Martin Jumbam
The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, June 28, 2015, as the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “All nations, clap your hands. Shout with a voice of joy to God. Amen.” In the first reading of the day’s Mass, the wise man tells us that God did not bring death into the world because he is the God of the living, not of the dead. Man brought death upon himself through his disobedience to God. Sin, which is the handiwork of Satan, brought about man’s spiritual death and destroyed his life in God. In the second reading, Saint Paul encourages Christian communities to help each other materially because they have received from God the faith which is common to all. Hence, he urges the Greek churches to assist the poverty-stricken church of Jerusalem. The Gospel message from Mark beautifully illustrates the fact that our God is a God of the living and not of the dead. God cures us physically and mentally when our faith is strong. As Jesus tells the woman with the issue of blood: “Daughter, it is your faith that has healed you.” It is also because of the faith Jairus, the Synagogue official, has in Christ that leads our Lord to raise his daughter from the dead. Let us therefore pray in the course of this Eucharist, for the grace of faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who heals our infirmities, be they physical or moral.
First Reading: Wisdom 1: 13-15. 2: 23-24.
God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, and there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the netherworld on earth, for justice is undying. For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it.
V/ The word of the Lord
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
Before we reflect on the passage of our meditation, let us take a quick look at the history behind the Book of Wisdom. It was originally written in Greek and so does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. Martin Luther and other Protestant reformers of the 16th century followed the Jewish practice and excluded the Book of Wisdom from their own Bible, under the pretext that it was not divinely inspired. But the Latin Church, at the Council of Trent (1546), included it in its list of sacred canonical books, which the first Vatican Council endorsed in 1870. Even though the book does not mention King Solomon, it is usually attributed to him on account of his reputation for wisdom.
Historically, the Book of Wisdom is thought to have been the last Old Testament book to have been written. It was originally written in the Greek spoken in the cities of Lower Egypt after the conquest of that zone by Alexander the Great in the last third of the 4th century BC.
The Greek culture at the time of this book was so attractive that many Jews were beginning to abandon Jewish culture in favour of the Greek. So the sacred author’s main purpose is to warn the Jews that their culture has nothing to envy from the dominant Greek culture. He has a clear religious goal in mind, that is, to set wisdom in the context of the profound faith in the Lord of Israel, the one and only God. His faith leads him not only to praise wisdom as a virtue but to go beyond that and depict wisdom as a divine attribute. Moreover, he puts forward a religious interpretation of history as being the history of salvation and provides a clear overview of the history of the chosen people and of their dealings with other peoples. With this, he calls on the Jewish people to be proud of their culture that is divinely inspired.
The Book of Wisdom is divided into three parts. Chapters 1 – 6, from where the reading of the day is taken, can be summarized as “wisdom and man’s destiny”. Chapters 7 – 9 can be titled “the nature and role of wisdom” and Chapters 10 – 19 can be called “wisdom at work in history”.
The central assertion of the passage selected for our meditation is that God is not the author of death, but that death came into the world as a result of sin. This leads the inspired writer to see physical death as a symbol of spiritual death, which is true death, that is, permanent separation from God. The germ of corruption does not therefore come from God but from Satan. It is through the devil’s envy that death entered the world. God is the author of life and what God desires, that is, righteousness, does not die.
What message am I taking home from this reading? The wise man tells us that our God is a God of life, not of death. Those who have no faith think that life ends in death but the righteous know that death is not an end but a means to an end – which is eternal life with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Those who turn their backs on their faith, the sacred writer tells us, fall victim to the materialism and skepticism that rule our world today. Those who think only of pleasure and enjoyment, which is what we see happening so often in our city of Douala, easily fall victim to sin and death, all products of Satan.
Let us therefore pray to God to shelter us from the empty promises of the wicked one which can only lead us to death in body and soul. We have been redeemed from death for ever by Christ, the Second Adam. Amen.
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 8: 7. 9: 13-15.
Brothers and sisters: As you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also. For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your abundance at the present time should supply their needs, so that their abundance may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. As it is written: Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
The African Bible tells me that Saint Paul probably wrote his second Letter to the Corinthians from Macedonia after leaving Ephesus; this would have been around the autumn of the year 57 AD during the journey narrated in Acts 20: 1-2. Paul had written his first letter to the Corinthians to answer some difficult questions that the church in Corinth had put to him, and to correct some reported disorders.
The letter failed to achieve its purpose as other missionaries, Saint Paul’s enemies, had arrived in Corinth and launched an attack on him, winning over many in the community. From Ephesus, Paul wrote a letter defending the worth of his apostleship and the truth of his teaching.
In this second letter, Paul defends the authenticity of his own ministry and his authority as an apostle. He reminds his converts of Corinth that in so far as he had established the church in Corinth, he had a right to say how he thought it should be managed.
Chapters 8 through 9 from where our reading is taken forms the second part of Saint Paul’s letter which deals with the collection from the Greek churches – not only the church of Corinth -- for the poverty-stricken church in Jerusalem. Assistance to the poor churches from the richer ones had been one of the important recommendations from the apostolic council of Jerusalem (Acts 15; Gal 2:10). Saint Paul sees this assistance from the Gentile churches as a sign of the unity they have with the mother church in Jerusalem. He urges the Corinthians to be generous by citing the example of the Macedonians who have been remarkably generous despite their poverty
What is the message here for those of us of the Archdiocese of Douala? We are duty bound to support our church financially and materially. It can only successfully carry out its mission of evangelization if Christians give it the assistance in cash and kind which it needs. When on pastoral visits to relatively well off parishes of our Archdiocese, our Archbishop Emeritus, Christian Cardinal Tumi, would often leave his seat at the altar and come down to the congregation to personally collect funds for the poorer parishes of our Archdiocese. Gone are those days, he would often say, when foreigners came to build our parishes for us; now, we have to do it ourselves.
In his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Africa, Saint John Paul II says that “It is urgent that the particular Churches in Africa have the objective of providing for their own needs as soon as possible, thereby assuring their self-sufficiency.” We must therefore give generously to our church to enable her carry out her mission of evangelization. We must give with love for, as Saint Paul says, “If I give away all I have … but have not love, I gain nothing! (1 Cor 13:3). Saint Augustine even seems clearer on this issue of giving with love. “If you put your hand out to give, but do not have pity in your heart, you have done nothing; whereas if you have pity in your heart, even if you have nothing to give with your hand, God accepts your alms.” Lord, help us to be as generous to our church as the Corinthians were to the poverty-stricken church of Jerusalem. Amen.
Gospel: Mark 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." While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?" Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, "Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep." And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child's father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.
V/ The Gospel of the Lord.
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Comment
In today’s Gospel, Jesus returns to the west shore of the Sea of Galilee, a journey from Gentile land back to Jewish territory. On his return a large crowd gathers round him among whom is an important Jewish official called Jairus. He has the significant functions of supervising services in the synagogue. In spite of his religious importance in society, Jairus humbles himself before our Lord and begs him to save his twelve-year old daughter, who is seriously ill.
Jairus is a desperate father: his love for his daughter brings him on his knees before our Lord, whom he believes is the only one who can restore his daughter to full health. Jesus, the merciful one, immediately takes the road to Jairus’ house with the crowd pressing round him. This walk to Jairus’ house is interrupted by a silent and secret sufferer: the woman who has been suffering from an incurable haemorrhage for the past twelve years. The evangelists tell us that she has already exhausted all attempts at a natural cure, and the long and painful treatments have exhausted her savings.
We are therefore witnessing a double miracle in this Gospel: the curing of the woman with the issue of blood and the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead. For our reflection this day, permit me, brothers and sister, to concentrate only on the case of the woman Jesus cures of her ailment.
To the Jews, this woman’s condition makes her ritually impure and everything she touches becomes unclean as well (Lev 15: 25ff). That is why in order not to be noticed by anyone, she sneaks behind Jesus to touch his clothes. She strongly believes that if she can only touch his clothes, she will be cured. Such is the quality of her desperation and such is the quality of her faith in the power of Jesus. Her faith is enriched by her expression of humility: she is conscious of being unworthy to touch our Lord.
Her action teaches us the value of humility. If we too wish to be cured of our own infirmity, physical or moral, we must reach out in all humility to touch our Lord. And how do we touch him? We touch him through our prayers that must be accompanied by acts of love of one another. Faith that is not accompanied by acts of charity is a dead faith, says Saint James. Let us be like this woman who alone really touches Christ. In all that crowd pressing around our Lord, only this woman actually touches him – and she touches him not only with her hand but with the faith she bears in her heart. As Saint Augustine comments: “She touches him, the people crowd him. Is her touching not a sign of her belief?” The others are crowding around Christ hoping he will multiply bread and give them to eat. They want to make him their king, not because they understand or cares for his spiritual teachings but because he has been feeding them with physical food.
This woman’s faith is so powerful that it drains power from Christ. Saint Luke puts it beautifully. After the woman touches Jesus and he turns round and asks who has touched him, every one denies touching him. Peter is surprised too and says “Master, the multitudes surround you and press upon you!” But Jesus says: “Someone touched me; for I perceive that power has gone forth from me” (Lk 8: 45-46). I find this really powerful. What strong faith she must have had; faith that pulls power out of our Lord.
Let us pray for faith the size of a mustard seed, for with such faith we can move mountains. Lord Jesus, also help us to approach you, even from behind, and touch your garment so our faith will also cure us of our physical and moral infirmities. Amen.
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