Don’t Let Jesus Keep Walking

Weekly Missionary Reflection
13th Ordinary Sunday, 30 June 2024
Wis. 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Ps. 30:2,4,5-6,11,12a,13b; 2Cor. 8:7,9,13-15; Mark 5:21-43 (long) or Mark 5:21-24,35b-43 (short)

Jesus was surrounded by a large crowd. He could just exploit this enthusiasm of the large crowd for the sake of fame and popularity. However, that is not the focus of Jesus. Jesus expected a personal encounter. He asked for personal faith and commitment, not a large crowd. Thus, this story is focused on Jesus and 2 women: a girl of twelve and a woman with twelve years of affliction! Both were dying: one was dying physically, and the other one was dying socio-economically and religiously.

A beloved dying daughter could only rely on her father to meet Jesus. It didn’t seem a difficult mission, for her father had a name (Jairus) and was one of the synagogue officials. Amid the crowd surrounding Jesus, Jairus came forward and fell at Jesus’s feet. He had the faith that Jesus would heal his daughter. Jesus didn’t respond to him. For Jesus, faith expressed in action and words is enough.  Human salvation is His mission. Jairus’ daughter was dead but Jesus raised her. Jesus has the power to defeat the dead, restoring the dead to life and joy of humans. Jairus is an example of faith struggle for the sake of others. Prayers and humility can lead us to salvation and healing.

Another hero of faith is an anonymous woman. She was known for her affliction of hemorrhages for twelve years. For the society of that time, the life of all creatures existed in one’s blood. Therefore, the woman was, in fact, gradually dying. Her suffering was made worse by the doctors who took profit from her illness. Socio-religiously, she was also removed from society because of her continuous bleeding, she practically became eternally unclean. However, she didn’t give up from being suffering, blackmailed, embarrassed, and removed. She had heard about Jesus. Faith began from hearing. But her uncleanliness prohibited her from meeting Jesus. Therefore, she just came up behind Jesus and touched His cloak. She had faith that she would healed just by touching His cloak. So Jesus’ power of healing flowed in her, and she was healed. However, Jesus wanted a personal encounter, instead of a secret relationship. Therefore, He turned around and looked at the woman. She responded to Jesus’ gaze by falling before Him and telling Him the whole truth. Then Jesus greeted her as “daughter” and affirmed that what she had done was an expression of faith in Him, not a magical belief in His cloak.

This woman has taught us a lesson of faith: she struggled to touch Jesus, despite it being forbidden. She just wanted to communicate with the Lord by any means. She stopped Jesus in His journey, so the power of healing of Jesus also stopped her affliction. True faith requires the struggle to step out of the comfort zone and overcome any obstacles. From this anonymous woman, we learn: do not let Jesus keep walking. Stop Him and get His attention, no matter how! His flow of power will end our uncleanliness and sins. His gaze and words will strengthen, heal, and revive us, His children. 

(Hortensius Mandaru – Indonesian Bible Society) 

DAILY DEDICATED PRAYER

Lord, our Father, I present my today prayer, thought, word, work, joy, and sorrow in unity with Your Son, Jesus Christ, who always presents Himself in the Eucharist for the salvation of the world. May the Holy Spirit animating Jesus, also be my guidance and strength today so that I am ready to be the witness of Your love.

Together with Mary, Mother of Jesus, and the Church, in particular, I present my prayer for our Pope and apostle prayer of the Indonesian Church this month:

Universal Church Intent: For migrants fleeing their homes 
We pray that migrants fleeing from war or hunger, forced to undertake journeys full of danger and violence, find welcome and new opportunities in the countries that receive them.

Indonesian Church Intent: For the young people
We pray that the churches will be more open and able to embrace the young people in the process of identity formation so that they can experience Christ as their Friend and Saviour.

Amen.