Corpus Christi

John 6:51-58

Hunger and thirst are powerful forces.  Either one alone can shape our journey or impede it.  Either one alone can mean the difference between life and death.  This is true on a physical level as much as a spiritual level.  The readings for today contain some rather astonishing claims that speak to a profound spiritual hunger and thirst that we all have.  Moses claims that we need God's word as much as we need food to live.  Paul claims that we are literally bound together as one body when we partake of the one loaf.  Jesus claims that his body and blood are true food and true drink and the very source of eternal life.

Indeed, the gospel readings for the past several weeks show that Jesus recognizes and speaks to our spiritual hunger, and that he longs to nourish our spiritual needs. To demonstrate this point, Jesus often uses dramatic language in revealing the purpose of his life and mission.  He once described himself as the light of the world (Jn 8:12).  Another time, he described himself as the way, the truth and the life (Jn14:6).  Yet another time, Jesus referred to himself as the true vine and his followers as the true branches (Jn 15:1-5).  Those who heard such talk did not think Jesus was speaking literally.  They understood and accepted his language as nothing more than analogy, a comparison, for the sake of revelation.  

When Jesus referred to himself as the bread of life come down from heaven, however, many had a very different response.  In fact, many went away in disbelief when Jesus claimed that, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” (Jn 6:53-55). Many disciples also found this teaching too difficult, and they “returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” (Jn 6:66).

This is a puzzling response from the very disciples who were also witness to some astonishing miracles by Jesus—feeding the multitude with a few loaves of bread and some fish, raising the dead, driving out demons, curing the lame and disabled.  Thus the difficulty these disciples had with the bread of life teaching was NOT because they misunderstood Jesus’ ability to make good on his claim.  Rather, the disciples had difficulty because they knew that Jesus was no longer speaking allegorically.  They knew he was speaking in a literal sense.  From their perspective, Jesus had crossed the line.

Jesus crossed the line with the promise of eternal life to those who ate his flesh and drank his blood.  Some of the disciples objected to this promise because, in their view, only God is the source of life.  Thus, for Jesus to claim that he too could give eternal life through his own body and blood was tantamount to claiming that he was God.  And that claim, as far as some of the disciples were concerned, was blasphemy. This perceived blasphemy is why many of the disciples objected to his promise and abandoned Jesus.

The Twelve, however, that small band of loyal followers, remained with Jesus.  They remained because they believed that Jesus was the “Holy One of God” (Jn 6:69; cf. Mt 16:21, Mk 8:29, Lk 9:20).  When Jesus asks the Twelve whether they too want to leave, Peter’s response demonstrates the basis of their loyalty: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:67-68). This response gives no indication, however, that the Twelve found the “bread of life” teaching any less radical than those who left.

 

The picture that emerges at the Last Supper, however, is quite different.  When the disciples gather with Jesus for the last time in the Upper Room and hear him declare that the bread and wine are his body and blood, they express no doubt or astonishment over his words and actions.  Nor is there any suggestion that any of them abandoned Jesus at this time.  In fact, Scripture suggests that the only concern of the disciples at this time was the fear of being accused as the betrayer of Jesus.

 

The contrast between the first and last reactions of the disciples to the bread of life teaching reflects a gradual, yet remarkable, transformation in perception and belief.    Their transformation suggests that perceiving Jesus in the Eucharist, as well as perceiving Jesus in others, is a gradual consequence of spiritual nourishment that takes place over time.

The lesson for us is clear.  When Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (Jn6:35), he in fact claims that he can nourish our spirits, that he can give life to our souls.  He claims that he is enough for all.

The difficulty for many today is that we doubt this possibility.  We do not know how to find genuine nourishment.  We look for it in the wrong places.  We spend our spiritual coin for what is not bread; our wages for what fails to satisfy.  Many of us live in spiritual poverty.  We have nothing to eat or drink.  We are not satisfied.

Yet, the Lord Jesus calls us out of our poverty.  He invites all of us to come to his banquet.  All we have to do is bring our hunger and our thirst to him and do as he says.  When we bring what we have to Christ—our needs and ourselves—and unite them to him, Christ becomes the foundation of our lives and he changes us.

 

Our relationship with Jesus then motivates us to imitate what he says and how he acts.  When we put on the mind of Christ, as St. Paul instructs us, we find reason and desire to share our gifts with others in a spirit of love.  We find reason to live the truth in love.  When we take Jesus into our hearts through word and sacrament, we become what he is, and our eternal life begins here and now.

Faith as Trust and Reason

A 5 Easter 14 (Jn 14:1-12)

            In a conversation about faith that Jesus has with his disciples, Jesus talks about faith in terms of both trust and reason.  Jesus makes the point that trust and reason both function as grounds for having faith in him. To demonstrate this point, Jesus first focuses on faith as a matter of trust. 

            Jesus begins with a twofold appeal to the disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”  In appealing first to the hearts of the disciples, Jesus shows that faith is primarily a matter of trust, that is, a matter for the heart rather than the head.  We can take to heart the word of Jesus.  We can rely on him, we can trust him, and therefore, we can have faith in him.

            Jesus does not ask for trust on false pretenses.  For, he makes it clear that he has no intention of abandoning his followers and leaving them to their own devices.  Rather, he goes ahead of them to prepare a place for them, and they know how to follow him.  Such consequences show the disciples that Jesus has their best interests at heart.  This is the nature of trust. 

            We trust someone because our hearts tell us that he or she has our backs.  Whether we have evidence for such trust may not matter all that much.  What seems to matter most is that we are confident that the person knows us, knows what is important to us, and will always act in ways that serve and protect our interests.  The critical aspect of trust is therefore confidence in the person we trust.  Thus, the initial appeal that Jesus makes to his disciples puts faith in him on par with trust in him, and trust is primarily a matter of the heart.

            By explaining faith first in terms of trust, Jesus in effect appeals to an ancient understanding of faith in God.  For the ancient Hebrews, faith in God was a two way street.  God wanted and eagerly sought out a relationship with his people.  They responded and entered that relationship by placing their trust in God.  Faith in God for the ancient Hebrews was an active relationship with God built on a lively belief and trust that He would make good on his promises; that God would indeed do as he said he would.  For this reason, their lives centered on their faith, and their faith shaped the way they lived.  For the ancient Hebrews, faith was a matter of trusting God.        

            But, the disciples Thomas and Phillip are less than convinced. They apparently need more than trust alone as the basis of their faith.  Thomas is the first to express such reservation by admitting no knowledge of where Jesus is going or how to get there. Philip displays a similar need for proof in asking to see the Father as reason enough for faith in Jesus.  These two disciples do not mistrust Jesus.  They simply express a very human need for having good reason when it comes to trust.  And, rather than taking offense, Jesus obliges.  He gives the disciples good reason for trusting him. 

            To show good reason for faith in him, Jesus relies on the second part of his twofold appeal: “You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”  This second part suggests a close union between Jesus and God, his father.  Jesus appeals to the close union between Father and Son as sufficient reason for having faith in him.  In other words, because of this close union, faith in God is the same thing as faith in Jesus.  We need no other proof.  This is the sense in which Jesus claims that faith in him is a matter of reason.

            But, Jesus goes a step further.  Jesus in effect says to the disciples, if you do not believe in me based on my word alone as a matter of trust, if you want proof, then, at least have faith in me because of the works that I do.  See what I have done out of love for you, for others, and for God.  Love proves itself in deeds.  These deeds are reason enough to have faith in Jesus.  Indeed, Jesus claims that “whoever believes in me, will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”      

            Some of us may be able to trust with our hearts, and some of us are like Thomas and Philip, and trust with our reason.  Jesus understands this and acknowledges that there is more than one way to the Father.  The challenge for all of us, no matter how we arrive at our faith, is what to do with our faith.  In a sense, we are like the ancient Hebrews.  We too see faith as an active relationship with God, but we can be unsure of what that means. 

            The expected result is to live in imitation of Jesus.  His deeds grew out of his love for God and showed his love and care for others, all of whom he viewed as the beloved children of God.  For this reason, Jesus calls us to do the same by loving God with our whole hearts and minds and our neighbors as ourselves.  The encounter between Jesus and his disciples shows that our calling to love is primarily a matter of striving to do our best and trusting God.  Faith really demands no more.        

Living A Holy Life (1 Thes 2:9-13)

Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians has an interesting and unique characteristic. Every chapter in that first letter ends with some reference to the return of Christ. Paul makes this reference so often to emphasize the need and the possibility for living a holy life.

We often think of holiness in terms of being set apart and dedicated to the service of the Lord. A passage found in Isaiah, however, puts a different light on that understanding: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (6:3). In light of this passage, it would be odd to say that God is set apart in service to himself. In fact, all of Scripture indicates that "holy" is a term that applies to God, to Jesus, to the saints of old, to ordinary persons, and even to God’s creation. That raises a question as to what there is about holiness that can be applied to these different ideas.  In particular, how can we speak of God’s holiness and our own in the same sense?

Such a possibility is not as difficult as it may seem, for God invites us to be holy because he is holy (Lv 11:44, 1 Pt 1:16). Jesus himself said that we should be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48). Thus, the perfection of God is like the holiness of God.

To say that God is perfect is to say that God is always true to himself. That is, God is always and never anything but God, and all that God does is always and completely consistent with who God is. I AM who I AM, God tells Moses (Ex 3:14). God always tells the truth, always loves, always does good, always creates beauty, always hopes for the best for us, is always joyful and faithful because God is love, God is truth, God is beauty, God is unity, God is good, God is perfect. In human terms, we might say that God is a person of integrity

The same can be said about Jesus. Jesus came to do the father’s will and never deviated from that purpose. He was perfect in his resolve to carry out the Father's will. He prayed to know the Father’s will and he applied his understanding of that will in his life to the best of his ability, even to the point of dying on a cross. Jesus was always true to himself, true to the living God, and true to what God called him to be. In human terms, we would say that Jesus was a person of integrity.   In other words, Jesus lived a holy life.

For this reason, Jesus is our model for what it means to be holy.   Being holy means being true to ourselves as God has fashioned us to be, and true to the living God. This is how the saints of old lived their lives. They listened to and responded to the Word of God. They applied their understanding in their lives as best they could. They allowed the Word of God to transform and motivate how they lived their lives. In a myriad of ways, the saints show us that a holy life is one that expresses God’s love for others and for creation. Like Jesus, they are people of integrity.

This is just what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Thessalonians.  This same theme is found throughout his letters: “Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom 12:2). In other words, find out what God wants and do it. Being holy is being and doing what God wants us to be and do. This is what it means to speak of the holiness of God, of Jesus, of the saints, of creation, and of our own holiness. Being true to ourselves and true to God by imitating Jesus in all things is what it means to live a holy life.

Jesus and the Ten Commandments

3 Sun Lent B 12
Ex 20:1-17
A homily by Deacon Joe Stackhouse
March 11, 2012

A favorite topic among Sunday school teachers is the Ten Commandments. One Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ she asked the class, 'Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?' Yes, said one little boy. 'Thou shall not kill.'

The story of how Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai is well known. Written by God on two stone tablets, this Divine code was given amid thunder, lightning and smoke on Mount Sinai, and became the cornerstone of the Mosaic Law. The fact that the Commandments were written in stone has a significance all its own. To be written in stone suggests reliability and permanence, something that can’t be changed. What is written in stone has meaning and value that will last forever.

Jesus drew on this aspect of the Ten Commandments when he applied them in new ways throughout his mission on earth. During the Sermon on the Mount, for example, Jesus declared that unnecessary oaths before God were as wrong as false oaths. He condemned hatred and anger as much as murder. He transformed common ideas of retaliation and vengeance into forgiveness and mercy--turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, do not refuse those in need. In this way, Jesus extended the principle of love embedded in the Ten Commandments to include love of enemies as well as love for God and neighbor.

There is an interesting psychology in the way the Commandments are stated. Only two are stated in positive terms—keep holy the Sabbath and honor father and mother. The others are stated in negative terms—thou shall not do so and so. In both cases, however, it’s as if God stated the Commandments in a way that pushes us away from doing things that are harmful to ourselves and to others.

As for what the negative commands push us away from, the first commandment is broad enough to show what all this involves. The first commandment seems simple enough to understand and fairly easy to apply. The ancient Hebrews would have been familiar with this commandment. For, the same message can be found in Psalm 81, which reads: “There shall be no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. I am the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” In light of the many Roman and Greek gods that were available for the ancient Hebrews to choose from, the point of this first commandment seems fairly obvious.

But for Jesus, each Commandment has meaning and value that go beyond the obvious. With an eye to the first commandment, Jesus tells his disciples, “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Lk 16:13). The Pharisees who heard this ridiculed Jesus. Because they loved money, they rejected Jesus’ criticism of their lack of compassion for the poor (16:19-31).

The word “mammon” means more than just money, however. It refers to wealth in general and all the things of this world on which we rely. In this sense, Jesus is saying to his disciples, “Be on your guard with money and worldly wealth. It’s not as great as you think. It will fail you in the end. Thus, if you don’t learn to use it wisely, it may very well be your undoing.” Jesus delivered this message because he knows how we can turn anything into our god, especially material wealth.

For us, there remains a question of how to hear his message—how are we suppose to use our material wealth in a spiritually wise manner. Jesus is clear on this point as well. The whole life and mission of Jesus shows us that we must practice justice and mercy with our wealth. We are not to turn our backs on those in need by refusing to share the wealth that we have. All of our wealth—not just our money. And each of us knows what we count as wealth.

There is a passage in the first letter of Timothy that summarizes all of this in a very clear and powerful manner. Verses 17 through 19 in that letter read like this: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Tim 6:17-19). If we make friends with wealth in this way, we can be sure that when it ends, we will find welcome in the Father’s home.


So much for the breadth of the first Commandment. Jesus makes it clear that mercy, compassion, and love are the touchstones in each commandment. One example that illustrates this point is an encounter that Jesus had with the Pharisees in the synagogue, where there was a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus whether it is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath. They wanted to accuse Jesus of disobeying the Law of Moses, which prohibited healing on the Sabbath. Jesus said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable a person is than a sheep. So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand’” and the hand was restored as sound as the other (Mt 12:9-13).

Each Commandment lends itself to a similar reflection, interpretation, and application and Jesus knew that. For instance:

The Commandment says: Thou shall not kill; and Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

The Commandment says, “Thou shall not commit adultery or covet thy neighbor’s spouse,” and Jesus says, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.”

The Commandment says, “Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor,” and Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

The Commandment says, “Thou shall not steal,” and Jesus says, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

Jesus summed up the meaning and value of the entire Ten Commandments in this way: Love God with your whole heart, your whole mind and your whole soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Prayer and Fasting

Ash Wednesday Year B
Homily by Deacon Joe Stackhouse
February 22, 2012

On Ash Wednesday, it seems appropriate to talk about two traditional themes of Lent. One is prayer and the other is fasting. When it comes to prayer, Jesus is our model. We read in Scripture that Jesus often went out alone to a secluded place and prayed. We can only imagine what the content of his prayer was, but we can be sure that he spoke openly and honestly with his heavenly Father. We can also be sure that, since he came to do the Father’s will, he spent time in prayer discerning what that will might be. If Jesus found it necessary and beneficial to pray to the heavenly father, surely we can do no better. The Lord’s Prayer offers a loving and beautiful way to spend time talking with our heavenly Father, for the words that Jesus gave us contain all that we need to know about how to pray.

When it comes to fasting, we usually think of this in terms of giving up food. Kids are especially fond of this method. My grandson told me that he was going to give up chocolate and diet soda for Lent. He changed his mind about the diet soda, however. The idea of fasting by giving up food is certainly appropriate for adults as well, but there are other ways of fasting. We can give up our critical remarks about others. We can give up our rejection of others. We can give up those ambitions that we know are not in keeping with the Father’s will. There are many other ways of fasting that one can think of with some reflection.

If we apply these two themes to our daily lives during this season of Lent, I suspect that we will be better off at the end of Lent than when we began. Happy Lent.

Hope and Trust in God

6th Sun in Ordinary Time Year B
Gospel of Mark 1:40-45
Homily by Deacon Joe Stackhouse
February 12, 2012


The story about Jesus healing the man with leprosy is a story about faith in God. Today, we tend to think of faith in fairly static terms. In modern terms, having faith in God is commonly understood as believing that he exists, while the content of faith itself is often viewed as a set of beliefs about God. This understanding does not do justice to how the ancient Hebrews understood faith. For them, faith was a two way street. God wanted and sought out a relationship with his people. They responded and entered that relationship by placing their hope and trust in God.

For the ancient Hebrews, faith was an active relationship with God built on a lively belief that God would make good on his promises; that God would indeed do as he said he would. Their lives centered on their faith, which in turn, shaped and influenced the way they lived. In other words, faith in God was a matter of living in a vibrant, dynamic relationship with God. Isaiah expressed faith in exactly these terms when he foretold that God would bring liberation and renewed life to his oppressed people. The prophecy of Isaiah is that God himself will be their savior. This was the basis of the hope and trust that the ancient Hebrews had in the Lord.

This is the background for the story of healing in today’s gospel. That story begins with the first reading from the Book of Leviticus. The ritual provisions in Leviticus led to a rather gloomy predicament for a leper in the ancient world. According to those provisions, lepers were forbidden to come into the city at all, or to live with any others. They had to live apart as though they were dead persons (Josephus).
Such persons lived apart not only because they had a contagious disease. The leper was considered unclean under Mosaic Law because the disease itself was viewed as a punishment for sin. Thus, the leper was no longer holy before God. For this reason, the leper was cut off from the living faith community, and stood to forfeit for all time his or her relationship with God and with others.

The only available remedy in the ancient world was to be healed through a direct intervention by God (Ex. 15:26), or through an appeal to God’s mercy and compassion by a prophet, such as Moses, Elisha, or Isaiah (Ex. 15:25; II Kings 2:21; II Kings 20:7–8). Either way, the one who was afflicted with the disease was expected to pray and fast for healing.

The fortunate person who experienced a cure still had to undergo a process of purification as specified in the Book of Leviticus. First, the person went to the priest, who affirmed that the cure had indeed taken place. Then and only then did the priest initiate the purification process. The priest, however, did nothing to promote the cure. His rituals were performed only after the disease had passed (Dt. 24:8–9).

This context gives deeper meaning to the story in Mark’s gospel. Notice that the man with leprosy does not ask Jesus for healing. Rather, he begs Jesus to make him clean. He says, "If you wish, you can make me clean." This approach alone reveals humility and courage on the part of the leper, as well as hope and trust. For, under Mosaic Law, because he still had the disease, he should not have approached Jesus, and under the Law, Jesus should not have touched him. His desperate need to be among the living once again, however, compels the man to seek Jesus. And, in his compassion, Jesus meets the man where he is. Their encounter shows that hope, trust and compassion are deeper than law and ritual. It also shows that the relationship between believer and Jesus is personal.

The actual request of the leper in these circumstances reveals even more. In essence, his request acknowledges Jesus’ divine power to heal, as well as his authority to forgive sins and welcome the sinner back into the faith community. The leper approaches Jesus with hope for a cure, and he trusts Jesus to respond with compassion. In placing his hope and trust in the person of Jesus Christ to make good on his request, the man with leprosy reveals the true nature of faith in God as a matter of hope and trust. And, Jesus responds to and affirms the authenticity of such faith when he ignores all taboo and stretches out his hand, touches the man, and says, “I do will it. Be made clean."

There are other such stories of those in need of healing who reach out to Jesus, despite social and religious convention to the contrary: Jairus, whose daughter was dying; the woman with the hemorrhage who touched Jesus' cloak; the Roman centurion whose servant was ill. Like the man with leprosy, these folks did not follow social convention or stand on religious ceremony before approaching Jesus. And, Jesus responded to them as he did to the leper—where they were and in their need.

The life and mission of Jesus makes it clear that he is willing to respond to us, and that he wants us to dare to seek him. Jesus wants a relationship with us and he seeks us out. For this reason, Jesus did not restrict who may seek him. Clearly, the man with leprosy sought Jesus WHEN he was in need of healing, BEFORE he was clean. Jesus is not saying: Get holy, and then knock on the door. Rather, Jesus is saying: Knock on the door and I will show you how to be holy. From this personal standpoint, the question may be: What do we want from Jesus. What do we ask for? What do we seek? Where do we knock?

Although each of us will answer these questions in different ways, the encounter between Jesus and the man with leprosy demonstrates that we can approach Jesus no matter what our circumstances. Jesus meets us where we are. He looks for and is eager to respond to the faith that each of us can muster. We can trust that Jesus will respond to our needs with compassion. That is the nature of his love. Our hope is that the man with leprosy will inspire and strengthen our own faith as we seek to follow Jesus more closely in our daily lives.

Offended by the Lord

Wednesday in Ordinary Time Year B
Gospel of Mark 6:1-6
Homily by Deacon Joe Stackhouse February 1, 2012

Can you imagine being offended by the Lord? Yet, that is what Mark records in his gospel for today. On the Sabbath, Jesus went to the synagogue and began to teach. At first, the people were impressed with his wisdom and with what he had to say. In short order, however, they took offense, although Mark is not entirely clear about the cause of their indignation.

Was it that Jesus spoke as an ordinary person, a carpenter who earned his living, with no religious authority to teach? Was it that he said something that caused them to take offense? Perhaps it was both. Perhaps he first said something that challenged their way of seeing things. And had they accepted what he said, they would have had to change their way of living. Since they weren’t willing to do that, they simply dismissed what he said. An ordinary guy with an opinion they didn’t like was just that. No reason to listen to him. Indeed, they were offended.

We can well imagine the message that Jesus delivered that day. It would have been the same message he repeated throughout his mission on earth: I don’t see any true faith in this place. You are more interested in doing religion than in doing justice. You are more interested in my miracles than in caring for the poor, the vulnerable, the outcast, the sick, the marginalized. You are more interested in religious ritual and celebration than in living a life of loving sacrifice for others. You substitute following religious rules for doing God’s will. This is likely the message that caused the people in his day to take offense, and no wonder. All this from a carpenter, an ordinary person who works for his living; no different from them.

The message that Jesus preached that day so long ago is far more familiar to us than it was to those in the synagogue. His message—as much now as it was then—is a call to follow him, to live a certain kind of life, to be a certain kind of person. The decision to follow Christ is a decision to be a person who is loving, kind, patient, understanding, merciful and just towards others, especially the poor and vulnerable members of society. Or as St Paul puts it, the Christian way of life is life in the Spirit. The Spirit of God helps us be the kind of person we are called to be.

This is what motivates Jesus to say on another occasion, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Mt 11:6). The invitation that Jesus extends is not a reason to be offended, but a blessing that leads to eternal life. Jesus came that we might have life and have it to the full. For this reason, we are indeed blessed that God so loved us that he became one of us in the person of Jesus Christ. We are blessed that Jesus is like us in every way, as St. Paul says—in failure and success, in sorrow and in joy, in doubt and in faith—in all ways except in sin. Jesus came to show us who the Father is and how we can get to his home. This is the good news that Jesus preached in the synagogue so long ago. We are truly blessed to hear his message once again.

Jairus and the details

Tuesday in Ordinary Time Year B
Gospel of Mark 5:21-43
Homily by Deacon Joe Stackhouse January 22, 2012

There are some details in the story about the raising of Jairus’ daughter that don’t receive the attention they deserve. For one, Jairus is a ruler in the synagogue. In that role, he would have been concerned about the observance of the law, especially regarding things clean and unclean. For that reason, Jairus would have known that when the woman who is ritually unclean touched Jesus, he too became ritually unclean at that moment. Jesus then could not heal his daughter by the laying on of hands until Jesus had been purified. Yet, Jairus never raises the issue, and Jesus does not let this breach prevent him from curing Jairus’ daughter. The reason is clear. Love and compassion always trump the requirements of ritual.

Another detail that often gets overlooked is the difference in religious standing between Jairus and Jesus. Jesus has no official standing in the synagogue. Jesus is merely a local carpenter. Indeed, his authority to heal has not been established or approved in any official manner. As a result, asking Jesus to cure his daughter could have cost Jairus his job and his reputation in the religious community. A costly mistake for sure. Nevertheless, Jairus remains undeterred and shows no hesitation in asking Jesus for help. From this perspective, Jairus’ boldness provides an unexpected lesson in trust and humility despite the cost.

One other detail should be mentioned. The faith shared by Jairus and the woman tends to get obscured by the difference in Jesus’ response to each. In responding to Jairus, Jesus does not immediately heal Jairus’ daughter from a distance. Although such a response on his part was clearly possible, Jesus instead simply goes with Jairus without indicating what he will do. Along the way, their journey gets delayed when Jesus responds to a woman who doesn’t even ask to be healed. She simply runs up and touches Jesus, and she is healed on the spot. Jesus responds with praise for her faith. Jairus, on the other hand, must patiently wait for this interlude to end before he and Jesus can resume their journey. When they reach their destination, they meet with further disturbance that Jesus resolves before ultimately healing Jairus’ daughter.

These differences in the way Jesus responds show that Jesus meets us where we are. He looks for and is eager to respond to the faith that each of us can muster. The woman quietly touches his robe, but believes. Jairus approaches him face to face. In both cases, however, their request reveals an unwavering trust and confidence in the love and compassion of Jesus. Their faith demonstrates that we can approach Jesus no matter what our circumstances.

Jesus looks for this same kind of faith in us as well. Our hope is that the trust and confidence expressed by Jairus and the woman will inspire and strengthen our own faith as we seek to follow Jesus more closely in our daily lives.