning to crystallize against him. Jairus thus had many reasons not to go to Jesus, but he had one overriding reason to go to him — his daughter. We don’t know what was wrong with her. They did not know what was wrong with her. But it was obvious that her condition was deteriorating rapidly. We are told that the girl was twelve year’s old.
The second medical case in our story is about a woman who is suffering from some kind of hemorrhagic bleeding. At that time this malady is seemingly incurable as evidenced by the description in the story, ‘suffered severe bleeding for 12 years’! This may have been a case of menstrual or uterine disorder that would have made her ritually unclean and excluded her from most social contact. She desperately wanted Jesus to heal hear, but she knew that her bleeding would cause Jesus to be unclean under Jewish law if she touched him.
Many people suffer needlessly from emotional, physical and mental ailments. Billions are spent every year on medical, psychiatric and herbal cures for the suffering masses around the world. We are witnesses of some even going as far as using faith healers, psychics or folklore medicinal cures to relieve their agony. With all the worldly designs and situation we have brought this planet and ourselves into such situation where these realities become more complex and confounding. Humanity and all of creation have been wounded. We are wounded and suffering from various dis-eases and we cannot cure ourselves despite of advance curative drugs that we ourselves concocted.
Sometimes we feel that our dis-eases: physical, mental and emotional problems will keep us from God. But he is always ready to help, no matter how improvable the problem or ailment seem to us. We should never allow our fear nor do our social environment or physical conditions keep us from approaching Him.
It was virtually improbable to get close to Jesus but one woman fought her way desperately through the crowd in order to touch Jesus. One man, a father, defied physical evidence and the reality of death and held on precariously on his faith on Jesus’ power to conquer all physical defects including death for his daughter to be made well.
Today many people are vaguely familiar with Jesus, but nothing in their lives is changed or bettered by the passing acquaintance. It is only faith that releases God’s healing power move beyond curiosity. Reach out to Christ in faith. That touch will change your life forever. Jesus did not only demonstrated great power, he also showed tremendous compassion for a diseased woman and the family of a dying or dead girl in our gospel story.
This brings us to participate to Jesus call to follow him and participate in his movement. A movement that involves everybody, despite and in spite of our sins or wounds, self-inflicted or caused by others to his healing ministry. With all its imperfections, sins, blemishes, and warts, followers of Jesus are the intended healer of the world’s wounds. Christians are called to be compassionate, wounded healers. Perhaps, Henri Nouwen, the Roman Catholic theologian, has said this better than anyone else. The author of many books, Nouwen speaks of Christians as “wounded healers” who have compassion. Compassion is not pity. Pity lets us stay at a distance. It is condescending. Compassion is not sympathy. Sympathy is for superiors over inferiors. Compassion is not charity. Charity is for the rich to continue in their status over the poor.
Compassion is born of God. It means entering into the other person’s problems. It means taking on the burdens of the other. It means standing in the other person’s shoes. It is the opposite of professionalism. It is the humanizing way to deal with people. “Just as bread without love can bring war instead of peace, professionalism without compassion will turn forgiveness into a gimmick.” It is about the unconditional love exemplified by Jesus. The kind of love that has power to heal, reconcile, and redeem. You are invited to join this movement – the Jesus movement.**
